The Boston Globe - 23.08.2019

FRIDAY, AUGUST 23, 2019 The Boston Globe G5

ByMarc Hirsh
GLOBECORRESPONDENT
Having hits can be overrat-
ed. For evidence, lookno fur-
therthanSqueeze,the New
Wave veterans behind gems
such as “BlackCoffee in Bed,”
“Goodbye Girl,” “PullingMus-
sels (From the Shell),” and the
soulfullyself-flagellating
“Tempted,” not one of which
cracked the Top 40. In fact, out-
side of 1987’s “Hourglass”and
1988’s “853-5937,” the British
band(which barnstorms the
SouthShore Music Circus in
Cohasset on Sunday, the Cape
Cod Melody Tent in Hyannis on
Tuesday, and the Tanglewood
Koussevitzky Music Shed in Le-
nox on Thursday) didn’t actual-
ly have many substantial hits in
the US. “No, we did not, no,”
says singer-guitarist GlennTil-
brookwitha laugh. “I thought
[‘Tempted’] was a hit, but then
it wasn’t. We ignoredit for a
while after that.”
But Squeeze’s catalog has
managed to have a rather long
tail, and most of its (many)
best-of collections play like one
shadowclassic after another.
“Yeah,that’s the wonderful
thingaboutthosecompilations,
is that they got our songs out in
a way that probably radio
didn’t, mostly,” Tilbrook says.
And if that was frustrating in
the short term, the singer —
whoselongtimesongwriting
partnership with guitarist Chris
Difford remainsat the core of
an ever-shifting lineupthat’s
beenstable since2007,give or
take a bassist or two — feels dif-
ferent about it now.
“That’s in the past, and
that’s the way it happened.
From where I am now, we have
a bodyof work,most of which
I’m extremely proudof. And we
werelucky to have so many
songs,fromwhereselecting
songsfor this tour was really
hard,to knowwhat to do and
what to leave out. So that’s a
great position to be in.”

Q.Squeeze has enough al-
bumsthat a lot of yoursongs
have obviously fallen off of your
concert setlists over the years.
What’s your relationshipwith
those songs? You obviously
thought highly enough of them
at the timeto put care into re-
cording themand releasing

them to the public.

A.Yeah. Well, you know, the

thingabout Squeezeand being

on a major label is that most of

the earlyrecordswerehow we

wanted to make them. And

thenthe further alongyou get

in your career, the harder it is to

maintaincontrol, becauseas

soon as you’re deemed to be not

successful, everyonehas an

idea of how to fix it. So you find

yourself going out on a limb

more. So for instance, I’ve often

said “Cosi Fan Tutti Frutti” is

my least favorite Squeeze al-

bum,but on this tour, we’ve

gone backto that recordand

the original intention. There’s a

songcalled“KingGeorge

Street,” whichactually I wrote

as a sort of Fleetwood Mac-y

type song. It was beautiful and

simple,and we contrivedin

production and recording to

make it the most complicated

thing ever. And you listen to the

record and it just sounds ugly to

me. But we uncovered the song

beneath it, and it’s one of the

highlights of the new set we

have now, I think.

Q.Part of the genius of “Tempt-

ed” is in how there’s very little

agony expressedor even back-

story givento the situation. In-

stead, it’s just an accumulation

of mundane details that still

paint a picture of self-recrimi-

nation.

A.Yeah. It tookme abouta

week to write the tune, actually.

It was really hardto get it to

sound easy. But it just felt like

we’d created a milestone for

ourselves. But then we couldn’t

record it properly. We made a

disastrousfirstrecordingofit.

Then [singer-keyboardist] Paul

Carrack came along, and we did

the versionthat we did, and it

wasjust like, “Oh,yeah.

[Chuckles] That’s how it’s sup-

posed to be.”

Q.What was disastrous about

that first recording?

A.We did morelike ELO, and I

sang it. I don’t know if it’s still

on any streaming platforms,

but it’s on a compilation album

called “Excess Moderation,” and

you can hearit. Andthank

goodness that wasn’t the ver-

sion that cameout.

Q.Back in 2010, Squeezere-

corded exact replicas of some of

yourclassics for an album

called “Spot the Difference.”

