The band continued rehearsals during their Christmas break at Morrison’s family home in Belfast. Using equipment borrowed from The Dominoes (Morrison’s father Bill Morrison’s band) Shrug gained more live experience at this time playing at local venues such as The Duke of York, The Front Page, Robinsons and The Bear in Holywood.
On their return to Dundee they promptly recorded their first self funded demo, “The Yogurt vs Yogurt Debate”, recouping some of the costs through sales to fellow students and sending copies out to an array of record labels across the country. Approximately 250 of these tapes were put together at the time, with cover artwork designed by Colin Maguire and an inner insert added by the band.
Shrug continued to play gigs in and around Dundee and Belfast during 1995, and it wasn’t long before they came to the attention of Jeepster records in London. Gary, Mark and Michael signed a 5-year management contract with Jeepster who soon set about trying to get record company interest from some of the major labels. Also signed to Jeepster around this time was "Rhode Island", a Scottish act who would soon change their name to "Belle and Sebastian".
With help from Jeepster, Shrug recorded two further demo tapes in 1995 and 1996, including an early version of what would become Snow Patrol’s first single release, “Starfighter Pilot.” Unlike the previous tape, however, these were not sold but instead distributed to record companies such as Sony and Geffen. In addition, they began to play more high profile gigs across Scotland and Northern Ireland. The band played a few gigs with another Northern Irish band, "Disraeli Gears" and Lightbody befriended their front man Iain Archer and drummer Johnny Quinn.
Around November 1996, as record company interest continued to grow, the band changed their name to Polar Bear to avoid potential legal complications with an American band that had claimed the name Shrug. A month later, Morrison suffered a breakdown. Richard Colburn from Belle and Sebastian filled in on drums until Johnny Quinn upped sticks, moving from Belfast to take Morrison’s place in the band in Dundee. The band’s first commercial release, "Starfighter Pilot" followed a few months later, and by 1998 they would be known as Snow Patrol.