Snow Patrol frontman Gary Lightbody has spoken candidly of his own personal struggle behind the scenes of latest album Fallen Empires. Released to critical and commercial acclaim in November, Snow Patrol's sixth studio effort is arguably their most confident work to date, but for Lightbody, struck down with a severe bout of writer's block, it was far from an easy ride.

In the end it took a visit from Michael Stipe to help spur a creative shift.

"Michael is amazing, actually," says Lightbody. "He came in and listened to the songs that I had and really loved them. Before the writer's block came down I'd written about four songs. We'd done a bunch of music and I'd written lyrics to four of them and Michael came in and listened to those four, loved them, loved the words.

"I think he suggested that I change three words in all - which was a confidence boost in itself for me because I thought he was gonna come in and go, 'Ah, you'll have to start again'. Not that he'd be able to demand such a thing, but, you know, if his advice had been, 'I would scrap it', I probably would have scrapped it. Thankfully, he was very positive."

The full Olaf Tyaransen-conducted interview also sees Lightbody reveal just why the band decamped to America to write and record Fallen Empires, how their new location informed the themes of the album, his thoughts on single life and why he still enjoys playing 'Chasing Cars' every time he steps on stage. To read the entire discourse, pick up a copy of the brand new Hot Press Annual, in stores now featuring Mr. Lightbody on the cover.