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Interview - Amy Pickard, Director 'Glenn Tilbrook: One For The Road'
379 Plays3 years ago
Welcome to the first of many conversations about Squeeze. In this debut episode, I'm joined by 'rockumentary' filmmaker Amy Pickard. Back in 2001, she put pedal to the metal and hit the highways and byways of America, traveling in an RV with Glenn Tilbrook in one of his many (but certainly not last) solo tours. What followed was a journey not entirely expected and as we discover, this film chronicled not only Glenn's performances but his interaction with fans, his recollections of his days with Squeeze and where he stood in life back in that time. Pickard captured all this and more and in this talk, she also reveals how she started in the music business and her continuing adventures with Squeeze.
Stream the film at the Coda Collection via Amazon Prime Video: https://codacollection.co/films/glenn-tilbrook-one-for-the-road
See where Amy is today: https://goodtogopeace.org/
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Transcript
Introduction to Cool for Cats Podcast
00:00:08
Speaker
Hello, and welcome to Cool for Cats with me, Amy Hughes. We're inviting you in for black coffee and a chat about our favorite band Squeeze. In this episode, I'm welcoming Amy Pickard, documentary filmmaker of the 2004 release, Glenn Tilbrook, One for the Road. Hello, Amy. Hi, Amy. How are you?
00:00:31
Speaker
I'm doing very, very well totally excited that you're on the podcast. You're amongst the first guests if the first guest on and I'm really excited to be able to give you an audience to be able to talk about this
00:00:48
Speaker
Excellent, excellent.
Amy Pickard's Documentary Journey
00:00:50
Speaker
Rockumentary. And people, if you haven't, you've got to watch this. It's so good. It's so fly on the wall. It's so intimate. It's so fun. And that's one of the big reasons it really deserves another. Well, how many lives are we on with this film? I don't even know. I stopped counting.
00:01:16
Speaker
I want to say we're under about a 34th life, but anyway, so let's get started with, we'll jump into the film and you can talk about some things that went on behind the scenes and in front of the scenes and the sort of gist of it.
00:01:35
Speaker
What I'd really like to do is just get a little backstory. I know some things, but I'm certain our audience does not know your background, how you started. And they'll be surprised how you made the connection with Squeeze. So go.
00:01:54
Speaker
Well, I grew up in Dayton, Ohio, which I jokingly referred to as the whole and the cultural donut at the time. And I was just an anglophile from an early age. I'm convinced it's, you know, hours of Mary Poppins and Peter Pan and Winnie the Pooh and things like that.
00:02:14
Speaker
I ran a music video show in Dayton, Ohio from when I was 15 or 16 until I was about 23. And it was kind of like Wayne's World, but like MTV in your basement kind of thing. And because I was so enthusiastic about hosting,
00:02:34
Speaker
Um, and I took it so seriously because I thought, wow, I want to make a living in music television. You know, they actually hired me to be the program director. And so I scheduled the music and I changed the format to be a modern rock. You remember that format, Amy?
00:02:53
Speaker
Yes, I do, Amy. We're not dating ourselves, are we? No, not at all. Well, it's now called AAA, Adult Album Alternative. But that's the chart that I was going after back in the day. And I also just wanted to interview my favorite bands that were on the Modern Rock charts. And of course, Squeeze was one of
Connection to Squeeze and Growing Fandom
00:03:15
Speaker
those bands. And I know
00:03:16
Speaker
And I've had conversations with Glenn about this, you know, about how it's so strange that like a young Midwestern girl can listen to squeeze and relate. You know, it's like, well, let's see, I'm not an alcoholic guy that goes to the pub all the time and treats my wife horribly, you know, you know, but for some reason, I think it was the kind of
00:03:41
Speaker
Englishness. It was that sweet sort of insecurity and a lot of the lyrics that appealed to me. Obviously I have got a sweet tooth for a clever power pop. And so that was, uh, you know, really my sweet spot. And I just thought squeeze were this amazing band who were accessible without being ordinary. And
00:04:05
Speaker
Also, I know this sounds funny, but they weren't selling sex, you know, like Sting with a shirt off or, you know, whatever. They weren't teen idols. They were just amazing musicians and songwriters. And I loved that, you know, and so I first saw them and
00:04:25
Speaker
88 in Cincinnati and because I love Babylon on and that's how I I discovered squeeze through the brimstone and treacle soundtrack for stings movie and And I kind of never looked back. I just thought they were so unique and and such a good band live, you know
00:04:48
Speaker
Right, and then that's, I'm assuming, that's exactly how the avenue was able to open up for you with all the work that you were doing, doing this cable show and hooking up with a lot of the record stores in your hometown that when, obviously, Squeeze came to town, you were able to just go right in there and hook up and get their interview, get this interview with Chris and Glenn.
00:05:16
Speaker
Yeah, and and it was and it had fallen through because the their itinerary was printed out misprinted and so we were going to go to Lexington Kentucky to go interview them which is like a two hour drive, and then I was trying to call and get directions to the place because obviously this is 2001.
