hotpress.com has been talking to Snow Patrol about nearing the end of a hectic year of touring. Gary Lightbody says their clutch of Irish Christmas dates will bring the curtain down on their platinum shifting Final Straw album.

"Everybody wants us to go and start on the new album," he says. "We haven't had much of a chance to write even, not had any songs to add to the set. It's not that it's boring to keep playing the same songs but it is frustrating not having the time to write new ones. I can't really write on tour, I like to be in a darkened room on my own. On tour there's always too much to see and do."

Lightbody admits to a touch of the green-eyed monsters when he sees how other bands operate.

"I was very jealous when I heard that Franz Ferdinand had pretty much finished their next album," he vents. "I don't know how they did that. Different people find different ways. Perhaps after three albums in three years – one Snow Patrol, two Reindeer Section – people thought that I was prolific but that's nonsense. I need my own headspace."

As for whether going top 100 in the States has changed him, Gary sighs and says, "No, I'm still a fucking idiot."