ShareGlenn Tilbrook, an English singer, songwriter and guitarist, best known as being the lead singer in Squeeze, chats with Kevin Cooper about changing from a five piece to a nine piece band, working with The Trussell Trust, their latest album Trixies and their forthcoming 2026 tour of the UK.
Glenn Tilbrook is an English singer, songwriter, and guitarist best known for being the lead singer of new wave band Squeeze.
Formed in the mid 1970’s, he generally wrote the music whilst his writing partner Chris Difford wrote the lyrics. In 1982 Squeeze disbanded, enjoying a hiatus from 1983 to 1985 during which time he toured with Difford as Difford and Tilbrook.
Reforming in 1985 the partnership struggled due to Difford’s struggles with addiction and questions over the bands commercial and creative direction, which resulted in the band again disbanding in 1999.
In 2007 there was another reunion which resulted in the release of a five disc series of remastered demos.
When he is not touring with Squeeze, Tilbrook fronts his own band, Fluffers, a band he formed in 2003, who tour internationally. He also tours as a solo artist.
He is an official ambassador of The Trussell Trust, an organisation that Squeeze support whilst on tour by raising funds, collecting food donations and raising awareness of food insecurity.
Whilst busy rehearsing for their forthcoming tour, he took some time out to have a chat with Kevin Cooper and this is what he had to say.
Glenn good morning, how are you feeling today?
Hi Kevin I’m feeling good at this moment in time, but more to the point how are you?
Well I could complain but who would listen (laughter).
I know that feeling very well (laughter).
Before we move on let me firstly thank you for taking the time to speak to me today.
It is, as always, a pleasure.
And just how is life treating you at this moment in time?
To be perfectly honest with you, life has never been better. Recently and for the very first time we actually played to a sold out audience at the Hollywood Bowl which truly was amazing. It really was a fantastic experience. It really is a great tour. I honestly feel that in the 2020s Squeeze have changed for the better I think. We have grown in numbers and we are now a nine piece, whereas at the beginning of the 2020s we were a five piece. We are much more of a vocal band now. We have always had me and Chris (Difford) singing but now we have harmonies. We really are utilising the fact that we are now a nine piece, and that we have changed. We have got better as a band and I feel that our latest album, Trixies, as a record, you can hear that on it. Whenever we play live it is a cohesive band, and it is my ambition to turn us into Fleetwood Mac (laughter).
Each and every time that I see you performing live you seem to be getting better and better. Would you agree with that?
Yes, I would totally agree with you, we are getting better. With pushing with what we can do, there was a time when I didn’t really think that we were doing that properly. You don’t know that you aren’t doing it properly otherwise you would try to do it better but now I feel that we have hit a period where we can concentrate, and I know that this is sounding like a seminar, but we can concentrate, visualise on what it is that we want to do, and then actually do it. After all of that, please don’t get me wrong, I am not a scientologist (hysterical laughter).
We must talk about the latest album Trixies and I have to say that I love it.
Thank you, that really is great to hear. It actually shows that we really must be doing something right after all these years.
Back in 1974 when you and Chris were first writing what would later become Trixies; did you set out to write a concept album?
Yes, we did. It came about really by stealth. There are two songs on Trixies that Chris wrote by himself, It’s Over and The Dancer, and they were written about the nightclub called Trixies. Chris had this idea before we met. He later came back to the project and he started to give me lyrics that were marked Trixies. We started to talk about the project being about a futuristic nightclub, set in the far off distant days of the 1980s from the point of view that the 1980s hadn’t happened yet (laughter). I have to say that it was an intriguing concept, partly a reflection I think of the 60s and 70s Hollywood take on gangster films like Bonnie and Clyde; they were very stylised versions of the past which also become fashionable in the future and that, I think, is what Trixies is. It refers to a past which you can imagine but maybe wasn’t ever there in that way. I think that is an intriguing place in which to let your mind wander.
I have to ask, why did you never record Trixies the album back then?
That’s a great question (laughter). At the time we had a band, we had Squeeze. I knew Jools (Holland) but our playing chops where not nearly as developed as our writing chops. The few songs that we had written for Trixies, I use this analogy often so please forgive me for saying that we were like five year olds playing football, and everyone chased the ball (laughter). That’s what we played like and so we weren’t capable of the degree of sophistication which the songs actually had. At that time we weren’t signed to any one label, in fact we were turned down by four record companies. So, in truth, we didn’t have anywhere to go with the songs, but then times change so we moved on, we wrote more, so in all honesty Trixies kind of got buried really.
