ANAHIEM, Calif., Oct. 27, 2017 – The Women’s International Music Network (the WiMN), is thrilled to announce the 2017 She Rocks Awards honorees. Paying tribute to women in the music industry, the fifth annual She Rocks Awards at the NAMM show will take place on Friday, Jan. 20, 2017 at 7:00 p.m. at the Anaheim Hilton Hotel in Anaheim, Calif. Tickets are available for purchase at sherocksawards.com.
The 2017 She Rocks Awards recipients include:
• Monique Boyer, director, global artist relations/PRO membership at M.A.C. Cosmetics
• Rebecca Eaddy, marketing communications manager for Roland Corporation U.S.
• Lita Ford, legendary rock guitarist, vocalist and songwriter
• Beverly Fowler, director of artist relations and events at PRS Guitars
• Lisa Foxx, radio personality at MYfm on the iHeartRadio network
• Charyn Harris, conductor of music programs at A Place Called Home
• Karrie Keyes, founder of Soundgirls and sound engineer for Pearl Jam
• Tracy Leenman, owner of Musical Innovations music retailer
• Dani Markman, director, A&R, Disney Music Group
• Shirley Manson, lead singer from multi-award winning band, Garbage
• Esperanza Spalding, Grammy® Award-winning bass player, singer/songwriter
• Leanne Summers, president/CEO of LAWIM (Los Angeles Women in Music)
“We are excited to recognize our 2017 honorees, who come from diverse areas of our industry. Each has made her contributions in her own, unique way, inspiring and energizing others. We look forward to honoring them all and sharing this celebration of women in music,” said the WiMN founder, Laura B. Whitmore.
In addition, the She Rocks Awards will host the album release of She Rocks Vol 1, A Collection of Kick-Ass Guitar Goddesses, a compilation of eleven virtuoso female guitarists produced by Brad Tolinksi and released on Steve Vai’s Favored Nations label. Performances from the artists on the CD will be included in the program.
The She Rocks Awards will open with a performance by Brandy Robinson, winner of the #SaveAGuitar opening act contest. The house band for the show, Rock Sugah, is led by bassist Divinity Roxx and features Kat Dyson on guitar, Benita Lewis on drums and Lynette Williams on keys.
Gearing up for its fifth consecutive year, the She Rocks Awards pays tribute to women who display leadership and stand out within the music industry, and has become a standard at the NAMM Show. Previous award recipients include female industry leaders such as Chaka Khan, Jennifer Batten, Karmin, Colbie Caillat, Sheila E, The Bangles, Orianthi, Dinah Gretsch, Craigie Zildjian, Janie L. Hendrix, Amani Duncan, Mary Peavey, and more.
With featured performances, food and beverages, giveaways, networking opportunities and more, the She Rocks Awards brings together industry professionals, music icons, artists, fans, and media to celebrate women in music.
This event has sold out for the past four years and does not require a NAMM badge to attend. The She Rocks Awards will take place on Friday, January 20, 2017 at 7:00 p.m. at the Anaheim Hilton Hotel. Men are welcome, too!
The 2017 She Rocks Awards is sponsored by Neumann, Gretsch, Seymour Duncan, Avid, PRS Guitars, Roland, #SaveAGuitar, Breedlove, Zildjian, Guitar Center, Casio, 108 Rock Star Guitars, Sabian, Linear Integrated Systems, Schecter Guitars, Gator Cases, Berklee College of Music, The Music People, LAWIM, Music Inc., Music & Sound Retailer, Music-News.com, Premier Guitar, Guitar World, Guitar Player, Keyboard, Bass Player, Electronic Musician, and more.
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The National GUITAR Museum announced that Ritchie Blackmore, the esteemed guitar legend whose vast career spans more than 60 years, has received its annual “Lifetime Achievement” Award. Blackmore is the sixteenth recipient of the award.
