Catching Up with Glenn Tilbrook

If you went to college during the first half of the ‘80s, chances are good that you own the Squeeze album Singles: 45s and Under. Released in late 1982, Squeeze’s first greatest-hits collection featured a dozen terrific tracks that showcased the British band’s literate but catchy pop at its very best. Songs like “Tempted,” “Pulling Mussels (from the Shell),” “Cool for Cats,” “Black Coffee in Bed” and “Another Nail in My Heart” were perennial radio favorites and left an indelible mark on the collective consciousness of those enough lucky to have been at college during that glorious period. These singles were taken from Squeeze’s first five studio albums, around the time of the band’s breakup, thus closing the chapter on their first era.

Squeeze formed in London in the mid ‘70s. Their debut album, UK Squeeze, arrived in 1978 in the wake of the punk rock movement. But although the band shared the punk ethos of irreverence, Squeeze was a pop band from the start. This is not an insult, by the way – more a means of saying that they had “old-fashioned” values like writing melodies and playing their instruments well. Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook, the quintet’s leaders, were often compared to Lennon and McCartney back in the day, such was their talent and passion for classic pop songwriting. Tilbrook played lead guitar, wrote the music and generally sang lead while Difford wrote the lyrics, took the occasional lead vocal and often provided unemotional but oddly effective harmonies. The band was filled out by musclebound drummer Gilson Lavis and a rotating series of bass players and keyboardists (one of the latter being Jools Holland, now a star in his own right).

Squeeze broke up in 1982, not long after releasing their fifth studio disc, Sweets from a Stranger. Two years later, Difford and Tilbrook issued an eponymous album that wasn’t very well-received. But in 1985, to the delight of their many fans, Squeeze reunited and released the album Cosi Fan Tutti Frutti. 1987’s Babylon and On did even better, producing the biggest U.S. chart hit of the band’s career in the form of “Hourglass.” Squeeze released five more studio albums before calling in quits again in 1999. Despite the occasional tour, they have not recorded together as a band since.

Glenn Tilbrook and Chris Difford have each released several solo albums in this decade. Listening to their respective records, you get a real sense of what each of them brought to Squeeze. Tilbrook unveiled his solo debut, The Incomplete Glenn Tilbrook, in 2001. A solid set of pop, it wasn’t a radical departure from the music he made with Squeeze, but it was significant for a couple of reasons. For one thing, it found Tilbrook writing most of the lyrics for the first time in his professional career. What was also interesting is that most of the melodies retained Tilbrook’s trademark tunefulness – often in contrast to the lyrics themselves. Songs such as “This is Where You Ain’t” and “I Won’t See You” are so damn catchy that it takes awhile before you realize that they are about the aftermath of losing your children and your ex, respectively. Tilbrook toured for a couple of years in support of The Incomplete, even taking his RV through the backstreets of rural America and sometimes filming the process.

In 2004, Tilbrook released his sophomore album, Transatlantic Ping Pong. While certainly listenable, it wasn’t his best work, representing something of a holding pattern. In fact, the most memorable song on the disc – the hilarious “Genitalia of a Fool” – was a cover. Although he issued some live recordings and demos after Transatlantic Ping Pong, Tilbrook hasn’t released another studio album until now.

Pandemonium Ensues, Tilbrook’s third official solo foray, just arrived in the U.S and is a resounding return to form. It’s also the first album credited to Glenn Tilbrook and the Fluffers. And it is a true band effort, as the contributions of the three talented Fluffers are not to be overlooked. That said, Tilbrook is still the star of the show and he turns in a hell of a performance. Pandemonium Ensues features 14 songs. Each one is different from the next, but what’s really impressive is that Tilbrook rarely if ever falters, no matter what he tries. This album has so many highlights that it’s hard to know where to begin – but the opening track, “Best of Times,” seems like a good place. A catchy, country-influenced song about life, love and family, Tilbrook packs tons of humor, warmth and wistfulness into three minutes and change.

“Best of Times” is a great song and a worthy opener, but it’s just the beginning. “Still,” the album’s current single, is a soulful cut co-written with Des’ree of “You Gotta Be” fame. It is followed by the pop masterpiece “Relentless Pursuit.” That in turn is followed by “Interest & Love,” a ballad on which Tilbrook duets with French vocalist (and wife of Johnny Depp) Vanessa Paradis. Other highlights range from the midtempo, melancholy “Black Sheep” to the fast, manic “Slaughtered Artist” to “Product,” a quirky New Wave gem featuring Fluffers bassist Lucy Shaw on vocals. (Tilbrook doesn’t sing on the track at all.) From start to finish, Pandemonium Ensues is an intelligent pop tour de force.

I’ve had the pleasure of interviewing Glenn Tilbrook many times throughout the years, over assorted beverages. Our most recent chat took place over a beer on April 6th, the eve of his new album’s American release. Here are some excerpts.

 

Let’s start with the new album, Pandemonium Ensues, which will be ensuing here tomorrow, finally. Tell me where and when you recorded the new album?

