Why us? Who knows, but after playing big venues across the world, Snow Patrol is doing a small-theater promotional tour for the new album, A Hundred Million Suns, including a Gothic Theatre date on Sunday that sold out instantly.

Nathan Connolly joined the Scottish-Irish band in 2003, just as it was poised for international success after nine years of struggling. With singer Gary Lightbody's ethereal lyrics and hypnotic voice, the band has had major worldwide hits with songs like Chasing Cars, Ran and You're All I Have. Connolly spoke from his home in London after wrapping up a similar promo tour in Australia.

Last time you played Red Rocks. Now you're doing the Gothic Theatre, which sold out in minutes. Why?

It's just to kind of say, "We're back," mostly to showcase the songs from the new record. Really just setting everything up. Next year we start hard-core touring. It'll be a year, 18 months. It's just nice to be back.

Is it difficult to keep fans' attention with all the competition out there?

We certainly do everything we can and work very hard. I guess no more than anybody else. I guess we've been fortunate enough to sell enough records on the last two records that we have a large fan base, pretty hard core. It's a struggle for everybody, with so much amazing music out there and record sales degrading.

Obviously the Internet helps everyone, but you're doing it more old-fashioned - recording, radio, touring.

We do. Touring is something that's very important to us. I guess it's partly the love of it, partly habit. The band's been together since 1994, so that was old school. At least three records were released in that climate. Things have changed obviously since the millennium. But it's something we really adore and something we would probably find hard to shake. It's who we are. We do try to keep up to date and move with the times as much as anybody. We still believe in the record, releasing the record and the power of touring.

You joined the band when it had just been dropped by its label. What did you see in them?

They were a functioning, working band, and that was a step up from where I was and a lot closer to where I wanted to be. They'd just gotten new management. I was playing in a band in Ireland that was making money and doing gigs and had one single, but (Snow Patrol) was solid and seemed to be going further. I was asked if I was interested in joining. Literally overnight I moved to Glasgow to try out. And I haven't left yet. . . . It just felt right. Eight months later we went in to record Final Straw. The rest is a wild blur of excitement and all the things that go with being in a rock band.

The band has a very clean, dry, recognizable sound. Is that Gary's voice? The production? The chords you're playing?

I think it's all those things. We'll always have our sound, especially with someone's voice as distinctive as Gary's. It's something we all try to improve upon and better. We try to get closer to the sound we hear in our heads, which is hard to do with five people with slightly different views on that. There's stuff we learn between each record. Your musicianship, songwriting ability changes hopefully for the better. Everything that (producer Garrett "Jackknife" Lee) learns in between the records we make with him, everything he brings to the table. I don't think there's one defining thing.

I read that band members took lessons before this album to get better on their instruments. True?

It's one Internet rumor that's true. It was a very simple reason: We needed to be better. We knew what type of record and how good we wanted it to be. The standard of record we wanted to make, we needed to be better musicians. Whether it was Gary working harder on his lyrics than ever before, or myself and (drummer) Jonny (Quinn) taking lessons. I spent four months working with a guitar tutor. I looked at other people's music and structures and patterns, getting rid of bad habits and getting more confident. As far as I'm concerned, it was incredibly beneficial and it was needed. When it came to making the record, I was much more happy, confident and freer to try things I couldn't have done before.

How does songwriting work? The lyrics are Gary's, the music is credited to the band members.

It changes depending on the song. Generally, the songs will come in some form, whether it's verse, chorus or melody or the bones of the songs. . . . (This time) we concentrated more on our instruments and our parts than the songwriting part. We'll kind of work on them together, turn them into a song. We spent six weeks in Prague recording, fleshing out the songs, working on them together. This time they weren't as complete as maybe before, which allowed us to be a little more experimental and freer and open to ideas.

How did you like playing Red Rocks?

It was an amazing day. Apart from the history, the legacy of amazing bands and musicians and artists who have played there, it was nice to be part of its history. We had a lot of fun. It was first brought to or attention, especially for a band from Ireland, when U2 played it. It was great to see it up close and in the flesh after seeing it on TV so many times.

Snow Patrol

* When and where: 8 p.m. Sunday, Gothic Theatre, Englewood

* Cost: sold out

* Information: gothic theatre.com