Hi, and welcome to the latest newsletter where Squire steps out of the box—fresh lineup, new guitars, new gigs, same unmistakable silhouette!
We're still buzzing from the Miranda de Ebro Sixties Festival weekend, which was special for many reasons: it was the first gig of the year, the debut performance of the new lineup with James back on bass, and introducing Thomas on drums, it was our first visit to Spain for a decade since our last concert in Madrid - also with James on bass! And it was also the first time out for the green Rickenbacker!!
We opened the set with a blasting "Get Ready To Go!" Aptly, the first Squire single, and first single of the mod revival, and as the set opener, it underscored our intention to make this an exciting era for the band.
Speaking of evolution while honouring our roots - This classic AI-generated image captures the spirit of this evolution, connecting our past to the present, while highlighting the energy that's been rekindled with our lineup change. Same spirit, fresh energy!
Its fascinating how iconic the image is when presented in such a candid way! This classic silhouette of Squire during the mod revival era is instantly recognisable: boating blazer, Levi 501s, loafer shoes, that iconic blue Rickenbacker 12-string guitar.
What's reassuring is how aspects of our image has evolved while still maintaining our core identity. Today's Squire still features the trademark Rickenbacker guitar, and style silhouette, the blazer now replaced by a more understated classic mod look.
FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS
The festival gave us a fantastic opportunity to rekindle old friendships with our Spanish fans. We played for over an hour, blasting through a set that mixed the early mod revival classics from the Bridge House days, such as "Live Without Her Love," through to classic power pop numbers like "Girl On A Train," rising to a blistering "Debbie Jones," and finishing with pop-soul from "Stop That Girl" to "B-A-B-Y Baby Love," ending, of course, on "Kings Road!" We encored with "It's A Mod Mod World" for good measure!
You can catch a couple of clips on YouTube: "Kings Road" and "No Time Tomorrow."
GUITAR SPOTLIGHT: THE TURQUOISE RICKENBACKER
It was also an opportunity to debut a new Squire guitar - the turquoise Rickenbacker 6-string 360 from 1999. It's a very special guitar because it's a limited edition colour that Rickenbacker produced from the mid-nineties to the early two-thousands.
This very 'powerpop' colour suggests a certain understated vibrancy with its slightly metallic flake, and looks absolutely stunning under spotlights! The shape is very similar to the black 12-string, and original blue 12-string (there's a very subtle difference in the green Rickenbacker headstock), and it sounded magnificent through the Fender Twin used for rehearsal and the Fender Hotrod Deluxe amp that was provided for the gig. No effects pedals used, or needed - as usual!
THE GREEN JAGUAR: A PIECE OF HISTORY
Beside it in the rehearsal shots, you can see a green Fender Jaguar. This guitar has been in the Squire collection for decades, first seen with James during the "Passengers On Trains" sessions era, when he first picked up guitar!
The guitar has a fascinating history: it's a 1965 Fender Jaguar, imported into the UK, but instead of the limited stock colours of sunburst or white that the importer Selmer chose, it is metallic glitter green. This colour is a special custom colour that was sprayed on top of the original finish when it was new. It was quite common practice for the UK distributor to spray some guitars to order, usually over the sunburst to change it to the more expensive and in-demand fiesta red. So this glitter colour is very rare, and we wonder what 1960s band it was used by? The colour and era suggests an early mod or psychedelic band!
We do know who had it in the 1980s - it used to belong to Paul Bevoir from the Jetset, who used it for their recordings before passing it on to Anthony! After being used on the "Passengers On Trains" era recordings, it was handed to James to learn on, and you can see it being used in the 2017 Wendy James video "Indignant Blues" on-line, when he was in her band!
We were originally going to use it again for the Spain date, but at the last minute chose the Rickenbacker instead because of its familiar sound. However, they look fantastic together as a pair - both green guitars, which is quite rare in itself!
COMING UP: LONDON MODS MAYDAY
Our next concert is at the London Mods Mayday on the 4th of May at 229 club in Portland Place, again with the new lineup of James and Thomas.
We're on at 8 o'clock, and I'll be back to playing the Black 12-string Rickenbacker for this concert. But maybe with some surprises in the set list. Hope to see you there!
BEHIND THE SCENES
Here's a rare 'behind the scenes' clip of us rehearsing before the Spain gig, playing through "Live Without Her Love”. The clip perfectly captures the band's renewed energy, the drumming style perfectly copies Kevins original dynamics, and the spirit within the band has bought a new excitement! Of course, Thomas is no stranger to Squire, having played with James in Sugarplum, and next time, we’ll share some fascinating rare video of that era!