COOL FOR EVERYONE
GLENN Tilbrook is on a high. The man who belted out pop classics Cool For Cats and Up The Junction is only just back from the United States where he’s been on tour with Squeeze.
Now the sprightly 59-year-old is readying himself for life on the road again, this time as a solo artist.
Next month he plays two gigs in North Wales, The Victoria in Menai Bridge and, a few days later, the Aberystwyth Arts Centre, as part of his Best of Times tour.
Old school fans will need little introduction to Tilbrook. At its height Squeeze – which appropriately enough slotted neatly in between Punk and New Wave – were knocking out hits that were to become pop standards.
Tilbrook and Cliff Difford, his collaborator, were even being feted as south London’s answer to Lennon and McCartney by the New York Times, it was a big claim.
“Our record label used that to ramp up our profile. It was very flattering but we got up our own backside when that came out. It took us a year to get back down to work.”
More recently Tilbrook, who still lives in Charlton, south east London, a mile from where he grew up, sparked controversy while performing on the Andrew Marr Show when David Cameron was a guest.
Seizing his moment the veteran frontman changed the lyrics to one of the group’s new songs, Cradle To The Grave to attack the then prime minister’s welfare policies.
“I grew up in council houses; They’re part of what made Britain great” he sang, “But there are some people who are hell bent, on destruction of the welfare state.”
To the surprise of viewers the then-Prime Minister applauded the performance.
“It wasn’t planned”, he says. “I knew who was going to be on and I was angry about some of his policies.
“But it was a very last minute thing. I was listening to what he was saying about knocking down rotten old council homes and building private houses.
“I would have hated myself if I hadn’t taken the opportunity to let him know what I thought.”
The Conservative PM’s applause however was not the only surprise.
“After that people were coming up to shake my hand, I’ve never had that before,” he says.
His politics has come late in life, he admits: “Society is in a curious state. We need to invest in people, not just the market.”
Life in Britain is going backwards, he says, a fact made abundantly clear to him while on tour around the United Kingdom.
“You see how much money is spent in London and not much elsewhere. There are pockets of affluence but there’s a lot of poverty.
“It is beginning to resemble the 1970s. I’m not a pessimist but some areas are falling behind.”
Politics aside, fans can expect to hear a few of the old hits as well as some of his latest songs - possibly even Cradle to Grave but you’ll have to wait for what version he will choose.
As well as holidays, he does have another link with Wales, his name.
“I was actually named after a Welsh man”, when asked the old cliché about his connections to the area.
“My mum was adopted by a Welsh couple in Neath when she was evacuated during the war and I was named after the husband who looked after her.”
Glenn Tilbrook performs at The Victoria, Menai Bridge, on November 16, at 7pm, tickets are priced at £17.50.
He returns to Wales on November 19, to play the Aberystwyth Arts Centre at 8pm, tickets priced £16 to £18.