Interview: Johnny McDaid, Snow Patrol
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By Brittany Long
Having just completed a North American stadium tour with Ed Sheeran, and appearances at Lollapalooza in Chile and Brazil, the recently announced New Zealand and Australian shows will see Snow Patrol performing in a ‘Live and Acoustic’ mode. Getting back to their roots as a 3-piece featuring singer and guitarist Gary Lightbody, Johnny McDaid on guitar, piano and vocals and Nathan Connolly also on guitar and vocals. As a massive Snow Patrol fan, I was excited to jump on the chance to talk all things Snow Patrol with lead guitarist Johnny McDaid ahead of their upcoming Australian and New Zealand tour. We chatted everything from the Wildness album to the fan experience to the collaboration with Pink. Not to mention testing how quickly Johnny could give me his favourites in one minute; he absolutely nailed it in 30 seconds!
Fans can expect to hear some of their favourites from classic Chasing Cars to Run and inclusions from the newest release album Wildness. Which saw a return to the studio for the first time in seven years! After a little catch-up on where we were calling from and other pleasantries, we jumped straight into it, immediately diving into tour info and what fans can expect. This tour will be one not to be missed for sure.
So you’re returning to New Zealand for your live and acoustic tour, how are you feeling about that? Especially with it being the first in a decade?
Well, it’ll be the first generation of this acoustic setup, that we’re calling an acoustic setup to go anywhere around the world really. We did a few trials of South America, it’s a kind of a setup that we’ve been sort of putting together and building. So, it’s a little more, it’s a little bigger than just a normal acoustic setup, as far as we trigger beats and we have you know lots of stuff coming off the stage. But in effect, it’s really just three of us playing some songs, and we’re feeling really excited about it. It’s a really special way to present the songs and to play together.
It sounds absolutely amazing and I’ve literally woken up this morning to Australian tour dates so I’m like over the moon.
Oh good, yeah we are too. We’re really looking forward to going back there very much, very much so.
I’m a concert photographer as well so as soon as I saw those dates I was like ‘ooh yes media application time’ so hopefully you’ll see me in the pit.
Oh brilliant, well hopefully I get to say hello to you then when you’re in there.
Absolutely, that’d be amazing! So, what can fans like myself expect from this tour? How does it differ from anything you’ve done previously?
Well, we did something like this down in Australia before on our Fallen Empires Tour where Gary, Nathan and I went down and we played a few theatres down there. I say down there like you’re down there and I’m up here. Why do we do that, why do we say down there.
Haha yeah, I’ve got no idea either. So what will the setlist look like for the tour? Who has been in charge of putting that together?
Normally Gary will have kind of an idea about the arc of the setlist, but the great thing about doing shows like this is that it can be really dynamic and often people kind of show up with requests and we’ll kind of throw in a song we haven’t played before and we’ll wing it and kind of figure it out on the hop, which is quite interesting stuff. But it’s exciting and it keeps things really alive and that’s something we really love about this setup is that it is so, it’s such a flexible setup which means we can kind of do things on the hop. On the South American run, there was a guy in the crowd that said he could play Run, so we brought him up onstage and he played the song with us. It can happen, you never know what might go on. Our show is life Forrest Gump’s box of chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna get.
That’s incredible. I’m sure that’s a moment he will never forget, how special! I’ll put in my personal request now for my favourite Snow Patrol song ever, Chasing Cars yeah?
I’ve got a feeling that we’ll probably be doing that one anyway so if you wanna request something off of the beaten track, it’s uh, that one’s a bit of a given I think.
Where do you get the inspiration for your music? Does it come from your personal lives and experiences?
Well, whenever I get asked this question it’s always important for me for everyone to understand that the songs come from Gary. They’re from his heart, and his mind, and his life and you know our role in it is to support that and find ways to give light to his ideas, you know Gary writes the lyrics and the songs come from there. I think if you listen to the most recent record it’s really biographical, it speaks to a lot of people, it’s really from him and I wish I could speak with more specifics as to where they come from but the answer is Gary Lightbody.
