Gary Lightbody to music and football. He is on the board of directors of the Oh Yeah Music Centre in Northern Ireland, a project set up to give young artists a place where they can share ideas and kick-start their music careers, as often is the trend of talent leaving the country from lack of appraisal. He supported young bands from Northern Ireland and involved them as support bands to shows of Snow Patrol's UK & Ireland Arena Tour of February–March 2009. Lightbody is one of the supporting voices for the growing music-scene in Belfast in Northern Ireland and once stated in
Tired Pony Tired Pony Tired Pony is a music supergroup consisting of Gary Lightbody, Richard Colburn, Iain Archer, Jacknife Lee, Peter Buck, Scott McCaughey and Troy Stewart. Lightbody formed the group out of his appreciation for country music, and has during the early planning phase described the group's music once as "country-tinged" but explained later that in the end the album's development turned out much more to Americana than country during the whole creative process in the studio. The group visited Portland, Oregon in January 2010 to record this debut album, which was produced by member Lee; "The Place We Ran From"