Embrace the moment says chart-topping rocker
May saw Embrace drop a ninth successive UK Top 10 album in the shape of the soul-searching Avalanche. Frontman Danny McNamara believes it might be the band’s most authentic work yet.
It might have taken the best part of half a century but Danny McNamara, the evocative voice of chart-topping indie rockers Embrace, admits he’s finally coming out of his shell. Fatherhood, the passing of time and a determination to ‘live in the moment’ have all contributed to a shift in perspective and a change of outlook. Danny is a man — and a musician — making up for lost time.
“More and more I’ve found myself living with the idea that I don’t know what the answers are,” he admits. “It’s an uncomfortable place for an artist to be but it’s the only authentic place to be. You really don’t know.
“I’ve embraced that authenticity and found myself wanting to live in the moment. That’s the big lesson underpinning Avalanche. I’ve got two children under the age of eight and kids just don’t know how to live in the future. They can’t think three seconds into the future, let alone three months or three years.
“And so if, as a dad, I want to be present with my kids then I also have to live in the moment. Initially, it can be a very difficult place to be.
“As an artist, I’m very internal. I’m often thinking about my lyrics or wherever it is I’m going. And it’s very rare — or it was — that I’m actually in the moment. My family has forced me to come out of my shell.
“As a result, I’ve experienced all of these little moments — a lot of joy but also some darker stuff. I’ve seen things that I was previously oblivious to.
“It feels like I’m a blind person who’s just had the veil lifted. All this stuff has bombarded me and has come at me like an avalanche. And that’s why the new album feels more inspired — ironically by not trying to find songs and not chasing after songs internally but just by living in the moment and living life.
“I’ve never felt more inspired and more songs have ended up coming my way.”
Danny sounds like a songwriter reborn but that’s not to dismiss what’s gone before. Number one albums The Good Will Out, Out Of Nothing and This New Day are canonical releases revealing a band that’s always had a happy knack for producing mainstream rock with emotional heft. Avalanche is the sound of growth, maturity and bold reinvention. And yet for Danny it feels like a full circle moment, rather than something entirely new.
“I’m as near to the flame of creativity as I’ve ever been,” he adds. “Quite often a certain smell can take you back to when you were a teenager or when you first fell in love.
“Songs do that as well. When I was working on this one song called Get Out Of My Own Way, for the new album, it took me back to when I was writing [debut Top 40 single] Fireworks.
“I could almost smell the dust on the Neve desk in London’s Metropolis Studios where we recorded the piano. It took me back so clearly. So I feel like I’m really close to the source of the good stuff, more so than I’ve been for a really long time.”
Following a run of summer festival dates, Danny and the band take Avalanche on the road in the autumn — the band’s UK headline tour hits Newcastle’s NX on November 12.
It’s an opportunity for the longstanding line-up to celebrate 30 years together and a chance to dig deep into the unique chemistry that’s underpinned Embrace’s evolution from West Yorkshire wannabes to world renowned artists.
“We weren’t really Embrace until there was the five us, when Steve [Firth, bass] joined the band,” explains Danny. “That was in 1996 and that’s when we got our first record deal.
“We’ve also had the same manager for all of that time. And I can only put that down to the fact that we all really respect each other and understand what it is that each individual brings to the chemistry and how important that is for it all to work.
“We’ve had arguments and stuff but we’ve never got on better than we do now. We’re all such close old friends now.
“But there has to be yin and yang. If there’s no creative tension then there’s going to be no creativity. You should have heated arguments in the studio because if you feel passionately about anything, it’s going to get heated.
“But the arguments that we have in the studio are all about the art. They’re not about personalities. I think that that’s an important distinction.
“I care so massively and passionately about Embrace and the records that we make. The person who cares probably second most in the whole world is my brother [Richard, lead guitar]. He’s not far behind me.
“He’s maybe an inch behind me. I know that no one else feels like he feels about the same stuff. So if we have a disagreement, I’ll really listen to him and he’ll really listen to me. We’ll sort it out.”
If Embrace are often mentioned in the post-Britpop conversation then Danny’s no fan of so-called ‘scenes’ or genres. “The whole idea of a scene just feels weird to me,” he adds. “How do you define the so-called Manchester scene? The Smiths are nothing like Oasis and Oasis are no New Order. But they’re thrown together because of where they come from. Regional identity is important but it should never define a band or an artist.
“There are things that those bands have in common. But the whole point about being an artist is that you’re seeing things idiosyncratically and from your own, unique viewpoint. “You’ll have things in common with other people from down the road but the thing that people come to you for is the exact opposite of a collective viewpoint.”
That’s why Danny delights in the songwriting and success of Sam Fender. “It’s fine to be proud about where you’re from,” he adds. “And I love that about Sam.
“He’s helped to put Newcastle and the North East back on the map. Sam’s an absolutely genius songwriter and has a fantastic voice. And if he’s managed to inspire loads of people, which great artists always do, then that’s a wonderful thing.”
It’s the thing Embrace — with their thundering rockers and heartfelt ballads — always aspired to do. That they’re still doing it three decades down the line is a testament to the talent, self-belief and sheer determination at the heart of a band that refuses to compromise.
“All I would say to anyone starting out in this industry is make the most of the journey from day one,” adds Danny. “Burn as brightly as you can doing what makes you different to the rest. Don’t chase after what’s fashionable or what you’re being told is the future. Just follow what you think is great and find your people.”
Avalanche is out now. Embrace play Newcastle’s NX on November 12 and tickets are available here.