Q&A Scene: Brian Canham

PSEUDO ECHO

November 17, 2015 Mary Boukouvalas

Q & A: Brian Canham / Pseudo Echo

Tell us about your new single/ album/ tour?
Well i guess we hadn’t done a new album in something like 13 years, so “new” would probably qualify “Ultraviolet” which was recorded a couple of years ago, and more recently “Live at the Viper Room” which we recorded earlier this year at the infamous Viper Room in L.A.
Both albums were successfully crowd funded through “Pledge music”. The first being a brand new studio album (though some of the songs were written as long as ten years ago), and which we feel recaptures the original essence of Pseudo Echo’s early (80’s) sound.
The latter (Live at the Viper Room), is a current example of the band’s live sound today, and features a bunch of our early hits as well as a few surprises.

How would you describe your sound in food form and why?
umm…err..ok… well I’ve never been asked that before… perhaps a laxative… it goes right through you..

Which song resonates most strongly and why?
“Fighting the Tide” (from our Ultraviolet album), because we all love playing it so much, and it has lots of “woh – woes” the crowd can sing along to.

Have you been touring much? Any on the road anecdotes?
yeah, like most of my life… really… like at least over thirty years… I have many stories… i am writing book currently, so best to read that when it is released lol…

Where do you draw inspiration from?
my inspiration for song writing comes from many things…mainly things that happen, have happened or are going to happen in life…or death.

What’s next for you?
A book, an album of music I scored for an independent film, a coffee table book of my (and my wife’s) photography, a solo album of cinematic style music or something like that..

What’s your scene?
hmmm, not sure about that.. I live in a treehouse style house in the forest… i don’t watch TV or listen to the radio (except for classic radio stations). I don’t really listen to pop music.. more eclectic bachelor pad style kitsch and film scores from the greats like Bernard Herrmann, Elmer Bernstien, Philp Glass, Thomas Newman etc. I ride a classic Harley Davidson, but also have a “Smart” roadster sports car, and a big french (Peugeot) coupe as well..i love bike and cars.. i love markets, travel…etc.. I have a long beard in tribute to my late father, which also makes up for the lack of hair on my head.. i think I am a lot of styles all at once really…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnejLmQGYhg

 

Pseudo Echo play The BUREAU: Sidney Myer Music Bowl’s First All In, End-of-Year Break-up on 11th December 2015.

For more information, visit The Bureau ~Melbourne’s newest boutique festival, fusing the city’s much-celebrated music and food cultures.

Pseudo Echo
Formed in 1982 by school friends Brian Canham (vocals, guitars, and keyboards) and Pierre Gigliotti (bass-synth) the band completed its line-up with Anthony Argiro (drums) and Tony Lugton (keyboards).
Their first album Autumnal Park was an electronic / new romantic influenced album that yielded the Australian singles “Listening”, “Stranger in Me”, “Dancing Till Midnight”, and “A Beat for You”. Their climb to success in the summer of 1984 was rapid, and they quickly became e the second biggest band in Australia after INXS. “His Eyes”, a track from their first album, received exposure overseas as it was used in the movie Friday the 13th: A New Beginning.
There was a line-up change before their second album with Tony Lugton being replaced by James
Leigh, and another line-up change after the album was completed with Argiro being replaced by
James’s brother Vince.
Their second album, Love an Adventure (1986), was also a success with several singles from that
album topping the Australian charts including the title track, “Don’t Go”, “Try”, and “Living in a
Dream”. The album was re-released the following year to include their remake of the Lipps, Inc. song “Funkytown”, which brought the group their biggest international success, reaching #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US and #8 in the UK Singles Chart in July 1987,[3] as well as spending 12
weeks at #1 in Australia from December 1986.
The overseas release of Love an Adventure featured a somewhat different track listing which
included re-mixed versions of 3 singles from Autumnal Park: “Listening”, “A Beat for You”, and
“Destination Unknown”. These were remixed to sound more rock-oriented, to better-match the
other tracks on the album. Brian Canham even re-recorded the vocals for a slicker sound to
compliment these rock remixes. Once again, the overseas version of Love an Adventure was re-
released to include the re-make of “Funkytown”, replacing “Don’t Go” in the original track list.
In 1987, the band re-released “Listening” for the movie North Shore starring Nina Peeples. Their
third album, Race (1989), went further in the direction of pop rock and metal. The album featured
the Australian singles “Fooled Again”, “Over Tomorrow”, “Eye of the Storm”, and “Don’t You Forget”.
The album reached #32 on the ARIA chart and it seemed that the band’s move to a more rock/metal genre had alienated a good portion of their established fanbase. Pseudo Echo disbanded shortly after touring for Race in 1990.
Pseudo Echo reunited in March 1998, with Canham and Gigliotti joined by Darren Danielson on
drums and Tony Featherstone on keyboards (ex-The Badloves), they played sold-out venues across
Australia reaffirming the bands popularity. In late 1999, Ben Grayson replaced Featherstone on keyboards. In 2000 they released an EP titled Funkytown Y2K: RMX, with six new remixes of Funky Town. In the same year they supported international artists Culture Club and Village People. Pseudo Echo issued a double-CD Teleporter (2000), produced by Brian Canham. Disc one featured four new tracks and five re-mixed tracks. Disc two was a live performance, which featured all the tracks from Autumnal Park except from the Shore, some tracks from “Love an Adventure” and the rare B-side “In Their Time”.
In 2006 Canham performed at the Countdown Spectacular alongside an imp
ressive gathering of Australian musicians. In May of 2012 Brian Canham reunited with former members Darren Danielson & Ben Grayson, along with the addition of a brand new member Simon Rayner (bass-synth, backing vocals).

About Mary Boukouvalas 1594 Articles
Mary is a photographer and a writer, specialising in music. She runs Rocklust.com where she endeavours to capture the passion of music in her photos whether it's live music photography, promotional band photos or portraits. She has photographed The Rolling Stones, KISS, Iggy Pop, AC/DC, Patti Smith, Joe Strummer, PULP, The Cult, The Damned, The Cure, Ian Brown, Interpol, MUDHONEY, The MELVINS, The Living End, Foo Fighters, Smashing Pumpkins, Rage Against The Machine, The Stone Roses –just to name a few - in Australia, USA, Europe and the Middle East. Her work has been published in Beat magazine, Rolling Stone magazine, Triple J magazine, The Age Newspaper, The Herald Sun, The Australian, Neos Kosmos, blistering.com, theaureview.com, noise11.com, music-news.com. She has a permanent photographic exhibition at The Corner Hotel in Richmond, Victoria Australia.
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