Snow Patrol Open Eyes

Snow Patrol's last two albums, 2003's Final Straw and 2006's Eyes Open, turned them into bona fide rock stars. Final Straw was certified quadruple-platinum in the U.K. on the strength of songs like "Spitting Games" and "Run," while Eyes Open sold more than 4.7 million copies worldwide.

This kind of success obviously resulted in extensive touring and at the end of the tour cycle for Eyes Open, the band decided they needed some time off.

Interestingly enough, they started taking music lessons during that time. Drummer Jonny Quinn says they not only improved their playing, but it helped them figure out what to do next.

"You end up playing the same songs for like two-and-a-half years, and you think, 'Where am I going to go from here?'

"We decided to just try and progress a bit. I think you can't really make a new album unless you sort of move on, and that's what we did. We moved on since the last album. So we took lessons. I ended up working with a guy who taught flamenco and different styles. You might notice it, but there's little bits in there."

When it came time to record their new album, A Hundred Million Suns, Snow Patrol had one goal in mind: they wanted to avoid the formula that made many of their past hits. Several things are different about their fifth album, and Quinn says he and his bandmates — singer/guitarist Gary Lightbody, guitarist/singer Nathan Connolly, bassist/singer Paul Wilson and keyboardist Tom Simpson — set out to give their fans a different taste of Snow Patrol on the disc.

"We don't quite know what we're creating until we're in the studio, and then it becomes what it is. But we decided not to go the route of 'Chasing Cars' and 'Run,' and we wanted to take the strings out of it and put in brass and other instruments instead. We've had two hits which were ballads, and we tried to avoid that this time. The new album was based around just avoiding ballads."

That also meant a change in songwriting approach for Lightbody. Snow Patrol have become known to a wider audience over the last few albums, which have been largely about break-ups. But Quinn says Lightbody found himself in a different mindset during the writing and recording of A Hundred Million Suns.

"He fell in love. He'd always been in the break-up over the last few albums, and it was almost like being optimistic [this time] and [this album] was about the happier side of things, rather than the down side."

Lightbody also recently became interested in science, which inspired the album title. Lightbody was reading a science magazine when he read the phrase "a hundred billion suns." Quinn says his bandmate liked the ring of it so much that he decided to twist it a bit and use it for the title.

"He thought a billion [suns] might be too many, but a million was quite good."

That Snow Patrol were trying to make the record a bit different should be readily apparent to listeners by the time they reach "The Lightning Strike," the album's 16-minute closer. In hearing that, one might be tempted to wonder if Snow Patrol have taken to writing "Shine On You Crazy Diamond"-length epic tracks.

"We're saying it's a 16-minute song, but it's really just three songs put together," explains Quinn. "But that's kind of a good marketing trick, 'cause people might think we've gone prog, but we haven't, really."

Although Snow Patrol don't have any dates lined up, the band plan to return to Canada to showcase both their new songs and old favourites. And while Quinn hopes fans enjoy A Hundred Million Suns, he's not too concerned with how well it sells.

"Even if this album doesn't do what Eyes Open did, like if it doesn't sell a few million, we don't care. What we want to do is make something we're really proud of and if it happens, it happens. We just need to be hard on ourselves and progress."