How many of yourfanstook

that as a challenge?

A.None as far as I know.

[Laughs] That was a strange al-

bumto do, to go back and try

and examine and remember

not only what you did, how you

sang, what ampsyou used,but

how some members of the band

who weren’t there played and

what they did, too. So it drove

me a bit mad doing that. It was

the sort of project I had to pick

up and put downand go away

fromevery now and then. But

whenwe actuallytied it up, I

was really, really pleased, be-

causemost of the time,I think

we got pretty close to the [origi-

nal] records.And [therewere]

times where, like on “Black Cof-

fee in Bed,” that’s my favorite

version. It’s better thanthe re-

cord,as far as I’m concerned.I

knowthat peoplelove the re-

cord, and I get that, but that

wasthe record that we

should’ve made. [Laughs]

Q.Why did you like that version

better?

A.I could sing it better. My en-

thusiasmexcelledmy ability to

sing in the way that I wanted to

at that point. Maybe that was

endearing, and I just hearall

the stuff that I didn’t get quite

right. However, I got it right on

the “Spotthe Difference” ver-

sion. And I tell you what, one

thing that I was reallyproud of,

I’ve got to tell you this story, is

that “Black Coffee in Bed” came

on somewhere that I was, and I

just thought, “Oh, that’s ‘Black

Coffee.’ ” And only about half-

way through did I realize that it

was the “Spot the Difference”

version.[Laughs] Whichis the

ultimate compliment, that I

managed to fool myself.

Q.You’re not the onlybandto

have embarked on sucha proj-

ect in recent years. Def Leppard

and Cracker have alsodone

similarexact-replicarerecord-

ings.What do you think that it

says aboutthe recordingindus-

try?

A.I don’t knowwhat it says

aboutthe recordingindustry. I

can tell you what it says about

wherewe are, that of course

like 90 percent of otherbands

that have had deals,we don’t

have any controlover our cata-

log. The parts of our catalog

that have ended up with Uni-

versal,we have beenunableto

ascertain up untilnow where

our masters are and if they sur-

vivedthe fire.[In June, The

New York TimesMagazine ran

a story on a massive, unreport-

ed 2008vault fire at Universal

Studios Hollywood estimated to

have destroyedhundredsof

thousands of original master re-

cordings.] So that’s a huge

wodge of our workto basically

not control,that’s the point

aboutit. Nor reap the benefits

fromit. So it was a smallat-

temptto wrestle backsome

control while we still can. And I

have to say, it was a successful

audioadventure that, up until

now, we’ve had zero profits

fromhow we intended it to be,

because no one’s used it.

[Chuckles]

Interview waseditedand

condensed.Marc Hirsh

canbe reached at

[email protected]

on Twitter @spacecitymarc.

Jokes aboutpoliticiansor dailyhead-
lines are good for Twitter or conversation,
but they generally don’t make it into John-
son’s act. He feels a lot of that materialis al-
ready “well-worn before lunch,” and there’s
not much left he can add. “I’m actually rare-
ly topicalat all unlessit serves a bigger pur-
pose in an overall point I’m trying to make,”
he says, speaking by phonefromNew York
City. “You’ll rarely see me rattle off things
that will feel old tomorrowbecauseI do
wantevery clip that I put up on the Inter-
net, every shot of a special, everything I’m in
to be as timeless as possible. And I feel
like that’s the road to actually buildinga leg-
acy.”
Onstage, the 29-year-old Johnsonfre-
quently addresses his vulnerabilities as a
millennial. He jokes that if he’d been born
even 10 years earlier, he wouldn’t have lived
as long. “I am not an alpha male,” he says on
his 2017 album, “I Like You.” “I’m not even a
beta. I’m like threebefore omega.I’ve been
called a little punk to my face before and
been like, ‘Well, that’s your opinion.’ ”
Johnsonmainlytargets himselfin his
comedy. He’s searchingfor somethingmore
universal and relatable,which, paradoxical-
ly, will make him stand out among his comic
peers.“To talk aboutthings that are person-
al or to delveinto thingsthat are less often
talked aboutI thinkis the only way to stay
the least bit unique,” he says. “And if I had
not thoughtabout things like that and talk-
ed aboutsubject matter like that, thenI
thinkthat I would have just blendedin.” He
says he’d rather focus on the ways everyone
is similar than on things that set them apart,
and cultivate an environment in which an
audiencecan feel comfortable.“We’re all
laughingat this thingbecauseit’s silly, not
because you’re dumb or because you’re evil,
or because you’re right. A lot of people don’t
feel like they’re anything but right.”
That philosophy serves him well as a
stand-up comedian, but as a writeron a
high-profile satirical show, especially one
that broadcasts four times a week, it pres-
ents a challenge. WhenJohnsonis writing
for “The DailyShow,” he is still lookingfor
something universal. There are two ways he
approachesthat. The first is by tryingto
broaden his scope, the second is by scouring
the details. “It’s very easy to keep everything
centered on America, and I think going in-

