King King with special guest Glenn Tilbrook, performing their Greatest Hits Tour at Rock City Nottingham on Sunday 12th March 2023.

Images and Review by Kevin Cooper

It was a disappointing but enthusiastic crowd at Rock City on Sunday night who welcomed blues rock band King King and their special guest Glenn Tilbrook.

A bit of a mismatch Tilbrook got everyone singing along with his well known Squeeze numbers. Standing on the stage with just his guitar, he delivered a great selection of the Squeeze back catalogue with some covers thrown in.

Beginning with Fleetwood Mac’s Oh Well, it was the Squeeze classics such as Tempted, Take Me I’m Yours, Another Nail In My Heart and Pulling Mussels (From The Shell) that went down really well. And by the time he got around to Slap & Tickle and Goodbye Girl he had won any doubters over.

The opening bars to AC/DC’s Highway To Hell welcomed the long awaited return of King King to the stage, who are finally getting the chance to promote their 2020 album, Maverick.

Wearing his customary kilt, boots and black shirt, Alan Nimmo launched straight into new song, Dance Together. With his brother, Stevie now joining the band, the five members delivered a night full of crafted, glorious blues rock anthems.

Long Time Running was another up tempo song and By Your Side was simply stunning. Fans favourite, A Long History Of Love was a haunting beautiful song which saw Alan at his very best. The amazing You Stopped The Rain was written by Alan for Stevie and it went down a storm, and Whatever It Takes To Survive featured some glorious harmony guitar work from the Nimmo boys.

Rush Hour with its gentle piano intro and soulful vocals had the crowd singing the words back at them, before new song I Will Not Fall raised the tempo. Finishing the main set with a stunning rendition of Stranger To Love, the encore included Eric Clapton’s Old Love before the night was rounded off with Let Love In.

King King are always on top form live, taking the crowd on a journey of big production virtuoso blues rock. When they return and they will, they are definitely a band not to be missed.

Glenn Tilbrook, lead singer and guitarist with English band Squeeze chats with Kevin Cooper about singing and playing on the Nottingham tram system, supporting The Trussell Trust and Help Musicians charities, their new single Food For Thought and their current 2022 UK tour with John Cooper Clarke.

Glenn Tilbrook is the lead singer and guitarist of English band Squeeze, a band formed in the mid 1970’s who broke through in the new wave era at the end of that decade.  He generally wrote the music for Squeeze’s songs whilst the co-founder and writing partner, Chris Difford wrote the lyrics.

In 1982 Squeeze had disbanded and whilst Difford and Tilbrook continued to work together, they released an album in 1984 titled Difford and Tilbrook, but unfortunately the partnership struggled resulting in their break up in 1999.

Following this Tilbrook pursued his solo career, often touring in his RV and playing small venues.  At the time he released two solo albums, The Incomplete Glenn Tilbrook and Transatlantic Ping Pong.

In 2006 a documentary of his 2001 tour across America; Glenn Tilbrook: One For The Road was released.

In January 2010 Tilbrook and Difford spent the summer in Italy together writing songs for a new Squeeze album.  The result was a four song CD of new demo recordings which emerged during their 2012 tour of America.  The duo toured the UK and America again in 2014-15 with a program they called The At Odds Couple.

When he is not touring with Squeeze, he tours with his band the Fluffers.  He tours internationally with keyboardist Stephen Large, drummer Simon Hanson and electric bassist Lucy Shaw.

A Charlton Athletic FC supporter he was honoured to sing the English national anthem before the start of the Euro 96 game at Wembley between England and Holland.

Whilst touring the UK with Squeeze, 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?

I’m good thanks Kevin, how are you?

I’m very well thank you, and before we move on let me firstly thank you for taking the time to speak to me today.

As always, it’s a pleasure.

The last time that you and I spoke you were performing a solo gig at The Glee Club here in Nottingham and we spent a while in your mobile home discussing your taste in music (laughter).

(Laughter) that was you was it.  I remember it very well and it is always good to put a face to a name. 

And just how is life treating you?

I have to be totally honest with you and say that life at the moment is really good.  The only sad thing at the moment is that my mobile home is not with me; it’s currently being repaired as it is on its last legs really.  But, should I really be complaining about that, no ‘shut up Glenn and get a life’ (laughter).  The tour is going great, the band sounds fantastic, to me it just feels like we keep on getting better, better than we have ever been and I have to say that it is such a wonderful and strange place to currently be in.

