{"id":143296,"date":"2025-03-19T08:14:50","date_gmt":"2025-03-19T08:14:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/entertainment\/art\/steve-firth-from-embrace-picturing-the-band\/"},"modified":"2025-03-19T08:14:50","modified_gmt":"2025-03-19T08:14:50","slug":"steve-firth-from-embrace-picturing-the-band","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=143296","title":{"rendered":"Steve Firth from Embrace: Picturing the band"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n
\"Steve<\/p>\n

Uni days: Steve in leather jacket behind me<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Visit Duncan Grant\u2019s gallery<\/a><\/p>\n

I first met Steve in 1983 in my first week at college in Liverpool. He was studying Geography\u00a0 (and then later Psychology, the History of Art and Fine Art) and I was studying geology. I think probably because our names were close in the alphabet we ended up in the same accommodation.\u00a0 Turned out we shared exactly the same birthday, but I don\u2019t think that had much to do with anything.<\/p>\n

We knocked around with the same group of friends and in our second and third years, Steve lived in a house with a cellar that we painted up and used to rehearse our band. There was Pete on guitar, Jez on keyboards, Dicky on drums, Steve playing bass and me doing vocals. I can\u2019t remember the name of the band\u00a0 but we did a couple of college gigs.<\/p>\n

For me, that was the beginning and end of my career in music. Steve on the other hand went on to much bigger things and now, since lockdown, he\u2019s taken up his art again, painting pictures featuring the rock band he\u2019s played in for twenty-five years now \u2013 the mighty Embrace.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Steve<\/p>\n

Steve playing in Embrace<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Early influences
<\/strong>Steve Firth grew up in Halifax, listening to John Peel on the radio.<\/p>\n

\u2018My era is the early punk stuff,\u2019 he says. \u2018I was listening\u00a0 to bands like\u00a0 The Damned, Buzzcocks <\/em>and The Clash. <\/em>When I was about 15\u00a0 went to see\u00a0Stiff Little Fingers. <\/em>They looked really cool in their skinny tight pants with zips everywhere\u00a0 and I thought, I want to be on stage doing that.\u2019<\/p>\n

Steve persuaded his mum to but him an electric guitar.<\/p>\n

\u2018I thought you\u2019d just plug it in and it would be all big and distorted and I\u2019d sound like The Sex Pistols,\u00a0<\/em>but it sounded terrible!\u2019 Steve laughs. \u2018There was no internet in those days to learn from and I knew nobody that knew anything about music. My mum bought me a music book but it was all Skip to My Lou My Darling<\/em> and stuff like that, and I wanted to play\u00a0Anarchy in the UK.\u00a0 <\/em>Anyway, I kept it up for a few years. I was in a band at school but I never really took it seriously.<\/p>\n

\"Steve<\/p>\n

Steve playing in Embrace<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

By the time he got to college, Steve was into post-punk and goth rock, listening to bands like Birthday Party <\/em>and\u00a0The Mission\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018Everyone at college liked different music to me, and they wouldn\u2019t listen to mine,\u2019 he remembers. They started playing me Pink Floyd\u00a0<\/em>and a bit of prog rock. So I started to like\u00a0Pink Floyd,\u00a0<\/em>which I still do now, to be fair.\u00a0 I was in a couple of bands there\u00a0 but I was still only really playing at it. We didn\u2019t really knew what we were doing and we never got to the studio or played any proper gigs.<\/p>\n

Post-college blues
<\/strong>After college, Steve needed to get a job and with nothing doing in Halifax, he went with a friend down to Crawley, where he found work straightaway, in a warehouse near Gatwick Airport.\u00a0 But after a year of living in friends\u2019 garages and camping out in gardens, he popped home to Halifax to see his mum and never went back.<\/p>\n

\u2018I got a part-time job there, which became permanent and before I knew it, six or seven years had gone by and I wasn\u2019t doing what I wanted to do,\u2019 he says. \u2018During that time, I played in a punk band that did covers and some of our own stuff. I remember doing a gig in a pub in Halifax and it looked as if we had about fifty\u00a0 people watching us, but there were two TV screens above our heads with the boxing on, and everyone was watching that and we were just an annoyance. So I gave that up and I decided that was it.\u2019<\/p>\n

