the squeeze reader


Packet of Three Squeeze Picture of the Week: www.packetofthree.com

Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Squeeze in more Squeeze in Baltimore

The Baltimore City Paper points out that it's a Squeezey week in Maryland, with a show at Pier Six on Aug. 8 and a showing of One for the Road at Gardel's on Aug. 2, complete with a talk by director Amy Pickard and a costume party. Is someone going to show up as Glenn with the long-flowing locks?

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Monday, July 30, 2007

Raves over Guilfest

I'm more than a week late on this (sorry!) but the reviewer for something called In The News raved over Squeeze's headline appearance at Guilfest.

A shout out to our reader who was looking for set lists --- this probably isn't a set list but the reviewer listed many of the songs played that night, possibly in order!

(And I'm quoting from the middle here, because I try to avoid printing entire articles. The reviewer also has some nice words to say about Messed Around and Up The Junction, and not so nice words about Cool For Cats.)

This was Squeeze's party and everyone was invited to revel in the emotional one-two delivered by Some Fantastic Place and Goodbye Girl; the anthemic Mussels In A Shell and the electronica meets honkytonk of Slap And Tickle; a knockabout version of Slightly Drunk swung into the euphoric Tempted which was met with a roar of approval from the crowd.


Ents24.com also has a slightly muted rave, compared to the above review, but ultimately proclaims the return as triumphant.

If this is what the U.S. has to look forward to, I'm now officially excited! (As if I hadn't been before.)

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The Phoenix promos Squeeze

Nice little article in the Phoenix before the shows at the Bank of America Pavilion in Boston and the Melody Tent in Cape Cod.

Heroin addiction, alcoholism, neurosis, friends at each others’ throats . . . all the things you’d expect to encounter in a film about Metallica. But in the story of a generally cheerful pop group like Squeeze?

You gotta respect a writer that read the whole biography (or at least, can fake it well), but cheerful pop group? A quick glance at Singles 45 and Under (OK, I admit, I don't actually own this compilation and I had to fake this one by looking up the track list) has: a con artist, pregnancy and poverty, heartbreak (twice!), temptation and loneliness. Hm, and that's before we get to the second half. Actually, all those things mentioned in the part quoted above eventually become subjects of their songs. Had I time, I'd atually match the trouble with the song....
The Cape Cod Times also weighs in with a long interview, which also features Difford naming who he thinks are the best lyricists of his pop era.

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Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Hope our readers are well....

Yikes! I just read about the flooding in the UK, and I hope that our readers are safe and able to stay as dry as possible!

Friday, July 20, 2007

Truck festival stalled

Ah... the word from Quixotic Records and NME (among others) is that the Truck festival in Oxfordshire--- where Glenn and his band (I presume the Fluffers) were scheduled to perform--- got rained out and cancelled. Ah, well. Hope everyone is indoors and keeping dry....

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No rest for Glenn?

It seems that Glenn Tilbrook is a busy man. The Oxfordshire Truck festival lists Glenn as a performer on the mainstage on Sunday night. However, it's not listed on Quixotic's list of gigs, and it's not on his Myspace page, so we'll find out if that's really true.

Also, according to Glenn's Myspace page, it looks like he and the Fluffers will be performing two dates at the V Festival on Aug. 18 and 19, which is less than a week after Squeeze's last show in the U.S. I'm a little bit unclear on the concept of this festival, except that it seems to involve camping and it lists two locations. Hm.

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Thursday, July 19, 2007

American thoughts....

Chris Difford spoke with the Associated Press about the upcoming American tour. Read his thoughts on the failed VH1 reality show, giving away solo CDs, and the "boxing ring of silence."

I wonder if the Essential CDs and DVDs will be available for purchase at the shows? I think it would make a lot of sense, but since when did everything in Squeeze history have to make a lot of sense?

Also, I forgot to list their first American show! Not that it matters, because it's sold out (and according to an anonymous commenter (hi!) it sold out in two hours). They start their tour in the Tupelo Music Hall in Londonderry, NH. That is going to be one busy two weeks. Wow.

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Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Guilfest photos on Flickr



We're trawling the web for Squeeze nuggets!

Some groovy photos from the Flickr community:

martinfinnis - Guilfest 2007 Photos

murky - Guilfest 2007 Photos

(While you're there, check out shots from Chris and Glenn's solo gigs- just put their names in the search box and off you go!)


And big thanks to squeeze readers the ledevilefamily , who sent in this link:

"Hi,

there are photos from guilfest at

http://www.haldenphotography.com

scroll to the end of the page to see them"


(Credit - Banner photographs taken from the martinfinnis photostream)

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Monday, July 16, 2007

Chris Difford's Five Favourite Song Crafters

Count Five: Chris Difford's Favorite Song Crafters


It's great having a surf through the old internet, and ending up on a beach soaked full of Squeeze news!