You are some four days into the tour.  Just how does it feel to be back out on the road?

It feels just amazing, and I have to say that the proof of the pudding is the reaction that we are getting and I have to also say that I have never known anything like it.  In the past, we have always had a good reaction, but on this tour the reaction has been off the charts.

Do you still get a buzz out of touring, or has it now become a necessary evil?

No not at all, I absolutely love it.  Having said that, I don’t like the being away from home and the family aspect of it, but that is what I have done all my life.  So if I am not used to it now then I never will be.  A long time ago now I made peace with the fact that this is the sacrifice that you make in order to play music to people, which is the lifeblood of what I do.  It gives life to everything that we have done, so I really do enjoy it.

You are playing the Royal Concert Hall here in Nottingham on Friday 11^th November, visiting our fair city once again.  Do you enjoy the time that you get to spend here in Nottingham?

I love my time in Nottingham.  Going right back to the late 70’s we have been playing in Nottingham and I have seen the city change, I have seen shops open and close, and I have seen the city centre change just as I have seen towns and cities change everywhere.  Nottingham is just a great place; it is a great place for us, and it is a great place to be.

And I have to ask, have you had any more close encounters with the tram system?

(Hysterical laughter) not since I played on the opening day of the tram system.  As you well know, I did a gig on the tram system on its opening and let me tell you, playing on a moving tram if you are trying to play and sing, then I have to say that it really was a challenge.  The bends can be quite sudden, especially if you are not looking in the right direction.  I did lurch over the tram at one point (laughter). 

I am assuming that you will be playing the new single, Food For Thought on the tour.  Will there be any other new material other than that?

No, Food For Thought is the only new song that we have done so far, but what it has done is to really spark off the desire that we really do need to write and record another record.  It is now five years since we made one.  I have got this idea that actually what we should do is to make two albums, because as you know, records are really difficult to get out there into the market place, and I have two reasons for making them, the first is that they actually feed our souls collectively, as a band, to create new stuff.  It points you in a forward direction, and it is nurturing to all of us.  That is the selfish reason.

The other reason is, Chris (Difford) and I can still write, but we haven’t written for quite some time with the exception of Food For Thought, and we have this wonderful platform, so for instance, the fact that we can do Food For Thought and create some small amount of good, and express a viewpoint, which is most definitely a political viewpoint, because the crisis with food banks is a politically driven decision.  So, I don’t want to point my finger in people’s faces, it’s not like that, I think that we have a position where we can speak to people about stuff, and this tour is a really good example of that, and we are able to poke our heads above the parapet and say, “we believe in change from where we are”.

I have to say that, in my opinion, the harmonies on Food For Thought are superb; they immediately take you back to the sound of Squeeze in the late 70’s early 80’s.

Yes, I would totally agree with you on that point.  Our current vocal line-up is really strengthened by Owen (Biddle) our current bass player who has been with us now for two years together with percussionist Steve (Smith).  They are both really talented singers, alongside myself and Chris together with the rest of the band, there really is a good cross section of people who are able to do that.  We haven’t often had that in Squeeze before, so it is a new string to our bow.

You have got good value for money on the tour as once again; you have got Dr Cooper Clarke with you.

(Laughter) this is the second tour that we have done with John, and I have recently read his book.  His autobiography is an absolutely fantastic book; in fact it is one of the best that I have read in the last few years.  On stage he is an absolute force of nature, he is so good, he is so wise and funny.  It is wonderful to have him along with us once again.

You have briefly mentioned The Trussell Trust as being part of the reasoning behind the single, the other being Help Musicians.  This is your fifth year being associated with them.  Have you seen any changes for the good?

Good is what both of these charities are busy doing.  I should point out that the profits going to The Trussell Trust together with independent food banks, and Help Musicians, is being split equally between those two organisations.  Both of them have charitable status, so they cannot ever be, and they are not political in anyway shape or form and I completely understand that.  I do not want to embarrass them in any way or suggest that we are working with them in expressing our opinions.  We are completely on our own.  They really do a wonderful job.  I personally find it appalling that so many people do not have a choice other than the help that food banks provide to feed their families.  It is criminal that there are so many people who have to choose between food and heating.  I find it totally abhorrent and disgusting.  It is simply a disgrace.

