Pseudo Echo
Pseudo Echo have always loved an adventure.
Taking their name from a synthesizer manual, Pseudo Echo were pioneers of electronic music in Australia during the ’80s, introducing audiences to a new sound in an era of pub rock., revolutionizing the music landscape with their avante-garde style. The band released a string of unforgettable electro-pop hits, including ‘Listening’, ‘A Beat For You’, ‘Love An Adventure’, ‘Don’t Go’, ‘Living In A Dream’ and the international #1 smash hit ‘Funky Town’.
The band exploded onto the charts, after their history-making performance on Countdown, becoming the first unsigned band to appear on the show. Soon after Pseudo Echo signed a major record deal with EMI, receiving fifteen Gold/Platinum album/singles, multiple awards including Australia’s Most Popular Band, Most Popular Male Performer (Brian Canham), twelve ARIA nominations including Best Producer (Brian Canham), and Grand Prize at the Tokyo World Popular Song Festival. The band have embarked on several world tours, appearing on television shows along the way including Top of the Pops, The Dick Clarke Show , The Joan Rivers Show, and MTV Live At The Ritz, to name a few.
Fast forward to 2024, Pseudo Echo celebrate the 40th anniversary of Listening with a fresh new Remix from the forthcoming MACHINE album.
It’s been an exciting and ever-evolving journey.
“It’s an endless road,” Brian Canham noted in ‘The Desert’ on Pseudo Echo’s 2014 album, Ultraviolet. “We just ride it for a while.”
The Pseudo Echo story started in 1982. The band’s first ‘flyers’ stated: “Pseudo Echo, Modern Electronic Music”. The band’s name came from Page 59 of the instructional manual for the ARP Odyssey duophonic synthesizer (“Pseudo Echo Machine”).
The band’s first TV appearance was the history-making performance on Countdown on June 26, 1983. Pseudo Echo were the first unrecorded band to appear on the show, with Molly Meldrum announcing “We’re about to present a group, a local group, who have got no record contract, we saw them at a gig. I think they have loads of potential, so all you record companies out there, have a look at them, and the public, you judge for yourselves. We think they’re pretty good. A young group, they go under the name of Pseudo Echo. Here they are with ‘Listening’. Go boys!”
Soon after, Pseudo Echo signed a major recording contract with EMI, and by the end of the year, ‘Listening’ had soared into the Australian Charts, peaking at No. 2.
A string of hits ensued – eight Top 40 singles in total – including the global smash, ‘Funky Town’, which topped the charts at No.1 in Australia, Canada and New Zealand, and the US Billboard “Dance Charts” as well as hitting ‘Top 10’ in the US, UK and Sweden’s “Pop Charts”.
Pseudo Echo’s second album, Love An Adventure, spent more than six months on the Billboard charts, with Brian Canham’s ‘Take On The World’ winning the World Popular Song Festival in Japan. The same year the band knocked back an international tour with Madonna.
By the end of the 80’s Pseudo Echo disbanded, deciding it was time for a change, with Brian Canham moving away from the spotlight, and into a successful career in music production.
The fans, however, never forgot Pseudo Echo, evident in the band’s triumphant live return at the end of the ’90s. Pseudo Echo was now officially Brian Canham with a floating live touring line-up, with all studio releases here-on being produced, performed and composed by multi-instrumentalist Canham.
After reconnecting with the band’s passionate fan base, Brian Canham decided it was time for new Pseudo Echo music. The acclaimed album Ultraviolet – the band’s first in 14 years – was released in 2014. “This album is out to impress,” the Sydney Morning Herald stated in its four-and-a-half-star review. “And to that end, it meets it’s goal.”
While observing “retro” reissue cars and motorcycles – Volkswagen’s Beetle, BMW’s MINI Cooper and Harley-Davidson’s Heritage Softail – Brian had a revelation. “I realised that all these manufacturers were looking at their heritage, working out what made their products great in the first place.”
Brian concluded: “We have a sound, we have a heritage … I need to re-explore and reinvent that.”
Brian rediscovered Pseudo Echo’s heritage. But this is not a band stuck in the past. Pseudo Echo remain ever-evolving and futuristic. This year’s model is the classic – with all the modern extras.
Pseudo Echo’s 2020 album, After Party, is the band’s most musically adventurous outing yet. A sophisticated soundscape, it’s been described as “a musical journey into the unexpected”.
“This album for me is such a personal journey,” Brian says. “It’s the most connected I’ve felt with music in my life.”
As an artist, Brian Canham has never been shackled by record company constraints or people’s expectations. As he sings in ‘Wedge-Tail’, a song on After Party:
“Be whatever you want to be.”
