Gary Lightbody

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Gary Lightbody
Background information
Born	15 June 1976 (age 30)
Origin	Bangor, Northern Ireland
Genre(s)	Indie rock Alternative rock
Occupation(s)	Singer Guitarist Songwriter
Instrument(s)	Guitar Vocals
Years active	1994–present
Associated acts	Snow Patrol The Reindeer Section The Cake Sale Listen... Tanks!
Notable instrument(s)
Fender Telecaster Gibson Flying V Gibson Explorer Jackson DK2M

Gary Lightbody (born June 15, 1976 in Bangor, Northern Ireland) is a Northern Irish musician, best known as the frontman of the rock band Snow Patrol.

Contents 1 Musical career 1.1 Snow Patrol 1.2 Side projects and collaborations 1.3 Influences 2 Personal life 3 Equipment 3.1 Guitars 3.2 Amplifiers 3.3 Effects 4 External links

[edit] Musical career

After attending Campbell College, he moved to Dundee, Scotland in 1994 to attend Dundee University. It is here that he formed the band Polar Bear with fellow student Mark McClelland, also from Belfast. Initially Richard Colburn of Belle & Sebastian featured on drums. Lightbody then asked Jonny Quinn to move over from Belfast to take over on drums. Facing legal action from an American band of the same name, the boys changed their name to Snow Patrol, the affectionate nickname a friend had dubbed them after an encounter with police in Telluride, Colorado (see Snow Patrol).

[edit] Snow Patrol

Lightbody formed the band with classmate Mark McClelland in 1994. In the band's first seven years of existence, they added drummer Jonny Quinn, released two albums (Songs for Polarbears, and When It's All Over We Still Have to Clear Up), and toured with bands such as The Levellers, Ash and Travis, before signing to Polydor offshoot Fiction. Their first album on Fiction, Final Straw, saw Lightbody working with producer Garret "Jacknife" Lee, who went on to produce U2. After the success of Final Straw, the band headed back into the studio to record the next album for Fiction, Eyes Open which was again produced by Lee.

[edit] Side projects and collaborations

Lightbody was a motive force in the formation of Scottish supergroup The Reindeer Section, made up of 47 musicians from 20 different bands. This powerhouse has released two albums — Y'All Get Scared Now, Ya Hear! in 2001 and Son of Evil Reindeer in 2002.

In 2006 he was included in another musical collective, The Cake Sale, formed by Brian Crosby to raise funds and awareness for Ireland's Make Trade Fair campaign. He partnered with Lisa Hannigan to perform "Some Surprise", a song written by Bell X1's Paul Noonan. The song reached #5 on Irish charts as a radio/single release.

His most recent side project is Listen... Tanks!, a Napoleonic rock-band collaboration with Garret "Jacknife" Lee. One-time bandmate Iain Archer has been approached to contribute. The band's first full-length album was originally scheduled to be released in December, but recently was pushed back to Napoleon's birthday, April 20th, 2008 due to Lee working on a new R.E.M. record.

In addition to work on Snow Patrol and side-project material, Lightbody has also lent his voice and songwriting talents to the band Mogwai (one track on Rock Action).

[edit] Influences

The two albums Final Straw and Eyes Open were influenced by Lightbody's own infidelity and contains songs dedicated to his ex-girlfriend.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Personal life

Lightbody now resides in Glasgow, Scotland.

[edit] Equipment

[edit] Guitars

Lightbody mainly uses a Fender Telecaster 1972 Deluxe (Reissue) which has twin humbuckers. His guitars are known for the 'CELT' sticker on the body of the guitar.

His other guitars are:

• Gibson SG
• Fender Telecaster 1972 Thinline (Blonde/Reissue)
• Fender Telecaster 1972 Deluxe (Blonde)
• Fender Telecaster 1972 Deluxe (Black)
• Fender Telecaster USA Standard (Yellow)

[edit] Amplifiers

He mainly uses Marshall, but recently he has switched to Mesa Boogie Triple Rectifier Solo Heads and uses them with a Marshall 1960A Cab

His other amps are:

• Marshall JCM800 2203
• Marshall 3315 Transistor Amp

[edit] Effects

Lightbody uses Boss Floor Effects

His pedalboard consists of:

• Boss TU-2 (Tuner)
• Boss TR-2 (Tremolo)
• Boss CS-3 (Compression Sustainer)
• Boss SD-1 (Super Overdive) He uses two
• Boss GE-7 (Equalizer)

[edit] External links

• Snow Patrol
• The Reindeer Section