Who found the original demo tapes?
(Laughter) Chris and I had them lying around, but I have to say that this story has got miss told a little (laughter). It was a bit of a eureka moment for us because we knew that Trixies were a bunch of great songs, and we had never forgotten about them, but I have to say that as well as them being a bunch of great songs, this is a great story. It is a great story because it’s true. We wrote these songs way back when plus we weren’t going to release the album when Punk had taken over the charts and look like an idiot (laughter). Trixies was so against the grain when we finally did get a record deal, it was never considered as a thing really.
Were you happy with the fans reaction to the album?
The reaction has been massive. Whist we were recently on tour over in America, we were playing eleven of the thirteen songs from Trixies, which really was quite an ask for any audience. Having said that not only have we stuck to our guns, but the audiences are there with us too and we present it in such a way that the audience totally accept it. We start off by playing a few hits, and now we are going to have this bit when you are probably going to sit down and just listen while we paint a picture for you for the next forty minutes or so, and I have to say that it works, it works really well. We have woven it together really well and it is a standalone piece in the middle of our set.
Will that be the same format when you get to the Motorpoint Arena here in Nottingham on Saturday 14th November?
Yes it will. We have done it now often enough to know that it works, that people like it, and that we can make the show work at either end around Trixies whilst taking people with us, giving them a really good night together with a lot to think about as well.
Do you have a favourite track on the album?
That would most probably be a track called The Place We Call Mars because it is such an ambitious song. It is a song that is very much influenced by the late David Bowie. It doesn’t sound like a David Bowie song but you can certainly tell that it is heavily influenced by him.
And it was one of the songs that you showcased on Later…With Jools Holland earlier this year.
Did we? I’ve been to bed since then (laughter).
When you were listening to the original demos how did it feel listening to a seventeen year old Glenn Tilbrook?
The amazing thing is just how little both Chris and I sound like we did back then. My voice was still developing and at that time I was under the impression that I could sing like Marc Bolan, and I can truthfully tell you that I really couldn’t (laughter). I was trying that strange vibrato that Marc had, and I can tell you that it’s not a great sound (hysterical laughter).
Staying on the subject of the original tapes, did you have to tweak or change any of the lyrics in order to bring the songs right up to date?
There was a little bit of tweaking, not much, and also musically we did actually tweak a few things. Mainly, it was, I would say, we were quite verse chorus, verse chorus, verse chorus writers, with very little middle bits without any breaks or stuff like that. So, as you can imagine the middle bits weren’t there and we wrote those two years ago now. Having said all of that in the whole the songs were exactly as we had written them all those years ago.
Do you and Chris ever argue?
We are not close enough to argue. We tiptoe around each other gingerly and I occasionally question and doubt our friendship. Ours is a strange relationship, it always has been that way and we are very accustomed to it.
We must mention the forthcoming tour.
Yes, we must (laughter).
I keep looking at the tour dates and the list keeps getting bigger and bigger with absolutely no sign of Glenn Tilbrook slowing down.
No, absolutely not. I will go until I can’t go any further. That is my answer to you. I love doing what I do, I feel very lucky to be able to do it for all this time that I have done it, I’m also lucky I think in the fact that I enjoy it. Not everybody who does this really loves it with a passion but I do because of the connection that we have with audiences when I do Squeeze and when I do solo shows it really is immense and I would never want to lose that.
Please don’t take offence when I say this but on the subject of your solo tours I have to say that having seen you open for King King here in Nottingham at Rock City was, in my opinion, one of the weirdest pairings that I have ever seen (laughter).
(Hysterical laughter) you cheeky bugger. Yes it was. That is exactly what I thought (laughter). Don’t get me wrong, I had so much fun doing it and the reason why I like doing it, if I can open for other people and put together something where people wouldn’t normally see what I do then I feel that is an opportunity that I don’t want to miss. Plus I have to say that it really was a great tour (laughter).
Alan (Nimmo) is great isn’t he? He’s a true powerhouse, a real force of nature.
Absolutely, yes he is completely.
And I wouldn’t tell him anything else; he’s a big unit (laughter).
Quite right too (hysterical laughter).
With such a vast back catalogue to delve into, just how hard is it for you to put a set list together for the forthcoming tour?
