Indie rockers Embrace have announced their first tour in seven years, following a secret Bradford gig played ‘in darkness’.

The tour, hitting the road this spring, will showcase the band’s new single Refugees, released on an EP this week, and a new album, Embrace, due for release on April 28.

The West Yorkshire five-piece – comprising Wyke brothers Danny and Richard McNamara, Bradford keyboardist Mickey Dale, drummer Mike Heaton, of Liversedge and bassist Steve Firth, of Brighouse, – have been recording new tracks in their studio in Halifax over the past three years.

They recently performed two secret shows for fans in Bradford and Halifax; using off-the-wall ‘shock art’ tactics.

Taking the secret gig concept to a new level, they performed a gig in the darkeness and in a boxing ring, with the audience dressed in white boiler suits and covered in neon paint.

Online forums went into meltdown, with both concerts selling out in minutes, and fans flew in to see them from as far as Australia and Japan.

This week Embrace play four intimate shows in Scotland, and the band has just announced a nine-date UK tour, coming to Leeds O2 Academy on May 14.

After three Number 1 albums, including debut album The Good Will Out in 1998, six Top Ten singles, sell-out arena shows, and more than 2.5 million UK album sales, Embrace took a break from the music scene to pursue solo projects.

Now the band is back with a new tour and new album conveying what is described as a darker, more raw sound, while retaining the signature anthems.

New EP Refugees features three other tracks – Chameleon, Decades and Bullets – not on the new album.

Drummer Mike Heaton, who mentors young bands and is a judge for Centre Stage, a battle of the bands contest raising £150,000 for Martin House Children's Hospice, said reuniting to work on their fifth album made Embrace feel they had “unfinished business”.

“We’ve all been doing our own thing, and having a break has done us good,” he said. “It feels good to be working together again, it’s given us the impetus to hit the road again. I can’t wait.”

  • Tickets went on sale for the May tour today on po.st/OquYr7 and are on general sale at 9am on Friday from po.st/0qLJbH.