\"Steve<\/p>\n

Steve Firth: Danny<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The cat, the suit and the wardrobe
<\/strong>In 1994, Steve was looking at the small ads in the local free paper.\u00a0 His cats had ripped up his work suit while he was asleep and he needed a cheap wardrobe to put his clothes in. Glancing through the music ads, he came across a band looking for a bass player.<\/p>\n

\u2018It was influences The Smiths, Stone Roses, Pixies, <\/em>Nirvana <\/em>all the bands I was into at that time,\u2019 Steve remembers. \u2018And they were literally just half a mile up the road, so I gave them a ring and went to see Danny [McNamara]. He got out his guitar and played me a load of songs, demos they\u2019d done in the studio and I thought, \u201cthis guy is serious, he knows what he\u2019s doing\u201d. So I picked up my bass and joined in, and that was the start of it. I was in the band.\u2019<\/p>\n

It was two years later before Steve did his first gig with\u00a0Embrace.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018At that point, the band hadn\u2019t recorded anything,\u2019\u00a0 Steve explains. \u2018 They sounded a bit like Echo and the Bunnymen,\u00a0<\/em>which was good. But they\u2019d done a couple of gigs and got some bad reviews saying they were the lowest common denominator of all the bands they were influenced by, so they were like, \u201cOK, we need to go away and write some proper songs and find an identity\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"Steve<\/p>\n

Steve Firth: Rick 3<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

They worked really hard.<\/p>\n

Steve remembers travelling to Leeds to rehearse three evenings a week after work, and later at the weekend too, while the band worked on new songs and reinvented itself. Finally, they made a demo tape , got hold of a copy of Music Week\u00a0<\/em>from the library, and contacted some agents. They got a lot of interest, and after spending a couple of days in London visiting them all, Embrace\u00a0<\/em>decided to go with Coalition<\/em> Management<\/em>\u00a0and met Tony Perrin, who still manages the band today.<\/p>\n

Tony Perrin set about contacting record companies and the band did three showcase gigs at iconic live music venue, the Duchess of York<\/em>, in Leeds.<\/p>\n

\u2018About a dozen record companies came to see us play,\u2019 Steve says. \u2018Butch Vig even came over from America to see us, because there was a real buzz about us at this stage. We weren\u2019t very good really but they saw the potential and at that time, everyone was looking for the next Oasis.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

The band signed with Hut Records,\u00a0<\/em>part of the\u00a0Virgin\u00a0<\/em>group.<\/p>\n

\u2018Hut had\u00a0 Placebo<\/em>, Smashing Pumpkins<\/em>, Gomez<\/em> \u2013 all these bands that were kicking off at the same time, so it was a hip label to be with,\u2019 Steve explains. \u2018David Boyd was in charge and there can\u2019t have been a much more successful person than him in the music business at the time.\u2019<\/p>\n

T<\/strong>he first three albums<\/strong>
\"\"In June 1998, Embrace <\/em>released their debut album\u00a0The Good Will Out, <\/em>which went to number 1 in the UK Album Chart. It\u00a0 went gold immediately and became the fastest-ever-selling debut albums by a British band, going on to sell over half a million copies in the UK. Soon the band were touring in Europe, Thailand and Japan.<\/p>\n

\u2018We didn\u2019t expect that,\u2019 Steve laughs. \u2018No-one expects that. You hope for it, but just to get in the charts was a massive thing.\u2019<\/p>\n

Their second album, Drawn from Memory, was released in <\/em>\u00a02000. It was well received by the music press and reached number 8 in the UK Album Chart .<\/p>\n

\u2018That album was\u00a0 a bit more eclectic than the first one, because we thought the first one didn\u2019t show off the band as well as it could have done \u2013 we thought we were more interesting than that,\u2019 Steve says. \u2018But we took too long over it. In those days, everyone was pushing us to keep up the impetus, telling us you can\u2019t be off the radio for too long or everyone will forget about you and someone new will replace you.\u2019<\/p>\n

\"Embrace:<\/p>\n

Embrace: Early press shot<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

While they were touring Drawn from Memory<\/em>, Embrace<\/em> were supported in Blackpool by emerging band, Coldplay <\/em>who, later, also supported them at Glastonbury.<\/p>\n

\u2018In those days, we used to get hundreds of tapes from bands that wanted to support us,\u2019 Steve explains. \u2018Danny used to religiously listen to them all. He got this tape from Coldplay<\/em> and offered them the support slot in Blackpool. We thought they were really good, that they\u2019d have a career at least and get a few albums out. We never thought they\u2019d be one of the biggest bands on the planet, just about!\u2019<\/p>\n

