Embrace – Interview

There isn’t enough music in the world today that manages to truly elevate the listener with its epic intentions and heartfelt emotions, but Embrace want to change all that. The Anglo five-piece specializes in crafting the kind of unforgettable songs that adroitly balance a profound sense of personal intimacy with anthemic hooks and sweeping choruses. Blending the fervent optimism of U2 and the majesty of The Verve, Embrace wants everyone to be singing along and still feel like the songs were written just for them.

We interview frontman singer and lead guitarist Danny McNamara.

HIP ONLINE: Who did you grow up listening to? I ask because the songs you write are epic in nature. You seem to really have these great expectations of music.

DANNY: When I sit down to write a song they are all very small and intimate and gentle. When I play them on acoustic guitar, piano, and singing them to myself they are intimate. But when I play them with the band they become this wall of sound. I’ve always liked Phil Spector and bands that followed that with the wall of noise. I like to create big sonic structures with guitar. I’ve always had those in my head. I remember the first time we were in the studio on a demo and we thought a piece need a string section. So the guy in the studio rang up Mick, who has since become our keyboard player, and we gave him a half hour while I took a nap next door. I came back and all the big strings were on it and it was amazing. Mick is a very good arranger. It probably comes from there.

It’s amazing how it starts intimate and becomes ambitious. Even your voice.

It just comes out that way. My voice is quite vulnerable. I don’t want it to sound too bombastic. I like to sing to people not at them.

And you guys don’t do that “Hey Jude” whole eight minute thing. You fit an epic sound into a single. Is writing a natural thing?

I don’t know. I guess its natural, but it is difficult. It took three years to write the album. We spent a lot of time tearing our hair out. When we got dropped from Hud Records it was a bit of a wake-up call really. We realized that we had to raise the bar a bit and try harder and burn brighter. We had about five-hundred song ideas before we had the album which had ten songs on it. I wouldn’t say it comes naturally, but it feels like the right things to do.

Listening to “Ashes” it reminds me of those tracks that build and build and it sounds natural and intimate. It almost seems impossible that you wrote that alone.

That original version of that came from a piano led gospel song and Mike stuck a four-to-the- floor drum beat under it. That changed it.

Was there ever a time after being dropped by the record label where you thought it was all over?

Yeah, at one point three of us had to get day jobs. It did get quite desperate. There were times when we were individuals where we felt like jacking it in. Usually when I would feel down then Richard would feel up and we’d drag each other through it. We also felt like there was unfinished business. The first releases showed promise and we felt we never really delivered on that. Even if the record sold only twenty records we wanted to do that. We just worked our asses off. We got a stroke of luck and the stars must have aligned because so many things began to happen in our favor.

So many people would have packed it in.

Only a handful of bands ever come back from that. There is the rare band that has been taken down and able to get back up again. We feel obligated now not to let people down because we’ve been given this second chance. This time around we are enjoying it a lot more. We aren’t as worried now about what’s over the next hill. We are enjoying the ride. It’s much more fun.

How has it been touring when you had the 9-to-5 job thinking it was all over and now you are doing what you love again?

It’s been amazing. The venue we are playing at when we get back from America is in front of twelve-thousand people. We are also playing Millennium Square. We always wanted to do it but were never a big enough band. When my manager showed me the venue I thought there was no way we were going to sell it out and it ended up selling out in four hours and we had to add another night. Every time I guess how well things are going to go I always under-judge it. If you would have told me nine months ago we’d be on the Top of the Pops, have a double platinum album, and touring across America I’d have never believed it. But that is what’s happening.

That is the crazy thing about the rock ‘n’ roll dream. It can happen.

It can. (Laughs)

You didn’t sound very confident about being a good singer. Did you just end up in it?

I’m not a good singer. I feel like I’m a songwriter first and singer second. I feel like I write good lyrics and melodies. I always prefer the Carole King versions of songs rather than the Motown versions. I like the singer doing their song.

You really feel it when the songwriter sings it because they have it in their soul.

That is to me what it is about. It’s about that feeling when you are singing. I guess some people get it and some don’t.

What’s the plan for the summer?

We are going to keep coming back to America. We love it here. It’s a dream come true for me. When we walk on it’s a cheer and when we walk off it’s a massive cheer. It’s so satisfying. I actually prefer it to headlining really. I really like it out here. I prefer touring across America than across Europe.

+ Charlie Craine