00:05:36
Speaker
and there's no phones or cell phones or anything like that. And then I called the actual venue and they're like, we're not in Kentucky, we're in Vermont or something like that. And I was like, what? So then the record company felt so bad for me.
00:05:52
Speaker
And they were like, we'll definitely get you an interview when they come to Cincinnati. And I was like, OK, great. And I went ahead and took one for the team as a squeeze fan. And I put the public access interview on the special features of the DVD years ago because I just thought, you know, my pain is another fan's gain. And I still stand by my questions that I asked them that I felt were
00:06:18
Speaker
so insightful and pithy and humorous and chris and glenn were. Tour crazy they've been on the road for a million years they were exhausted they didn't know what city they were in you know when.
00:06:34
Speaker
I just was so excited to talk to them. And I thought I was going to impress them with my knowledge of the band. And they were just monosyllabic, low energy. I can even remember in the interview, I thought, well, none of the questions I'm asking are hitting a note here. So I'm just going to go ahead and ask them about the latest single, because that's what the record company wants you to do. And I said, can you tell me about Crying in My Sleep from the album play?
00:07:03
Speaker
Chris said, Yeah, I don't like that song, or something like that. I just thought, really, you guys can't throw me a bone here. You know, so I just, I died a slow painful death in that interview my confidence instantly shrank because I thought that they were having a nightmare time and then of course as soon as the cameras roll off.
00:07:22
Speaker
you know they're like wow that was such a good interview thank you and we apologize for not having any energy because we don't know what day it is and you know blah blah blah so you know it was kind of them to apologize afterwards and to you know try to kind of you know build my self-esteem back up.
00:07:40
Speaker
But I just thought, well, guess what I'm stuck with on tape, y'all? But because of that, I became friends with the band. And then whenever they came to Ohio, I would turn up. They'd put me on the list. We would hang out. We'd go to dinner. And it was just such a fun.
00:08:01
Speaker
thing you know and especially for me like I've loved Squeeze forever and after that interview in Cincinnati I had like baked them chocolate chip cookies and I brought this huge goodie bag of British groceries and you know like McVede's biscuits and you know things like that and PG tips and
00:08:21
Speaker
And so I gave that to Glenn to give to the whole band. And so, um, the day after the Cincinnati show, my friend and I went to the Chicago show. And, uh, and so it turns out that we were staying at the same hotel in the same area. And we went to the show in Chicago. And then afterwards, I thought we were just going to go backstage and say hi and then leave. But then the bus driver who we had hung out with the previous night was just like,
00:08:47
Speaker
Oh yeah, I can't hang out with you guys today. So, um, you know, have fun. And I was just like, Oh, we're hanging out. We're allowed to hang out. And so we went to, uh, to this bar called bucket O suds in Chicago. And, um, the reason I'm, you know, digging deep in this, uh, very long, rambly story is to say that as soon as.
00:09:09
Speaker
I my friend and I got on the bus to go to bucket oh suds after the gig with the band this is the first time i've met the entire band with gilson and keith and everybody and don snow i think it was and glenn said hey everybody this is amy who brought all of the english groceries yesterday
00:09:30
Speaker
And the whole band clapped and they did a little hip hip hooray for me. And honestly, Amy, I almost died because here's this band that I love and I've clapped for them many times. And now they're clapping for me. It was a surreal moment and just it was just so great. I mean, I'm smiling like an idiot just thinking about it because it was just like, and my bones are liquid. Thank you, Squeeze.
00:10:03
Speaker
And I also feel that same way because it happened to me whether just a band performing back then on a CD and to be able to go backstage and you know they are super larger than life.
00:10:18
Speaker
You know, they do have that sort of home quality to them that you can embrace very easily and you want to do these things for them. I remember actually drawing a picture. I think it wasn't, I think I was able to present it to Chris and Glenn at some time.
00:10:34
Speaker
Like you said, that's the kind of atmosphere they sort of give off, you know, that sort of aura where you're connecting as this Midwestern teenager. And now I, having read a lot of back history and knowing them and doing all of these gigs and these pubs and
00:10:53
Speaker
Greenwich and Blackheath. As I was mentioning, you know, my introduction to this show, it's those are the small town kind of things that you appreciate.
00:11:05
Speaker
when you was a fan get to be that close to them. So it's really nice. It's just super nice that that really happened. And so you had this great encounter with them as a group and that kind of sort of stuck with you sort of as your journalism career
00:11:24
Speaker
kind of took off. Maybe you want to kind of touch base with that a little bit. Sure. You know, you know, after after seeing the band. So you you kind of moved on then to doing more sort of like you said, I know we've talked a little bit beforehand about about what you've did. But you can talk about that.