You have asked the fans who are attending the gigs to bring along tinned food to donate to the food banks.  How are they reacting to that?

The generosity that we have experienced so far has been totally amazing, just incredible.  People can donate cash via card readers so that their cash goes directly to The Trussell Trust.  They can also bring along food, toiletries, and anything that is non-perishable.  It really is humbling and it is the best of us really, and to see that is overwhelmingly good and the heart of whom I believe we are.

As a nation we are broken, aren’t we?

I think that as a nation the present government have a mean and almost sadistically selfish streak which I don’t believe really is what this country is.  But that is what we currently have, especially when you take a look at our figureheads.  I am just hopeful that this is the end of them for quite a while because they are simply destroying us.  The evidence for what this government has done to the country is all around us; it’s not all down to economic circumstances, it is a deliberate political decision that has been made that has left us in this mess.  I would love to hear anyone make a great case for Brexit nowadays.  What was it all for, a blue passport?  Was that what it was all about, I don’t know, I don’t understand.

How can it be good for the country when we have a multi-millionaire running it?  Could someone please explain that to me?

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t condemn anyone making money.  However, I do condemn the way that the taxation system works.  It simply is not fair.  Plus, I feel that we could do a lot more to address those issues, but I don’t think that this government is ever going to do that simply because their agenda is not slanted that way.

Whenever you listen to the current government speaking about food banks they seem to see it as a badge of honour and not a problem which needs addressing.

(Laughter) absolutely.  As a representative of this government, I say Matt Hancock (laughter).  If I were one of his constituents I would be very upset that my MP chooses to address the people via television (laughter).  I find it absolutely ridiculous and I am totally sick of them. 

Poor old Uncle Matt, he is in for a rough time in the jungle I think (laughter).

(Hysterical laughter) let us all hope so.

Going back to Squeeze, next year will be your fiftieth anniversary. 

Yes, that’s right; it will be our fiftieth anniversary.  Thanks for pointing that out (laughter).

Do you have anything special planned as yet?

As I mentioned earlier, I think that we are going to do two records.  I think that we are going to make two Squeeze albums.  One will be a set of songs that I wrote fifty years ago, which we never recorded because at that point we were just writing a stupid amount of songs, and whatever the last ones were, the last ones that you wrote were the ones that you liked best.  But there is a lot to be said for that I have to say.  I feel that we disregarded some really great songs, so I want to make one album of fifty-year-old songs and one album of new songs.  And I think that is a pretty good thing to hang your hat on.  Fifty years is a long time for any partnership to endure, and let me tell you we have certainly had our ups and downs along the way.  But here we are, still doing it, and still able to work together which I am really grateful for.

Is there any chance of a reunion of the original five Squeeze members?

Well, we have got Squeeze now; the Squeeze of old is what it is.  I think that I view the band as me and Chris, and the people that we have around us now, that is Squeeze.  I don’t want to go back, in fact I wouldn’t go back to any other line-up, I love this one.

I see that you are touring with King King in the New Year.  Don’t you ever stop?

Yes, I am because as you know, I like to keep my hand in (laughter).  I flit around doing all manner of different things.  Before we started this tour I had a five week slot where I was playing solo shows and all that stuff feeds what I do, whether that be playing clubs, playing larger concert halls, or playing arenas.  I feel so lucky that I am able to do all of those things, and they all enrich, and I can entertain people in that way.  I am so lucky that I can do that.

Glenn, on that note let me once again thank you for taking the time to speak to me today.  You take care and I will see you up here in Nottingham.

Thank you so much Kevin.  It’s been a pleasure as usual.  You take care and we will speak again later.

Glenn Tilbrook performing his The Best Of Times UK Tour at The Glee Club Nottingham on Thursday 3rd November 2016

Images and Review by Kevin Cooper

It takes a very special artist to have the audience in the palm of their hand from the off, and Squeeze’s Glenn Tilbrook is very high on that list as a packed Glee Club hung on his every word for each of his 25 song set.