Ritchie Blackmore joins previous award winners including Honeyboy Edwards, Jeff Beck, Bonnie Raitt, Liona Boyd, Jose Feliciano, and B.B. King. Recipients are recognized for a lifetime of contributing to the legacy of the guitar and having a singular historical importance to the development and historical appreciation of the instrument.
According to HP Newquist, NGM executive director "Most people know Ritchie from being the driving creative force behind two of the defining hard rock bands of all time—Deep Purple and Rainbow. But before starting those bands, he had a long career as a London session musician, performing on records by numerous artists, including The Outlaws. And then—after helping to define hard rock guitar in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s—he formed Blackmore’s Night, incorporating medieval and Renaissance acoustic music into his immense repertoire.”
Said Blackmore, “I’m rather thrown by the magnitude of this honorable award. I am grateful to accept this award and this recognition.”
Blackmore’s guitar playing has inspired countless numbers of musicians to follow in his wake, and very few guitarists can match his lifetime of achievements. His influence is pervasive amongst players in a wide variety of genres, from blues-rock and heavy metal on to neoclassical and pop rock. It is conceivable that every electric guitarist on the planet has learned how to play the riff Blackmore came up with for “Smoke On The Water.”
Added Newquist, “It’s difficult to find any modern guitarist who has incorporated so many diverse styles into their playing—and then fused them all into something recognizably their own over their entire career. Ritchie was one of the first electric guitarists to add classical melodicism to his playing, along with classical speed and finesse. I think that most of the early '80s guitarists who played lightning fast riffs and claimed to be learning from Bach and Mozart were, in fact, borrowing from Ritchie."
Ritchie Blackmore joins previous Lifetime Achievement Award recipients:
2010: David Honeyboy Edwards 2011: Roger McGuinn 2012: B.B. King 2013: Vic Flick 2014: Buddy Guy 2015: Tony Iommi 2016: Glen Campbell 2017: Bonnie Raitt 2018: Liona Boyd 2019: Jose Feliciano 2020: Eddie Van Halen (in memoriam) 2021: Al Di Meola 2022: Jeff Beck 2023: Tommy Emmanuel 2024: Alex Lifeson 2025: Ritchie Blackmore
Canadian boutique builder MayFly Audio Systems has introduced the Déesse dual flanger.
The Déesse has two foot-switch selectable sides with independent Speed and Width controls. Set side A to be a classic slow flange, sent side B to a ring modulator sound (or anything in-between), and switch between them on the fly, live. It includes two knobs for controlling Manual and Regen function for both channels.
Like the popular Mayfly Goddess dual chorus, the highly versatile Déesse uses bucket brigade delay chips for its organic, immersive sound. These chips are expensive and a pain to work with, but MayFly Audio feels that this old-school tech still sounds the best.
Key features include:
Dual flanger with footswitch selectable sides
Separate Speed and Width controls for each side
Global Manual knob adjusts the midpoint of the LFO (Low-Frequency Oscillator) sweep, effectively controlling the range where the flanger is operating
Global Regen knob (Regeneration or Feedback) for controlling the intensity of the flanger’s the comb-filter effect
Old-school bucket brigade chips for unrivalled flanging sound
True-bypass switching
9-volt DC power operation via standard externals supply, 55mA – no battery compartment
Evocative artwork by Sabine Elliott
About the pedal’s name: Déesse is French for Goddess. According to MayFly “this flanger sounds like it has divine feminine connections, but we could not call it ‘Goddess’ as we already had a pedal with that name. So instead we named it after a mythical Québécois character who ranks right up there in the powerful, mystical, and la Femme category. Kind of like the pedal itself.”
The Déesse carries a street price of $215 USD / $295 CAD. For more information visit mayflyaudio.com.
Kemper GmbH, the creators of the acclaimed Kemper Profiler, have launched their next-generation profiling technology 2.0 — designed to deliver breathtakingly dynamic and lifelike amp captures.