Challenges and Magic of Filming
00:11:43
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, I basically knew that I wanted music television to be my career and it was what I was good at. And I was interviewing the same bands that MTV was interviewing. I was just doing it in Ohio. And so I interviewed not only Squeeze, but Robin Hitchcock and Billy Bragg and
00:12:03
Speaker
Um, you know, I went to a million crowded house shows and hung out with them. And so, um, you know, I just, uh, I just loved interviewing, uh, bands because the creative process is fascinating to me. And so then after I graduated college in TV and radio and wrapped up my video show in Ohio, I moved to London.
00:12:23
Speaker
in the nineties and I was able to see a lot of Glen Solo shows when he started touring around in pubs and you know so I've seen Glen play to you know eight people and I've seen him play to you know tens of thousands as well and so
00:12:43
Speaker
Um, you know, I just kept in touch with Glenn and squeeze and Chris and all of that. And then when I moved to LA, oh, I, when I lived in London, I worked for the BBC. I did radio. I worked in television for channel four, channel five interviewing bands for the cue awards and.
00:13:01
Speaker
for this show called the Pepsi chart show and things like that. So I was still kind of, you know, building my career and trying to get a full time gig broadcasting. And then, um, and then I just, uh, I just missed America. I had lived in
00:13:19
Speaker
London for seven years. I think I took a year out to live in New York for a while. And, um, I just, uh, missed America and came back. So I moved to LA in 2000. And then I was, uh, instant messaging with Glenn online in 2001. I think it was October.
00:13:41
Speaker
And, uh, and he said, Oh, I'm going to see you soon. I'm going to be in LA. And I was just like, Oh, great. That's awesome. You know, and he said, I'm touring America in an RV. I'm doing my first solo tour, which of course is hilarious. Cause he was in his forties and had already had all these squeeze albums behind him. It's just like, yes, I'll go solo. And I just thought knowing Glenn and how funny he is and, uh, you know, and how kind of.
00:14:11
Speaker
I don't want to say diligent of just persistent. I would say that that's the word I'm looking for. Just how persistent he was in winning over audiences and how successful he is at winning over audiences. And I just thought this would be a really funny fish out of water documentary having this English guy.
00:14:31
Speaker
who's so funny and so English and then he's in an American RV staying at RV campgrounds. I mean, just, I'd never heard of any musicians actually touring in an RV. So I just thought this is going to be, this is going to be great. And so I asked him, you know, I said, Hey, would you be willing to do a documentary about this? Cause this sounds pretty interesting.
00:14:55
Speaker
And he said, sure, why not? And I just thought, well, let me pitch it around. And so I tried pitching the idea around to my TV connections because I'd worked for, I'd been working for VH1 and literally nobody wanted to touch it with a 10 foot pole.
00:15:12
Speaker
And so, uh, I was just like, okay, well, bummer, that's not going to happen. And then one, um, executive friend who's English, who I knew, I called him up Dan cut forth and, uh, and I told him about the idea and he said, well, my production company doesn't want it, but you know, technology is so cheap right now. Um, you know, broadcast technology that you could probably just shoot at yourself. You could probably just do it yourself.
00:15:38
Speaker
for like 10 grand and that was about 10 grand more than I had and And so then I had a really good friend I was lamenting to and and he had said well, you know what Glenn offering you access as a gift and You know, let's do this and I'll give you the money and so he decided to invest and then I had about three weeks to organize
00:16:03
Speaker
going on the road with Glenn to shoot a documentary. And that's how it sort of all came together. Now, the fun part, and you've mentioned that, you know, there's a lot of hilarity in the thought process of Glenn Tilbrook from Squeeze is coming to America and he's going to travel in an RV. The great part of your documentary is the RV becomes the comic relief.
00:16:32
Speaker
of this film. And I think it speaks well that everybody involved, and there weren't many of you traveling with Glenn, it was like three or four of you, took this and saw
00:16:50
Speaker
some of the humor and character that the RV kind of enveloped everybody's persona. So you have this RV. Now, the funny part, we should backtrack just a little bit. The RV was not available when he landed. Is that right?
00:17:12
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, here I was going, you know, balls to the wall for three weeks getting, you know, club approval to film and sending them, you know, release forms to post. I mean, just everything that, you know, a shoot entails and money. And I mean, it was just.
