Life moves pretty quick. Ferris Bueller might have said it, but we all know it. I’m wondering if it’s on Brian Canham’s mind today as we discuss the upcoming national tour for his band, Pseudo Echo.
It’s forty years since the group released their second album Love An Adventure. And that’s what the upcoming dates will focus on. Pseudo Echo will play their other hits of course, but it’s their 1985 album from which the tour takes its name.
Starting life in Melbourne, Pseudo Echo broke into the national pop psyche after an appearance on ABC TV’s Countdown. What made that appearance unique was that Pseudo Echo didn’t have a record deal at the time. They were just another band in a long line of Melbourne hopefuls before Molly Meldrum popped his head into one of their gigs.
Psuedo Echo today. IMAGE: Sean Paris
‘That was pretty serendipitous,’ admits Canham now. ‘As an 18-year-old, I’d seen Molly regularly DJ at clubs and he kind of knew my face. He knew me as this quiet kid who sat on the sidelines, didn’t drink much, didn’t say much and just listened. Move forward two or three years and it turns out we’ve got a mutual friend. She said, “I’ve got to give him a demo of you guys, because I think he’ll really like it.” So she handed him a demo.’
The Countdown moment
‘Things moved slowly: no email, no mobile phone. Carrier pigeons were probably quicker. So we didn’t hold our breath. Turns out, he’d heard our demo and turned up to one of our gigs randomly. Luckily, it was a great gig. It was our first headline show and we just saw the cowboy hat in the crowd and went “Wow, Molly’s here. How cool.” He made his way backstage and had a chat to us. Within a couple of days, he called our manager and said, “Look, I want to put the boys on Countdown.” That was the most amazing and surreal news. I used to watch Countdown like everybody else every weekend. Molly really went out on a limb and introduced us to the bloody world. He couldn’t have propelled us quicker into stardom if he tried.’
While pub rock ruled Australian venues in the early 1980s, Canham and co took their more adventurous musical cues from MEO 245, Mi-Sex, Icehouse and early INXS. International bands also had a profound effect on Pseudo Echo.
New wave influences
‘Overseas artists were a different kettle of fish,’ says Canham. ‘They were way ahead of us: bands like Ultravox, Simple Minds, Human League. Later influences for me were early Duran Duran and Spandau Ballet.’
After the success of their first LP: Autumnal Park, Love An Adventure was released a year later in 1985. The album spawned the singles ‘Don’t Go’, ‘Living In A Dream’ and the title track. It was re-issued a year later to include their monster hit, ‘Funky Town’. To mark the anniversary, the band will play the album in its entirety.
‘That’s right,’ says Canham. ‘It’s funny, because there’s songs on the record that we have never played or haven’t played them since 1985. That’s going to be fun.
IMAGE: Matt Young
‘The album will also be available on CD, on streaming and there’s a limited edition translucent blue vinyl copy being released too.
‘We’ve also re-mixed the title track, which is probably the most re-recorded and remixed song of Pseudo Echo’s career. It’s called ‘Love An Adventure (Machine Remix)’. It’s got slightly more guitar, it’s a little bit heavier but very synth-wave as well.
‘We’ll be releasing more machine mixes for other tracks. From there, I would like to do a new album of entirely new material with a sound that’s a natural progression from where we left off.’
Queensland dates in the 2025 Love An Adventure national tour are:
Fri 7 Feb – Miami Marketta, Gold Coast
Sat 8 Feb – Princess Theatre, Brisbane
