I won’t lie.
When the opportunity to interview Brian Canham, lead singer and founding member of the iconic 1980s band Pseudo Echo, popped into my inbox, I jumped at the chance as though I were still wearing leg warmers and blue eye shadow.
A self-confessed ‘80s tragic, Pseudo Echo was a huge part of the soundtrack of my youth, and listening to songs like Listening, A Beat for You and Funky Town still catapult me instantly back to blue light discos and first boyfriend nostalgia.
Soon enough, I found myself (albeit via a video Zoom interview), face to face with one of my Countdown and Rage (young folk, go look those up) pop star crushes in Brian Canham.
We talked about Pseudo Echo’s four-decade-long journey and metamorphosis, being an ‘80s pop star, the appeal of the ‘80s in general, the band’s upcoming show at the Canberra Southern Cross Club in Woden, and this year being the 40th anniversary of their famously successful cover of Funky Town.
I loved every minute of that yarn which you can watch below, and which includes the perhaps little known story of how Funky Town, was actually an accidental super success.
In 1983, when Listening was released, my friends and I were in year ten at a Catholic High School, in a small NSW country town.
These were the days of mix tapes, big hair, big earrings, fizz whiz, slumber parties, long days at the local pool and sorting out our problems in person.
The biggest problems we had were who among us had just ‘been dropped’, how to get through class without a piece of chalk being pegged at our heads and how many rulers would go across my knuckles when Sister Frances realised I had not done my piano practice.
They say it is folly to romanticise an era because we leave so much of reality out.
Surely the ‘80s are the exception.
For compared to the pace, pressure and yes, I’m going to say it, psychoses we appear to be stumbling through these days, I’ll take the ‘80s any day.
And I’m not alone in that melancholy.
On Australian digital radio, dedicated ’80s stations still routinely outperform modern hit networks in listener numbers and streaming giants report that ’80s tracks are among the most replayed music on the planet.
Yes, the ’80s were in fact great and we owe Brian Canham and Pseudo Echo a debt of gratitude for their part in its enduring magic.
Once I composed myself from the remains of the teenage girl whose bedroom was covered in TV Week 80’s band centrefolds, I quickly realised that Brian Canham remains a refreshingly down-to-earth Aussie, a lifelong successful no-nonsense musician and basically a good bloke.
All this, despite a career that includes chart-topping success in too many countries to list, winning Most Popular Male Performer and Most Popular Australian Group at the 1986 Countdown Music Awards, securing the Grand Prix International at the 1987 World Popular Song Festival, being nominated for numerous ARIA awards and becoming a subsequently successful producer.
Brian is currently the only original member left in Pseudo Echo, leading a fresh six-piece lineup, which he says, “Is the best lineup I’ve ever had, hands down.”
“Not only are they fantastic musicians with great enthusiasm, they’re also beautiful people,” he added.
What was it like being an ‘80s pop star?
“Pseudo Echo changed pretty rapidly after that first Countdown appearance,” Brian said.
Brian is referring to the decision by Molly Meldrum to feature the band on Countdown in 1983.
Reflecting on his beginnings as a humble kid from Melbourne’s northern suburbs, Brian said, “By the next day, it was never going back.”
“I couldn’t get on public transport, couldn’t go to a shopping centre, and I definitely couldn’t walk past a high school.”
(Certainly not mine that’s for sure!)
Brian describes his early success as “a dream come true”, and what many people may not realise is that the band has undergone numerous line-up changes and reinventions over the past 40 years.
“The lineup changed pretty much every album,” he said.
So why are people still flocking to see Pseudo Echo forty years on?
Brian describes the ‘80s as the “end of innocence” in music.
“The ‘80s was maybe the last decade that had a real sound of its own that wasn’t regurgitated,” he says.
In today’s high-speed world, where technology often feels like it’s cramming more into a day, the nostalgia of the ‘80s offers a visceral escape.
Brian notes that back then, everything was in “…slow motion”.
Communications were delayed by telegrams and faxes, and crossing paths with someone meant you might not see them again for twenty years. Brian believes that there is a certain magic in that slower tempo that we seem to be craving now.
He’s not wrong.
And as a result, the band’s current audiences are “…getting younger by the minute,” with 18 and 20-year-olds standing alongside those in their 50s and 60s.
Today, Brian is busier than ever, finalising the band’s new Machine Remixes album, where he takes the role of producer to reimagine Pseudo Echo’s classic hits with a modern “…synth wave EDM vibe”.
The album is nearing completion, and those lucky enough to secure a ticket to one of the tour’s upcoming shows will get a sneak peek at tracks featuring new music mixed with Brian’s original vocals.
A project that has Brian effectively collaborating with his 20-year-old self.
“He’s not a bad singer that kid,” Brian laughed.
Pseudo Echo can’t wait to hit Canberra, and while the gear might be more contemporary and the lineup has changed, Brian is adamant that the energy remains the same.
Pseudo Echo’s music isn’t just about a show; it’s about a feeling.
In a world that often feels like it’s moving too fast, Brian Canham and his band are offering us a chance to slow down, if only for a night, and rediscover the innocence of a decade that truly found its own beat, whilst introducing us to the next iteration of this icon of Australian music.
There’s no chance I’ll be missing it.
Southern Cross Club Woden 10 October. For tickets and more information, visit cscc.com.au.