00:17:30
Speaker
It was an insane process and we were just all sort of thrown into it. I had to hire a cameraman because I knew that I wasn't really technical or technically adept and I joke that my strengths lie elsewhere. And so I just had a friend of a friend recommended and then my investor saw his reel
00:17:54
Speaker
and said, yeah, hire him. And so I hired him and I had no idea, you know, what he was like as a person or if he would get along. And that was my main thing. I remember, like, I just want to be as, you know, hidden as possible. I don't want to hinder Glenn's tour in any way, shape or form. I don't want
00:18:17
Speaker
him and Suzanne's tour to be held up in any way because of me and my camera, you know. And so I was really kind of concerned with that. And then, you know, we get to Buffalo the day before Glenn and Suzanne arrive and we're, you know, we went to the grocery. We, I stocked up on all our groceries and everything. And then we found out that there was no RV. And I just thought,
00:18:44
Speaker
what am I going to film now? Because as Glenn says in the movie, the film that was going to be about Glenn in an RV is now just Glenn touring like normal. And so where is the kind of hook, you know? And so then the, and then I thought, well, maybe the movie can be about getting the RV and then getting it, you know, it's just,
00:19:07
Speaker
But it just goes to show you that, you know, anything can happen and you just have to kind of roll with it. And that's when I told my cameraman from the very beginning, I said, this is guerrilla filmmaking. It's run and gun. And so we're going to have to just go with the flow. And, you know, luckily Glenn and Suzanne have a great sense of humor. And as Glenn said, we're hit by disaster immediately. And but he took it all in stride.
00:19:37
Speaker
Right, and where else is there to go, but sideways, you know? Right. And also, I was just hoping I wanted... Oh, I'm sorry, go ahead. No, no, no, go ahead. I love the storytelling. The whole RV angle is just hysterical.
00:19:57
Speaker
Well, it's just funny because I initially had thought that the whole documentary was going to be this, you know, deep think piece on who is Squeeze and who is Glenn and all this stuff, you know, and it didn't turn out that way at all. I got home and looked at the footage and, you know, like 80 percent of it turned out to be unusable because of the camera person that I hired that was actually bad.
00:20:27
Speaker
But, you know, there's all these hidden, you know, treats behind all of these nightmare things because his camera work was so bad. I thought, well, I could I I can't be any worse, you know. And so then I just went and put a camera on the credit card and then I went ahead and shot the rest of the movie. So, you know, there is kind of a silver lining.
00:20:52
Speaker
in hiring someone who didn't do the job, but then actually it inspired me to do it myself. And so I really believe that even though the film is very low budget and my investor actually stopped investing and
00:21:13
Speaker
my camera person was demanding director credit and you know was taking me aside telling me that I wasn't a very good director and then I was just believing him and you know I'm just not questioning it and I look back on it and just like why didn't I have more confidence in the mansplaining department and I could have stood up for myself but
00:21:33
Speaker
You know, it's these things that you learn as you go. And then especially, you know, 20 years later, hindsight is 100 percent 2020. And, you know, there's a lot of things that I wish I could have done differently. But but at the end of the day, it was a it was a very low, low budget project. And I feel like it was put together with sticks and tape and, you know,
00:22:01
Speaker
And the irony of the whole thing was me chronicling Glenn as an independent artist. And what I didn't realize was that I was making a film about him, but becoming an independent artist myself and coming up against the same sort of challenges that Glenn was finding himself in. So that was kind of an eye opener, too.
00:22:27
Speaker
Yeah, and a lot of these eye-opening moments that you were fortunate enough, like you said, to either capture and not be a part of and let it let Glenn's enthusiasm, his bubbling personality in the face of adversity, especially when it concerned not only the RV challenges you all faced, but
00:22:53
Speaker
you're able to turn it around and show how much love there is out there. And sometimes you don't see it at the moment. You're just like, I've got to capture this moment. And of course, one of the big ones that comes across in the film was the was the gig in Atlanta, which, you know, could possibly happen again.
00:23:16
Speaker
in this time, but back then for you to be able to do it with the equipment and the technology that you had is totally amazing. So I'd love to hear just a little bit of a backstory on the Atlanta gig.
00:23:31
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, that's the thing. That's one of the things I'm most proud of with the movie is that there wasn't anything set up. You know, it wasn't like, oh, Glenn, now you're going to go to a fan's house, you know, go. It wasn't at all like that. We were just shooting the gig.
00:23:49
Speaker
Uh, at the variety playhouse in Atlanta. And then, you know, Glenn had been doing his Pied Piper thing that's, you know, chronicled in the movie. And, and so we just went ahead and followed, you know, I had my cameraman follow and then I was following as well. So, you know, Glenn was leading us. I had no idea where to.
00:24:07
Speaker
And because even though I was following everyone, I wasn't looking at the footage at the exact same time. So it was funny to get the footage home and then to watch it kind of evolve where somebody said, actually, I just lived down the street. So if you want to come over, and Glenn's like, sure. And then once we got to the house,
00:24:30
Speaker
Amy, it was so magical. I'm getting goosebumps even thinking about it. We were so amped because of the vibe. And everybody was so excited. And when I mean everybody, I mean the crowd and Glenn and me. And I actually tried not to be on camera as much as possible, but I had to pull up a chair
00:24:55
Speaker
in the back of the room, in the back of the house, so I could watch it going on. Because I knew that my cameraman was shooting what I wanted him to. So there was nothing else for me to do but to enjoy it. And it was magical. And then when somebody pulled the blinds up and then there were two fans outside the window, I mean, come on. You couldn't have planned that. And it just
00:25:21
Speaker
You know, when I shot about that, well, there was about 180 hours of footage that was shot. So I had to go through every single one of those tapes. And I called the house tape the crack tape, because whenever I would get depressed over having another person, you know, screwing me over or, you know, doing the wrong thing or whatever, because I have had like a nightmare cast of characters that has been part of this movie for some reason.
