Squeeze never thought it would happen with new songs
Chris Difford says he and Glen Tilbrook decided it was "really worth revisiting" the songs they had written as teenagers
- Published
Squeeze co-founder Chris Difford said he was looking forward to performing songs that were penned more than 50 years ago at the band's Brighton tour date - after they almost didn't see the light of day.
Difford, who lives near Lewes, says that he and bandmate Glenn Tilbrook have compiled their new album Trixies from a series of songs they penned in 1974.
"They're fantastic, and at that time we couldn't really produce them properly," he told BBC Radio Sussex.
"But we got the cassette from the loft last year and agreed that the songs were really worth revisiting."
The Tried, Tested and Trixies Tour, scheduled for next year, will finish in December at the Brighton Centre, with Billy Brag to join the band as a special guest.
"I'll be able to get the bus home, what's not to like?," Difford quipped.
Reflecting on his relationship with Tilbrook, the musician says "a fair amount of distance" over the years has "kept things buoyant" for the pair.
'Hugely emotional'
Squeeze, founded in 1973, have enjoyed top-ten hits including Cool for Cats, Labelled with Love and Up the Junction - which starts with the memorable line: "I never thought it would happen with me and the girl from Clapham."
Fifty years on and the band will be playing songs written when Difford was 19 and Tillbrook was 16.
"It was hugely emotional," Difford said.
"Being 'back in touch' with these young songwriters was an extraordinary feeling really,"
He says that while they enjoyed writing these songs, they were not "right for that kind of band at that time".
Bringing their teenage creations to an audience "comes at the right time" for Squeeze and will represent "something different", the musician added.
Tickets for the tour are now on general sale, while Trixies will be released on 6 March next year.
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