Fair enough. So your 2018 release, the newest one Wildness was your first studio album in seven years! What was it like being back in the studio?
Yeah, it was exciting at times, it was scary at times, and most of the time it was really fun. You know, when you’re making a record and it’s been a long time you kind of have to find your way back. Start with who you are as a band and what makes you function, musically. Also you have to sort of explore new territory and put something of your DNA as a band into what you’re doing, but at the same time, show that there is more available and that was a reason for the break--a reason for us to be away--so that we could discover more about who we were and bring that back to the band.
Yeah absolutely, it’s a constant journey of self-discovery right. What’s your personal favourite song on the recent album?
I don’t have personal favourites for anything, I’m terrible with favourites because it feels like I’m excluding the rest of the songs. But there are, I’ll just name all of them and then that will leave you with absolutely no answer at all. But Life On Earth is a particularly special song because it was one of the first that sort of said to us as a band, you know ‘we can do this’, it was one of the first ones Gary had sent us as a demo album and said, here’s an idea. I remember when he finished the lyrics for it and sent them over. I read them and read them and read them. When I was listening to the demo and just thought, ‘yeah, yeah this is happening’. I think the songs themselves I do actually have, you know, a soft spot for all of them but in terms of the meaning of the song arriving for me personally, Life On Earth was a particularly special one.
Oh, beautiful. So, is there a particular message you’re trying to convey through your music, like above them just being really great songs? Like obviously you said they connect with different people in different ways?
People find resonance in their lives through whatever you put into the world and because whenever I think we put a record out, I think it’s the same for all of us, that connection to someone else, somewhere else, making something or doing something that resonated with something in you, or in us at the time. So that’s the hope really. That when you put a record out that there’s like a resonance, something that vibrates in the people that listen to it that say ‘wow there’s something with me in this’, there’s something kind of more realistically human about it than just a song. I think Gary is really great at that, at writing songs from his heart that reach many many other hearts out there. Then we get to play them and see it happen in live motion in front of us.
Yeah absolutely. So what sort of experience do you want your fans to have? Obviously, you want them to enjoy themselves and have a great time, but above that what do you want them to take away from coming to one of your shows?
There was a really special connected moment where for that moment, for that time, it was all that mattered, and that they can kind of escape from something, maybe outside and just be one. I say one, like with us and with themselves, with the person next to them and the person next to them and so on. It’s sort of a unity that happens I think very much in music, and very few other forms of art, where it’s as much about the crowd that is there than it is with the bands that are playing. I think we hold that as a really important thing that people feel that when they’re in the room, like this is not just us playing for you, this is us together making something happen in a room that’s different every night. The songs might have the same titles from show to show but they’re affected by everybody in the room, and there’s a real sense of connectivity that goes on there.
Yeah absolutely. It’s something pretty special, isn’t it? I’m a concert photographer but I’m also in a wheelchair, and you know once I’m in that photo pit photographing it doesn’t matter that I can’t walk or, nothing matters. Like there are people from all different walks of life at that show and like you said they’re just joined as one. It’s truly something so spectacular.
That’s such an inspiring reflection Brittany like that’s amazing. I love that you said that you feel that, it’s really great. It seems to me in my observation of it, that there’s a real truth in it, we are one in that moment.
Absolutely. Like you said you can’t find it anywhere else, and it doesn’t matter what show I go to, like I shoot all different types of music, even metal concerts where you generally wouldn’t expect that kind of atmosphere and vibe, and you know there’s people looking out for each other and it’s just such a positive experience and makes me really happy.
It is and it can be a really emotionally stirring experience as well. Like I really believe that it’s okay to be wherever you are emotionally, so whatever it is you’re feeling it’s fine, you’re just feeling it alongside a lot of other people feeling stuff. So, there’s a real collective atmosphere about it and, you know there’s no mistake, you can’t feel the wrong thing.
Yeah absolutely. So let’s take a different path now. I understand you co-wrote ‘What About Us’ with Pink what was that like? How did it come about?
