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Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook started Squeeze in 1974 when Tilbrook answered an advertisement Difford had placed in a store window. The duo began penning songs (Difford provided the lyrics and Tilbrook wrote the music) and by the spring of that year, pianist Jools Holland and drummer Paul Gunn had joined their ranks.
The band called themselves Squeeze, named for an obscure Velvet Underground album that included none of the group's original members. They set out to play pubs across Britain, introducing their pop-induced, quirky music to a music scene that was dominated by heavy, progressive rock.
In 1976, Squeeze replaced Gunn with former Chuck Berry drummer and tour manager Gilson Lavis. They also added bassist Harry Kakoulli and signed a contract with the BTM record label. The label went bankrupt before it released the band's debut single, "Take Me I'm Yours," in early 1977. Fortunately, Mike Copeland of BTM had arranged for the band to work with John Cale on their EP.
In the summer of 1977, Squeeze released their debut EP, Packet of Three, on Deptford Fun City Records. Soon after, they arranged an international contract with A&M Records, a label long cautious with signing New Wave bands since a disastrous incident with the Sex Pistols.
The band soon began work with Cale on Gay Guys, their first full-length album. Cale encouraged the group to throw their old conventions out the window and write all new material, giving the band an entirely new sound. The album came out in the spring of 1978 with a new title, Squeeze. When this album was first released in the United States, it was titled UK Squeeze but later released as Squeeze.
The album was only moderately successful. It took another album, 1979's Cool for Cats, to truly break into the British market. On this album, Squeeze retained more of its original sound and Cool for Cats yielded two hit tracks, "Cool For Cats"and "Up the Junction."
Around this time, the band released another EP, Six Squeeze Songs Crammed Into One Ten-Inch Record. They also released a seasonal single called "Christmas Day," which failed to hit the charts.
At this point, the band fired Kakoulli and replaced him with John Bently.
In the spring of 1980, Squeeze released Argybargy to high critical praise. In Britain, "Another Nail in My Heart" and "Pulling Mussels (From the Shell)," hit the charts and garnered increasing college radio and New Wave club play in the United States. Argybargy hit No. 71 on the American charts, the first Squeeze album to chart in the States.
Soon thereafter, Jools Holland left the band to form the Millionaires. The band hired Paul Carrack (of the pub-rock band Ace) to take his place. By this time, the intricate and literate music of Difford and Tilbrook had critics hailing them as "the new Lennon and McCartney."
True to form, the band took a stab at their own Sgt. Pepper and released East Side Story in 1981. While the album drew critical praise it never became a huge hit. It did, however, find an audience and hit No. 19 on UK charts and No. 44 in the United States. Carrack crooned Squeeze to their first charting US single with "Tempted," which hit the Top 50. (The song failed to chart in the UK.) "Labeled with Love" doled on country flavor and hit the British Top 10 that fall.
In the last part of 1981, Squeeze took on classically trained pianist Don Snow when Carrack left to join Carlene Carter's backing band.
By this time, Squeeze's non-stop performing and recording schedule was beginning to take its toll. While Sweets from a Stranger was the group's highest-charting US album, critics noted signs of weariness in the release. The album reached only No. 37 on British charts, and the album's best hope, "Black Coffee in Bed," stalled at No. 51.
The band played New York's Madison Square Garden that summer, but by late 1982, Difford and Tilbrook decided to dissolve Squeeze, citing exhaustion and frustration. Shortly after the announcement, they released Singles -- 45's and Under which ironically hit No. 3 in Britain and later went platinum in the United States.
As one of the most traditional pop bands of the New Wave, Squeeze provided one ofthe links between classic British guitar-pop and post-punk. Difford and Tilbrook continued to write music together and penned music for Helen Shapiro, Paul Young, Billy Brenner and Jools Holland. They also worked on Labelled with Love, a musical based on their songs, which played briefly in Deptford, England, early in 1983.
In 1984, the duo released an eponymous album, which was a moderate success, and featured a new sound and a new look. But despite relatively warm reviews, Difford and Tilbrook began thinking about re-forming Squeeze.
In 1985, the band reassembled to play a charity gig and Difford, Tilbrook, Holland and Lavis (who had been driving a cab) reunited the band with bassist Keith Wilkinson. Squeeze released Cosi Fan Tutti Frutti in the fall of 1985 to positive reviews and moderately successful sales.
Andy Metcalf, of Robyn Hitchcock's Egyptians, joined the band as a second keyboardist in 1986, and in 1987, Squeeze released Babylon and On, which hit No. 14 in the UK. The album produced Squeeze's biggest American hits -- "Hourglass," which reached No. 15 (thanks to heavy airplay by MTV) and the Top 40 "853-5937." The band launched an international tour, following which Metcalf left the band and was never replaced.
Unfortunately, Squeeze's renewed success didn't last long. In 1989, Frank bombed in both the UK and the US. During the album's supporting tour, A&M abruptly dropped Squeeze and Holland left to concentrate on his career as a television host for the BBC.
Squeeze released A Round and a Bout on I.R.S. in 1990. The next year, the band signed with Reprise Records and recorded Play using Steve Nieve, Bruce Hornsby and Matt Irving as session keyboardists. The album was released later that year with little support from the label. On the album's supporting tour, the band hired Don Snow and Carol Isaacs as keyboardists.
By 1992, Difford and Tilbrook began playing acoustic concerts. Squeeze played around with its touring lineup and hired Steve Nieve as a touring keyboardist. Lavis left the band later that year to play in Jools Holland's Big Band and was replaced by Pete Thomas, a former member of the Attractions.
In 1993, Squeeze resigned with A&M Records and recorded Some Fantastic Place with Thomas on drums and Paul Carrack on keyboards. The album debuted at No. 26 in Britain but didn't go anywhere in the United States
In 1994, Thomas joined the recently reunited Attractions and was replaced with Andy Newmark. Kevin Wilkinson signed on as the group's drummer and in 1995, Squeeze released Ridiculous in Britain. Ridiculous came out in the United States in the spring of 1996 on I.R.S. Records.
Squeeze released two more compilations during 1996; the single-disc Piccadilly Collection in the United States, and the double-disc Excess Moderation in the UK.
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