For the past several years, the concert market has been inundated with anniversary tours, jaunts that commemorate the anniversary of everything from a band’s founding to the anniversary of a classic album to the anniversary of a band’s first trip to rehab.
Squeeze is in the midst of a 50th anniversary tour, but unlike, say, the Rolling Stones’ 50th anniversary tour, which featured high-profile guest stars, a choir, and a drum corps band wearing gorilla masks (seriously), this is, befitting the band in question, a more low-key affair. Which is certainly appropriate for a band that helped to usher in the New Wave movement during the 1970s and create a renaissance in literate songwriting. Houstonians will have a chance to revel in five decades of Squeeze when the band plays at the 713 Music Hall on Thursday, August 29, on a bill that includes ‘80s vocalist Boy George, of Culture Club fame.
Speaking via Zoom, with a lovely English garden visible through the window behind him, Chris Difford, Squeeze co-founder and co-songwriter (along with bandmate Glenn Tilbrook) is in a positive frame of mind as he contemplates his band’s milestone. “I’m grateful that we’ve made the journey,” Difford says. “It’s been a long, long journey. And I’m grateful for everything that’s come along in that journey. The recordings, the band, the ups and downs.
“It is your life,” Difford continues. “Some musicians say they can’t stop playing, because what else would they do? They’d just sit in the corner and die, probably. I never thought I’d get to 70 years old and still be wanting to play music in a band. I thought that was for old blues guys. But it turns out that isn’t the case.”
Like many bands that have a decades-long existence, Squeeze has taken a few breaks along the way. Have these hiatuses helped or hurt? “Oh, I think it helps, because it brings you back together with a different education of self. I know from my experiences recording solo records, it taught me a lot about my relationship as a songwriter with Glenn, with its strengths and it weaknesses. And that’s something that you can’t get if you’re standing still the whole time.”
And how has that songwriting relationship changed and evolved over time? “When we recorded Cradle to the Grave (2015) and The Knowledge (2017), Glenn began to write more lyrics for the songs. At first I found that strange that that would happen,” Difford says, referring to the fact that, during the previous years of their partnership, Difford handled most of the lyrics and Tilbrook most of the music.
“The new songs didn’t drive them to the bar, and they sat rigid, listening to what was going on. You can’t be a jukebox of yourself, that’s really not what we are.”
“But now I look back on how our songwriting has grown, and it benefits everybody, because everybody gets to say what they want to say and express themselves,” Difford says. “When we were rehearsing for the American tour, and we were playing “Walk Away,” a song that we hadn’t played for many years, I suddenly felt, ‘Wow, those lyrics. I’m so proud of those, such a great song.’ And the challenge today is to match that, really, and to try and make it better.”
Many bands embark on anniversary or reunion tours without having had a hit in years or even putting out any new albums. Squeeze, conversely, has been at work on a new record, Trixie, to be released next year. How important is it for musicians to have new material to perform when they go out on the road?
“Oh, I think it’s great, because it rejuvenates everybody in the band,” Difford says. “We’ve done four or five new songs, and the audience really appreciated them. The new songs didn’t drive them to the bar, and they sat rigid, listening to what was going on. You can’t be a jukebox of yourself, that’s really not what we are.”
Trixie will feature a group of songs that were written 50 years ago but never recorded. While some musicians might be horrified at the thought of encountering songs that they wrote when they were, in essence, children, Difford says that is not the case with this material. “It’s been emotional, in the main. To think that those young guys who wrote those songs 50 years ago, with that amount of ambition, I think that’s quite amazing, really. And the fact that the songs got buried and never saw the light of day until now is extraordinary. There are some lyrics that you wouldn’t write today, for obvious reasons, but we’ve kept them there. It establishes the foundation of those songs and how they were written.”
Speaking of 50 years ago, is there anything Difford misses from that era? “I miss the naivete and the simplicity of what that was like, being young and in a band. There’s no baggage, and you get on with life and enjoy it to its fullest.” Anything Difford doesn’t miss? “I’ve got a clear head now. I didn’t have a clear head in those days.”
Squeeze will perform at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, August 29, on a bill with Boy George at the 713 Music Hall at 401 Franklin. For information, call 832-204-6927 or visit LiveNation.com. $75.50 and up.
For more on Squeeze, visit SqueezeOfficial.com.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2024.