Spinner has a great article with our very own Chris Difford.

Read on!

As the lyric-writing half of the creative duo in pop group supreme Squeeze, Chris Difford has established his credentials as an authority on songwriting. That's why many don't consider it sacrilege to mention his and collaborator Glenn Tilbrook's names among the great English songwriting pairs such as Lennon and McCartney. Little wonder that fans of superior song craftsmanship are making Squeeze's upcoming tour one of the most anticipated reunion treks of the year. Difford gave Spinner some insight into what he might be listening to on the road via his examples of what makes good music.

1. The Beatles: Some of the first music I ever heard was the Beatles, growing up. And when I listen to 'With The Beatles' it just reminds me of getting ready for school in the morning and putting that record on the record player while I was getting ready and just feeling totally at home.

2. XTC: When I first heard them, I thought they were very deliberately complicated. But now when I listen to it I realize I don't think they're being complicated; they were just being themselves, which is a very honest way of making music.

3. Jellyfish: I was in Los Angeles making the Squeeze album 'Play' and that's when I got introduced to their music. What I really enjoyed about it was it looks into English music in a way I've never seen an American band do. They'd obviously been inspired by English pop music like 10cc and Queen.

4. The Feeling: They do a really amazing job of taking musical history and modernizing it, really. They're sort of lovingly reconstructing great songs.

5. Feist: Any track from the Feist album would be a good introduction for people to appreciate really well-constructed pop music. If somebody arrived on a spaceship and they said to me they wanted to hear something that was recent that conjured up what was good about writing songs, I think I would play them the Feist album.


... And I must say that they certainly are great choices :0)


Text- Steve Baltin, and the original article can be found right here.


Now dive into these wonderful waters of the world wide web:

Chris Difford- Website
Chris Difford- MySpace


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Sunday, July 15, 2007

Photos from The Albany :0)


BIG thanks to Ian Siegel for sharing his excellent photographs with the squeeze reader.

Ian- we salute you :0)

(click on the photos to see a bigger image)











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Saturday, July 14, 2007

Guilfest chat

Chris and Glenn appeared on BBC Radio 2 to talk about Guilfest. (I presume before Guilfest.) I don't know what they're saying, since I don't have Real Player, but I hope it's good.

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Squeeze play Guilfest today! (Coverage on BBC Radio 2)


Top Of The Bill!


Squeeze are headliners at today's Guilfest.

To those who are going to the Festival- Have a wonderful time :0)

(And, as always, any reviews or photographs will be gratefully received!)


For those of us who won't be there, remember to tune into BBC Radio 2 for their coverage:

BBC Radio 2- Guilfest Page (You can also listen online here)

For those in the UK, then set your dials to 88-91 FM.

Or you can listen to Radio 2 on digital cable TV:

Virgin Media (Telewest): channel 902
NTL: channel 402

On Freeview: channel 702
On SKY: channe l0102

... Or you could always listen in on DAB Radio!


Official Guilfest website

Official Squeeze website

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Thursday, July 12, 2007

Squeeze warm up The Albany tonight!

Play On!


It's the moment that we've all been waiting for...

A warm up show at The Albany, Deptford!


For all the Squeeze fans who got tickets to tonight's gig-

Have a fantastic time!
(and remember to tell us all about it :0)


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Chris talks about Squeeze & Guilfest

"it's going to be great!"



From Ents24:

Original Squeeze members Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook took everyone by surprise earlier this year, when they announced that they were getting back together and heading off on tour. But first, they'll be headlining the BBC Radio 2 Stage at this year's GuilFest on Saturday 14th July. Meg Rowell spoke to Chris ahead of their appearance.

It's not been all that long since Squeeze decided to get back together, how's it all going?

Well, since we decided to get back together, Glenn's been in Australia and we haven't really seen each other! He's back this week, but I'm in Italy and back next week, so - I think it's going to be fine! I think it's going to be wonderful in fact.

I guess you haven't had much of a chance to rehearse together then?

No, nothing at all! We're just talking about who's going to be in the band, setting up rehearsals and warm-up shows, you know getting the technicians together for the tour...but it's all very exciting news for us.

Was getting back together a tough decision to make, or a natural progression for you both?

It was a natural progression really, brought on by the release of our greatest hits album (The Essential Squeeze) by Universal, who decided that they'd spend this year re-releasing our back catalogue and we thought, well, we've got a break in our calendars as solo artists, so we thought we'd come out and support our history, which is essentially what we're doing.

You're headlining GuilFest this year, are you looking forward to it?

Yeah, I've never been to GuilFest, I've been to most other festivals but it's one I've not been to, though it's very close to me so yeah, I'm really looking forward to it.

