Interview: Squeeze

There was a point in time when Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook of Squeeze were considered the heirs to the John Lennon/Paul McCartney mantle given the stellar songcraft of their band. And while they were very much part of a second British Invasion spurred along by MTV’s 1981 debut, they’ve never quite achieved those otherworldly heights of the Beatles.

Despite this being an unrealistic expectation akin to the whole ‘next Bob Dylan’ tag numerous up-and-coming ‘70s singer-songwriters labored under, Squeeze has nonetheless survived and thrived despite experiencing breakups in 1982 and in 1999.

Fast forward to today and Difford and Tilbrook are very much enjoying Squeeze’s third go-round. Currently headlining a run of stateside shows, the British pop outfit are reaping the benefits of this third shot at the brass ring, while bringing fans along for the ride on this tour.

“Our fans can expect stuff from all over the place really,” Tilbrook said in a recent interview. “We’ve rehearsed quite a bit of new and different things that will be balanced with some stuff that people may know more about. As ever, the chemistry is in getting that balance right.”

And while it would have been easy to have the current septet exist as some kind of new wave oldies band, Squeeze has instead managed to keep a foot in the past while still looking to the future. Credit “Trixie’s,” a newly recorded compilation of previously unreleased songs the songwriters originally wrote roughly 50 years ago -- around the same time as the songs that made up the basis for the band’s self-titled 1978 debut album. “Trixie’s” was released in March.

“We’ve got all our songbooks going back to when we first met,” Tilbrook explained. “We always thought “Trixie’s” was a good set of songs that we wrote in the first year that Chris [Difford] and I were together, in 1974. The thing about that time is that we had very little else to do except write songs and go out to work. We spent a lot of time writing a lot of songs and then they get pushed aside by the newer songs. “Trixie’s” was the first proper flowering of our songwriting. We really set each other off in a way that I can feel proud of now because although it was 50 years ago and those people are very distant to me, what they did was incredible I’d say.”

As far as the musical mindset, Tilbrook admits that era shaped his creative sensibilities a bit differently.

“What’s interesting is that of course at that point, punk had not happened,” he said with a smile. “There was no punk. For us there was Stevie Wonder, Todd Rundgren, Sparks, Wings, that’s where this stuff came from and you can hear it. It does sound of its time, but really, charmingly so. We haven’t really done anything other than faithfully recreate what we did 50 years ago. But bearing in mind, we’ve used the instruments we were using at that time. We have an RMI piano that I found on the road over in America. I got it back to England and had it repaired. It has a really unique sound and was very much a part of our sound at the time. So that’s featured heavily. To me, it sounds like the first Squeeze album we could have made, but never did.”

Given the Beatles comparisons that came later in his career, it’s no surprise that the Fab Four had an early impact on Tilbrook, dating back to childhood.

“I can remember exactly where I was the first time I heard ‘A Hard Day’s Night’,” Tilbrook recalled. “I was at school and was seven at the time. Isn’t it weird for something that had such a big impression for me to remember exactly where I was, what I was doing and the effect it had on me? It was actually playing from an upstairs window above a shop as I was walking to school. Something about it made me stand still and listen to the whole thing. It was just magical.”

The London native went from piano to guitar the following year, which led to an extended period of time teaching himself how to play through learning other artist’s songs.

“My parents got me a guitar for Christmas and somebody taught me how to tune it,” he said. “I was lucky enough to be completely obsessed with music, so I taught myself how to play by learning loads of songs from other people. Those were the building blocks for me into music -- learning all these ‘60s songs and trying to figure out how they went.”

At 17, Tilbrook responded to an advertisement in a local window shop placed by future creative partner Difford looking for a guitarist to play in a band “…influenced by The Kinks, Lou Reed and Glenn Miller.” The duo hit it off, started writing together and had a raft of songs that included what would make up “Trixie’s”and that future self-titled debut.

The duo’s partnership went on to yield a treasure trove of much-loved songs -- “Tempted,” “Pulling Mussels (From the Shell),” “Black Coffee in Bed,” “Goodbye Girl,” “The Hourglass” and “Annie Get Your Gun” to name a few. And while the band’s breakups in 1982 and 1999 were due to youth and inexperience and to Difford’s decision, respectively, Tilbrook feels today’s edition of the band is in a great place, having also recorded new material slated for release sometime this year.

“I think Squeeze now is different than the first Squeeze and the second Squeeze,” Tilbrook said. “It’s a collection of musicians now that have really played. For me, it’s my favorite Squeeze. I know everyone would probably love to see the first version of Squeeze back together -- I don’t know. But that version is long gone and I love what we do. We wouldn’t do it that way anymore and I’m excited about what we do now with Squeeze. It’s so great.”