Ireland was the Oxegen that fed early Snow Patrol and 25 years on they are still loving life on the road
Drummer Jonny Quinn says that the band’s passion for playing live to their fans is as strong as ever
Snow Patrol’s drummer Jonny Quinn has actually found himself dancing (in the dark) with Courteney Cox during a jamming session, which would certainly be an amazing pinch yourself moment for both fans of Bruce Springsteen and the TV sitcom Friends.
Jonny’s well used to hanging out with A-list stars, but even he would admit it’s really cool how the real life Monica Geller would invite them over to her plus LA home for improv sessions after she started dating bandmate John Mcdaid in 2013.
As he recounts Courteney accompanying them on her piano during their jamming sessions, you can’t help but think of her dancing on stage with The Boss in that memorable music video, or splashing around in the fountain with her co-stars during the opening credits of Friends.
Jonny told The Beat: “It’s surreal. But like anything else, if you get to know somebody, people are just people. She is really down-to-earth and we stay at here house a lot. She loves having people over.
“She’s a really good pianist actually. And she does loves having people around for a jam. She just loves hanging out with folks. She’s very down-to-earth for the A-list that she is. She comes to the gigs. It’s great.”
Another close mate these days is Ed Sheeran. During Snow Patrol’s long hiatus, Quinn and Mcdaid started up their own publishing company, with the latter co-writing a bunch of hit singles with Ed.
During Snow Patrol’s last major tour some seven years ago, Ed was just another up-andcoming act at the time and was thrilled when gifted the opportunity to support them on tour.
But fast forward to their comeback in
2017 and they found that the proverbial
(turn) tables had turned and they actually ended up supporting the Shape of
You hitmaker on his last
US tour.
“We joked about that,” he said, laughing. “So, when he said, ‘Do you want to support us?’ Having being away that long, we said: ‘Perfect. We need to get back and adjust ourselves to an audience again before our own tour’. It was good because we’re just about to go on tour and the whole US has sold-out. It helped.”
Jonny sensed from the get-go that Ed was going to be famous, but admits that he never anticipated him becoming this global
phenomenon.
“When he supported us in America we could tell something (big) was happening (with him). The gigs were sold-out, but these kids – 100 fans – would turn up at the fire exit and they’d need to get security because they were all looking for autographs and photos (of Ed Sheeran),” he recalled.
“So, you could tell it was a groundswell and it was starting to really pick-up. But to see him play stadiums was something that nobody expected. He hasn’t changed
at all. He’s still the same guy, which is good. It’s always good to hear that. But he really is.
“Johnny has written a lot with Ed. So, we’re always in touch with him. He’s ridiculous because he’s writing hit singles for so many other artists as well. He’s just a writing machine. It’s incredible.”
Unfortunately, in stark contrast, Snow Patrol’s 2018 album Wildness was a long and tricky challenge for singer-songwriter Gary Lightbody, who suffered from writer’s block and also grappled with alcoholism and depression.
Jonny told The Beat: “It wasn’t a deliberate (long) break. The thing with writer’s block is you can’t really put pressure on people with writer’s block because it just gets worse. So, we just had to wait really until Gary was ready.
“We had written a lot of songs. We had all the songs there and musically it was altogether – he just maybe wasn’t able to write about the things that he wanted, or had something to say. There was lots of different reasons. So, I think it was just a matter of waiting until that time.”
After a seven-year absence, Jonny is loving every moment of being back on stage.
“I hadn’t played a gig in six years. I hadn’t drummed even. I loved going to gigs and I missed going on stage because it’s in your blood.
It’s part of what you do,” he said.
“We couldn’t take anything for granted. It is quite nerveracking to come back and wonder if anybody cares. But, thankfully, they did. We did a UK arena tour, which nearly all soldout.
“We came back to a very different landscape. Streaming wasn’t a thing between those
years. We had to reintroduce ourselves, but we noticed (when) we played a lot of European festivals and audiences are quite young and some of them just have no idea who we are! That’s what happens. I wouldn’t recommend it for everybody, as a band.”
The music landscape isn’t the only thing that’s been radically shook up during the band’s hiatus. It would be remiss of The Beat not to ask such a high profile Northern Irish rock star for his thoughts on Brexit?
“Well, what a disaster! It’s the craziest thing that’s ever happened
in this country. I’ve always had an Irish passport; it is really handy – it means we can come and go. I feel for other bands and artists who are going to have some roadblocks here,” he proffered.
“Essentially, it could become like America where if you’re working there, earning money, you might have to apply for visas and pay for visas. And also for bands coming to the UK.
“Certainly in our world, it’s a real disaster. Nobody really knows what the rules will be, but you don’t want it to become like America where, at the moment, it costs thousands to get a visa just to play there. Then, it’s very hard for the new musicians coming up. I feel for them.”
A champion of the European Union, he also pointed out: “I think to suddenly close up the borders in this way is going backwards. And being able to travel around Europe the way we have, you took it for granted, but it really was a brilliant thing.
“I remember before the euro we used to have 20 currencies in you’re pocket when you came back from tour. And then when the euro came in you thought, ‘This is amazing’.
“Also, from Northern Ireland’s point of view there’s already been some troubles blamed on the harder boarder idea of Brexit. There’s nothing good about it. We’re obviously powerless to do anything about it, but I wish for a second referendum. But I don’t think that’s going to be possible. It’s not a positive move at all. There’s a whole lot of unknown about it.”
While Brexit nightmare drags on, hopefully, it won’t be another sevenyear itch for Snow Patrol fans when it comes to the band’s next album.
“No, definitely not,” he said, nodding. “Gary’s been writing a couple of songs, which are really good actually. I think once we stop (touring) we’ll probably take three or four months off and then we’ll work on the next record. I think about two years will be the maximum that we’ll take.”
The band plans to film their upcoming gig at Ward Park, Bangor on May 25, which is their first European date after their ongoing US tour.
“We’re putting a lot into that.we’re going to have like 20 cameras on that. It will be our last Ward Park (gig) as well. It’s an all-northern Irish line-up. So, it’s going to be a bit of a moment for us. And the BBC are going to put that out,” he said.
Another big highlight is their gig at Malahide Castle in June. Jonny pointed out that even before they cracked the Northern Ireland music scene, Snow Patrol “had bigger crowds in Dublin”.
He continued, “Ireland really took to us really early on. We’ve always had a good festival gig in Dublin, right back to Witness. We’d done the Phoenix Park. There was some big crowds there at Oxegen for us. It’s all been a good experience.”
Jonny never thought Snow Patrol would still be going strong after a quarter of a century.
“It’s ridiculous. When you start out in an indie band, 25 years is not the plan!” he concluded, laughing. “That’s for The Rolling Stones. We can’t quite believe it’s been that long.”
Long may it continue too…
lsnow Patrol play Malahide Castle on June 7