SNOW Patrol singer Gary Lightbody has started another band as a side project and plans to release his first tracks next year.
Gary, who is currently in the middle of a UK and Ireland tour, has collaborated with producer and remixer, Garret Jack Knife Lee.
Grammy Award-winner Lee produced Snow Patrol's 2004 album Final Straw and this year's bestseller Eyes Open and has also remixed U2, Christina Aguilera and Eminem.
Gary reckons the new group will be more folky than Snow Patrol.
He said: "It's called Listen Tanks. It's me and Jack Knife Lee.
It's a strange, little, dark, country, folkish beast. It'll be out next year."
Gary also admitted, in a spookily accurate psychic moment, that when he was young he imagined singing in front of a packed crowd at Wembley Arena.
Gary, who played Glasgow's SECC over the weekend, said: "We are flabbergasted by the upcoming arenas we are about to play. The shows on this run of dates include venues we've dreamt of playing since before the band was formed.
"In fact, I recall a tennis racketmirror scenario as a kid growing up in Bangor, County Down, in which I imagined myself playing to a packed Wembley Arena.
At that time I was no doubt lead-soloing along to AC/DC's Back in Black or Destroyer by Kiss and projecting myself into the giant shoes of Ace Frehley or the short-panted school uniform of Angus Young."
Gary, who almost missed his Belfast gig this week due to thick fog, claims his US radio trip was gruelling and he is happy to return home in time for Christmas.
He said: "The American radio trip was gruelling as there was a lot of ground to cover in a short period of time.
"It's a warm feeling indeed to return to our hearth in the UK and Ireland once more."
After an incredible year, which has seen the band wow audiences around the globe, Gary says he's glad he never knew how successful he'd be.
Snow Patrol were nominated for a Grammy Award for their song Chasing Cars in the Best Rock songs category alongside Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and the Killers.
Gary said: "It's an American Award and nothing makes that more apparent than looking at how the other nominees have shaped American music past and present, so it does make the inclusion of an Irish rabble, such as we, all the sweeter and more unusual."
He added: "We have been touring in the UK and Ireland for over a decade now.
"But longevity is no guarantee of progression.
"To tell the youthful me that it would one day happen for real and I'd be playing self-penned songs, may well have induced coma and therefore, ironically, scupper the chances of such an event ever taking place.
"I am glad I never took any of this for granted as the childish wonder I had then is still within me and I relish all this now as much as any kid."
Gary also took the chance to lavish some praise on Daniel Craig, whom he describes as his "favourite Bond".
He said: "Those who doubted him because of his hair colour won't go hungry this winter, what with all the humble pie they'll have stocked up.
"Craig has been stunning in many films and it's about time he broke out as a dynamic Hollywood leading man.
"I've also recently found out he may be playing Lord Asriel in the film adaptation of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials and I'm vibrating with excitement about that.
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