Time puts everyone in their place; except Squeeze. The London group, which emerged in the second half of the seventies on the scene new wave With his complex but no less catchy songs, he never enjoyed massive success. If anyone thought that the years would put them in their rightful place, they were wrong: after a recording career that spans almost half a century, they continue to be a cult band. Their status as illustrious supporting players may have been influenced by the fact that they have barely played live outside of the United Kingdom, Australia and the United States; In fact, in Spain there has never been an opportunity to see them live, an omission that will be repaired this Saturday when they perform in Barcelona at the Feroe 2025 event, along with Nick Lowe, The Jayhawks, The Tallest Man on Earth and others. Which proves that they are still on the hook.
Many good things have been said about Squeeze, and the best is clear nonsense. In the eighties it was said that their leaders and songwriters, Glenn Tilbrook and Chris Difford—both guitarists and singers—were the heirs to the Lennon/McCartney throne. Absurd assessment, since John and Paul used to compose separately, unlike these two gentlemen —is the aspect they transmit through the Zoom camera— that back in 1973, when they had a group but no concerts or record label, they established a working method that persists to this day: Difford is in charge of the lyrics and Tilbrook is in charge of the music.
“We are different composers (from Lennon and McCartney),” says Tilbrook (68 years old), smiling and talkative. “When I met Chris I was 15, he was 19, and he immediately started passing me lyrics to which I put music.” They met thanks to the advertisement that Difford placed in the window of a store; In their first year together they wrote nearly a hundred songs. “It can be said that we fit in extremely well,” says Difford (71 years old), from Brighton, phlegmatic but with grace. For three years they did not stop composing. “We had nothing else to do. Looking back now, I think we wrote so many good songs that we became legends to our friends… And to no one else!” Tilbrook jokes from his London home.
In the British capital, in the mid-seventies, if you blinked you would miss something. Pub rock was giving way to punk. But the stridency of this style, new at the time, was not of interest to this pair of stylists. “The aggressiveness of punk was not in our personality. We listened to more sophisticated music,” says Difford. “When punk rock came out I felt a little… I don’t know, distrustful,” confirms Tilbrook. But I went to see a concert by Generation I loved what they did and that fueled what we created at Squeeze initially.”
That mix of pop gourmet and electric vibration was captured in their first albums: Squeeze (1978), which went unnoticed; Cool for cats (1979), which contained classics from his repertoire such as Slap and tickle, Up the junction y Cool for cats; Argybargy (1980)… “One of the keys to Squeeze,” says Tilbrook, “is that we have always had the ability as composers to play exactly what we want. At the beginning we had very obvious influences: Kraftwerk, The Beatles, jazz, Sergio Mendes… Everything was there and was part of the mix that we were.”
And, above all, on their fourth album, East Side storyfrom 1981, co-produced by Elvis Costello. “He made us gain confidence, which made it possible for us to record very quickly and that album to sound more spontaneous,” explains Tilbrook. “Having a producer like Elvis Costello opened a lot of doors for us musically. He was an inspiration,” Difford concedes. That album included several memorable singles, such as Is that love, Labelled with love o Temptedwhich, in fact, entered the list of the ten best sellers in the United States. Singular case, since Tempted It was not sung by Tilbrook or Difford, but by keyboardist Paul Carrack.
“I wouldn’t have sung it like Paul,” Tilbrook admits. “That’s why he sang it. It’s a wonderful song. We thought about it a lot, and when Paul sang it it was perfect.” Squeeze’s relative fame is also based on the fact that later renowned musicians have been part of their training, such as keyboardists Jools Holland (now famous television presenter) or Paul Carrack (close collaborator of Roxy Music, Nick Lowe and member of Mike + the Mechanics).
However, overwork and perhaps other excesses led the group to break up in 1982. “I don’t think drugs and alcohol played a role in the band’s decline in the ’80s,” Difford maintains. “I can’t speak for other people, but for me it was a very hard time. We were tired musically, we had been on the road for a long time, we had released many albums…” The leaders then founded the duo Difford & Tilbrook, with little impact, after which, in 1985, Squeeze returned to their old ways.
Difford and Tilbrook’s reputation as composers has remained intact to this day. Without being conventional authors, their songs, often complicated, are easy on the ear. A good example is Is that love, with that chord at the end of the chorus that refers to classical music. “I love that song,” Tilbrook says. “In those days I liked to introduce little jokes into the music, and The Move recorded a song called Night of fear (1966), which had a lot of Beethoven. So it occurred to me to add my classical side too. The chorus is inspired by Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture. That was my joke! And I loved doing it, because it works well musically.”
Curiously, they both agree on the song in their catalog that satisfies them the most. “If I had to pick a favorite of mine it would probably be Some fantastic place: It’s amazing and I love it,” says Tilbrook. “My favorite lyric? It changes every day, but today I would say it is Some fantastic place. It’s a beautiful song. It’s based on a friend of ours who had leukemia,” agrees Difford.
Despite their unanimously accepted talent, Squeeze never had a number one hit on the charts. Two of his songs, Cool for cats y Up the junctionthey reached second place in the United Kingdom classification. Their best-selling albums are anthologies. “We’re not in the same league as other bands that have had a lot of success. But success is what you do with your band and with your life, really,” Difford says.
“For us,” Tilbrook continues, “it wasn’t difficult to play different styles, and we never had a formula. That’s why all our albums are different from each other, and that makes it difficult for people to perceive who you are. It’s not that I reject making simple music; what I make is what I can do. I don’t try to seem smarter, or anything. For me, composing is always related to what attracts me. I’m proud of our repertoire, and many of our songs have stood the test of time well. But success has never been important to us. “We have focused on making records and trying to leave a mark.”
They are preparing two new albums, one of them with songs written in 1974 (it will be titled Trixies and will be released next March). But their usual songs continue to be heard, now through streaming platforms. streaming that reach even very young listeners. “He streaming It doesn’t make any money,” says Tilbrook, “but there’s one thing I love about it: if our music was only available on records, all those twenty-year-old kids would never have heard of us. But through streaming They find us. “In the last ten or fifteen years you look at the audience data, and it’s getting younger and younger, which is amazing.”
They claim that they have never argued over a song. “I work with the lyrics I like. Luckily, Chris writes a lot of them and I don’t set them all to music. So I can’t complain about any of them,” says Tilbrook. This is how his partner explains it: “I write the lyrics first and then Glenn composes the music. It’s like Bernie Taupin and Elton John, but without his checking account,” he says with a smile. “When I met him,” he adds, “I was amazed by Glenn and our way of composing. We worked very well as songwriters and made each other improve quite well. It has continued to happen throughout our career. We have supported each other as authors.”
And, despite this, they do not consider themselves close friends, but rather co-workers who get along well. “Honestly,” Tilbrook intervenes, “the relationship we have is professional. The good part is that we are able to concentrate on what we do together and not worry about sending each other Christmas cards.” For Difford, “our relationship is professional, and is based on establishing a way of composing. On one occasion, Pete Townshend (guitarist of The Who) said that he had never received a Christmas card from Roger Daltrey (singer of The Who), and it is more about that, going to work and going out occasionally with a partner.”