In 2017,\u00a0Coldplay <\/em>returned the favour, offering\u00a0Embrace\u00a0<\/em>the main support slot when they played to 80,000 people at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.<\/p>\n

Drawn From Memory\u00a0<\/em>was followed in 2001, by\u00a0Embrace\u2019s <\/em>third studio album,\u00a0If You\u2019ve Never Been. <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018That\u2019s my least favourite album,\u2019 Steve says. \u2018It\u2019s too sleepy \u2013 sounds as if it needs a good kick up the arse! But it was really a reaction against the criticism we received for the second album. The music press called it \u201cschizophrenic\u201d. We thought that maybe that was why it didn\u2019t do so well, so we did something that was a little bit more chilled.<\/p>\n

The album reached number 9 in the charts.<\/p>\n

\u2018Normally, if you got to number 9, you\u2019d be well pleased, wouldn\u2019t you?\u2019 Steve asserts. \u2018But that wasn\u2019t good enough for the record label and they dropped us.\u2019<\/p>\n

\"Steve<\/p>\n

Steve Firth: Rick 4<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u2018The biggest comeback since Lazarus\u2019<\/b>
Being dropped by Virgin <\/em>didn\u2019t worry Embrace\u00a0<\/em>as much as it might have.<\/p>\n

\u2018Rick [McNamara] had bought a farmhouse with a derelict barn, which the band converted into a studio, \u2018 Steve explains. \u2018Rick taught himself to operate a mixing desk and we got stuck in.\u2019<\/p>\n

Freed from the record company and from the financial implications of\u00a0 recording in London, the band took things a bit slower. They made some more demos and Tony Perrin got them signed to Independiente Records. <\/em>With new producer, \u2018Youth\u2019 on board, Embrace<\/em> released the album Out of Nothing,<\/em> which reached number one in the UK Album Charts in 2004.<\/p>\n

\u2018NME were calling it \u201cthe greatest comeback since Lazarus\u201d!\u2019 Steve laughs. \u2018And I think we appreciated it more second time around. The first time we were caught up, touring, doing interviews, doing photoshoots, videos, all the stuff that goes on. This time we had time to enjoy it.\u2019<\/p>\n

\"Embrace:<\/p>\n

The album \u2018Out of Nothing\u2019 which included the hit single \u2018Gravity\u2019<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Out of Nothing\u00a0<\/em>included the hit single Gravity,\u00a0<\/em>which was gifted to the band by\u00a0Coldplay.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018Danny and Chris Martin stayed in touch all the time,\u2019 Steve explains. \u2018They used to talk and play songs over the phone to each other. .. What do you think of this?\u2026 Oh that\u2019s not good enough for you\u2026.That\u2019s your best song. All that sort of stuff.<\/p>\n

\u2018Gravity<\/em> came out of one of these conversations. It was going to be on Coldplay\u2019s next<\/em> album, and then the rest of the Coldplay<\/em> lads said they didn\u2019t like it. So Chris rang Danny and said, \u201cYou know that song of mine Gravity<\/em> that you really liked. Do you want to have a go at it, otherwise it\u2019s never going to get used?<\/p>\n

We\u2019d just finished the album and Danny came in and said what do you think about doing a cover of this? \u00a0So we did a version of it and it was really good. And, obviously, once our manager and the record company found out, they were really keen. So we went back down to London and recorded it, put it on the album and it turned out to be a great thing for us really. One of our biggest songs. It was even on Gavin and Stacey<\/em>.\u2019 [In Series 2, Episode 7, when Nessa gives birth to \u2018Neil the baby\u2019]<\/p>\n

When\u00a0Gravity\u00a0<\/em>was released as a single, Steve\u00a0 was back working again, this time on the shop floor, welding plastic.<\/p>\n

\u2018I never told anybody I was in\u00a0Embrace <\/em>\u2019cause I found it a bit embarrassing, \u2018 he says. \u2018We had the radio on all day and suddenly Gravity\u2019s <\/em>coming on the radio and it\u2019s quite exciting. And then it\u2019s on three or four times a day. Finally I had to go to my boss and say, \u201cCan I have Thursday off\u00a0 cos I\u2019m on Top of the Pops.\u201d <\/em>I never went back!\u2019<\/p>\n

