GETTING a second crack of the whip is a pretty rare occurrence for most bands but fame for Embrace the second time round has seen them go on to bigger and better things.

On the back of their successful summer gig at Delamere Forest, the band is returning to the region once again next month when they take to the stage in both Manchester and Liverpool.

And they are performances which drummer Mike Heaton says they are looking forward to.

He said: "We have never played at Liverpool University before so that will be good and Manchester has always been one of my favourite gigs.

"We really enjoyed the show at Delamere Forest.

"It was amazing and a really nice sort of family atmosphere. We have also been doing some arenas so it will be nice to get back to the theatres."

The band was first propelled to success in 1997 with songs such as the legendary All You Good Good People, Come Back To What You Know and My Weakness Is None Of Your Business. But, following a less than successful third album, the band were dropped by their record label and it seemed that it was all over.

The slow rebuilding process gathered pace with a last minute invitation to V2004 and their comeback was under way.

And when Chris Martin donated a song, Gravity, it quickly turned into an explosion.

The drummer added: "I think we are all enjoying it more the second time around. When we first got signed, we expected to go to number one, we thought we were the best band in the world.

"After we were resigned we started looking at it in a different light, you step back a bit rather than the whirlwind it was the first time."

Even tackling the poisoned chalice of the England World Cup song hasn't dented their credibility, according to Mike: "We knew when we were asked to do it that half the country would love it and half the country would hate it. We didn't want to do a Three Lions-type song; we had a go and managed to get to number three.

"We will probably give it a rest for now as it is still so closely associated with football but we hope to be playing it again in the future."

The band release their next single Target on Monday and will play the Manchester Apollo on October 13 and 14 and Liverpool University on October 22.

For more information, call 08712200260.