00:25:49
Speaker
And, you know, people that have only worked on the movie for like two, three weeks and I've been working on it for like a million years. It's been it was hard. But, you know, in those moments, I would get out the crack tape and I would just watch.
00:26:04
Speaker
Glenn playing. And the only thing that I regret about that is we didn't get enough footage of some random fan just said, Hey, I'll play guitar with you. You know, and so he got out of guitar and he was actually good. And so they kind of did a duet. And so we weren't able to feature that much in the film because the footage wasn't as good. But, but yeah, I mean, that was just a magical moment.
00:26:26
Speaker
And the club was wondering where everybody went because it took so long. Usually he just does one song and that's it. But he did, I think two or three songs. But yeah, it's just those moments that make everything worthwhile.
00:26:43
Speaker
Yeah, and it's and it's a large part of it is is due to his enthusiasm, the fact that he's willing to, you know, this is not like the right word to use, but these risks, you know, his whole thing is, is, is as hanging on his personality, which thankfully, you were able to capture in this film, because you, a lot of the reviews tended at the time, and maybe a little bit more recently, when you're looking at it, say, well,
00:27:13
Speaker
Glenn's on the downside. He's on the downswing of his career and oh my, he's got to travel in this horrible RV and he takes pleasure in going to get Christmas lights at Target and you know, what is that all about? But
00:27:29
Speaker
If I stand back and I look at it, that's what makes everybody happy. That's what makes everybody smile. That he can just, at the drop of a hat, find those pure jewels, those little nuggets, like you said, that help keep you going.
00:27:48
Speaker
As the tour was winding down and there's a scene of Glenn hearing about George Harrison's death, he gathers up enough for that last gig to pay tribute to George and to be very tasteful about it. I thought that that was quite nice.
00:28:10
Speaker
Well, I mean, I'm a huge, huge Beatles fan and the Beatles are so important to me and they're embedded in my DNA. And so anything I do is going to involve music. And, you know, I wanted to include the Beatles in some kind of way. And, you know, Glenn was when I interviewed him on the roof of the Soho Grand.
00:28:32
Speaker
you know, he was talking about how he did admire Paul McCartney and helping keep his family together because it's a really, really hard thing. And a lot of people don't understand, you know, we love Squeeze and we love when they tour and when they release an album and, you know, we share information with fellow fans and all of that. But, you know, the reality of the situation is that because we're getting so much, you know,
00:29:00
Speaker
Fun out of their careers. It's their family and loved ones who pay that price and and I'm not saying that you know Friends and loved ones of musicians are living in hell. I don't mean that in any way shape or form
00:29:16
Speaker
But I mean that, you know, there are birthdays that they miss because they're on tour and there's, you know, anniversaries and just communication and just not being there with your pets every day and things like that, you know, so, you know, I'm sure they wouldn't give it up for anything. But I also especially as I get older and I am such a
00:29:37
Speaker
You know, I'm a I'm a time millionaire and I choose very wisely how I spend my time. You know what I mean? And so I do realize that there is a small sacrifice that musicians have to have to pay, you know, and and and Glenn isn't like he said, he's not modeling about it. And, you know, he he wanted to, you know, share something about George Harrison because
00:30:04
Speaker
it had just happened and it impacted us you know we were that day was just such a drag you know and we were in the rv repair shop parking lot you know which made it even worse we're all like
00:30:22
Speaker
Sad and we got the sad news and we're just sitting around waiting for the RV to be repaired to get to the next gig and you know, but um But that's what you know, that's what I love about
00:30:35
Speaker
about Glenn and his music. It's the wonderful elasticity of music. You can listen to some fantastic place and it can be a beautiful story on its own that's inspiring and tears you up and then something happens in your life and your relationship with that song evolves and changes.
00:30:57
Speaker
So after Glenn sang that in tribute to George, I would always think of George when I heard that song. And then when I went through all the deaths in my family, I heard it in a completely different way, you know, but it's all down to, um, you know, Glenn and his, um, his ability to connect with an audience. Cause a lot of, a lot of the people at Largo and that, in that crowd were experiencing, you know, the loss of, of someone that was huge in their lives.
00:31:28
Speaker
Absolutely. And the fact that he made such an impact and the way that the film kind of, I wouldn't say it's a definitive conclusion because the interesting portion of this happens pretty much after. This is kind of, if you would agree to this, it's almost like this film and this time frame was your start point because
00:31:50
Speaker
There's a little epilogue about the RV, but if you want to sort of give us a little bit more past 2001 in the work that you did with Glenn, it's very, very interesting.