Warming the crowd up was Steve Smith, who is accompanying Tilbrook on this forty one date tour. With just a guitar and a mic, he started his set with Now We’re Here Today. Whilst still a member of British band Dirty Vegas, their Grammy award winning Days Go By went down a storm as did Let The Night, before he closed his set with Little White Doves.

Glenn Tilbrook bounced onto the stage, looking younger than ever. Delivering some old Squeeze favourites he also threw in some songs from his last solo album, Happy Ending. Opening with Someone Else’s Bell and Some Fantastic Place, he set the pace for the evening. It was all very frantic and extremely fast. Take Me I’m Yours had the audience singing along as Tilbrook displayed his superb guitar skills, and solo track Persephone kept the pace going before the first half was brought to a close with a luscious Friday On My Mind, a memorable Labelled With Love and a delightful Annie Get Your Gun.

Tilbrook took up where he had left off in the second half with Up The Junction and Cradle To The Grave before delivering an amusing Genitalia Of A Fool. There were all the old favourites like Black Coffee In Bed, Slap And Tickle and Tempted. Finishing with Pulling Mussels (From The Shell) and Goodbye Girl, the audience had sung their hearts out.

With his timeless lyrics, his excellent vocals, his subliminal guitar skills and a huge catalogue of songs to choose from, Glenn Tilbrook, up close and personal, was by far the best gig of the year.

Glenn Tilbrook, singer songwriter and guitarist with Squeeze chats with Kevin Cooper about his friendship with Dennis Greaves, working on Cradle To The Grave, his solo album Happy Ending and his forthcoming tour of the UK

Glenn Tilbrook is the lead singer and guitarist of the English band Squeeze, a band formed in the new wave period of the late 1970s and continued recording successfully in the 80’s and 90’s. He generally wrote the melody for Squeeze’s songs, while his writing partner, Chris Difford, wrote the lyrics. Writing such successful hits like Cool For Cats, Up The Junction, Take Me I’m Yours and Hourglass, they were hailed as ‘the heirs to Lennon and McCartney’s throne’, during the peak of their popularity.

The group first broke up in 1982 but then reformed in 1985, and then subsequently disbanded again in 1999. The band reunited for tours throughout the United States and United Kingdom in 2007, and this touring version of Squeeze has continued. Their album, Cradle To The Grave, was released after their music was used in a BBC drama of the same name, which was based upon Danny Baker’s autobiography.

Whilst busy getting ready for his tour of the UK, he took some time out to have a chat with Kevin Cooper and this is what he had to say.

Hi Glenn how are you?

Hi Kevin I’m very well thanks. How are you today?

I’m good thanks and before we move on let me just thank you for taking the time to speak to me today.

That’s fine it’s an absolute pleasure.

It would appear that I am working my way through Squeeze one by one. After today I will have finally interviewed Chris (Difford) Jools (Holland) and your good self.

So you are trying to collect the set (laughter).

You could say that (laughter). I first saw Squeeze when you supported The Police at Milton Keynes Bowl on Saturday 26^th July 1980.

Gosh, I remember that very well. We had a monsoon as I recall (laughter).

Yes, you are correct, it was a very wet and dull day but I am sure that a good time was had by all for the princely sum of £6.00 (laughter).

Bloody hell, is that all it cost (laughter).

Yes it was, and when you consider the line-up that included The Police, Squeeze, UB40, Tom Robinson’s Sector 27 and some strange American bloke called Skafish it was great value despite the awful weather (laughter).

Skafish bless him, I wonder what happened to him?

I have absolutely no idea and I think that is probably the best way (laughter).

Thinking back I think that you are probably right (laughter).

So how is life treating you?

Really good actually. I have just got back from an American tour with Squeeze and I think that it is one of the best tours that we have ever had. It was just amazing actually. It was really good.

You are currently preparing to go out on the road here in the UK with your Best Of Times Tour. Are you looking forward to that?

Very much so, yes. It has been a long while since I have toured by myself. It brings something different to the table. It is a show that sort of evolves and right now it is about fifty percent acoustic and fifty percent electric and I am currently going through a period where I absolutely adore playing and singing. I feel that I am the best that I have ever been so that is really a fantastic place for me to be coming from.

You are playing here in Nottingham at The Glee Club on Thursday 3^rd November. What can we expect?