We recorded it towards the end of last spring. We went into the studio with a few clear ideas, which were to record as a band, to get takes and to overdub as little as possible. [That] was the first idea. The second idea was to make everything as short as possible. Really look at the songs and say, ‘Okay, is this necessary? Is it going to make the song any better?’ So we cut everything down.

 

It was five years since I last had a record out. In the middle of that, I wrote eight songs for the movie Walk Hard, all of which got rejected. That was really a horrible time, because I put a lot of effort [into that] and I was very proud of those songs. It just sort of made me disinterested for awhile. And I’d been writing for what was going to be my next record too, and I sort of just wanted to get rid of all the songs that I had. In fact, there are two songs from earlier that made it through to this record, but what I wanted to do for the rest of them [was] to not give out demos and to try and write quickly, with the band. To each day go into the studio and say, ‘This is our song for the day. Let’s do it.’ And it’s given the record a real spring in its step. It has a sort of vitality about it that comes from learning how to play and capturing that moment.

 

The current single is “Still.” I noticed that you co-wrote that with Des’ree, a name I hadn’t heard in awhile. I was wondering how that came about and what she’s been up to, because in America we haven’t heard her name in years.

I think in Britain, the music industry doesn’t treat black artists very well. There are not very many black artists who have long careers, firstly. Secondly when people do have careers – and Des’ree was in the business for awhile, [close to] 15 years – by the end of it, various A&R people [told her] to rewrite “You Gotta Be” 18 times, you know? She thought, ‘I’ve had enough of this, I don’t enjoy it anymore’ and stopped making music. She makes music for her own amusement [these days], which is probably the best way to make music. She’s a great talent. So I really enjoyed working with her, it was a totally natural thing. And [“Still’] is one of the best songs I think I’ve written. I’m very proud of it musically and lyrically. I like the idea of writing a song about being in love with someone when the relationship isn’t new – when you know each other and you’re aware of all your foibles, yet you still say it’s good.

 

On that note, the opening song, “Best of Times” is very casually beautiful.

Thank you.

 

The lyric is just wonderful. It’s a great song to start the album with.

That was one of the later songs we recorded and I was very unsure about it. But it worked out great. Musically, I was trying not to put up any barriers for what we did. The people who interest me are those that go all over the place. It’s about enthusiasm for music and I’m against people being put into a genre.

 

“Best of Times” lyrically – there were a lot of songs that are personal to me. “Still” and “Best of Times” are probably the most personal, about family and enjoying that and what a strange position it is to be in the music business and enjoying that too. That’s a challenge every now and then.

 

One of the strangest songs is “Product.” [It wasn’t until] I got the credit sheet that I realized it was Lucy [who sings it]. I’m curious about how that song came about and how the decision was made for Lucy to sing it.

Well, it’s a bit like when Paul Carrack sang “Tempted” or indeed [when] Chris sang “Cool for Cats” or any of those little things that heppen along the way. I remember there being tremendous resistance to [these things] at the time. Lucy is a case in point. This record is interesting to me because I’ve done more lyrics than music on [it]. People are attributing the bouncy pop tunes to me whereas a lot of them aren’t my tunes at all – and [“Product”] isn’t my tune. It’s one of my lyrics, and [the tune was] filtered through me, but it’s not mine. Lucy did a great job on it. I love the idea of expressing what it’s like to be someone who’s become embittered by the process of becoming famous.

 

In all the times that I’ve spoken with you, I don’t think I’ve ever asked you about the formation of Squeeze and what the music scene was like in London in the late ‘70s. What was it like to be in England at that time and how did that influence the way you guys put a band together?

I think you could construct a hundred different stories of what it was like at that time. But I think the general perception – and I agree with it – was a very sort of bleak time. Generally, although there were some good things happening, music seemed to have lost its way. There was a lot of very lightweight, commercial pop, and pop was always what I was interested in. A lot of rubbish, like manufactured bands. And at the other end, very heavy, progressive stuff that disappears to a lot of younger kids and didn’t connect.

 

We were a bit of a strange band because we were always quite musical. When we started out, Jools could play. I could write, and I liked chords and I liked music and where it could go. We used to play a lot of quite complicated songs that didn’t fit in anywhere. So we had a hard time with support bands and people woiuld just ignore us, which is standard anyway for bands coming up.

 

It was a weird time. So when punk came along, I remember being very resistant to it ‘cause I’d learned how to play a major 7th and a diminished chord. You know, I missed the point [of punk]. And then someone took me to see Generation X and it was like energy, focus and a thing that had been missing from music for a long time. It was like how I imagined early rock and roll must have been for people, when they were listening to nothing that sounded like that. It had that same impact. So I fought against it on one hand, but on the other hand I could see how it was a way forward. That power and that simplicity.

 

Last year, I spoke with a guy named Curt Smith, one of the two guys in Tears For Fears. He sort of documented for me his relationship with the other guy [in the band], Roland Orzabal. One of the things he said was that they don’t have a lot in common – but that’s what makes the partnership work.

