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Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival is America's largest music festival, and for the bands performing there, it represents inclusion within the current caste of acts defining modern rock.
Aging British rockers Squeeze toured the world before many members of Bon Iver, the Black Lips and Miike Snow were born, yet the band's set Saturday in Coachella's Mojave tent signified a return to relevance in a technology-infused music landscape — epitomized by artists like Radiohead, Afrojack and Swedish House Mafia.
The 110-degree sun blanketing Coachella Valley for the festival's second weekend is a 180-degree turn from last weekend's overcast cool. For Squeeze, the drift away from musicianship in modern rock is the opposite of the band's legacy, yet one it embraces.
"Technology is a great enabler," says frontman Glenn Tilbrook, 54. "In our set, we're starting to use technology more. My thing has always been, if we can't play, we're in trouble. If we rely on tech so much that if it breaks down, we're in trouble. But that's no reason not to embrace it."
Technology's role in modern music takes the form of turntables, electronic mixing boards and computer-generated sound effects blending aspects of techno, house, dubstep, even disco.
The late '70s disco era also saw the rise of London-based Squeeze. Riding the momentum of new wave, Squeeze had a string of hits such as Cool for Cats, Pulling Mussels (From the Shell) and Tempted. Peaking in popularity in the early '80s, the band has since shuffled members, suffered doubt and fought against time and questions of relevance.
With the recent release of the band's Live at the Fillmore album, a summer tour and a handful of new songs, Squeeze is continuing its journey while bending with the times.
"I think nothing stays still. Nothing is forever. There's always going to be, for any generation, a certain golden age, when they looked back at whatever that point was and say it was truly great," Tilbrook says. "As long as we keep having fun, I think there's a future for Squeeze."
The future will no doubt be different from today, with a paradigm much different from the music industry's past, when album sales made an artist rich and music videos made a band famous.
"The media and the industry has made music a giveaway item," says Squeeze's other half, Chris Difford, 57. "I always plan in terms of albums. They're great for people who like you, but it's harder now to reach people. It's more about giving stuff away and enticing them to come see you. It'd be nice for people to buy our stuff, but if they can't buy, I'd like them to have it anyway."
