Interview: Glenn Tilbrook

WITH his collaborator and friend (and sometimes foe) Chris Difford, Tilbrook formed half of the prolific songwriting team that kept Squeeze continually in the charts: Cool For Cats, Up The Junction and Tempted, to name but three, were all blaring out of transistor radios in the days before pop lost its innocence.

Even today, on the back of yet another Squeeze compilation and a recent sell-out tour of America, his stock still remains high. And if he's not treading the boards under the Squeeze banner or playing one of his 100-plus solo dates a year then he can be found with his new cohorts The Fluffers.

To borrow a line from one of Squeeze's countless top ten singles, the past has been bottled and labelled with love. And so when I asked Glenn about highlights from his illustrious 30-odd year career I must admit I was expecting stuff like being signed by a major record label before the age of 20 or playing New York's Madison Square Garden.

But no.

"This is going to sound really corny, but over the last two weeks I've been mixing my new record and I can honestly say it's the best thing I've ever done."

Better than East Side Story or Some Fantastic Place?

"At a time when quality of work is not always reflected in record sales I was approached by record producer Bob Clearmountain who said he wanted to mix my next record. Not only that but he's waiving his normal fee. That really is a highlight for me! And it's got Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis playing on it."

Cool.

And lowlights?

"A couple of years ago we were touring the States in our RV (that's recreational vehicle for any non-petrolheads). One day, between gigs, it broke down. No problem, we phoned for a replacement vehicle but that broke down too. The 75-year-old guy they sent to repair the second vehicle was too tired when he arrived so we found some crappy digs for him to sleep. We all ended up sleeping on the floor because the old boy had the bed. It was like something out of The Young Ones! Anyway, by the time it was fixed and we got our equipment back we'd had to cancel a couple of dates."

In his time with Squeeze, Tilbrook's arguments, showdowns and strops with fellow band members are legendary. I ask him what most of them were about and would he say he's easy to work with?

"I'd say I've always been fair-minded and that I've always been able to see other people's point of view, but if they don't agree with the way I want to do things, then they deserve to die! In the past I've been accused of being too dictatorial and I must admit I did suffer from having a complete lack of diplomatic skills. But now I listen to the rest of the band."

He now writes with Stephen (Lord) Large who plays keyboards in The Fluffers.

"We're paring everything back down. Where once my songs were four minutes long, now they're only three. There's no flab and no excess."

Just like when you first started out, I put it to him – anybody reading this who can remember Squeeze's Packet Of 3 EP will know what I mean.

"Exactly. And it's something I learned when we took Squeeze on the road again last year (Difford and Tilbrook playing live for the first time in eight years) – we cut out all the jazzy bits and just played as we had done on the original records."

I ask him if he'll stay on the stage for the Rescue Rooms gig. Last time he played on top of the bar and he has been known to drag punters into the car park and play al fresco.

"I really don't know. I like to keep it fresh. I never play the same set twice so let's wait and see."

I ask Glenn if he's heard many Squeeze song covers. A favourite of this reporter's is Richard Thompson's version of Tempted.

"I really like Lily Allen's version of Up The Junction (a song he knocked out one lunchtime while the rest of the band were fetching sandwiches, he tells me). She recently presented me and Chris with our Ivor Novello Lifetime Achievement awards; when she gave them to us she said she felt like someone out of Hollyoaks in the presence of Robert De Niro. Bless her."

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