Glenn discusses sushi and shambolicness with Japanese newspaper

Well, you can find out what his favored sushi is in the Daily Yomiuri. Of course, I would not spoil it for you, although I agree with him wholeheartedly.

And he made me go to the dictionary with this quote:

"The only thing that's consistent about my shows is that I don't work with a set list, the set sort of drifts around in a way. And I like doing that, it seems to work. There's a certain sort of shambolicness about my approach. It doesn't mean that I don't care about it, it just means that I like not knowing what I'm doing, 'cause it keeps me on my toes," he explained.

Oh, and Glenn is in Japan, by the way.

Glenn needs your help for his next video

On his Myspace blog, Glenn posts that you might be able to participate in the video for his next single :

To celebrate the launch of the website we are asking all of you if you would like the opportunity to be involved in the video for the new single 'Still'. If you are then please send to info@quixoticrecords.com any photos you have of couples, holding hands, hugging or kissing. This does not have to be you and your partner, it can be with your child, your friend, your mum, anyone! We cannot guarantee that we will be able to use all of them but we will endeavour to use as many as possible.

Also, check out the new high tech look of his Web site. Very cool.

New radio interview (and no we're not dead!)

Where did the past four months go? Wow. Well, our boys are back on tour and they certainly are doing interviews. Like this one from the indie online music magazine Kweevak.com.

ROCK ON!

Squeezereaders might just recognise the guy on the right ;0)

Yes, Everest Rocks! And our interepid Mr Tilbrook is there raising funds for The Nepal Cancer Relief Society (aided and abetted by none other than Nick Harper- far left)


"This October will be our most momentous climb and concert benefiting The Nepal Cancer Relief Society (NCRS). Cancer survivors and co founders of the Love Hope Strength Foundation (LHSF) Mike Peters and James Chippendale will lead 40 musicians, cancer survivors and mountaineers to Base Camp to perform an acoustic concert to help the Bhaktapur Cancer Hospital build the infrastructure of its clinic, NCRS, by providing them with much needed equipment and funding. In a country where the Avg. annual income is $300 a year our donation and support is going a long way to save lives NOW."

Please check out the site at lovehopestrength.com, and you can even donate some of your hard earned cash to the cause!

High up on the Khyber

So, on my monitor at work are a few bits of paper, taped to the side. A bit of Pushkin I read and liked, a couple of extensions I'm always dialing, my to-do list, and my New Year's resolutions. One of my resolutions was to post to Squeezereader more, but things have gotten into the way. Now, I'm shoving the obstructions to the side and am going to try and keep up the resolutions again.

So, here's a story about Glenn getting high.

Undercover: Glenn Tilbrook Gets High

A rock star getting high is hardly big news, but Squeeze's Glenn Tilbrook is doing it for real.

Tilbrook, and a number of other musicians, will climb Mt Everest next month and perform the highest concert in history.

Tilbrook's fellow "rock" stars are Mike Peters of The Alarm, Slim Jim Phantom of Stray Cats, Cy Curnin and Jamie West-Oram from The Fixx and Nick Harper.

Together, they plan to do the gig at some stage next month. Tilbrook will leave for Katmandu on October 10 and return to the UK on October 30.

The show is to benefit cancer and leukemia sufferers all over the world.

Sounds like a hell of a show. Someone tape it and put it on youtube please.

From the vaults: Watch Chris & Glenn on BBC London

"Still squeezing out sparks"


Imagine my panic when I read the headline on the BBC London site...

"... Squeezing out Sparks"?!!!

What on earth could have happened to the delightful Ron and Russell Mael?

I was about to launch an expedition to make sure that the electro-pioneers were safe and well, when I read the first paragraph:

" As English as they come and Londoners to boot: Lord Crowley meets songwriters Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook..."

Phew! That was a close one!

So imagine my delight to find that you can also watch Chris & Glenn chat to Lord Gary of Crowley (plus hear a bit of an acoustic take on 'Take Me I'm Yours').

The interview is from a couple of years back when Messrs Difford and Tilbrook were promoting their 'Song By Song' book at Borders.