It will be the first time you've performed together, as Squeeze, since 1998, it must be quite exciting?

Yeah, it is, it's going to be great - I'm saving up for an electric guitar as we speak!

You say that you and Glenn haven't had a chance to spend much time together, but do you think the chemistry will be the same between you both?

I have every reason to believe that it will be, you know, we grew up together, we've been friends for 26, 27 years or whatever it is. I think it's like getting back on a horse - you remember how to put your feet in the stirrups once you're up there.

Glenn played a solo slot at last year's GuilFest. Has he given you any tips?

As I say, I really haven't had a chance to talk to him, but a friend of mine went to see him last year and said the audience were amazing, so I'm really looking forward to it. I hear it's a real family kind of show - which suits me down to the ground.

There are some great bands on the line up this year - is there anyone you're particularly looking forward to?

I'd like to know who are playing! I know Madness are playing and Supergrass, who I'd love to see, but I haven't been told about anyone else yet!

Well, there's The Magic Numbers, The Ordinary Boys, Richard Thompson, Saw Doctors...

Oh wow! Excellent! I'll be up all night!

So, can we expect all the old classics from Squeeze, or have you got some new material up your sleeves?

It'll be wall-to-wall classics, I promise.

As you said, you're about to release The Essential Squeeze album; it must be satisfying to be able to collect together, and look back at everything you've achieved over the years.

It is. It's very warming to understand the kind of history that we've had together, it's quite something when you reach a certain age and you can look back and reflect on your life and feel very proud of it, so yeah, I'm very fond of what we have.

And then you're off on the Quintessential Tour this November...

Yeah, we're doing some dates at the end of the year, again to support the Essential Squeeze package, we've also got an American tour that we're doing, so it's going to be a busy year one way or another. I'm working on my solo album, Glenn's working on his, so we're very busy boys.

GuilFest has a reputation for nurturing young talent, and always has a lot of up-and-coming bands on its bill - do you have any advice to offer them?

Keep in tune and stay off the acid! No, I think a young band just has to enjoy the moment really. I don't think many people are that paranoid about doing shows anymore. When I was young, it used to terrify me, but I think younger people are more cool about what they do now, so my advice is just to enjoy it.

Squeeze will be headlining the BBC Radio 2 Stage at this year's GuilFest on Saturday 14th July. For more details, see the GuilFest page here on Ents24.

Original article: Squeeze's Chris Difford Talks To Ents24
Dated: June 6, 2007

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Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Difford & Tilbrook live in Kent!

And here they are!...

Photo: Martin Rordam


No, yours truly hasn't been at the wine, but thanks to an eagle-eyed member of the Glenn_list, I am thrilled to report that Messrs. Difford and Tilbrook played live at the 'Return To The Summer Of Love Festival' last Saturday!

The dashing duo were unbilled, but gave everyone a thrill as they took to the stage and played Take Me I'm Yours, Pulling Mussels (From The Shell), Is That Love?, Tempted, Labelled With Love, Cool For Cats and Up The Junction.

I hope you can feel the excitement as I type! (As there is indeed more!)

Check out this rather lovely post on 'That Truncheon Thing', and there might be another surprise there waiting for you :0)



Thanks to Helen (from the groovy Glenn_list) for discovering this gem of news, for Martin R for the brilliant photographs and Frank from That Truncheon Thing blog.


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Monday, July 09, 2007

Everyone needs more friends

Check out John Bentley's Myspace page, with some of his tunes on it.

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Monday, July 02, 2007

Win tickets!

Not from me. Where is the Squeeze Reader going to get tickets? But BBC Berkshire is giving away a pair of passes to Guilfest, which features Supergrass and other people, as well as Squeeze. The festival is from July 13 to 15, so you can be among the first to see the reunited Squeeze....

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Universal vs. Apple: any implications for Squeeze?

I really don't know. Can someone answer that question for me?

So, Universal Music Group is threatening to end its contract with Apple's iTunes. The article mentions that groups on iTunes include Amy Winehouse and U2, but I also believe that many of Squeeze's albums are part of this group? If they don't come to an agreement, that music could just disappear from iTunes one of these days.

It's hard to remember as a consumer sometimes that iTunes has come about through a complicated mish-mash of lawyers arguing over royalties and rights, which is constantly shifting. After I thought I lost all of my iTunes purchases after a hard drive crash (back up often, folks), I was chagrined to discover that the single version of the song "Gangsters" by The Specials is not available. (I had it on my iPod, so I was able to not lose it.) I see that the CD has gone out of print, but I'm not really sure why that should affect its status on iTunes, since it doesn't take up much physical space.

However, it's not as if there's a ton of Squeeze music on (American) iTunes --- just East Side Story, Domino and a couple of greatest hits packages. Score 1 for CDs (and used record shops), I guess.

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