What you can expect is something from all points of my career. Something from the beginning to the very latest stuff. It is amazing at this point that we have had the most successful Squeeze album ever with Cradle To The Grave. We have had amazing responses from the crowds at all of the gigs that we have played and in particular Glastonbury was amazing. We have just got such a lot done this year and last year which has propelled us forward. For me I am really grateful to be able to be in that place now.

You have mentioned Cradle To The Grave, what was it like working with Danny Baker whose autobiography was adapted for the BBC series?

It was great fun, it really was. I remember distinctly that I was at home in bed getting over the flu and I was searching for something to read and I didn’t at that time have any books. I saw that Danny’s autobiography was out so I downloaded it, read it and thought this is mad and that it would make a great musical. I called Danny and said “look, have you thought about doing a musical” and he said “no, we haven’t thought about doing a musical but we are doing a TV show, why don’t you come down and do a few songs for that”. So really it was a fortuitous call.

It gave us a great focus for the writing of the record and I think that Cradle To The Grave as an album is more backward looking with regard to the subject matter, moving from childhood to teens. For me to have the excuse to write for that in terms of Danny’s life being very similar in upbringing to how mine was, I knew the source material very well.

And as I recall you and Chris had a cameo appearance in the show didn’t you?

(Hysterical laughter) yes we did, however, my phone hasn’t been ringing off the hook since then with offers of other acting work, I must say (laughter). It was fun being on the set and seeing the process; it was great.

Back to your tour, you are going to be playing forty-one dates. So quite obviously you are not having any thoughts on slowing down just yet?

No, no, keep on going, keep on pushing. I think that it is amazing to be at this stage and have all of these dates. I am really looking forward to it. It’s great, I am in good shape physically; my vocals and my guitar playing are better than they have ever been. I think that it will really be a great evening.

I’m coming down to The Glee Club to photograph and review the gig and I have to say that I am really looking forward to it.

Excellent. I am really looking forward to being back in Nottingham.

You and Squeeze have played here many times haven’t you?

Yes that’s right we have. Yes indeed. I personally love playing up there in Nottingham. It’s a wonderful place.

You have got Steve Smith from Dirty Vegas opening for you on the tour. I understand that you are a fan of his work?

I have known Steve since back in the 90s and he has such a great vibe about him. Chris and I were doing a duo tour last year over in America and we saw Steve because he lives near to Boston where we were playing. He came onstage and played with us and he was absolutely fantastic. It was then that I told him that if he ever wanted to do some stuff with me then I would do my very best to make it happen. What I am hoping will happen is that we will eventually work up to doing some stuff together as well as him opening for me. That’s one of the things that I like about touring; you can forge new relationships which can sometimes come from unexpected directions (laughter).

You mention you and Chis touring together on the duo tour. Is that likely to happen again?

Yes we will. I think that is something that we can do every now and again. The format of it is that it was almost a theatrical tour. We had beds, tables and chairs on the stage and Chris and I came on stage wearing our pyjamas (laughter). It was funny and people got it. We are not comedians but we like a laugh (laughter). It all went to set a really nice tone for the evening.

Is touring what it is all about for you?

Touring is one half of what I do but it is the most entertaining half. The other half is obviously writing and recording and I love doing that but that is harder work, but when it works it is brilliant and really satisfying. So you could say that I have two jobs really (laughter).

Back in 2014 you released your fifth solo album Happy Ending. Were you happy with how it was received?

I was happy with how it was received although being in Squeeze, of course they have sold many, many more copies than I sold of Happy Ending. In a way I view Cradle To The Grave and Happy Ending as being companion pieces because they were written around the same time and many things from Happy Ending finally ended up being used on Cradle To The Grave. It’s not like I cut myself in half; everything I do I give it one hundred percent. It was also special for me to once again work with Laurie Latham on both Happy Ending and Cradle To The Grave.

After the forthcoming tour will you be working on a new solo studio album?

Right now, where I am at is that I am putting all of my energy into the next Squeeze record. Squeeze are in a really good place at the moment; the relationship between me and Chris in so far as working together and writing together is really great. We have got a fantastic band and it is all that I ever wanted really. My solo projects and tours were caused by Squeeze splitting up so I don’t want to ever walk away from that. But as a vehicle for songs, Squeeze is what I am concentrating on at the moment.

