It
was near
the end of Glenn's short career as a student that he started out on
the path that led to becoming a world famous singer, songwriter, and
guitarist. He began to meet the people who would eventually come together
to form the band Squeeze.
Jools
Holland was a teenage keyboardist who had a guitar for sale. A potential
buyer showed up with Glenn in tow as "the local guitar expert."
Although the guitar was apparently dodgy and Glenn advised against
buying it, he did meet Jools. This was the first time he had encountered
someone as interested in music as he was, and although Jools was initially
put off by Glenn's hippy appearance (and possibly spoiling his sale!),
their musical connection won out. In a 1996 Mojo Magazine article
Jools recalled the event, "Everybody eyed each other up suspiciously.
But then we played and it was heaven. He did 'Little Wing'."
Glenn
and Jools already had considerable musical skill for their age. They
started playing small gigs together. Jools reminisced, "Music was
interesting and enjoyable to do. Girls wanted to be our friends, we
got free drinks, there was a party wherever we went and we didn't
have to get up early in the morning."
In
1973, Glenn met another guitarist, Chris Difford, who would become
his chief songwriting partner for the next 26 years - a partnership
that would far outlast the one he had with Jools. The story of how
they met has been retold many times, but this is my favorite version,
if only for the typically Difford-like visuals and attention to detail:
When
Difford was sixteen, he posted a phony ad seeking a "guitarist for
a recording group." Tilbrook, who was fourteen at the time and living
with his girlfriend's parents, fell for the bait, and when the two
finally met, "it was like peacocks showing off their feathers to
each other," Difford remembers. "I went around to his girlfriend's
house, and he'd put out all his best magazines and books. He had
Tonto's Expanding Headband on the turntable, and he was eating vegetarian
cake and sitting on the floor."
-Rolling
Stone Magazine, July 8, 1982
Part of the reason Glenn responded to the ad was the list of bands
Chris put down as influences: Glenn Miller, Lou Reed and the Kinks.
Glenn recalls, "I was attracted by the drastically varied combination
of artists, because I was into a lot of different styles of music."
He still wasn't going to reply, but his girlfriend Maxine Barker gave
him a shove in the right direction. Maxine remained lifelong friends
with Glenn and Chris, and would later inspire the beautiful song 'Some
Fantastic Place' (1993).
Glenn
continues the story, "So I answered the advert, and there wasn't a
band, and there wasn't a tour, and they weren't about to record, but
there was Chris. So we just started playing together. We played together
for about six months, I think, before we actually started writing
together."
The
two became good friends. Chris said, "I also had a huge collection
of reggae and ska, but they all went out of the window when I went
from a skinhead to a hippy, almost overnight. Happened around the
time I met Glenn, actually. He had his hair right down his back, no
socks and horrible satin flares. We sort of meshed in to one person
for a while." Very early in the game they established the magic
formula of Chris writing the lyrics and Glenn writing the music. Soon
after they started collaborating on songs, Glenn was inspired to introduce
Chris and Jools to each other, and Squeeze was born!
Glenn,
Chris, and Jools started off with a drummer called Paul Gunn, but
most fans know Gilson Lavis as the first drummer for Squeeze. An article
from Mojo Magazine (1996) reports that Gilson had found them through
an ad in Melody Maker. He remembers, "I was working in a brickyard
by then. I was stacking bricks in Bedford in the middle of winter
and I thought, There's gotta be a better way of earning a living than
this." He had an audition, and Jools later told Mojo, "He was a big
man of 24, and we were boys of 17, but he was a great drummer and
had a car, which impressed us."
Gilson
had had a lot of professional experience already, and the others were
pleased to have a seasoned player aboard. The pleasure was mutual,
as Gilson was enthusiastic about Chris and Glenn's songs from the
start. He told Mojo, "They were tongue-in-cheek and melodic and diverse,
and there were more of them that you could shake a stick at. And they
were very open about them being changed by the band. There was very
little ego about, a nice healthy atmosphere." Bassist Harry Kakoulli
completed the rhythm section.
They
now had a terrific band and were ready to get serious about making
a name for themselves. Glenn said, "We played the Bricklayers
Arms every Wednesday, Friday and Saturday and we played there for
like three months to an audience of 60, 70 people. It was a really
tough job, because the next step was to break into the London pub
circuit. And then the punk movement came along, which opened that
for us. It meant we could actually play places like The Nashville,
Brecknock, the Hope and Anchor. The next problem to arise was actually
getting a record contract."
Miles
Copeland, a well-known manager in the music industry, saw Squeeze
perform in 1975 when they were still unsigned. He was immediately
impressed. "[They were playing] in a sleazy dump in Deptford. I thought,
My God, this is like discovering The Beatles. Jools Holland had long
hair and black teeth, they were all pretty scruffy. I said, I wanna
sign you guys up."
Squeeze's first
release came out when Glenn was 20 years old
Squeeze
had their first release in 1977. It was an EP (halfway between a 45
and a regular LP) with three songs in it called "Packet of Three".
It was produced by John Cale of The Velvet Underground on a local
independent label, Deptford Fun City. Glenn said about hooking up
with Cale, "It's a very unromantic story - he had agreed to do us
with a job lot of productions for Miles Copeland…he produced
the "Packet of Three" single and that worked out well so we decided
to do the album with him."
"Packet
of Three" was successful enough to get the band their first contract
with a major record label, A&M. In 1979, Glenn said, "When we
got that record contract, I knew that it would be possible for Squeeze
to enter the charts. For no particular reason other than a total confidence
in the band. I've always had that. I've always thought that we were
a lot better than the sort of bands who were getting into number one
and number two situations. I thought if they can do it I don't see
any reason why we can't."
