Hello and welcome to Sodajker on songwriting. It's Brian and Simon here with a special

Trixies edition of the podcast, for which we're joined by one of the most respected and influential

British songwriting teams in history, Squeezers Glenn Hillbrook and Chris Difford.

And what is Trixies we hear you ask? Well, it squeezes fantastic new concept LP, centred around a fictional London

nightclub and its various denizens. But it's a new album with a bit of a difference. It was

originally written over half a century ago when Glenn and Chris were barely out of short trousers,

and their writing partnership was still in its infancy. That's right, Trixies was conceived

and composed back in 1974 and demoed in full on

a borrowed Reevox reel to reel, barely a year after the two first met, when Glenn famously

answered Chris's ad in a Blackheath shop window.

As time went by and they ultimately found huge success with Squeeze, Trixies became a fond

but faded memory.

However, when they revisited that original demo recording a couple of years ago, they realised they had unfinished business. As anyone who's heard, the album will attest, the quality of these songs belies the relative inexperience of their composers. In fact, for our money, this is one of Squeez's finest collections. And if you're familiar with their Uvra, you'll know there's some pretty stiff competition, not just from vintage classics like East Side Story and Argy Bargy, but also 21st century offerings like cradle to the grave and the knowledge. We were lucky enough to meet with Chris and Glenn a short while ago at the AO arena in Manchester, where they were playing on tour. Madness was sound checking at the time, so to escape the noise

backstage, we decamped to Glenn's RV, which was parked nearby, and huddled around the mics

in his dining booth for a nice little trixies-based chinwag. Very cozy. Just when you think you've

experienced every possible interview location, Bri? Hara no, yeah. Along comes Tilbrook's Winnebago.

Tillbrook's Winnebago sounds like a medical condition.

Long time Sodejaker listeners will recall Glenn and Chris appeared separately on the show way back in 2014,

episodes 55 and 56 respectively.

So after you've heard this, why not revisit those conversations?

Excellent idea. If you're new to Sodejaker on songwriting, be sure to give us a follow wherever you get your pods, leave us a nice review and rating and explore the rest of our ever-growing archive. Support the show at sodajurker.com slash donate. Before we move on, we'd like to thank Sue for helping set this up and Suzanne and Holly for their assistance on the day. We should also mention that the band will be performing across the UK during November and December this year on their tried, tested and Trixies tour with support from our two-time former guest, Billy Bragg. Head to Squeezeofficial.com for dates and tickets. Right, here we are in rainy Manchester talking tricksies with Squeez's own, Glenn

Hillbrook and Chris Difford.

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