Look, for a start, she is an extraordinary artist, person, and human being really. I’ve just been listening to her new record which is incredible
Are you hooked? I’m hooked!
I love it, absolutely love it. I really do, that Hurts 2B Human song it just breaks my heart. It’s just incredible.
Oh my goodness yes, I cry every time!
Haha, it actually did—it left me with a few well ups the other day when I was listening to it. Pink is somebody I’ve wanted to work with for a long time and we’d kept in touch and we met up socially. We met up just for a chat, we got on great so we arranged a point to work together, and we did, and What About Us was born. We did it with Steve Mac; a guy who I write with a lot, who is an incredible producer/ writer. Then Alecia/Pink and I went into his studio, and didn’t think about it too much and just, What About Us came out.
Wow, it’s literally like, Pink is one of the most inspirational people to me, both as a mother, a musician and just as a kickass human being! Like she’s as good as they get!
I think she’s that to a lot of people, and truly knowing her, she is, she’s the real deal, you know she’s real-life inspirational.
Yeah, I absolutely love her! Her Melbourne concert last year was the first time I’ve seen her, and that’s what made me fall in love with concert photography. So I credit that to her show.
Oh Brilliant, that’s so great!
If you could play/ tour with anyone onstage, dead or alive, who would you choose?
You know when I get asked this question I often have to go through all of them, the role of the people that interned me and people that have put me in records and coached me and I just get overwhelmed, like it’s an embarrassment of riches, the amount of choice I have there. But you know, if I get to talk to them on the side of the stage as well it would be John Lennon. If I get to do that then I would probably ask to play with John Lennon.
What would you ask him?
How the fuck did you do that?
Haha, pretty accurate I’d say. So I understand your favourite place to play is a hometown show. Do you prefer a more intimate venue with some of your closest fans, or a giant arena to thousands?
Well here’s the strange thing about hometown shows or going home, being in a band with Gary, he’s able to make big shows feel like intimate shows, and he’s able to make intimate shows feel like big shows. So I never think about the size of it, I think about the atmosphere, or what’s being created in there. .So I don’t have a preference over big or small, it doesn’t really matter to me if it’s got 200 people or it’s got 20,000 people, there’s something really excited about knowing that we can go to Thailand or Ireland, or around England or Europe and still play to that amount of people. It’s just crazy. We went and played in Belfast for a few nights there, and we’re about to go back and play Ward park, which is going to be the biggest show in Northern Ireland ever! And just to know that that amount of people still want to come and see us play and that we have the honour to be able to do that, is, it lifts your heart up. So it doesn’t matter how big but it’s really great when it’s worth it to people.
That in my eyes is a truly great musician, someone who can make even the largest of arenas still feel intimate. So let’s talk fan favourites. Your favourite movie, tv show, artist, ice-cream and Disney film.
Oh my God, I’ve gotta do this in a minute!
Haha yes, quick, fire them at me.
Oh alright, okay movie; The Name of the Father, icecream; vanilla, television show; currently, The OA, Disney film--uh what was a Disney film...is Bambi a Disney film?--that was a really good movie.
Haha, I don’t know, I second that though, it’s one of my favourite childhood movies, I cried every time.
Me too, from like 8 till 18, like every time I watched it with my sister. I told her not to tell anybody but I’ve just told you.
Amazing! Just to finish, have you got a message for fans ahead of your upcoming tour?
Come along and enjoy yourself and be wherever you are, and I look forward to seeing you and thank you for coming to see us.
Well, I’d love to take the chance to thank you so much for chatting with me this morning Johnny.
Thank you for taking the time to talk with me too, I really appreciate it.
Snow Patrol Live & Acoustic AUS/NZ Tour
Sunday 4 August, 2019 - Concert Hall, Perth
Tuesday 6 August, 2019 - QPAC Concert Hall, Brisbane
Thursday 8 August, 2019 - ASB Theatre, Auckland SOLD OUT
Saturday 10 August, 2019 - Palais Theatre, Melbourne
Sunday 11 August, 2019 - Sydney Opera House Concert Hall, Sydney
tickets via https://snowpatrol.com/shows/