AFTER 30 successful years in the music business, some artists would choose to base themselves somewhere exotic or away from it all in the countryside.

Not so Squeeze legend Glenn Tilbrook who has just recorded his latest solo album Happy Ending in Charlton and still lives in the area.

He said: “It was great. I love being at home.

“I love being in that part of the world. I used to have my studio in Blackheath and I thought I would never, ever want to leave there but I found a better place in Charlton.

“There’s a bit of going back to my roots.

“I am a big fan of an industrial estate where you could have a shoot out like on The Professionals - where my studio is has that.

“I was there yesterday and I saw there was a big Immigration Office raid. I felt very sorry the people being brought out, there were loads of them being brought out of this building. It was quite dramatic.”

Still driven musically, the songwriter chose to go acoustic for this record, which is now finished and scheduled due for release in February, having originally been slated for last summer.

He said: “I decided for the first time ever not to use any electric guitar or drums.

“I worked at my studio in Charlton for a few months and then realised that there was something unfolding and I had something I was very pleased with on my hands, so it took longer than I thought it would.”

“My record is ready now and I’m very proud of it.”

Fittingly, Glen’s current tour is also a solo acoustic show and is the first time he has been out on the road without other musicians for a number of years.

He said: “I love it because I can make it up as I go along.

“I never work with a set list and I’ve got a vast array of songs to choose from. What I like to do is just pick stuff – I’ve got thirty-plus years of records to choose from. It’s a lovely position to be in.”

The tour brings him back to Blackheath Halls on December 14.

“I am so looking forward to it. It has become a bit of a thing for me. Every other year I play Blackheath Halls in a solo capacity and then the other year Squeeze play at the IndigO2. It’s lovely to play there too, a hop-skip-and-jump from my house.”

The shows are great for Glenn because a number of fans have followed him and Squeeze since their early days.

He said: “People go way back to when we were playing pubs in Greenwich and Deptford, which we were for a couple of years before we managed to play anywhere else. That’s what made us into the band we became.

“It was a lovely time. The first two years together, we couldn’t get any gigs at all as a band. Jools and I used to play as a duo.

“We used to play at the Morden Arms in Greenwich. We got paid handsomely for that.

“We were 16 and we got £40 a night, then. It was amazing.

“As soon as Squeeze started earning money, our earnings took a dive. There were more mouths to feed and less money at gigs and we played in proper clubs.

“We built it up. We used to play in Greenwich and Deptford and gradually our following blossomed.”
Fans will be pleased too, that fresh Squeeze music is on the way too – and in an innovative fashion.

Glenn said: “We are providing an album’s worth of songs for a series which is going to be on ITV next year based on Danny Baker’s autobiography.

“It’s going to be great. It’s two songs per episode and that’s Squeeze’s next record in the bag.

“We are recording that in February next year.

“Like everything, we’ll do it in Charlton and unleash it on the world.”

Glenn Tilbrook’s Happy Ending Acoustic Tour will be at Blackheath Halls on Decmber 14. Happy Ending the album will be released in February 2014. For more information visit glenntilbrook.com