Becoming a touring musician was just a dream for Glenn Tilbrook when he answered future songwriting partner Chris Difford's flyer in a London candy store looking for a guitarist. Tilbrook was, by all accounts, the only person to answer the solicitation, but the rest is history.
The two formed Squeeze in 1974, and the group has been going on and off, but strong, ever since, and consistently again since 2007. Over that time, the band has released 14 studio albums, while Tilbrook and Difford recorded one as a duo in 1984 and the former has done 11 albums on his own, though none with new material since Happy Ending in 2014.
Nevertheless, with favorable comparisons to the likes of John Lennon and Paul McCartney ("Flattering...but not quite the same," Tilbrook tells Guitar Player), the duo has been responsible for favorites such as "Cool for Cats," "Up the Junction," "Pulling Mussels (From the Shell)," "Tempted," "If I Didn't Love You," "Hourglass" and more.
And they've logged those hundreds of shows over nearly 50 years of touring, from woodshedding at the Hope and Anchor — ground zero for London's pub-rock scene — to playing at the biggest arenas on either side of the pond. Tilbrook, in fact, is playing on three prongs right now: Squeeze opened shows on Heart's Royal Flush tour, while Tilbrook has been supporting Daryl Hall as well as playing solo dates with his son Leon opening.
Tilbrook — who is often seen with a Fender Tele or Tele-style electric guitar in his hands these days — is also proud of the current, eight-member edition of Squeeze. "For the first time in our career we've started headlining arenas shows in the U.K. and have more people there liking us," he says. "And we seem to be picking up people in the U.S., as well.
"We always thought we were good and thought we'd be successful and all that stuff, but the times we split up were sort of a relief, actually, 'cause we felt like Squeeze had started to backslide. But now it's great. Squeeze are absolutely on fire. I'm very proud of our little selves."
"The times we split up were sort of a relief, actually, 'cause we felt like Squeeze had started to backslide. But now it's great."
— Glenn Tilbrook
Squeeze have been busy in the studio as well to the tune of two new albums, according to Tilbrook. One features unreleased songs he and Difford wrote back in 1974, while the other contains new material.
"We had this concerted period of time recording, and it was really important to me that we didn't just do the 50-year-old songs," explains Tilbrook, who’s also considering another solo album. "I think Chris had been leaning toward that, so I said, 'What if we don't make another record and just do old songs? That wouldn't be a great way to end. Let's do it all together and let one feed the other.'
"That is what happened; the stuff we did in 1974 energized us to come up with new stuff, and there's not a single track that's anything less than brilliant, I think.
"And it's not always that way with Squeeze records," he adds.
The release date is undetermined as of yet. In the meantime, Squeeze will be keeping itself busy on the road in the U.K. for the balance of the year, while Tilbrook and Difford will also be performing their own shows while plotting an even busier 2026.
More adventures surely await Tilbrook during that time. For now, he regales us with memories of his best and worst gigs... thus far.
The Best
Squeeze's fifth studio album, Sweets From a Stranger, was just over two months old when the quintet, with new keyboardist Don Snow, played its first date as a headliner on June 18, 1982 at New York's famed Madison Square Garden. The 23-song set featured a half-dozen tracks from the new album as well as a selection of covers, including Smokey Robinson & the Miracles' "The Tears of a Clown," Booker T. & the MG's "Time Is Tight" and Little Richard's "Rip It Up."
"That was the culmination of a lot of work, and it had all gone right for us," Tilbrook says. "We started the show and the curtain came back and the crowd went absolutely bananas. I will always remember that moment. I rarely think back, but when I do, that's the one that I remember. It really felt like we'd reached something we'd wanted since we started the band."
It would be a short-lived triumph, however. After festival dates in Jamaica that November, Squeeze went on an open-ended hiatus, returning for a one-off in London during July 1984 before a new album, Cosi Fan Tutti Frutti, brought the band back together and on the road the following year.
The Worst
Tilbrook played in Narbeth, Wales just once — on November 20, 2016, while on his solo The Best of Times tour. It was memorable, just not in ways he'd prefer.
"I had food poisoning, and it was terrible," he recalls. "I was onstage and I had to literally throw my guitar down and run offstage. It was the worst I've ever felt. I was proud of myself because after, let's say, having gotten myself together, I went on to finish the gig.
"I haven't been on psychedelic drugs for a long time, but it was like that sort of out-of-body experience. I was so disoriented, but through that I managed to do the show, so it was both the best and worst of times wrapped together."
Tilbrook says gastronomic issues only impacted him once before that, when Squeeze played an outdoor date during the late '80s in Austin, Texas.
"It was in the early days of wireless guitars," he remembers. "I had to go off then, too, but didn't have time to take my guitar off. I went to the bathroom and the guitar was still on and the sound was coming back through the amp.
"I came back and everyone was just looking at me in a strange way, 'cause I had no idea what happened until afterwards."
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