Embrace

S

hort-lived hardcore punkrock band Embrace emerged from Washington, D.C., and lasted only from the summer of 1985 to the spring of 1986. Along with Rites of Spring, and Beefeater, they were one of the mainstay acts of the 1985 Revolution Summer movement, and was one of the first bands to be dubbed in the press as 'emotional hardcore' (a.k.a. Emo), though the members rejected the term. The band featured lead vocalist Ian MacKaye of the defunct hardcore punk act Minor Threat and three former members of his brother Alec's band, The Faith, namely guitarist Michael Hampton, drummer Ivor Hanson and Chris Bald on bass. Hampton and Hanson knew each other from previous act, S.O.A.

The act played their first show on July 28, 1985 at Food for Thought, a former restaurant and music venue located on Washington, D.C.'s Dupont Circle; their ninth and final show was held at the 9:30 Club March 1986. Their first and only was the posthumous 1987 self-titled album; heavily influenced by The Faith EP Subject to Change.

Following the band's breakup, MacKaye and ex-Minor Threat drummer, Jeff Nelson, tried turning their recent one-off musical experiment in England, Egg Hunt, into an actual band, but the project never made it past the rehearsal stage. Hampton, for his part, teamed up with former members of Rites of Spring to form the short-lived post-hardcore outfit One Last Wish, while Bald moved on to join Ignition. MacKaye eventually formed Fugazi in 1987, while Ivor Hanson would pair up with Hampton again in 1988 for Manifesto.