I whooped a cry of happiness, put on my headphones and whipped out my copy Jim Drury's excellent 'Squeeze: Song By Song' book.

Lovely.


Read the article and watch Chris & Glenn chat to Gary Crowley here!


"Here's hoping they stay close and I wouldn't be too surprised if they end up working together in the future. And soon-ish too. Here's hoping anyway"- Gary Crowley

And they did! :0)

Happy Birthday Glenn!

Glenn hits the nifty fifty!

Yes, Mr Tilbrook has hit his half century today!

Join us at squeeze reader towers as we celebrate his birthday with a big smile and an even bigger glass of wine (or three ;0)

There's plenty of food to go around and we'll be getting out the Twister in half an hour!

(Though I hope I don't get stuck with my left foot on the red circle, left hand on the yellow and right foot on the black again- ouch!)



Happy Birthday to the Woolwich Wonder!

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....

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.

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.

Squeeze in Uncut & Mojo Magazine

READ ALL ABOUT IT!


It's all go on the Squeeze front, isn't it?!!!

Messrs Difford and Tilbrook feature in TWO magazines this month.

Firstly, Uncut Magazine examines the making of 'Up The Junction' in a lovely three-page spread.

And if that wasn't enough, Mojo Magazine devotes a rather glorious SIX pages to our favourite group.



Both Uncut and Mojo are UK magazines but subscriptions for overseas readers are available:

Uncut Magazine - Subscription
Mojo Magazine - Subscription

Chris & Glenn on GMTV - Mon May 7 (UK)

Get Up With Chris & Glenn!

If you're in the UK then you can see Chris & Glenn on GMTV.

According to the Official Squeeze website, there will be an interview and acoustic performance.

The programme starts at 6am and finishes at 9:25 - so set your video recorders now!



Thanks to Sian from the Glenn_List for the heads up :0)

Interview: Glenn & Chris In A Squeeze!

Steamin' Up The Room!

The internet is a marvellous invention, isn't it?

Rather than walk all the way down to the local shop, you can browse through the newspapers in the comfort of your own home whilst sipping at a nice cup of tea and munching on a muffin...

... Er, I mean being a hardworking member of the squeeze reader team, I have scoured the UK's Sunday newspapers to find you, (our lovely readers) all the latest scoops on Messrs Difford & Tilbrook!

So without further ado, here's an interview from The Sun:


"FROM 1974 to 1999, Squeeze were one the longest-running and most beloved bands on the British rock circuit with hits including Cool For Cats, Up The Junction, Hourglass and If It's Love.

Now singer Glenn Tilbrook and lyricist Chris Difford have put past differences behind them to reform

Here they chat about their upcoming tour, reveal why they get on better when they're apart and give their tips on getting girls to strip off.

And click the name of any song above to remind you of their amazing videos, taken from new release Essential Squeeze.

What led to your decision to reform Squeeze after all this time?

Glenn - Mainly the fact that Universal are re-releasing all of our back catalogue, which we've been on at them to do for years.

Squeeze have become a legendary band without ever achieving legendary sales.

Acts like The View, Lily Allen, Jamie T and Razorlight are saying we've influenced them, it's happening more now than at any time in our careers.

So I hope that younger people now discover lots of songs and albums of ours - as there's lots of mileage in records that we are very proud of.

Plus we're getting paid much more now than we ever got paid before!

Which is the one Squeeze album you'd recommend everyone should have when they are re-released?

Glenn - Some Fantastic Place is a really strong album.

Chris - For people discovering us through bands like The View, I would say Argybargy because of the enthusiasm of that record.

I played a gig for what I was told was an 'NME crowd' recently and I was terrified. But all these 19 and 20-year-olds knew all the words.

I was astounded - they were like my children. Well not literally my children…

Glenn - Well, you have been in the business a long time. You've met a lot of ladies!

When you first formed did you ever think teenagers 30 years later would be singing your songs?

Glenn - We never thought that, but I did think we'd be successful and was surprised we weren't more successful. Then I grew up a bit!

