Nathan Connolly
Nathan Connolly (born 20 January 1981) is a Northern Irish musician, who is best known as the lead guitarist and backing vocalist for alternative rock band Snow Patrol. Early life. Connolly, who was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, sang for a gospel church choir at Glenmachan, Church of God, Belfast when he was 16, and the experience, he says, is what inspired him to be a musician. He is a former pupil of Grosvenor Grammar School. Music career. Prior to joining Snow Patrol, Connolly was a member of a band called File Under Easy Listening (or F.U.E.L), who  were managed by BBC Radio 1 DJ Colin Murray. The band consisted of Connolly, vocalist Aaron Ditty, Dave Magee and Peter Comfort. Unfortunately, it did not last long; the single "Closure/Dryform" was F.U.E.L.'s first and only release. While working at the record store HMV in Belfast, Connolly was introduced to the band Snow Patrol. He reluctantly agreed to join, despite the fact that the band had no record deal at the time. He jokingly recalls his mother thinking he "was being kidnapped by rock stars." Connolly became a permanent member of the band near the end of 2002 . His recruitment played a large role in shaping the band's new sound. With Connolly as a composer of the band's new material, Snow Patrol garnered a new record deal and released "Final Straw" in 2003. The album proved to be the band's breakthrough and helped introduce them to a wide audience. In late 2006, he talked about plans to record a solo album, which he said would be "melodic and tuneful". In 2013, Connolly formed his own side project called Little Matador. More recently Connolly played with Feeder live at the Isle Of Wight festival on Sunday  12 June 2016. He uses Jim Dunlop Tortex .60mm picks Equipment. Effects. Connolly uses a setup that is primarily rack based. His rack consists of the following: He uses various pedals for his overdrive and boost sounds. They change from time to time, but his consistent setup includes the following: He uses a Voodoo Labs Ground Control Pro controller to bring up presets for each of the band's songs, and has the ability to add/remove different pedals and changes in sound. He also uses a function in the TC Electronic G Major that allows him to switch  the channels on his Marshall Jubilee amp heads for his heaviest sounds. Connolly has a small pedalboard containing his ground control for the rack and various Boss pedals including a TU-2, PS-5, DD3, and RC-2. Personal life. Connolly lives in Crouch End, London, nearby bandmate Jonny Quinn.