Squeeze will release Trixies on 6 March 2026 through BMG, delivering an album that predates every hit the band is known for. The record contains the earliest songs ever written by Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook, conceived long before Cool For Cats, Up The Junction and Tempted shaped the band’s legacy in British pop. These songs began life in 1974, years before the band entered a studio, and the story behind their creation offers one of the most unexpected turns in Squeeze’s long history.
At the time, Tilbrook was 16 and Difford was 19, writing at a moment when concept records were everywhere and theatrical storytelling was central to the pop landscape.
Difford had been captivated by the colourful street characters of Damon Runyon, and that tone seeped into their writing. The pair developed a collection of narratives set in a fictional nightclub called Trixies, crafting songs that explored crime, desire and late-night intrigue. Their ambition was bold, yet their teenage musicianship was still forming, and they lacked the skills to translate the material into a record.
Those ideas sat on a cassette, unrecorded and unheard, while Squeeze went on to craft one of the most recognisable catalogues in modern British songwriting. Formed in
London in 1974, Squeeze eventually released a string of albums including Squeeze, Cool For Cats and Argybargy, earning acclaim for wit, detail and melodic craft. Their impact broadened globally with Tempted, the 1981 single that became a fixture of radio and film. The band’s stature grew over subsequent decades, culminating in honours such as an Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Contribution To British Music and a Mojo Icon recognition.
Despite evolving line-ups, Squeeze’s central creative partnership never faded. After reuniting in 2007, the band returned to the road, performing more than 600 shows and releasing new studio albums including The Knowledge in 2017. Even with that momentum, the rediscovered cassette of the Trixies songs created a powerful emotional spark. Difford recalls the teenage determination to write beyond their ability.
Tilbrook notes that at the time he did not even know the names of the chords he was playing, yet the songs contained a natural flair that surprised both writers half a century later.
Under the production of bassist Owen Biddle, whose career includes work with The Roots, John Legend and Al Green, Squeeze have reclaimed these early stories with the confidence and technique the young writers lacked. The band approached the material with respect for its origins, keeping the songs close to their original structures while bringing performance strength shaped through decades on stage.
Revisiting these songs inspired fresh creativity. While completing Trixies, Squeeze also recorded a full album of new material, which will arrive after the release. Tilbrook describes the process as unexpectedly emotional, and Difford shares the same pride in the strength of their earliest writing.
Squeeze now release the first preview, Trixies Part One, a short piece that sets the tone of the nightclub world imagined by the teenage songwriters. It offers a rhythmic doorway into the album’s atmosphere, introducing the characters and stories that shaped the original concept.
Trixies will be released on 6 March 2026 via BMG.
Trixies Tracklisting
What More Can I Say
You Get The Feeling
The Place We Call Mars
Hell On Earth
The Dancer
Good Riddance
Don’t Go Out In The Dark
Why Don’t You
Anything But Me
It’s Over
The Jaguars
Trixies Part One
Trixies Part Two
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