Squeeze to celebrate 45 years of making music at KAABOO

Squeeze, the United Kingdom band that burst upon the scene with the single "Take Me I'm Yours," in 1978, thrust the band into music stardom in the U.K.

Aside from a few gaps and roadblocks through to today, the band has generated 15 studio albums, 14 compilation albums, four live albums, one extended play and 48 singles during its career.

Their hits include "Tempted," "Black Coffee in Bed," "Hourglass," "Cool For Cats," "Up The Junction," and "Pulling Mussels From The Shell" and every one were written by one of the U.K.'s most prolific songwriting teams in history – Glenn Tilbrook and Chris Difford.

The band, which will perform Saturday, Sept. 14, at KAABOO Del Mar, is touring the U.K. and U.S. during "The Squeeze Songbook 2019" which will feature the hits as well as rare, lesser-known gems from the band's back catalog and solo careers.

According to Difford, speaking via telephone from the U.K., the band is excited to play another festival in the states, since it's been six years since the band played Coachella.

"Well, festivals in the U.K. are kind of bread and butter to us, so we enjoy playing festivals and we only ended up playing one in America before," he said. "This is our second one and I'm looking forward to it."

Difford is confident fans in San Diego will enjoy what the band brings to the table.

"I think people are going to be enjoying what we do because we play the hits, but we play songs we haven't played for a while and some we've never played," he said. "it's the cross section, a broad brushstroke of Squeeze's career and we've got a seven-piece band, which is pretty amazing. It's going to be a fine hour of Squeeze music."

The band is no stranger to California, having first toured here more than 40 years ago.

"When we first came to California, we played everywhere that we could and it was in 1979, so it's a long time ago," Difford said. "We traveled around in a van and we just did what we did and people seemed to like it. We just kept coming back and that seems like a long time ago.

"We've been very fortunate to have sold out shows so far. We've been there like two or three weeks now. Everywhere seems to be selling extremely well, so I'm very happy with the way things are," he said.

Difford said he's comfortable being on the road, but also enjoys the comforts of home.

"I think there's some glory in being on the road, there's something special about it, but there's also something wonderful about being at home," he said. "You know, the older that I get, the more appreciative I am of both parts of my life. It is kind of schizophrenic, you know, I have home and I have Squeeze, and those are two different things."

Squeeze will perform at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 14, on the Trestles Stage at KAABOO Del Mar. Tickets are available at http://www.kaaboodelmar.com.

Jeff Pack can be reached by email at [email protected].