Embrace (English band)

Embrace
Embrace playing live in Leeds in 2005
Background information
Origin	Bailiff Bridge, West Yorkshire, England
Genres	Post-Britpop, indie rock, alternative rock, Britpop (formerly)
Years active	1990–2006, 2011–present
Labels	Fierce Panda, Hut, Virgin, Mobetta, Independiente, Cooking Vinyl
Website	http://www.embrace.co.uk
Members	Danny McNamara Richard McNamara Steve Firth Mike Heaton Mickey Dale

Embrace are an English alternative rock band from Bailiff Bridge, West Yorkshire. To date they have released six studio albums, one singles album and one B-sides compilation. The band consists of brothers singer Danny McNamara and guitarist Richard McNamara, bassist Steve Firth, keyboardist Mickey Dale and drummer Mike Heaton. The group have released six studio albums – The Good Will Out (1998), Drawn from Memory (2000), If You've Never Been (2001), Out of Nothing (2004), This New Day (2006) and Embrace (2014).

The band began in a small outbuilding at the bottom of a garden in Bailiff Bridge in 1990. A bass player joined the McNamara brothers, Richard playing guitar and Danny singing (into an upturned broomstick at the early stages). The three of them started creating songs, with the aid of a cassette recorder, and soon a drum machine was added. An initial set of songs was written, then dropped and a second set of songs written. A cassette fourtrack was used to make an initial demo in a house in the Hyde Park area of Leeds.

After various auditions, drummer Mike Heaton joined the band. A period of consolidation of existing songs and writing of new ones followed. It proved hard to settle on a name, so gigs were initially performed from 1992 onwards under one-off names; Curious Orange, Christianne F, Shimmer and Mesmerise. Eventually they settled on the name 'Embrace'. Richard was familiar with the American band of the same name, and thought it a good name, despite it having been used already. The bass player wrote a letter to seek approval from Ian Mackaye who replied that it was alright for the English band to use the same name, though he said that it could possibly cause some confusion.