Do you have a release date in mind?

It is early days but at this moment in time I think that we will be releasing an album around September or October next year.

You mention the current line-up being the best ever, well I have to say that the last couple of times that I have seen Squeeze here in Nottingham, the band feels so much more rounded. Does that make sense?

Yes it does, and I personally feel that we have got the best version of Squeeze that we have ever had. I know that a lot of people still prefer some of the older versions but for me the current line-up is simply the best band ever. The feeling together with the camaraderie that we have when we are on stage it just feels the best place in the world to be. That is a fantastic feeling to have.

You have written and co-written some fantastic songs over the years; which one has given you the most pleasure?

Right now I am going to say that it is a song called Everybody Sometimes which is on Happy Ending because it is a really sweet pop song that has a message about where I think that society is and it is all going wrong. Very loosely speaking it is about the ‘Old Boys Network’ and about things being a closed shop, people helping each other out through back channels which is where a lot of today’s stuff is going wrong. I believe that free markets will never look after people.

If you could have written one song, what would it have been?

I would have loved to have written Pulp’s Common People because I think that it is such a perceptive song. It is also a smart and funny song.

What was the last song or piece of music that made you cry?

Wow, what a question. Well, now here’s the thing, the last thing that made me cry was listening to David Bowie’s album. What a brilliant piece of art. I don’t think that anyone has ever done that before, to write about their own demise. That is an incredibly powerful statement. It is a bold and beautiful move to give to us all. I just started crying, it is very moving.

When I interviewed Chris I asked him about the time that you were being referred to as the new Lennon and McCartney. Chris said that in his opinion that comment hindered your writing rather than helping. Would you agree with that?

To be honest, I think that it did both in equal measures. The positive thing is that it made people sit up and take more notice of us whilst the negative thing is that it made Chris and I regard ourselves in a different way. Our writing got worse for around a year after we had first heard that statement. However, we gradually drifted back down to earth and all was fine.

I was recently interviewing a good friend and neighbour of yours, Dennis Greaves from Nine Below Zero and he told me that you are responsible for them recording their 13 Shades Of Blue album.

Oh no, I think that Dennis is giving me far too much credit there (laughter). I absolutely love Nine Below Zero and they are one of my favourite bands. Their album is just fantastic and it is just so inspirational to me. If I am honest, I think that me and Dennis bounce off each other quite a lot but only in a good way (laughter). I like where Dennis comes from, his work ethic, his playing, the whole band, they are just great.

Can you really say that about Dennis as he is a Spurs fan and you are a Charlton fan?

(Hysterical laughter) that is the only thing that we disagree about (laughter).

You collaborated with Nine Below Zero on the Co-Operative album. How was the experience?

It really was a fantastic experience and I would like us to do another album. I think what was great about the Co-Operative was that as musicians we were coming from different places and we sort of met in the middle and produced stuff that wouldn’t normally come out otherwise. It is a great thing for me to be pulled in another direction like that.

Are there any ambitions left for you to achieve?

To be honest with you I am achieving my ambitions now simply by being in the place where I am. I just love this thing and I feel very lucky and gifted to have had a career in doing the thing that I enjoy the most. I just want it to continue.

What was the first record that you bought?

It was Last Train To Clarksville by The Monkees.

Who did you first see performing live in concert?

That would have been T. Rex at the Lewisham Odeon London way back in 1971.

Who has musically inspired you?

I am inspired by so many different types of music, but I guess that the bedrock of what makes me the writer that I am is growing up in the sixties and absorbing the pop music of that time. Whilst I don’t actually listen to it much, it is always at the core of what I do, I think.

What was your first experience of Top Of The Pops like?

At the time I was living in a bedsit and a Daimler turned up outside my bedsit to pick me up and take me to Top Of The Pops (laughter). It was a surreal experience. We were finally on the telly after years of watching it. After the show the Daimler took me home again and then some months later we found out that the band had paid for it all (hysterical laughter). But it was great, I had all of the neighbours looking at me. I felt very, very chuffed.

On that note Glenn, let me once again thank you for taking the time to speak to me. It’s been great and I will see you here in Nottingham.

Thanks Kevin and make sure that you come over and say hello. You take care and bye for now.