After Party – the band’s eighth studio album – is a deeply immersive experience. Nearly four decades after they formed, Pseudo Echo’s music continues to influence and inspire.
The adventure continues …
DESTINATION UNKNOWN … THE PSEUDO ECHO TIMELINE
1970s: Brian Canham meets Pierre Gigliotti at Greenwood High (now Bundoora Secondary College). They start a band called Ozrolite.
1978: Ozrolite are featured in the local newspaper. The headline is “On The Road To Success”. Ozrolite change their name to The Lites, then Secret Agents.
1982: Pseudo Echo forms in Melbourne. The line-up is Brian Canham (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Pierre Pierre (real name Pierre Gigliotti, bass synth, backing vocals) and Tony Lugton (ex-James Freud and the Radio Stars, keyboards). They take the band’s name from a keyboard manual for the ARP Odyssey.
1983: Pseudo Echo support Siouxsie and the Banshees at the Astor Theatre in St Kilda (February 21).
Drummer Anthony Argiro joins the band.
Pseudo Echo become the first unrecorded band to appear on Countdown (June 26).
Pseudo Echo sign to EMI.
The band’s debut single, ‘Listening’, produced by Peter Dawkins, enters the charts (December). It will peak at number two.
Brian Canham quits his job as a cabinet maker.
1984: The band’s second single, ‘A Beat For You’, enters the charts (May). It will peak at number 11.
Pseudo Echo’s debut album, Autumnal Park, produced by John Punter, hits the Top 10 (June).
Tony Lugton leaves the band, replaced by James Leigh (October).
A third Autumnal Park single, ‘Stranger In Me’, is released (November).
1985: Brian Canham and James Leigh write the charity song ‘Can We Get Together’, which is performed with an Australian supergroup and Midge Ure at the East African Tragedy Appeal Concert at Melbourne’s Myer Music Bowl (January 28).
A fourth and final Autumnal Park single, ‘Dancing Until Midnight’, is released (February).
Autumnal Park’s ‘His Eyes’ is featured in Friday The 13th: A New Beginning.
Pseudo Echo release their second album, Love An Adventure, produced by Mark S. Berry and Brian Canham (November). It’s the band’s second Top 10 album, going platinum and peaking at number eight.
Love An Adventure’s first single, ‘Don’t Go’, peaks at number four (October). And the film clip, directed by Paul Goldman and Brian Canham, introduces the keytar, which becomes synonymous with the band.
James Leigh’s brother, Vince, replaces drummer Anthony Argiro.
Brian Canham makes a guest appearance with Australian supergroup ‘The Incredible Penguins’. Their charity single, a cover of ‘Happy Xmas (War Is Over)’, produced by Ian “Molly” Meldrum, hits the Top 10 (December).
1986: The title-track of Love An Adventure peaks at number five (February).
Pseudo Echo perform the third Love An Adventure single, ‘Living In A Dream’, live at the Countdown Awards (April)
‘Living In A Dream’ peaks at number 15 (May), EMI grossly under-estimate the band’s popularity with the amount of singles manufactured, resulting in all vinyl stock selling out within the first week.
A fourth Love An Adventure single, ‘Try’, is released (August). Brian Canham performs live from New York’s Statue of Liberty, broadcast simultaneously with the band performing live in Melbourne’s Countdown studios.
Pseudo Echo release their cover of Lipps Inc’s ‘Funky Town’ (October). Produced by Brian Canham, it hits number one in Australia, knocking off John Farnham’s ‘You’re The Voice’. It will spend seven weeks at number one, and a further 4 weeks at the top until charts resume over the Christmas period.
1987: ‘Funky Town’ tops the charts in New Zealand (March), spending six weeks at number one and becoming the year’s biggest single.
Pseudo Echo’s Love An Adventure (featuring ‘Funky Town’ and remixed versions of ‘Listening’, ‘A Beat For You’ and ‘Destination Unknown’) enters the US album charts (March). It will spend 27 weeks in the Top 200, peaking at 54.
At the first ARIA Awards (March), Pseudo Echo are nominated for four awards – Best Group, Highest Selling Single, Best Cover Art, and Brian Canham is nominated for Producer of the Year.
EMI release the compilation album Long Plays 83-87 (March).
The Long Plays compilation is released in New Zealand as Funky Town – The Album. It knocks off U2’s The Joshua Tree to top the NZ charts (April). The album spends three weeks at number one.
Pseudo Echo appear on The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers (April), as well as numerous other shows around the world.
‘Funky Town’ enters the US charts (June). It spends 10 weeks in the Top 40 and peaks at number six. It also hits No.1 on the Billboard dance chart.
