The on-again, off-again partnership that is Squeeze is defiantly relit on a new album due in March next year, supported by headline shows in March, November and December 2026. In an exclusive and candid interview in the latest issue of the MOJO magazine, the songwriting duo of Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook – currently supporting Madness on a UK arena tour – spill the beans on the long gestation of Trixies, a “rock opera” they shelved in the mid-’70s but have revived to great effect.
“I find it very emotional to listen to,” Chris Difford tells MOJO’s Pat Gilbert, “because what it reveals is two young guys that have just met and have written loads of songs, and their ambition. It’s almost like [Elton John and Bernie Taupin’s] Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy.”
The songs of Trixies (located in a fictional ’60s night club) date from the very earliest days of Squeeze, founded in south-east London in 1973 on the unique, worms-eye POV of lyricist Difford and the kaleidoscopic pop skills of singer-guitarist Glenn Tilbrook.
“The songs stand up incredibly well,” reckons Tilbrook. “And I think about us at that age, when the gene pool of influence was so much smaller. You can hear Bowie, Paul McCartney & Wings, Roxy Music. And I love the immediacy of those influences, because you’ll never be 16 or 17 again.”
The record is an encapsulation of all that’s great about Squeeze, but also a window on the innocent dawn of the band, where a professional partnership was also a warm friendship. As the pair confess in MOJO’s piece, the latter has struggled to survive the ups and downs of their career and personal lives since their first burst of fame in the late ’70s.
“Mine and Chris’s relationship effectively ended as a friendship in, I’d say, 1976,” says Tilbrook, surprisingly. “But as a band we could still carry on and be productive.”
Remarkably, that’s exactly what they’ve done. In between splits and spats and rehabs, they’ve crafted a unique songbook. Trixies augments that in March while they claim another album of all-new material can be expected later in the year.
As Glenn Tilbrook reflects, “It just shows, if you pay proper attention and love what you do, you can go further than you ever thought you could.”
For more info on Trixies and for the dates of Squeeze’s 2026 headline tour, covering continental Europe in March and the UK in November and December, visit squeezeofficial.com.
For the full contents of the new MOJO magazine, go here.