00:32:07
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I went on the road with Glenn to shoot the movie and then that was only three weeks. I think we were on the road to two and a half weeks, something like that. And then I had to do some pickup shots and some reshoots, you know, because he didn't have time for interviews or whatever I needed for to finish the movie. But but.
00:32:30
Speaker
I joined Glenn just as a roadie, just as an extra pair of hands for Suzanne when Glenn sprained his ankle. And I can't remember if that was like 2002, 2003, something like that. But that was like infinitely more fun because I didn't have to worry about
00:32:50
Speaker
a camera person's attitude. I didn't have to worry about capturing a certain shot or filming at a gig or whatever. I could just literally just tour with them and be an extra set of hands. And so when I saw Glenn and Suzanne a couple of years ago when they sold out the Orpheum, when Squeeze sold out the Orpheum,
00:33:10
Speaker
Uh, went backstage and we were all just laughing about that tour and, you know, reminiscing about how much fun it was and some of the disasters that happened during the, during the tour. But yeah, so that was so much fun for me because I didn't have the worry about capturing everything on film. I could just be myself and enjoy the trip, you know?
00:33:35
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. Because when you look at the whole big picture of all of this happening, it's not just the film, it's the relationships that you built with both Glenn and Suzanne, his wife. It's the relationships that you have continued to build because we have to think about this again. Now we're talking 2001 for this film.
00:34:00
Speaker
Then it kind of goes off, and again, we have spoken a little bit in the past about some festivals.
Documentary's New Life and Reception
00:34:09
Speaker
It got a DVD release, and then you were able to include some more audio commentary, etc.
00:34:18
Speaker
So now we're into the 21st century, we're into 2021. And the reason that we're actually talking is that here we are, 21, yeah, people are out there like, why are we talking about this film 20 years later? Because it is now streaming on the CODA collection. So you have to be absolutely
00:34:35
Speaker
thrilled that it's gonna it's got its 35th life right I mean it's crazy it was just like okay well let me get the movie out from the back of my closet and let's
00:34:52
Speaker
Get it streaming you know it's kind of a dream and the fact that it came about just as squeeze we're getting ready to do their epic summer three months long tour you know not only opening up for hollow notes but doing their own headlining tour at the same time.
00:35:08
Speaker
I just thought the timing was beautiful because nothing like a 70-minute advertisement on why you should let Glenn and Squeeze's music to help promote going to see them live. It was as big of a surprise to me as it was to anybody else.
00:35:27
Speaker
Um, you know, I've, I've kind of kept the movie alive all these years with a Facebook page and just, you know, constantly promoting it. I mean, I still, you know, over the last 20 years, I would still get emails from people, you know, saying, Oh, Hey, I want to do an interview with Glenn. How do I get in contact with him? And, you know, or whatever, you know, and so I'm constantly answering those emails and saying, well, you should check out this album and you should, you know, so the fact that, uh, kind of.
00:35:56
Speaker
all that work in a way has paid off to have it streaming. I mean, looking back on it, and that's another crazy thing is just looking back on all the work that I did by myself for 20 years ago. After I made the movie, I printed out flyers for the movie, and then I showed up at any kind of LA gig that had an audience similar to Glenn's. So every Pretenders gig, Neil Finn, Crowded House, Elvis Costello,
00:36:26
Speaker
uh, you know, any kind of eighties bands, I would show up wherever they were playing in Los Angeles and just pass out flyers to everybody for the first two hours when doors were open. I did that for every gig for like two years, you know, and it's just, it's just crazy to me.
00:36:43
Speaker
Revisiting it all has been it's a bit like being hugged and slapped at the same time you know it's like I'm ecstatic and I'm so thrilled that the movie has a chance to be seen by so many people now and that it can continue to promote Glenn and his music.
00:36:59
Speaker
Um, but it's just kind of, uh, overwhelming as well. And, but great to know that I don't have to work as hard as I did 20 years ago. I can just literally send it to Coda Collection and say, okay, you do the rest now. Bye. I'm going to nap.
00:37:22
Speaker
Yeah, it's I've been hanging on like a loose tooth here and it's it was a struggle bus, but You know, but even when I saw Glenn at the Orpheum, you know, he said to me I think that the version of voodoo child in your film is the definitive version of that song that I've done and I
00:37:43
Speaker
started crying, like a cool person backstage. I was like, oh, that's really cool of you to say. But I'm so proud of that.
00:37:59
Speaker
Yeah, because actually some people may or may not think that that's in his canon, but he can rip out something so heavy metal-ish, if I may use that term, and surprise a lot of people. And he actually tries to do a lot of this work on an acoustic. So that's another kind of blowaway feature when you see this film that he's doing all of this work
00:38:28
Speaker
How many guitars did you bring on that on the tour that you were with him in 2001? Was it like like two? Yeah, two. I mean, that's the tagline of the movie. You know, it's the tale of, you know, one man, two guitars and an RV. You know, it's just two of his, I think, tailors. I think they were tailors. I'm not a guitar person. You know, I mean, I was even trying to help out, you know, in case he broke a string or something and he was trying to teach me how to put a string on a guitar. And I was just like,
00:38:57
Speaker
Ooh, don't think I'm going to be able to do this. I'm not a musician. You know, right? Yeah, it's just that you go ahead. Yeah.