The new technology is available in public Beta Profiler OS 14.0, a free software update for the Profiler MK 2 Series and all Profiler Player owners. With OS 14.0 also the Profiler Player will be able to create Profiles in the same quality as its big brothers.
For creating a new Profile of a treasured amplifier, over 100,000 individual frequency points are meticulously analyzed. The result is the most organic and authentic amp tone possible, preserving every nuance of your amp’s sonic character.
This new system delivers a truly analog-inspired measurement rooted in pure physics — not a simple approximation. Each Profile captures the amplifier’s unique behavior with exceptional precision, moving far beyond traditional “amp snapshot” territory, and the entire profiling process is much faster than you might expect.
The new profiling engine profiles the true dynamic behavior of any amplifier and cabinet using the longest and most intricate impulse responses ever implemented in a guitar amp profiler. It even captures the true cabinet bass resonance of a rig, widening the sound scape, and makes it user-adjustable for later tweaks.
When satisfied with this ultra-high-resolution snapshot, congratulations — the Profile is ready to go.
However, for those who are not satisfied with just a snapshot of their precious amp, the Profiler offers a rich palette of new, exclusive features that redefine and truly revolutionize what guitar and bass tone sculpting can be.
The technology includes these precision features and deep control:
Authentic Gain Detection: The Profiler determines the true amp gain during profiling, applying it directly to the Gain control for further tuning.
Faithful guitar-level response: Thanks to Kemper’s level-calibrated Profiler hardware, every Profile is guaranteed to respond exactly like the original analog guitar amplifier. On any Profiler model, with any guitar, at any time.
Cabinet Resonance: Real speaker and cabinet resonance are captured and can be adjusted later via the new Resonance Frequency and Resonance Intensity parameters.
Automatic Definition Matching: The popular Definition parameter is set precisely for each new Profile and remains fully adjustable.
Smart DI Profiling: Profiles created without a cabinet (via DI box or load box) are automatically labeled as DI Profiles. Simply add an imported impulse response or merge a cabinet from another Profile to create a complete Profile.
Ground lift on board: No need for an additional isolator box during profiling to prevent ground hum. Thus no coloration of the signal chain.
Flexible Routing: Send cabinet simulation to the PA while bypassing it on the monitor output and run a real speaker cabinet — or enjoy authentic stage sound through the Kemper Kabinet using its Speaker Imprint technology.
Intuitive Tube Stage Controls: Allows for modifying the tube distortion characteristics easily and musically.
Pure Cabinet Technology: Smooths out harsh or phasey high frequencies for a more natural, cab-in-the-room experience.
Cabinet Morphing: Transform cabinet size and character to explore new and unconventional tones.
Kemper’s patented Liquid Profile technology is the icing on the cake to make the Profile complete, transforming an amp snapshot into a moving picture. Liquid Profile adds the exact authentic gain stage behavior and the authentic tone stack controls seamlessly to the Profile when the target amp model is pre-selected from the menu. This turns any static capture into a fully interactive, living amplifier. Adjusting gain and tone controls exactly feels and sounds like with the real amp — the unmistakable behavior and feel of the original treasured amplifier.
As before, there is no need to own real tube amps to profile them at home. Professional Profile creators have their amps running hot right now. Coming up with the most amazing collection of authentic amp tones for the Kemper Profiler Platform.
The new Kemper Profiling Technology 2.0 is available for all Profiler MK2 models. comes as part of the free Kemper OS Update 14.0 for all Profiler models. Non MK2 models will handle the 2.0 Profiles at a lower resolution. For more information, visit www.kemper-amps.com.
When it comes to reverb, very few pedal manufacturers have done as much to reinvent the category as EarthQuaker Devices has over the past couple of decades.
The independent, family-owned company has a long history of opening new doors of experimentation for ambient adventurers with landmark pedals—like Afterneath, Dispatch Master and Astral Destiny—that have found their way to stages of every size the world wide.
