Embrace

Embrace are an English rock band formed in Bailiff Bridge, West Yorkshire, in 1990. 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 eight 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), Embrace (2014), Love Is a Basic Need (2018), and How to Be a Person Like Other People, which was released on 26 August 2022. History Origins and formation: 1990–1995 The small band began in a small outbuilding at the bottom of a garden in Bailiff Bridge in 1990. The McNamara brothers, with Richard playing guitar and Danny, started creating songs with the aid of a cassette recorder and, soon, a drum machine was added. An initial set of songs was written and dropped, then a second set of songs written. Mickey Dale soon joined them on keyboards. 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, Lady Bum, and Mesmerise. Eventually they settled on 'Embrace'. Richard was familiar with the American band Embrace, and thought it a good name, despite it having been used already. The band 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. Steve Firth joined the quartet in 1996, forming their current and permanent line-up. The Good Will Out: 1996–1998 The band then recorded a three track demo in a recording studio in Huddersfield, which was sold at concerts in cassette form. This now extremely rare demo consisted of the songs "Overflowing", "Say It With Bombs" and "Sooner Than You Think".