Drummer & Bassist Leave Snow Patrol As Tension Brews Between Bandmates
"We are heartbroken they have decided to leave us, but we wish them nothing but happiness."
Snow Patrol (Credit: Simon Lipman)
Snow Patrol fans are shocked following singer Gary Lightbody revealing that drummer Jonny Quinn and bassist Paul Wilson “decided to leave” the band.
“We are heartbroken they have decided to leave us, but we wish them nothing but happiness, success, joy, compassion and everything they want in all their future endeavours,” Lightbody wrote in an Instagram statement.
While Lightbody heaped praise upon Quinn and called him a “constant presence” since joining the band in 1997, Quinn’s wife Mariane hinted at tension within the band in the Instagram comments after a fan said the band wouldn’t be the same with the drummer’s departure.
“It’s been a fucker,” she wrote, per People. “Fucked by you know who.”
In a Belfast Telegraph article, Mariane thanked members Lightbody and Nathan Connolly for their time with her husband, but she notably didn’t mention backing vocalist, songwriter, producer and longtime partner of Courteney Cox, Johnny McDaid.
“I’m so incredibly proud of my husband, and it’s with very mixed feelings Jonny is announcing his departure from the band,” Mariane reportedly wrote on her private Instagram account, per the Belfast Telegraph.
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“So many amazing times, so many incredible people and experiences. I couldn’t have dreamt it. Sad the reason for leaving is not the best, but excited about what lies ahead.”
Snow Patrol returned to Australia in August 2019, when they embarked on a Live & Acoustic run performing all their hits, including Chasing Cars, Run and Open Your Eyes.
“It’s a difficult thing to command a room of this size with an entirely acoustic show, but Snow Patrol captivate the audience with raw emotion and comedic charm,” The Music reviewer Michael Prebeg wrote upon the band’s 2019 show at Melbourne’s Palais Theatre.
Music superstar Beck, watching them at the Sydney Opera House, remarked, “Gary Lightbody, you bastard.
“How dare you walk onto the stage at the Sydney Opera House and turn it into a family gathering? How dare you crack jokes and speak with that mellifluous Irish lilt in your voice and then slay the entire audience with your lyrics that speak of heartbreak, heartache and heartfelt moments of bliss and despair equally and often in the same breath?”
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