‘Funky Town’ is featured in the movie Revenge Of The Nerds II: Nerds In Paradise (July).
The band perform ‘Living in a Dream’ on US TV Series “One Life to Live”.
Pseudo Echo win Best Band at the final Countdown Awards (the award is presented by Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan), and Brian Canham beats Michael Hutchence to take the trophy for Most Popular Male Performer (July).
‘Funky Town’ enters the UK charts (July). It peaks at number eight.
‘Listening’, ‘Living In A Dream’ and ‘Funky Town’ are featured in the surf movie North Shore, starring Nia Peeples (August).
‘Funky Town’ hits number one in Canada (August).
Pseudo Echo’s second American single, ‘Living In A Dream’, peaks at 57.
Pseudo Echo win the Yamaha World Popular Song Festival in Japan with the song ‘Take On The World’ (October).
1988: Pseudo Echo record their third album Race, produced by Brian Canham and Julian Mendelsohn.
‘Fooled Again’, the first single from Pseudo Echo’s third album, is released (October). It peaks at number 33.
1989: A second single, ‘Over Tomorrow’, is released from the band’s third album (February), peaking at number 40.
Pseudo Echo’s third album, Race, is released (March). It peaks at 32 on the ARIA charts.
A third and final Race single, ‘Eye Of The Storm’, is released (July).
1990: Brian Canham produces and records demos for a proposed fourth Pseudo Echo album … all tapes are mysteriously lost, and the album is scrapped. Note: The original demos have recently been rediscovered (in 2020), with plans for imminent release.
1994: Brian Canham produces Chocolate Starfish’s self-titled debut album, which enters the Australian charts at number two, kept out of top spot by Pink Floyd (May). The album goes on to sell more than 100,000 copies, to become the year’s biggest local debut.
1995: A Pseudo Echo compilation, Best Adventures, is released (October).
Brian Canham produces Chocolate Starfish’s second album, Box. It peaks at number six (October).
1997: Brian Canham forms a new band Brill, releasing a self-titled album (August).
Brian Canham relaunches Pseudo Echo with a new “touring” line-up on NYE.
1999: Pseudo Echo release an EP, Funkytown Y2K: RMX, featuring six new remixes of ‘Funky Town’.
2000: Pseudo Echo tour Australia with Culture Club and The Village People (February).
Pseudo Echo officially becomes Brian Canham (with a rotating live “touring” line-up) – releasing their fourth album, Teleporter (August). A double album, it features four new songs, five remixes and a live album, recorded at St Kilda’s Esplanade Hotel.
2002: Brian Canham forms trance/dance/ambient outfit Origene, signing to Ministry of Sound / Tommy Boy in the US. Their debut single is ‘Suddenly Silently’.
Origene support Kylie Minogue on her “Kylie Fever” Australian tour (August).
2004: Origene’s ‘Sanctuary’ peaks at number two on Billboard’s Hot Dance Club chart (May).
2005: Origene’s ‘Design’ peaks at number 18 on Billboard’s Hot Dance Club chart.
Pseudo Echo release the album The 301 Demo Sessions (August), gathering songs recorded during the Autumnal Park sessions. It includes a home demo of ‘Listening’.
2008: EMI release The Essential compilation (December).
2011: Pseudo Echo do a New Year’s Eve concert in Sydney with Culture Club, Pet Shop Boys and Jamiroquai.
2012: Pseudo Echo release their first single in 23 years, ‘Suddenly Silently’ (July).
Brian Canham composes the music for the Australian movie Charlie Bonnet.
2014: Pseudo Echo release their sixth studio album, Ultraviolet (April). The Sydney Morning Herald gives the album four-and-a-half stars: “This album is out to impress. And to that end, it meets its goal. As an at-times forward thinking, at others reflective piece from a band that has lived through massive popularity and come out the other side, this album provides a lot to enjoy. And dance to.”
2015: Pseudo Echo record their sold-out show at Hollywood’s Viper Room (January). The Live at the Viper Room album is released in June.
2017: Pseudo Echo release a cover of ‘Nutbush City Limits’ (December).
2020: Pseudo Echo tour Australia with A-ha and Rick Astley (February & March).
Pseudo Echo release their seventh studio album, a lush acoustic/synth collection called Acoustica (May).
Pseudo Echo release their eighth studio album “After Party”, a sophisticated chill out album (September).
2021: Pseudo Echo surprise fans on social media, announcing the release of
“1990 – The Lost Album Demos”, a collection of songs demoed for the band’s fourth album back in 1990, which had been considered lost for the past thirty years… slated for release June 10.
2024: Pseudo Echo Re-invention begins
2025: Love An Adventure Anniversary Tour