uJOHNSON
ContinuedfromPageG1

ternationaland also going moreobscure is

actually going to [make for] someof the

more compelling stories,” he says.

Johnsonis enthusiastic about the possi-

bility of showing people somethingthey

don’t knowthroughhumoron “The Daily

Show.”

“I thinkthereare a lot of government

functionsthat peopledon’t really under-

stand,” he says. “We’ve done pieces on it in

the past. People don’t really understand

howimpeachmentworks,and howit

doesn’t just mean that someone gets kicked

out and they don’t get to be on the news any-

more.It’s a lot morecomplicated thanthat

and it’s a lot moreof a process than that.”

Outside of comedy, Johnson is eager to

engage withpeople, partiallythe legacy of

being an only childwho didn’t have a lot of

friends. “I usually overshare too quickly and

I usuallyjust give peoplea pieceof myself

that no one reallyasked for to a certain de-

gree in termsof information and opinion,

outlook,” he says.

Johnsongot his degree in stage lighting

fromCentenary College in his native Louisi-

ana before moving to Chicago to start come-

dy. Whenhe got to New York City, he was

submitting his writing for a job at “The To-

nightShow” at the sametimehe was inter-

viewingfor a job as a dog walker. He laughs

at the thought of it. “Life could have gone

one of two very different ways,” he says.

Comedyis the job Johnsonhas wanted

since he saw Christopher Titus’s “Normal

Rockwell Is Bleeding” specialas a kid. And

in some ways, comedy has beeneasierfor

Johnson thaneveryday life. “That’s why

stand-upfelt so clear and so good,” he says,

“because even if it’s just for five minutes on

television or for 20 minutes at a live club,

there’s something aboutspending time with

someone and sharing yourideas and them,

throughthe form of laughter, agreeingwith

you, or at least making you aware that they

understand, that you don’t get in regular life

when you’re just talking to people.”

Nick A. Zaino III canbe reached at

[email protected].

Johnson prefers personal to the political

GETTY IMAGES FOR COMEDY CENTRAL

On tour, Squeeze has no shortage of almost-hits to play

DANNY CLIFFORD

Squeezeplays threeMassachusetts showsbetweenSunday andThursday.

‘FromwhereI am

now, wehavea

bodyof work,

most of whichI’m

extremelyproud

of.’

GLENN TILBROOK, Squeeze

singer-guitarist

SQUEEZE

At SouthShore MusicCircus,

Cohasset,Aug.25 at 7:30p.m.

Tickets $42.25-$111.75,

http://www.themusiccircus.org

At CapeCod MelodyTent,

Hyannis,Aug.27 at 7:30p.m.

Tickets $42.25-$111.75,

http://www.melodytent.org

At the Tanglewood

KoussevitzkyMusicShed,

Lenox, Aug.29 at 7 p.m.

Tickets $29-$99,www.bso.org

JOSHJOHNSON

At Laugh Boston,Aug.22-24.

Tickets $25, 617-725-2844,

http://www.laughboston.com

‘I’mactuallyreally

terrible whenit

comes to Black

History Month.I

spenttwo years

thinking Harriet

Tubmanand Anne

Frank were thesame

person. AndI was

embarrassedabout

whichtwo years of

mylifethey were

becausethey were

not consecutive.’

— JOSHJOHNSON,who

performsat LaughBostonthis

weekend

A laughlinefrom

JoshJohnson

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