Today, the sonic wizards at EarthQuaker Devices are expanding our aural universe once again with the release of the Towers Stereo Reverberant Filter—an entirely new entry into the pedal brand’s reverb product portfolio.
Perhaps best described as a “soundscape generator,” Towers sends your input signal into a unique set of resonant filtered feedback networks to create a massive stereophonic expanse that’s rich in movement and atmosphere.
Towers is the type of reverb pedal that will sound incomprehensibly huge and haunting with all the settings maxed out, but it’s also the type of pedal that offers virtually endless possibilities for the users who take the time to explore its wide range of sounds. There’s something really special about the textures the pedal generates when its subtler settings are explored.
The sheer amount of possibilities is thanks in part to the pedal’s three distinct modes of operation. There’s a Manual Mode, whichputs the player in charge of the filter frequencies and stereophonic movement. Then there’s Envelope Mode,where playing dynamics breathe and morph into everchanging filter movements. Finally, in LFO Mode, the playersurrenders control to a slow-moving oscillator that sweeps the filter frequencies andacross the stereo field.
And while anyone familiar with the brand’s history knows that Towers isn’t EarthQuaker Devices’ first or only reverb pedal, company President and Founder Jamie Stillman wants to ensure the market understands that Towers is a new type of reverb for the company and is by no means simply an evolution or fresh take on an existing pedal.
"I don't want people to think that we've redone the Afterneath, or that we've redone the Transmisser, or that we've redone the Astral Destiny,” Stillman explained, “Towers represents a linear progression of reverbs. It’s not an evolution of or update on any current or legacy device.”
Stillman is tight lipped when it comes to divulging too much information related to the secret sauce that gives Towers its unique voice, but did explain that the colorful, resonate movement that occurs in the reflections is created internally and isn’t the type of effect you could recreate with external hardware.
When it comes to the big questions most prospective purchasers ask themselves when trying to decide if they should buy a new pedal like “who is this pedal for?” and “would I benefit from adding this to my rig?” The answer is it’s really a pedal for any and every reverb-loving musician who is ready for something new.
In the case of Stillman—the architect of Towers—it was something he wanted because he really loves having resonant filter movements in the tails of a reverb.
Ultimately, guitarists, synthesists, drummers, vocalists, and all other types of musicians in search of an expressive reverberant voice are encouraged to make a journey into the Towers, because all who do will be rewarded with massive resonate experimental reverbs, subtle expressive reflections, and a lifetime of ambient adventures.
Towers is built by the skilled tone technicians of EarthQuaker Devices on the banks of the prestigious Ohio and Erie Canal located in the heart of the heart of it all, Akron, Ohio, USA.
Features:
Mode: This is a 3-position toggle switch that changes the mode of operation. Towers has three modes to operate in:
Manual - The filter frequency is manually changed by adjusting the Frequency control. This works across the stereo field, with the left channel opposite the right.
Envelope - This adjusts the filter frequency with an envelope that is controlled by picking dynamics. In this mode, the Frequency control adjusts the sensitivity of the envelope.
LFO - The filter frequency is controlled by a slow moving LFO, and the Frequency adjusts the rate. This mode also sweeps across the stereo field creating a slow panning filter effect.
Preset: Selects which user preset to use in preset mode, allowing you to recall your favorite mystical configurations.
Activate Footswitch: This turns the effect on and off.
Stretch Footswitch: Stretch slows down the entire digital system of Towers. As a result, the reverb length is doubled, the spectrum of frequencies is altered and a pitch bending effect can be heard throughout the morphing process.
In the world of rock guitar, Glenn Tilbrook may be the ultimate IYKYK (“if you know, you know,” for us old-schoolers). Because anyone familiar with Squeeze, the band he co-founded in the 1970s, is aware that hiding in plain sight alongside his songwriting and lead vocals are some masterful guitar hooks, solos, and arrangements. In a Tilbrook appreciation titled “Humble Guitar God,” CultureSonar editor Al Cattabiani declared, “Simply put, he’s a quiet monster.”
