Glenn
was asked in a Rhythm and News Magazine interview whether he fed off
the crowd better in small venues rather than arenas. "You certainly
talk to them more. I like that, I like being where if somebody shouts
out everyone can hear them and you can answer. Obviously you can't
do that in larger halls because people don't know what's going on.
But then there's something that I like about playing larger shows,
that 'huge crowd' element has always been something I love. They're
different sort of things really…But I always love playing 'enormadomes'
- I love 'em. It's great when you get a crowd on your side and it
works."
But
he must have found he liked something about playing smaller venues
armed only with a guitar and mic. In 1994, he began to tour on his
own when he wasn't busy with the band, billing himself as a "pub entertainer"
and playing a mixed set of Squeeze songs and covers by other bands.
The pub gigs were a tricky thing for Glenn to do at first, considering
that all the Squeeze lyrics he sang were written by Chris, but he
took care to thank Chris at every gig and explain to the audience
that the band had not broken up; he was "just having a laugh".
The pub tours were a success and Glenn and the audience enjoyed themselves
thoroughly in the new, more relaxed and intimate atmosphere.
Glenn plays solo at the
12 Bar Club in London, 1997. Photo by Corinne Walsh
However,
fans were not completely convinced that they would ever see another
Squeeze album until Ridiculous showed up on the shelves in 1995. Ridiculous
is my favorite kind of Squeeze - light and cheerful with great, detailed
stories in the lyrics, but with enough of that modern Squeeze maturity
to keep it interesting. The single "This Summer" broke the
Top 40 in the U.K., and since then has been consistently heard in
the background of some British TV shows, but the album has largely
gone unnoticed by the general public.
Chris and Glenn lounge
in beach chairs and strum in the "This Summer" video.
In
a Mojo magazine interview promoting Ridiculous, Chris had said, "If
this record isn't successful there is the reality that you can only
bang your head against a wall for a certain amount of time. Then you
get a headache and think, Well maybe I should stop banging my head
and I'll feel much better. I think there might still be a Squeeze,
but as individuals we could go off and do other things and Squeeze
would remain as a workhorse for us to come back to. But we have to
take it as it comes and see what happens." Sobering words for
the fans.
Finally
there was word that Chris and Glenn were working on a new album, with
an entirely new lineup on bass, drums, and keyboards. In 1998, Domino
appeared in stores in the U.K., released on Glenn's own independent
label, Quixotic Records. A year later it was released in the U.S.
too. Spirits were high among the fans, but when it came time for the
tour, Chris was missing for most of it. Glenn made several announcements,
first that Chris was sick, and then that he had "come to the end of
his touring tether" and just didn't want to do it any more. The band
finished the tour as a four-piece, with Glenn inviting applause nightly
for the empty space where Chris usually stood. Then they went home.
Glenn poses with young
Squeeze fans after a show on the Domino tour in 1999. Photo by Bruce
MacQueen.
At
the time of this writing (May 2001) it appears that Chris and Glenn
will not be writing together in the immediate future. But Glenn remains
full of enthusiasm both for making more albums and for touring. He
released his first true solo album, The Incomplete Glenn Tilbrook,
in May of 2001. Earlier, when the album was still in the planning
stages, he told The Bristol Evening Post, "I've been wanting to make
a record on my own for quite a while, but while Squeeze has been together,
that is where my interest has laid. But it's not as if I've been frustrated
in Squeeze and had a great desire to do something out of the confines
of the band. The big difference is that Chris and I won't be working
together on the next record that I do, so that makes it my own record.
It's time we had a rest from each other…we've been together for
more than a quarter of a century!"