00:39:12
Speaker
Well, no, I just I wanted to showcase his unbelievable shredding skills, you know, because I knew that it would take people aback because you don't think of, you know, Glenn as, you know, great rock and roll guitarist. But oh, man, he is one of the best. And I've seen a lot, you know, and
00:39:30
Speaker
Um, just the fact that, uh, he could do something like voodoo child, which is so kind of contrary to squeezes music in a lot of ways, um, is just amazing. I mean, he's a, he's a genius.
00:39:47
Speaker
Yes. Yes, he is. And I'm glad you're actually putting that out there for public consumption, especially because I know that we could probably talk for about an hour, even though I acknowledge also that I'm not a guitar geek, but to be able to acknowledge things like this, these moments that, again, you were able to capture on on him being a guitarist.
00:40:12
Speaker
is a good thing. So I'm really, really happy that he gave you that feedback. It's so good to hear. And the one thing that I did want to talk about, although it's a weird segue, was what is going on with you now? We've had this fantastic discussion, some fantastic place discussion about Glenn and music. And I know that's been your absolute passion. And so I'm sure that
Pickard's New Venture and Reflections
00:40:40
Speaker
in all of this 20 years of this film you've actually had another you've actually had another life haven't you Amy please tell me yes somewhat yes yeah I mean talk about 180 flips I mean you know here I am living my life as a freelance broadcaster producer director and then suddenly my mom died in 2012
00:41:05
Speaker
And, uh, it just was a huge spiritual tectonic shift, you know, and it was such a nightmare with all the death duties. Uh, you know, I didn't realize that when somebody dies that, you know, there's a person that has to kind of clean up their paper presence and to kind of close out their accounts and things like that. So there's a lot of logistics.
00:41:28
Speaker
that need to be taken care of. And it was such a nightmare when you're in the wilderness of grief to tackle that. I just thought, well, I've got to prevent other people from going through this. And it was kind of the same vibe of I need people to love Glenn's music and squeeze as much as I do. And so now I'm like,
00:41:47
Speaker
using that same energy of I need everybody to get their advanced planning, you know, together and in order because it's going to make their lives so much easier. And it's hard to create a business around the piece that people don't know they're going to need later down the line. But
00:42:08
Speaker
I just decided to create my company. It's called good to go. And I hold people's hand. Uh, I'm an advanced planning facilitator. I made a, I wrote a 50 page booklet of all of the everyday stuff that you have to deal with after somebody dies and stuff that you're not going to put in a will, you know, like your email passwords and stuff like that. And obviously planning to a T what your life celebration or funeral would want. If you want to be buried or cremated or whatever, because
00:42:38
Speaker
You know, I didn't, my mom didn't leave anything in writing. And so, um, I took this booklet and I added spiritual stuff in it. Like, what do you think happens when we die? And the words of comfort I would give you while you're grieving my death and, you know, kind of more spiritual things like that. And I combined it to make a departure file. And in my business, good to go. We go through the departure file in a party like atmosphere. I have a rock and roll death theme soundtrack on in the background, like,
00:43:07
Speaker
some fantastic place and from the cradle to the grave and other songs too um you know Stairway to Heaven and Another One Bites the Dust and then Everyone Brings a Potluck Dish and then we go through the departure file and it literally is along the same vibe of you know Glenn's
00:43:27
Speaker
Connection with his audience. I feel that I make a connection with people by sharing the story that I went through and then just helping them get organized. And it's taken off. You know, there is an article about good to go in Oprah's magazine and I wrote an article for real simple magazine and so.
00:43:49
Speaker
And that's my goal is to get everybody good to go. And it's a funny story when Glenn and Chris played LA for the songbook tour. I had just created good to go and I was so excited to tell Glenn about it. And so I went on the bus afterwards.
00:44:07
Speaker
showed him the departure file. And he was so sweet about it. And he was just like, wow, this is incredible. And nobody's doing this. And this is crazy how you came up with this. And this is such a good idea. And people need this. And then I was joking with him. I said, wow, in the 70s, you'd probably have chicks on the bus giving you their hotel keys. And now you're getting chicks on the bus giving you death paperwork.
00:44:42
Speaker
highly apropos in these circumstances, as you're saying. So as I was sort of thinking about this talk and finding all the good points in this film, the fact that it has survived this long for it to be able to come back for all those sort of new fans who don't know a lot about Glenn as a person
00:45:02
Speaker
From the cradle to the grave, indeed, Glenn. Oh, how times change.