Own goal?<\/strong>
<\/strong>\"Embrace:Embrace\u2019s <\/em>fifth studio album,\u00a0This New Day <\/em>was released in 2006. Just as they finished recording, manager Tony Perrin, was approached by the FA, who asked if Embrace\u00a0<\/em>had a song that might make a suitable anthem for the 2006 World Cup.<\/p>\n

\u2018We did have a song with no lyrics, that we hadn\u2019t quite finished that we thought might fit the bill,\u2019 Steve remembers. \u2018So Tony told the FA and they said, \u201cThat\u2019s great, just what we\u2019re after\u201d. I think it was Tony that came up with the title World At Your Feet<\/em>. We had about three days to get it recorded it and the FA really liked it and said they\u2019d get all the England team to sing and join in on the video. But none of that happened. The players weren\u2019t into that sort of music. So we didn\u2019t get much support in terms of that.\u2019<\/p>\n

The single, which was also on the album, entered the UK Singles chart at number 3. Although\u00a0Embrace\u00a0<\/em>were told the song would sell millions and make them their fortune, it didn\u2019t affect album sales very much and Steve suspects that it might even have put some people off the band.<\/p>\n

As the only football fan in\u00a0Embrace \u2013 <\/em>he follows Leeds \u2013 <\/em>Steve quite enjoyed the experience.<\/p>\n

\"Steve<\/p>\n

Steve Firth: Danny 3<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u2018I got to meet Groff Hurst, George Cohen, Alan Ball and I went to the Grosvenor in London to the PFA awards and Sven and Nancy and all those sort of people were there,\u2019 he recalls. \u2018But if you talk to certain members of the band they\u2019ll say it was the worst decision we ever made. We did one tour after another and suddenly we were in a different league. Now instead of talking to music journalists we were \u00a0talking to The Sun<\/em>\u00a0 or The Mail<\/em> and they didn\u2019t really want to discuss music, they were always looking for an angle, something sexy, some gossip. I don\u2019t think any of us enjoyed that. You were kind of scared of what you were going to say in case it came back to haunt you.\u2019<\/p>\n

Then, after probably one too many tours, Danny McNamara\u2019s voice gave up and he told the band that he needed some time off, promising that they would get back together when he\u2019d recharged his batteries. He moved to London and got involved in the club scene for a while.<\/p>\n

Back in the zone again
<\/strong> \"\"\u2018After about four years, we got an email from Danny saying, \u201cI\u2019m in the zone again\u201d, so we all got together at Rick\u2019s and started on the next album,\u2019 Steve says. \u2018We reinvented ourselves and came back again.\u2019<\/p>\n

Embrace<\/em>\u2018s next studio album, Embrace, was <\/em>released after a seven year break, in 2014.<\/p>\n

\u2018That\u2019s still my favourite album,\u2019 Steve says. \u2018I think it\u2019s got the most interesting music on it. A bit dancier, a bit heavier. I like the ballads\u00a0 but growing up with punk, I prefer something that people can react to.\u2019<\/p>\n

Embrace\u00a0<\/em>released their next album Love Is A Basic Need\u00a0<\/em>in 2018.\u00a0 And in 2019, the band celebrated 21 years since the release of\u00a0The Good Will Out <\/em>with a national tour.<\/p>\n

\"Steve<\/p>\n

Steve Firth: Mickey 2<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The band\u2019s line up now is the same as it was when that album was released \u2013 Danny McNamara on lead vocals and acoustic guitar, Rick McNamara on lead guitar, Steve on bass, Mickey Dale on keyboards and Mike Heaton on drums.<\/p>\n

\u2018We\u2019ve stuck together, never fallen out, never split up, never had the whole rock star thing,\u2019 Steve says. \u2018We\u2019re just a group of friends really who want to carry on doing what we do.\u2019<\/p>\n

Steve says that journalists can be pretty disappointed to find out that the McNamara brothers\u00a0 get on and are no Liam and Noel Gallagher.<\/p>\n

In 2018, in a side project, Steve returned to his punk roots, playing in Land Sharks,\u00a0<\/em>the band he founded with Embrace\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>drummer, Mike Heaton; Embrace\u2019s\u00a0<\/em>keyboard tech, Beever; Mikey Shiraz from punk metal band Mr Shiraz; <\/em>and Sam Wood, the guitarist from metal band Wayward Sons.<\/em><\/p>\n