I've always had tons of confidence and blind faith and that's stood us in good stead.

Are you looking forward to playing together again?

Chris - Definitely. The last time we played shows as Squeeze was back in 1998. So we've got a lot of practice to do before our tour in November and festival appearances this summer.

Glenn - Chris and I didn't get on for a long time and I think it's fair to say there was a lot of bitterness when we broke up, on my side at least.

But that's all gone away now and not playing together actually saw our friendship enhanced.

We get on better now than any time from when we first met.

Jools Holland was your keyboard player for quite a few years - will he playing with you on tour?

Glenn - Not so far as I know. His touring schedule completely clashes with ours.

What are your favourite memories of being in Squeeze?

Chris - I wish I could remember what it was like to be on stage at places like Maddison Square Garden, but I can't as it's diluted in my memory somewhere.

This time around I am hoping to enjoy doing all that stuff and remember it.

Glenn - I just keep on thinking of really stupid things.

I think it's probably when I first met Neil Finn of Split Endz and Crowded House, and he told me a good way to get a girl to take her clothes off was to run a shower in your room and put a towel down so the whole room steams up.

Finally - what are your hopes for the future?

Both - To steam up as many rooms as possible!"

Glenn featured on The Lords First XI

Stick Around A Bit!

As you know, Glenn teamed up with Lord Large (that's Stephen Large from The Fluffers!) on the fantastic 'Don't Stick Around Too Long Single'... and now you can see him in a super video that showcases the album 'The Lords First XI'!




Click here to watch the video!


... And if you like what you see, then pop on over to:
Lord Large on MySpace

Lovely.

Glenn is King Of The Road! (Sydney Morning Herald)

Forever searching for Difford & Tilbrook goodies, the good ship 'squeeze reader' has been trawling through the cyberspace sea... and from the shores of Australia, we dug this out of our net!...

Once a rock star, Glenn Tilbrook is now king of the road
(but not the middle).

GT talks to The Sydney Morning Herald.

The high life of a rock'n'roller, we know it well: the glamour of first-class travel and accommodation, the firm young things at your fingertips, the primping and preening of dozens of minions before your every public appearance.

And when you've been playing music publicly for 34 years, when you've had Top 10 hits on three continents, when your former, long-time songwriting partnership was described as the best Britain had produced since Lennon and McCartney, well that's the life you'd be living wouldn't it, Glenn Tilbrook?

Not exactly, no. These days Tilbrook, for two decades one half of the partnership, with lyricist Chris Difford, behind pop gems for the band Squeeze ( Tempted, Up The Junction, Pulling Mussels, Cool For Cats) prefers to do his touring in what could kindly be called a mobile home, or less kindly a glorified caravan.

He does it regularly around the United States and Europe and this month the Londoner is driving up and down the east coast of Australia with partner and children, stopping occasionally to play a show or two. Sheesh, where's the glamour in that?

"I've had the make-up person, I've had the wardrobe person and all that stuff. On one level that's great but the basic way of touring is very down-to-earth and it reconnects me to why I first started playing music," Tilbrook says. "Once Squeeze turned professional and started being successful, I lost touch with that. In the early '90s, when Chris and I were still together, I started doing gigs by myself and I re-found that other thing and now it's my solo career. It has taken over and I don't mind. I'm 49 and I'm enjoying it."

This way of life is also a straightforward way of accepting your place in the world when you're no longer this month's hot act but you have an audience and you want to play. Nonetheless, the unpretentious nature of the touring reflects the way Tilbrook performs. His relaxed, story-filled and often hilarious shows not only have familiar song after familiar song, they also embrace the audience in the kind of bonhomie which transforms venues into Tilbrook's living room.

"You can't change that; that's the way I am and I feel lucky for it," he says. "I definitely think some of the people who could be in my position, who were more successful in the past, could do what I do but they feel a certain amount of professional pride. I don't think that way."

All this makes more sense, too, when you realise that even at the height of Squeeze's fame - and when they were big they were selling out arenas across the US - the flash suits and fancy hairdos were never really Tilbrook's style.

