Squeeze Brings 50th Anniversary Tour to MGM Northfield Park

When singer-songwriters Chris Difford and Chris Tilbrook started Squeeze in 1974 after Tilbrook answered a "musicians wanted" ad Difford had posted, they had modest aspirations.

“We could barely think to the end of the week in those days,” says Difford via Zoom from his home in Southeastern England. Squeeze brings its 50th anniversary tour to MGM Northfield Park — Center Stage on Sunday, Sept. 1 . “It was important to just to try to get a gig and express yourself as a young man. At this end of the tunnel, it looks like a long way away, but it’s been an incredible journey, of course.”

Because he says he was “useless at school,” Difford initially gravitated to poetry.

“We had a teacher who was only in there for a month and was a stand-in teacher; he saw my poetry and persuaded me to carry on,” he says. “That was the first inspiration. Then, I went to see the two completely different concerts. I saw the Who, which I thought was incredible. If ever you want to be in a band, you want to be in the Who because it looked like so much fun. Then, I went to see David Bowie. Lyrically and musically, he turned my head around. I thought, ‘He writes songs that are just so interesting.’ Those two concerts opened the door to me and were inspirational.”

Prior to forming Squeeze, Difford had recorded a 1972 demo album with “a guy that lived down the block.” But when he teamed up with Tilbrook, the songwriting began in earnest. The band's 1977 self-titled debut features songs such as the snappy "Take Me, I'm Yours." The talent in the songwriting department is immediately apparent. The group has recently unearthed a previously unreleased album from the early days, Trixie’s , that it's now re-recording.

“Those are songs that we wrote in 1974, and we only released once,” says Difford when asked about Trixie's . “We forgot about it. It wasn’t something that that lineup of Squeeze was going to achieve. Last year, we came across the tape and listened to it, and it sounded amazing. The songs stood the test of time. We went into the studio and started to record them. The outcome has been amazing.”

The group is also in the midst of recording a new studio album.

“The funny thing is that the old songs have inspired the new songs and are pushing us along,” he says. “It’s been a worthwhile experiment [to work on both albums].”

With its terrific pop sensibilities, Squeeze didn’t fit into Britain’s punk scene. And yet, the group somehow still appealed to punk fans and characterized the early promise of the New Wave scene that included acts such as Elvis Costello.

“When we first came to Cleveland, we even played a punk club,” says Difford. “People expected us to be wearing safety pins, I think, but we were your average pop band in those days. We didn’t go left or right. We just stayed being Squeeze through the years.”

Two years ago, the band returned with the EP Food for Thought , proving that the songwriting partnership between Tilbrook and Difford still sparkles.

“That was Glenn [Tilbrook’s] baby,” says Difford. “We recorded the songs to raise money for food banks over here in the UK. We have for many years supported food banks and raised lots of money, and we still do that. It’s important.”

Touring with the same lineup it’s taken out on the road over the past few years, the band will deliver three or four new songs each night in addition to what Difford describes as “all the hits that you can imagine.”

“It’s going to be a good tour, and I think people will really respond well to the new songs,” he says. “I’m really looking forward to it.”

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