I’ve wanted for a long time to confess this to Glenn Tilbrook: “You have the best sing-along music that I can’t sing along to. I’m serious. I can’t get up there.”
The high-ranging vocalist and co-founder of Squeeze laughs and answers, “I understand. I definitely couldn’t sing ‘Trixies’ when I wrote it. I don’t think I came to full voice until after we made six albums.”
“Trixies” is the latest, and earliest, effort from the band that gave the world “Tempted,” “Pulling Mussels (From the Shell),” “Hourglass” and “Black Coffee in Bed.”
Squeeze is the classic, New Wave-era band with about a dozen hits you didn’t know you had memorized until you hear them live. The band rolls into Encore Theater at 8 p.m. Wednesday, with none other than Adam Ant (“Stand and Deliver,” “Room at the Top,” “Goody Two Shoes”) as special guest.
Squeeze premieres at the busy Wynn venue while riding a true full-circle release.
Tilbrook and co-founder Chris Difford created “Trixies” in 1974, when both were teenagers. The new project resurrects and reimagines the original concept album. The atmosphere is a fictional nightclub (the album’s title), rife with dark characters, murky storylines, and details that would become the hallmark of Squeeze’s greatest hits.
As he recalls finding the old music, Tilbrook sounds like a castaway unearthing a magic lamp.
“When I got all the songs together and sat down and played them, it was an — I’m going to clean this up for print — ‘Oh my god’ moment,” Tilbrook says during a recent Zoom chat. “They stand up. They sound fresh. And they’re written by two people who don’t exist anymore, except in us.”
The album required an incubation period. Of about 50 years.
“We could write the songs then, but we couldn’t play them properly,” Tilbrook says. “The band weren’t advanced enough to do that. If we recorded it when we wrote it, I think any producer would have said, ‘OK, here’s what’s going to happen. You’re going to see on the record, and I’m going to get session guys in to play.’”
The band has road-tested the new/vintage material on the road. It’s gone well.
“The reaction from people who don’t know the record has been — let’s just say nobody left for the bar,” Tilbrook says. “My instinct is there’s enough good songs to come across, so we’ll do maybe half of them, maybe three quarters of them, from ‘Trixies.’ We’ll find the right balance.”
Tilbrook is an expert on Squeeze’s live performances. He offers a pre-show review.
“I’d say that this version of Squeeze, which is a nine-piece now, its best version of Squeeze I think there’s ever been,” says Tilbrook, who turned 69 on Aug. 31. “We’re doing things we haven’t been capable of doing before or haven’t been capable of doing for a long time, and the response has been amazing.”
Cool Hang Alert
Miss Melanie Moore brings her silky vocal stylings to Delaware Lounge at 2450 Hampton Road in Henderson at 7 p.m. Monday. The jazz-tinged show is the latest in “The Rendezvous” series presented by Mistinguett Productions. The lineup: Brenda Cowart on keys, Brahm Sheray on bass, Adam Shendal (“The Mayor” in many circles) on drums and Steven Lee on guitar. Lannie Counts is a guest vocalist and will be amazing. Go to SCAHOA.com for intel.
John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. Contact him at [email protected]. Follow @johnnykats on X, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.