Link to article.

Oldbitey sang with Glenn in Australia?

So it would seem.

Adam Hearts Glenn

Inside Bay Area - Fountains of Wayne shows versatility

Q. Was there a time when you wrote sincere, confessional songs from the heart?

A. I think when we were starting out, it was more about imitating our songwriting heroes. We would try to write songs like Neil Finn or we would try to write songs like Ray Davies or we would try to write songs like Glenn Tilbrook.

Q. I see that you'll be playing with Tilbrook's band, Squeeze, at the Mountain Winery.

A. We are doing a bunch of dates with them this summer. ... Actually one of the most flattering things that's happened to us is that Glenn Tilbrook started playing "Red Dragon Tattoo" in his own set.

Glenn & Chris on Capital Radio Gold (May 5)

Hot Off The Press!

From the Official Squeeze website:

"Glenn and Chris are on David Jenson's show on Capital Gold this Saturday (5 May) morning."

Get tuned in!

Video interview with Glenn!

Glenn chats Down Under!

Yes, our very own GT gives a fine interview to those nice people at undercover.com.au, whilst reclining on a zebra*

*Well a zebra is a bit of an expansion of the truth, but it sounds rather good doesn't it?!!

Anyway, Glenn talks about lots of things including:

His 30 years in music, One For The Road,
working with other songwriters like Ron Sexsmith, his relationship with Chris, the Crowded House/Squeeze tour rumours, the idea of a new Squeeze album, the Squeeze tour line up, those Lennon & McCartney comparisons, his solo career and upcoming album... complete with lots of great chat about the songs!

Undercover's Interview with Glenn

After watching that, I really think GT should call his next album The Title's Always The Last Thing! :0)

PS- Great to see a Super Furries T-shirt!


Thanks to Helen from the Glenn_List for the link to the video.
Check out her GT Reviews site here!

The Official Glenn Tilbrook Site
Babylonandon - The Unofficial Glenn Tilbrook Website
The Official Squeeze Website

A difficult choice

Over at myspace.com/squeezeofficial they're running a little poll.

What are the five best Squeeze songs?

That's tough. It's like asking what are the five best glasses of wine you've had in your life? I've had so many good ones....

But I like this sort of game, so let's play.

Two are easy for me:

Up The Junction - Hands down, one of the best songs ever written. It's got a story, it's got some wicked images in the lyric, and the music complements it so completely.

Maidstone - The hidden gem of pop music. A throw-away B-side (note to kids: We used to buy small vinyl records that played on a turntable. They had one song on each side, the "single" and the "B-side.") that should never have been thrown away. It combines the best of Difford and Tilbrook: a fistful of chords that drags you into a story, a wistful lyric about young love, and a sense of place. We're so lucky this has been on best-of compilations. It could have been lost forever.

The next three are harder to pick. They're probably more dependent on my background with Squeeze's music.

Another Nail In My Heart - It's New Wave, it's got the octave-apart vocals thing, it's got the country music drunk and lost love thing, it's got Jools playing every key on the piano, how can one group cram so much into one song? They do. Amazing. I remember spinning the Argybargy album, wondering whether the Gs were hard or soft, and listening to this song and knowing that my life was going to be different because of it.

Labelled With Love - It's hard to believe some guys from London could write one of the best country songs ever, but they did. And they didn't even mean to. Chris wrote the lyric, passed it to Glenn, and for some reason he put it to some old honky-tonk--type tune. Love, loss, and drunkenness: you can't go wrong those as your themes.

Electric Trains - For every Squeeze fan, I think what we really want is to be Chris Difford's friend. Really. He writes such interesting words, he must be the most interesting person to sit down and chat with. What he's been through and where he's going just fascinate me.

So Chris lets us in a little to his life and see some of his childhood. It's got the octave-apart thing. A piercingly personal lyric. Soaring music. I could listen to it every day for a million years and not get tired of it.

Anyway, so there you go. Those are my five, what are yours?