Squeeze has been termed new wave, pub rock, power pop, post-punk, and more—always a sign that a good rock ’n’ roll band has multiple tools in its shed. In its 50-plus years, surviving breakups, hiatuses, and wholesale personnel changes, Tilbrook and Chris Difford have been its only constants. “Chris and I were writers, first and foremost, and we were an exciting rock band,” Tilbrook reflects. “We were probably better than most of our contemporaries, I would say. We were more rock ’n’ roll, and we could deliver as a band onstage.”
They still do. Though they had more success in the U.K. than in the States, folks everywhere seem able to hum “Tempted.” They were making videos as far back as their 1978 single, “Take Me I’m Yours,” three years before MTV came along, and were on American Bandstand in ’82. Top 10 hits in England like “Cool for Cats” and “Up the Junction” didn’t dent American charts, but crowds large and small sing along to them—as well as “Hourglass,” “Annie Get Your Gun,” “Black Coffee in Bed,” “Is That Love,” and “Pulling Mussels (from the Shell).”
In 1973, 18-year-old Chris Difford put a wanted ad in the window of a sweetshop in Blackheath, Southeast London. It sought a guitarist with influences like the Kinks, Lou Reed, and Glenn Miller. Tilbrook, three years younger, was the only person who responded.
“When I tour, and almost always in the studio, I mostly use my black ’66 Tele,” Tilbrook says.
They determined that Glenn was better equipped to put music to Chris’s lyrics. They were called “the new Lennon and McCartney,” an appellation nobody cares to be saddled with. In terms of a working model, they more closely resemble Bernie Taupin and Elton John. “Yes, exactly like that, in that order,” Tilbrook says. “Each one handwritten on the page, and I go off and do my thing, write the chord changes.”
Difford rarely offers any direction, leaving Tilbrook to his own devices. Glenn recounts, “When I was growing up, there were songbooks that just had the lyrics of the hit songs of the day, and that was a lot of how I learned. I could figure out how they went. If I didn’t know the song, I’d make up my own tune. I’ve written some stuff, but my lyrics aren’t very good. Chris was more developed as a songwriter.”
A window into the early stages of that partnership is the new Trixies. “It’s a set of songs that we demo-ed in 1974,” Tilbrook details, “obviously when we were hoping to get signed, but that didn’t happen. I’m honestly amazed at what we did at that point. It was more sophisticated than stuff we did quite a few years after that. Our manager said, ‘You have to simplify; otherwise, people won’t know who you are.’ We were all over the place, but the band couldn’t play it then. Now we can play it, so it’s really gratifying to see the path and development.”
Re-recorded with the current lineup, the new release is a concept album about a nightclub named Trixies. “‘Good Riddance,’ I actually did eight solos, and then I stitched it together,” Tilbrook says. “It reminded me of listening to shortwave radio as a kid, with stations drifting in and out. It’s my Gibson ES-125. I write 80 percent on keyboard—a lot of this on an RMI.”
“Chris [Difford] and I were writers, first and foremost, and we were an exciting rock band.”
A child's first album and concert may not be pivotal, but they’re often revealing. “Last Train to Clarksville,” with the layered guitars of Louie Shelton, Gerry McGee, and Wayne Irwin, prompted Tilbrook to fork over six shillings and eight pence for the single. “What a great record,” he exclaims 60 years later. Despite the controversial revelation that the Monkees didn’t play on their records, he declares, “They were a massive thing for me. To me, it absolutely was real. I think they made great pop records. The first concert I went to was at a folk club when I was 13, to see an Irish duo, Tír na nÓg. I was absolutely enchanted by them. Sort of whimsical folk music. Then the first bigger concert I saw was T. Rex. ‘Bang a Gong’ had just come out, and Electric Warrior, and that just blew my mind. Marc Bolan was such a weird songwriter and player. He wasn’t very good, but he was great at the same time. And the effect he had on the audience was also part of the experience and atmosphere. It was electrifying. I was literally buzzing.”