In my brief dealings with Chris Difford -- and they’ve been brief -- I’ve gotten the feeling that you and he are very different types of people. Is that true? Are you very different sorts of guys and does that help your partnership?

We were really good friends. We met in 1973 and I think we were friends for four years, maybe five. And when we made our first album, we went in very different directions very quickly. And I don’t think we ever came back from that.

 

But I think we’re friends now in the way that you can be friends when you’re older. You’ve lived a good deal of your life and you can step back and say, ‘Okay, this person’s like this, and I’m like this, and it’s fine.’ The core reasons why we went in different ways are because we believe, I think, in different things. We have a different approach to so many things. What I think was unique about that with Squeeze was that it happened so early on that it was like we couldn’t fall out; we’d already fallen out when we’d started. So we spent years being like that – professional, and really liking each other’s work, but not really friends.

 

To get back to the new album, I was surprised that Johnny Depp is on one track [“Too Close to the Sun”] and Vanessa [Paradis] is on another. I was wondering how that came about. I didn’t realize you traveled in such Hollywood circles. I guess my questions is, are Brad and Angelina gonna be on the next album? (laughter)

No, I don’t know anyone like that. Until I met them. They were just very nice people who I asked to be on my record. They came to a Squeeze show. Johnny in particular is a fan of my guitar playing, he told me. So that was one day in L.A. The next day I was in San Francisco and I got a call from Johnny’s man saying that they’d like to get together with me. Luckily enough, I was back in L.A. to mix the record so I said, “Why don’t you come and be on the record, please?” And they did. It was really nice.

 

I wanted them both to sing on “Interest & Love,” but Johnny didn’t wanna sing, so I sang it with Vanessa. And in keeping with the spirit of the record, we did the vocal live, facing each other, and it was really great.

 

Can I ask you about two specific Squeeze songs? One popular, one not as popular. The popular one Is “Pulling Mussels.” Thoughts or memories?

I was very pleased with the chorus. We had spent a lot of time touring in 1979, which was when “Pulling Mussels” was written. We spent a lot of time touring with The Tubes. And I realized sometime afterwards [that] what I’d done was to absorb The Tubes’ very complex, theatrical arrangement of “White Punks on Dope” into “Pulling Mussels.” I think that the chord sequence at the end of the chorus is my assimilation of that song. You know, it bears similarities. The great thing about music is that it filters through that way, and it’s nothing to do with copying. You absorb what someone does and it enriches [you].

 

Lyrically, it’s just a lot of snapshots of English seaside holidays. You know – kids with runny noses and sand in their ears and all that stuff. I’m sure it happens everywhere, but for me it was England.

 

One of my favorite songs by Squeeze, and I think it was a B-side and not very well known here, is “Maidstone.”

That’s the most popular B-side we ever did.

 

The strangest thing is when I hear it, it brings me back to my childhood in England – but I grew up in America. I didn’t grow up in England, but it’s that evocative.

When people hear or read or see a movie or a play or a painting – anything that evokes a different life -- you instinctively identify with it and fill in the blanks yourself. That’s what you do. You don’t need to have every reference explained. You may miss some of it, but you get the picture. I’m not saying, ‘That is art,” but it is in a sense what is art. You paint the picture and you see it and you may have your own way of relating to it, but you relate to it because it’s true. That’s why to me that song is successful. I was astounded when it didn’t get on [the album] Play.

Tell me a little bit about how it feels to be with a great band again. [Pandemonium Ensues] is your album but it’s very much a band album at the same time.

It is a band album, yes.

 

The Fluffers each have a contribution to it, so tell me what it’s like to be with these three people.

By the time that Squeeze folded, it had always been mine and Chris’s songs that drove the band and we very ferociously clung onto that. It was our band, it was gonna be our songs. With very few exceptions, that’s how it was.

 

When I started doing solo records, I [had] stopped writing lyrics when I was 14. So it was a shock to me to start writing again. I wanted to write with people because I really had just written with Chris. So the whole process of discovering how great it was writing with other people was long and drawn-out. The album I did before this, I recorded half of it with The Fluffers but it wasn’t a proper band yet. It was only the touring of that record during which we had all the deprivations that you normally have in your teens and twenties, when we were touring in my RV and it broke down and we were sleeping on people’s floors and all that stuff. And I think it’s like when businessmen go on weekends to paintball or something, you know, to bond. You would never wish that experience on your band. But doing it, you can’t help but go through rubbish and come out stronger on the other side. I think that’s what happened to us.

 

It all made me feel like I wanted to make a proper band record and say to them, “Look. Let’s write together, let’s do the thing together. I’ll get two votes to your one because my name’s going on the front of it, and you’ll go off and do other stuff, and this is my life. But it’s gonna be a proper band record.” And it is. I want [The Fluffers] to get the best they can from me and I wanna get the best of them. I want them to be rewarded properly and fairly and all that stuff. They know that. And that’s why it’s a proper band.

 

-Dave Steinfeld

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