Ravinia 2026 Issue 5

Squeeze at the Royal Albert Hall in November 2024 punkers were in fact heavily in uenced by a wide variety of established genres like big bands, jazz, country, and R&B. And Squeeze’s main creative team— Di ord and Tilbrook—for all the punk rock cred, was closer to e Beatles than e Clash. Yet, timing is everything. Squeeze helped drive the post-punk new wave movement in the late ’ s and early ’ s. But due to discord, drugs, alcohol, and egos, they disbanded in on the cusp of the phenomenally popular, MTV-driven “Second British Invasion” that took hold in and lasted for most of the decade. No matter. Di ord and Tilbrook navigated through their rock travails. e two did projects together, released solo e orts, and ultimately returned as Squeeze during the last years. eir latest, Trixies , is not “new” at all. Ironically, it was conceived and written when Di ord, , and Tilbrook, , were teenage friends and novice newcomers in their hometown of Dept- ford, London. e youthfully naive musical narrative was inspired by the colorful, sentimental, Prohibition Era tales of writer Damon Runyon and the popular rock operas of the era. e album’s sto- ry-songs are set in a ctional nightclub with shady, underworld dramas. e upstart scribes ultimately aban- doned the ambitious project lled with songs too advanced for their still-devel- oping abilities. As Tilbrook confessed to Premier Guitar , “I’m honestly amazed at what we did at that point. It was more sophis- ticated than stu we did quite a few years a er that. Now we can play it, so it’s really gratifying to see the path and development.” rough emails with Ravinia last month, Chris Di ord re ected on Squeeze’s distinctive place in rock’s time-tested terrain and shared insights into a wild, rocky musical ride that’s lasted more than half a century. Despite Squeeze missing the massive ’ s success that a few ’ s post-punk acts picked up, here you are still at it. We’re incredibly fortunate. Success isn’t just fame or magazine covers. We’ve had twists, turns, people coming and going, but the songs have outlived it all. e best part is seeing people who’ve followed us for years standing next to someone discovering us last week. We’re still writing, still curious, and grateful anyone still comes along for the ride. How do you bring the youthful urgency of some of your early classics like “Cool for Cats,” “Up the Junction,” “Pulling Mussels,” and “Another Nail in My Heart” to the stage years later? e songs are older, but we don’t treat them like museum pieces. Glenn and I still enjoy them, and I hope that shows. ey were written with energy, cheek, and optimism, and that spirit is still there, even if we’re a bit creakier on stage. Your sound broadened since your early punk days. Did punk lose its musical pull for you or did your music naturally evolve toward your early in uences? Punk gave us permission more than a style. It said we didn’t need to wait—we could just get on with it. We already loved melody, harmony, and storytell- ing, and that naturally shaped the songs. We never decided to “stop being punk.” We just wrote what we wrote, with as much Lennon and McCartney in it as . It was a creative time because there were no rules. Punk opened the door and all sorts of bands came through with di erent ideas. It wasn’t one sound; it was many happening at once. We found our own space in it. History tidies it up, but it was messier and far more exciting than that. e band has had several incarnations and lineups, and attracted quite a pedigree of players. Why do you think these impressive musical talents wanted to join Squeeze? Musicians like good songs, and we’ve been lucky with the players in Squeeze over the years. Jools [Holland], Paul [Carrack], and others all brought some- thing special, and I hope they felt free to do that. Glenn and I have never been about ego—just making the songs as good as possible. We’ve been fortunate so many talented people wanted to help. Squeeze were pioneers in this post- punk new wave movement, and it exploded by —did you regret splitting in just as your brand of music became an international phenomenon? At the time you don’t have hindsight. Looking back, you might think the timing wasn’t ideal, but bands are people, not plans. We probably needed the break more than we knew. If we’d carried on, who knows where we’d be RAVINIAMAGAZINE • AUGUST 24 – SEPTEMBER 6 , 2026 14 NICKY J. SIMS