Plenty of words have been used to describe Squeeze’s brand of pop: Catchy, melodic, classically English. And quite often the word “quirky” will get thrown into the mix as well.
“I never got that, because I thought that what we did was perfectly normal,” singer and guitarist Glenn Tilbrook said recently. “But now when I listen back, we were pretty damn quirky. I mean, ‘Black Coffee in Bed’ has three different kinds of verses — Why did we do that? But it seemed normal at the time.”
Normal or not, Squeeze wound up with a trunk full of killer singles, all of which should be played when they hit the Wang Theatre with the Psychedelic Furs Tuesday. Tilbrook and co-singer/writing partner Chris Difford have guided Squeeze through numerous lineups, but the new one is a little different. It’s the first septet version, adding a full-time steel guitarist (Melvin Duffy) and an extra singer/percussionist, Steve Smith who used to front the band Dirty Vegas (and lived briefly in Boston). So expect a few new spins on familiar tunes.
“This is the best Squeeze has ever been vocally, that’s for sure,” Tilbrook says. “At last we can do harmonies after all these years, along with my and Chris’ very distinctive octave vocals — The older I get, the more I love that sound. And the band now is so tight and so disciplined that we can really open the songs up. I’m not talking about doing jazz versions of ‘Tempted’ or anything, but now we can reinterpret the songs that we didn’t get right the first time.”
The latest UK single “Food for Thought” has the tunefulness of classic Squeeze. But it’s also one of their few topical songs, written to aid a UK food bank. “There’s a place for having a social conscience and an opinion, as long as you don’t force it down peoples’ throat and give them something else with it, like a nice tune. So we like to pick our moments. Also, I am quite influenced by the genius of hip-hop culture. I know Squeeze will never be that, but maybe we can filter that into Squeeze without sounding ridiculous.”
More new material is on the way, along with some very old material. To celebrate the 50th year of his partnership with Difford, Squeeze are planning to make two albums next year: One will be new material, the other will feature the very first songs they wrote together in 1973-74, predating their first album by a few years. “What I love about those songs is that they’re the sum total of my musical knowledge up to 1974. There was a little jazz in there that came from my parents’ record collection seeping into my consciousness. And another reference point for us at that time was Sparks, they were a big influence on us. But at that time we were mostly desperate to get a toe hold. It took another two years before we got any gigs, which felt like eternity at that time.”
As for the next batch of songs, most of those have yet to be written. “Chris and I can find it difficult to get started, it can be like pulling teeth. But those frustrations are part of the process, and we’ve been through it before. We’re going to Los Angeles after the tour, and it will be the first time we’ve ever tracked an album properly there. So I think we’ll be in good shape by then.”
