`One of the things about being a successful band is that you stop being cool." Danny McNamara, singer with Embrace, is thanking his lucky stars that his band is still not as big as Oasis. "In terms of success, all I care about is that we sell enough copies of the album so that we can afford to make the next one in a way which doesn't compromise our music."
When the five Yorkshire-men emerged in 1997 with the string-drenched single, All You Good Good People, Embrace were touted as the successors to Oasis. Three years on, and Embrace remain on the floppy fringes of the mainstream.
The Huddersfield band's second album, Drawn From Memory, may not outsell Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants, but it certainly outshines Oasis's rather pedestrian opus. Drawing its influences from such varied sources as soul, r & b Bluenote jazz, Nick Cave and, ahem, Simon & Garfunkel, Embrace have served up a lush, passionate platter.
"We just tried to turn all that hype into news as quickly as possible," recalls McNamara.
He is relieved that the initial Embrace hype died down pretty quickly, leaving the Huddersfield quintet to their own musical devices. The result is that Drawn From Memory isn't saddled with unrealistic expectations; the first single, Hooligan, arrived without fanfare, but showed that Embrace were still in rude health. The album demonstrates that not only are Embrace getting better, they're also putting some soul into their rock 'n' roll.
"I think there's a willingness to be honest in what we write, which kind of implies that we're soulful. I kind of shrink away from the use of that word "soul", 'cos it kind of goes hand in hand with worthiness and sweat-equals meaning and stuff like that. But describing what you're doing is kind of like trying to catch water in a net."
Having pronounced Embrace the Next Big Thing, the UK music press did a sudden about-face and declared the band to be overrated, going so far as to pour scorn on McNamara's singing ability.
"The music press put you on a pedestal and then burn you for daring to look at the view," he says. "How it works is, all the people who love you write about you first. And gradually, you run out of people who love you and you get the people that hate you. You've just got to ignore it, and concentrate on writing good songs. At the end of the day, no-one has ever erected a statue to a music critic."
Embrace haven't yet reached statuary levels, but they're certainly carving away.
Embrace play Dublin Castle on Saturday April 29th.
