Snow Patrol mainman Gary Lightbody has admitted his desire to enter the world of parenting.

Lightbody, who is 35, told the Sunday Mail that he's starting to feel like the time is right to swap rock and roll for fatherhood. He said:

"Is everyone's state of being not centred around love, loss and longing? In my case, it's still very much so. I'm a single man. I'm 35. Everybody that I know including my sister is having children. As much as I adore my niece, my godchildren and the children those around me are having, I want kids of my own. Thank God I'm calming down because I wouldn't want to be in one of those bands who disappears up his own a******e."

Lightbody added that he reckons he's matured a bit since starting the band back at university in 1994. He said:

"I'd love to say as the years have passed I've become more mature. There is also the element of the kid still in there because I never had a proper job. I'm prone to bouts of lunacy still, but much less so than at previous times in my life. I have calmed down a whole heap actually, not drinking anywhere near as much - just the odd night now and again - and staying well away from drugs."