Bolan’s influence can be heard on “It’s Over” from Trixies. “The house band, the Jaguars, are through the prism of T. Rex, which was quite English. Bolan’s solos are really odd. I don’t know how he gets to the places he does and gets away with it. But he does.”
Sometimes as important as a first guitar is a tape recorder. “I started playing when I was six or seven, and I put a lot of time into it,” Tilbrook says. “I was fascinated, and there was music in the house, like Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, George Shearing. My nylon-string guitar didn’t have a make. I very much regretted painting it with wall paint when I was 11 or 12. It was still playable, but something changed about the sound, regrettably.”
Caption: Squeeze 2026 (l-r): keyboardist Stephen Large, backing vocalist Danica Dora, drummer Simon Hanson, Tilbrook, percussionist Steve Smith, bassist Owen Biddle, Chris Difford, pedal steel guitarist Melvin Duffy
Photo by Dean Chalkley
He continues, “Recently I’ve gone back to playing a nylon-string. It has such a lovely, emotive sound. I can remember the exact date that my dad bought me a cassette recorder—December 19, 1967. It was everything I wanted. The fact that I could record myself was pure pleasure. I loved learning, and by the time I was 12, I could play pretty well. I’ve had a studio since ’93, and the first things I could afford to work with were ADATs. They were absolutely brilliant and very game-changing for me.”
Squeeze’s 1977 EP, Packet of Three, and self-titled debut album the following year were produced by Velvet Underground alumnus John Cale. “Our manager got him to produce us,” Glenn explains. “Chris was into Velvet Underground before I was, but I really liked them, too. John didn’t like the pop side of us, and he didn’t much like our songs, and threw them out. But when he was engaged and onto something, he was one of the most inspirational people I ever worked with.”
Two subsequent albums were produced by John Wood, while Elvis Costello and Roger Bechirian took over for 1981’s East Side Story. “Elvis got us all working together, getting good takes,” Tilbrook offers. One of those takes was Costello’s decision to have keyboardist Paul Carrack, who’d replaced Jools Holland, take over lead vocals on “Tempted.” The song reflects Tilbrook’s affinity for the ’60s soul of Stax and Motown. “All that is in there,” he says. “Obviously, ’60s music is the bedrock of what I learned growing up. I don’t want to stay there as a writer, but it’s part of my DNA.”
“In the ’80s, guitar was such an uncool instrument in the U.K. But I had moments.”
Calling Tilbrook underrated as a guitarist barely covers it—as evidenced by everything from the muscular solo in “Pulling Mussels” to the restraint of “Black Coffee,” the staccato double-stops of “Is That Love,” and the say-it-all-in-13-seconds brilliance of “In Quintessence.” “I’ve not pushed myself forward as a guitar player,” he admits. “I think I do that more now. I wasn’t embarrassed, but in the ’80s, guitar was such an uncool instrument in the U.K. But I had moments.”
Some guitar influences he cites are surprising, and not the typical Clapton, Beck, Page. “I liked Kelly Joe Phelps a lot,” Tilbrook says. “Hendrix is my first big love, and my parents loved Wes Montgomery; I do too. Amos Garrett is another, and I’m a big Willie Nelson fan as a guitarist. In 1981, I went to see him with Elvis, and it was one of those defining moments for me. His voice, his songwriting, his artistry. I understood, with the help of Elvis, that all those barriers—‘We do that, we don’t do that’—are all nonsense. It’s delivering from the heart, and anyone can do that if you’re receptive to it.”
Tilbrook’s solos are smart without being pretentious, clever without being cute. And like his role in the band, they’re composed. Worked-out solos often get a bad rap, as if one must jump off a high dive and improvise or it’s cheating. But countless composed solos (Harrison, Fogerty, even Page) rank among rock’s most iconic. Tilbrook points out, “From Cool for Cats [1979] onward, I started working on constructing solos. I was influenced by Tony Peluso, who played the great solo on the Carpenters’ ‘Goodbye to Love.’ I love the melodic element of it. I began really working on a solo and then cutting it together. And then I’d learn it. That would be the solo—not improvised.”