Being totally honest with you, I have to say that there is a good bit of juggling, and I think that it is a test of how professional anyone is when you have to do full justice to something which you have played for the last fifty years. That really can be very hard. In the past we did take our eye off the ball with that and we thought that we knew what we were doing. We haven’t been in that position for quite a long while now. You have to absolutely concentrate on what you are doing and give it your very best. We all do that and it sounds great now.
I have recently been watching Squeeze in the Radio 2 Piano Room with the BBC Concert Orchestra when you performed a slowed down version of Hourglass and I have to say I thought it was fantastic.
Thank you, that’s so nice to hear and I have to tell you that was the first and only time that we have ever played Hourglass in that way. To tell you the truth I had forgotten about that (laughter). Did it work (laughter). It was fun doing that. I love doing stuff like that because when you go back to it you go, ‘I can’t remember how it goes now’ (laughter).
On the tour you are being supported by a certain Billy Bragg. What does Billy Bragg bring to the table?
Billy will bring to the table his extremely articulate take on everything. He really is a force to be reckoned with, someone who I personally admire so much. I admire what he does at Glastonbury every year. He has his own stage and he talks about not only his music but music in general. He is someone who cares deeply about life and where we are. I have got nothing but love and respect for him. So for us to be able to tour together really is going to be great.
Last year I saw you open for Madness here in Nottingham. What was it like touring with The Nutty Boys?
(Hysterical laughter) Nutty Boys indeed (laughter). You know what they say, “Nutty Boys by name, Nutty Boys by nature”. Having said all of that, it really was a great tour. Again, like the King King thing but larger, it was a great opportunity for us to get to people who may think that they know what we are, and we can do what we do. Touring with them in particular bought us a lot of people who had maybe forgotten about us or didn’t know about us. That’s great, it’s what we want to do, we want to grow, and we don’t want to stand still.
Staying with the tour, will you once again be collecting non-perishable food stuffs on behalf of The Trussell Trust?
Yes, we will. We have got someone out on the road with us once again. We have been working with The Trussell Trust now for over ten years and it’s great to be able to collaborate with them. The work that they do is obviously still needed; the problem is not going away, the poverty together with the depravation that they deal with always with compassion and love is awe inspiring to me and I’m very, very happy to still be able to do something such as asking people to bring donations to the shows which The Trussell Trust then distribute locally after the show.
Putting you on the spot what has been the highlight of your careers so far?
I don’t know really as there have been so many so I’m going to say that the last highlight was when we recently headlined to ten thousand people at the Hollywood Bowl. It truly is a tremendous setting. We have played there many times before; opening for other people but for us to do it under our own steam and for us to sell out the venue really is a landmark for us.
Well it certainly sounds much better than the Milton Keynes Bowl (laughter).
(Hysterical laughter) yes it does, there certainly is no comparison there (laughter).
What was the last song or piece of music that made you cry?
I don’t know if this is the last time that I cried but I saw Stevie Wonder at the O2 which is very local to me in London back in 2012 and I burst into uncontrollable tears because he was so good. I had never had that reaction before and he was just so good. It was nostalgic but not at all lazy, it was perfect. Stevie was perfect; and I hear that he is still on perfect form. Believe me when I say that happy tears do not come often (laughter).
What is currently on Glenn Tilbrook’s rider?
There is red wine, cheddar cheese, wholemeal bread, pears, lots of fruit, oranges, avocado; I think that’s it (laughter). Oh, and soft drinks, sparkling water, lots of wine, don’t forget the wine (laughter).
Is there anywhere left that you haven’t played before but you would love to and why?
Yes that’s easy, I have always wanted to play the Sydney Opera House down there in Australia. I keep being told that the acoustics in there are as near to perfect as you can get so I would love to try it out for myself.
If I may I would like to give you the last word before we close. On Wednesday 5th November 2025 we lost Gilson (Lavis). What did he bring to Squeeze?
Gilson was the person that brought arranging skills to Squeeze. His vast experience taught us such a lot about arranging and structuring songs. He was an exemplary player and brought touches of swing and jazz to Squeeze which had not been there before. He will be sorely missed.
On that note Glenn let me once again thank you for taking the time to speak to me today, it’s been great. Enjoy the tour and I will see you here in Nottingham.
It’s been a pleasure as always Kevin. Thank you very much for your time. You take care and I will see you up there in Nottingham. Bye for now.
