Gary Lightbody at the Tay Hotel. Along with Lightbody, friends Roy Kerr, Tom Simpson, and Anu Pillai also used to DJ there. They mixed up various styles of music as house, rock, and hip hop. They gained a loyal following and socialised together for about two years. Lightbody later co-wrote "What Are You Waiting For" on the album "Strangest Things", with Anu Pillai for Freeform Five. "What Are You Waiting For" was written before Snow Patrol released "Final Straw", during a time when Lightbody was staying over at the band's place for a few days. Pillai had to literally drag a hungover
Take Back the City by "Crack the Shutters". At the time of the release of the album, SP.com posted a section featuring lead singer and lyricist Gary Lightbody discussing the new songs, which was initially a Lightbody interview to RTÉ. About "Take Back the City", he said that though the song was inspired by Belfast and Northern Ireland in general, it applied to every other city and the relationship its inhabitants have with it. He said that it's "about the reasons why I grew up confused by my country and the reasons now why I love it so". Lightbody, who grew up in Belfast