Photo by Sean Scheidt
For “Another Nail in My Heart,” he continues, “it’s such an unusual place for a solo, coming after the first verse and chorus. After I got the first bit right, I’d figure out where it’s going to go. That was an afternoon’s work to get it down. But it sounded interesting, and it sounded like it was part of the song then. It occupied another part of musical narrative. That really nailed the benefit of doing that.”
Although he doesn’t consider himself a gearhead, Tilbrook has an impressive collection of guitars. “I’ve never gotten rid of anything unless it’s been stolen. My first Strat, a ’58, which is still the best Strat I ever had, I bought from a guy in Steeleye Span. I used it on the early Squeeze albums, and then it got stolen in Liverpool. It still upsets me.”
Tilbrook continues, “When I tour, and almost always in the studio, I mostly use my black ’66 Tele. I use the B-bender sparingly, but it’s an integrated part of my playing now. The first record I used it on properly was ‘Hourglass.’ I used to use Strats, but since I went to the Tele, it really defines my sound. My ’54 Telecaster is the one that Elvis gave me in 1981 or ’82. Extremely generous of him. It’s a beautiful guitar. I’ve also got a lovely ’66 ES-345. It has such an amazing tone. I started using it in the studio, and it sends my playing to a different place, which I love.”
“Sixties music is the bedrock of what I learned growing up. I don’t want to stay there as a writer, but it’s part of my DNA.”
Tilbrook grew up playing nylon-string but switched to steel-string early on. “Now I have a Martin gut-string that I’ve absolutely fallen in love with,” he says. “And I’ve got one of those Jerry Jones electric sitar guitars. I used it on ‘Nirvana,’ from [2015’s] Cradle to the Grave. You can’t use those too often, though. I have a 12-string Taylor that says ‘Red Thunder’ on the neck. It was made for Robby Romero, front man of the band Red Thunder, but he didn’t want it.”
Apart from Squeeze’s ups and downs, including a 1984 splinter group and album, Difford & Tilbrook, Glenn has released a dozen solo records, including a series of demos, the side hustle Glenn Tilbrook & the Fluffers, and a collaboration with blues/pub-rockers Nine Below Zero. His most recent offering was 2014’s Happy Ending. “I wrote most of it, but there were a few I did with Chris Braide,” he says. “I wanted to do an album without drums, and it’s sort of referencing some of the early Tyrannosaurus Rex things, like Moroccan hand drums.”
When touring as a solo artist, Glenn manages to represent familiar Squeeze numbers with just one guitar—acoustic or electric. In November 2001, he set out on an American tour behind the wheel of a Cruise Master RV motor home, a route he still employs. Thankfully, his first excursion was filmed for the delightful documentary Glenn Tilbrook: One for the Road, released in 2004. “The thing about touring and seeing this country and being there was a great influence on me—as opposed to being in whatever tour bus, which is sort of isolating,” he says.
Another benefit? “Seeing what kind of musician people thought I was from Squeeze,” he continues. “First of all, to experience that decline in your career. We were never a massive band here, but we sold tickets. And then not, really. And back to playing clubs. I always knew that I loved it, but it was then that I knew I really loved it. Like, I’m good with that. I didn’t feel bitter about it. I’m very lucky to play music.”
Trixies brings the band back full circle. “When we split up last time,” Tilbrook says, “seeing Brian Wilson’s Pet Sounds tour and the amazing work that his band did, I thought, ‘If ever Squeeze get back together again, we should be like that.’” For the new tour, he continues, “We’ve been rehearsing the songs in the order they are on the record. It’s the first record where we thought, ‘You know what? We might just do all of it.’”