00:45:11
Speaker
I would say that this gives a fairly good representation of how he interacts, you know, as a singer, as a guitarist. So that's one of the great things I hope that when people watch this film, they take it away and that they'll never lose that feeling. And so that's why I really appreciate the fact that, gosh, darn it, you've kept on
00:45:38
Speaker
You know, hanging on like a loose tooth, but we can, we can, uh, still, you know, for me, music extends beyond the range of audible frequencies, especially squeezes music, you know, and to be able to experience their new, I was able to see them on tour, you know, last month, whenever it was, I saw two gigs in Ohio, one headlining and one, uh, opening for hollow notes. Then I saw them at the Hollywood bowl, which was a dream.
00:46:06
Speaker
Cause every time I'd go see a gig at the Hollywood bowl, all I could think of is like, I want to hear Glenn's voice wafting in the air on a beautiful Hollywood night through the bowl sound system, you know? And so it was just such a beautiful, beautiful thing. And, uh, you know, just, I'm so honored to even be a part of.
00:46:28
Speaker
any kind of Squeeze or Glenn history. I mean the fact that I was thanked in a Squeeze's Greatest Hits CD collection, I was like, I was just like sitting on a rainbow for like six months.
00:46:45
Speaker
I was just like, if you would have told Amy in Dayton, Ohio as a teenager that Squeeze would be thanking her in one of their CDs. I mean, come on. It's just so many things are a dream that came from this.
00:46:59
Speaker
And let me just share one really quick story with you. I was backstage at a Beck show and here in LA, and I was just talking to a randomly to some guy. We were, you know, foraging for the last Coke and the ice bucket in the green room. And he was just making small talk with me, this guy. And he was just like, Oh, how'd you like the show? It was great. And I said, I love that. You know, Beck has so many influences. And I said, you know, he loves like 80s kind of Elvis Costello squeezy, but then he also loves this, this and this. And then the guy goes, Oh,
00:47:29
Speaker
squeeze oh man I love squeeze I just saw this documentary on the lead singer it's so good you'll have to check it out oh my and I was just like oh my
00:47:43
Speaker
Yeah, I'll have to check that out, you know, and then I was working at a radio station in 2010 and I or the radio station interviewed Jacob Dillon and I gave him a goodie bag of stuff because I'm a big fan of his music. And then I put in a DVD of Glenn Tilbrook One for the Road. And then I went to see him a week later when he played L.A. And I didn't even think he was going to remember me, you know, because musicians, they do a million interviews, they meet everybody, fans, all that.
00:48:11
Speaker
And I'm backstage at Jacob Dillon, you know, and I'm with my friend and I said, oh, I don't know if he's going to remember me or whatever. And then all of a sudden I hear Amy and I see Jacob Dillon coming towards me in slow motion with his crazy blue eyes, just, you know, gazing. And I said, oh, hey. And he goes, hey, I saw your movie. Oh, my God. Glenn is a hero. Glenn's a hero.
00:48:39
Speaker
And I was like, yeah, right. I said, did you see Buddha child? How amazing was that? And then he were talking about that. And then he was just like, oh man, he's so great. So those little moments are what kind of kept me fed through all the years, but I just wanted to share.
00:48:57
Speaker
No, absolutely. You had to share that because it's so worth it. It brings it all back down to the fact that you have done an amazing, influential piece of work that absolutely needs to be seen in context, not only for the times that it was made in, but for just the reasons that you've explained, that it needs to be talked about. It needs to be watched. We need to feel good.
00:49:27
Speaker
With all of this being said, Amy, I thank you so much for being on this podcast. And I'm sure sometime in the near future on a cloud somewhere, we will be connecting again.
00:49:45
Speaker
Oh, I mean, we haven't even talked about like favorite songs, favorite albums, favorite gigs, you know, all that good stuff, which I could definitely do for a million years. But I just, I want to thank you for, uh, you know, just on behalf of squeeze fans for doing this podcast and I'm definitely going to be listening. And, uh, and I just want people to know as well, like the movie is all about how does one define success?
00:50:11
Speaker
you know and some people think that selling out Madison Square Garden and you know having hit records and stuff is success and don't get me wrong it's amazing but you know it doesn't have to be the glitz the glam or whatever that is
00:50:27
Speaker
you know, the final quote, success. Being a success is doing what you love and loving what you do. And I encourage everybody or anybody listening if they have an idea to do something creative to just do it. You don't have to know the how you just have to do it, you know, and don't take no for an answer. Don't ask, don't get and stick with it. It's it's not
00:50:57
Speaker
You know, it's not a lie to say that your, your dreams can come true. You just have to work really, really hard to, uh, to get there. And I just, uh, I just wish everybody, um, so much love and I hope that everybody can, uh, get their advanced planning together while they are young and healthy. And, um, thank you so, so much for spreading the love. You're feeling the love and spreading it accordingly, Amy. Thank you so much.
00:51:26
Speaker
And of course, thank you, Amy, because we'll just end with thank you, Amy, and thank you, Amy, and thank you, Amy. And scene.