Mark McClelland

Mark Peter McClelland (born 30 March 1976 in Belfast, Northern Ireland) is a musician from Northern Ireland, known best as the former bass guitarist with the band Snow Patrol. McClelland is a recipient of the Ivor Novello Award for his work on the album, Final Straw. He is now the bassist for alternative act Little Doses.

Career

Mark McClelland was born on 30 March 1976, and attended Sullivan Upper School as a youngster. In 1994, he started attending the University of Dundee to study Financial economics. During his first year, he founded the band Shrug with Michael Morrison and Gary Lightbody. Morrison left the band in 1995 and with new drummer Jonny Quinn, they became Polar Bear and eventually Snow Patrol. On 9 July 1998, McClelland graduated with first class honours and was one of the only three students to graduate in the course that year. Additionally, he was the only student to graduate in first class for that course that year. A few weeks later, Snow Patrol released their first studio album Songs for Polarbears (a reference to previous band name Polarbear) under Jeepster. In 2001, the band released their second studio album When It's All Over We Still Have to Clear Up. During this time, McClelland was also a member of The Reindeer Section, a Scottish ensemble started by band mate Lightbody. He also featured on Iain Archer's album Flood The Tanks and Cut La Roc's eponymous debut album, playing the song "Post Punk Progression" with Snow Patrol.