Pseudo Echo celebrate 40 years with national Machine album tour
Forty years after bursting onto the charts with their debut single, Listening, Australian eighties rockers Pseudo Echo are hitting stages across the country on a national tour. The band are not only celebrating the anniversary of the track but also the release of their forthcoming album, Machine, which includes a remix of the single. Featuring epic lighting and visuals, the tour lands at Astor Theatre on Friday, June 28, and Freo.Social on Saturday, June 29, with tickets on sale now. ALEIGHSHA GLEW caught up with vocalist Brian Canham to reflect on the single that started it all and why they’re not done yet.
Congratulations on the 40th anniversary of your debut single, Listening. How does it feel to have Listening turn 40?
It’s pretty good. It’s hard to believe sometimes, but it’s exciting to think that it’s ticked over those 40 years and still going strong.
Your new album, Machine, will be released soon. How long did you work on the record, and how do you feel about releasing it?
I’m still working on it. It’s behind schedule because of the touring commitments. I’m really happy with the first single, and we’ve done the Listening remix. Essentially, it’s a remix album, so it’ll be just the hits, a few faves, and a few extras. It will be done in a similar vein to the Listening remix. It was a tricky one; you kind of have to reinvent it without reinventing it because you don’t want to wreck a good thing.
Definitely. What was the inspiration for doing revamps on some of the existing songs?
Really just a new spin to represent the 40 years of evolution of the band. The remixes are what they are; they’re not what we do live. Sometimes we’ll incorporate little bits of them, but ultimately, we still do the original versions live.
You are currently on the Machine tour across Australia. What has been the biggest highlight of the tour so far, and what have you enjoyed most about getting back on the road?
It’s been good. The band’s been rejigged a bit. We have a young female drummer, Abby Lula, and she’s fantastic. She’s only 20, and she’s been a great rejuvenation to inject some life into the band again. We just had a great show at 170 Russell in Melbourne which was a real highlight. We had some choreographed dancers and things like that, and the visuals all came together.
How does touring compare to when you first brought out your hit songs?
Well, I guess we used to tour a bit more gruelling back in the day. We would set off and be gone for a month or several months. These days, we pace it a bit. We only really take off for the weekends and do the shows, and then we’re back to rekindle and revitalise. That’s a big difference for us. We mainly fly. We don’t really do big drives anymore because it’s a bit too tiring.
What can Perth fans look forward to when you come to Astor Theatre and Freo Social this month?
A lot of energy. A lot of big visuals. Some nice choreo and some jamming with the band. We do a little bit of ad libbing, and there are lots of surprises in the set. They’ll get all the retro that they want; we don’t leave any of that out. We include all the hits and the faves in their original sound.
What are you looking forward to most about coming to WA?
The fact that we never get there. It’s always exciting to get over there eventually because it takes so long between drinks. So, yeah, we always love it!