Pseudo Echo

Pseudo Echo was formed in Melbourne in 1982 by high school friends Brian Canham on vocals, guitars, and keyboards and Pierre Gigliotti (as Pierre Pierre) on bass and keyboards; they were later joined by Tony Lugton (ex-James Freud & the Radio Stars) on guitars and keyboards.[1][2] The group were named for a sound effect available on their keyboards and were influenced by New Romantics bands, Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet and Ultravox.[1][3] Molly Meldrum, television presenter for the pop music series Countdown, saw the group at a gig and aired them on the show with a demo version of "Listening" in June 1983.[3][4] They were signed to EMI Records and "Listening" – produced by Peter Dawkins – was issued in November as their debut single, which peaked at No. 4 on the Australian Kent Music Report Singles Chart.[2][5]

Their debut album, Autumnal Park, produced by Dawkins and John Punter, was released in June 1984, which peaked at No. 11 on the Kent Music Report Albums Chart.[2][5] It was an Ultravox-influenced effort which yielded the singles "A Beat for You" (No. 12 in April), "Dancing Until Midnight" (June)[6] and "Stranger in Me" (November).[7][1][5] "His Eyes", another album track, received overseas exposure when it was used in the film Friday the 13th: A New Beginning.

In October 1984 Tony Lugton left the band due to musical differences,[8] and was replaced by James Leigh (aka James Dingli).[1] Lugton eventually joined synth rock band Talk That Walk. Another line-up change occurred just after the recording of the second album, with Argiro replaced by James's brother Vince Leigh (aka Vincent Dingli).[1][2] In November 1985, Canham joined a charity project for research on little penguins, as a guest vocalist with other Australian artists and backed by The Incredible Penguins. They covered the John Lennon and Yoko Ono hit "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)", which peaked at No. 10 in December.[5][9]

Their second album, Love an Adventure, was issued in November 1985 and was produced by Mark S. Berry, and Brian Canham. The album reached No. 14 in Australia.[2][5] Three of its singles reached the Top 20 including "Don't Go" (No. 4 in October), "Love an Adventure" (No. 6 in January 1986), and "Living in a Dream" (No. 15 in May).[5] A fourth single, "Try" (August), peaked at No 60.[5]

In October 1986, Pseudo Echo released a rockier version of the Lipps Inc. disco song "Funky Town", which spent seven weeks at number-one from December.[5] The album Love an Adventure was re-released the following year to include their remake of "Funky Town" which brought the group their biggest international success, the single reached No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States, and No. 8 on the UK Singles Chart in July 1987.[10]

The overseas release of Love an Adventure featured a different track listing and included re-recorded versions of three singles from Autumnal Park: "Listening, "A Beat for You", and "Destination Unknown".

In 1987, the band re-released "Listening" for the movie North Shore starring Nia Peeples. In October they won the 1987 World Popular Song Festival (aka Yamaha Music Festival) with "Take on the World",[11] which provided a prize of US$10,000.[1] and released a compilation album Long Plays 83–87. It was released as Funky Town - The Album in New Zealand where it peaked at No.1. Their third studio album, Race was released in 1988. It was produced by Julian Mendelsohn and Brian Canham, had a more mature rock sound.[1] It featured the Australian singles "Fooled Again", "Over Tomorrow" and "Eye of the Storm".The album reached No. 18 on the Kent Music Report Albums Chart and No. 32 on the ARIA Albums Chart.[5] Pseudo Echo disbanded shortly after touring for Race in 1990.

After Pseudo Echo disbanded Canham moved into record production including Chocolate Starfish's 1994 debut album, Chocolate Starfish, which peaked at No. 2 on the ARIA Albums Chart.[1][12] Gigliotti performed with a covers band, All the Young Dudes. The Leigh brothers formed Vertigo (later renamed as Invertigo) in 1996. In 1997, Canham formed Brill with Darren Danielson (ex-Chocolate Starfish) on drums. Andy McIvor added on bass guitar and Dave Stuart on Keyboards, they toured as Brill and issued an album titled Brill in August 1997. In 2002 Canham along with Ben Grayson and Matilda White formed dance outfit Origene. They achieved success with their song Suddenly Silently (originally written for Pseudo Echo), and followed up with the club hit Sanctuary which reached number 1 on the Billboard Club chart in the United States.

Pseudo Echo reunited in March 1998, with Canham and Gigliotti joined by Danielson on drums and Tony Featherstone on keyboards (ex-The Badloves), they played sold-out venues across Australia reaffirming the band's popularity. In late 1999, Ben Grayson replaced Featherstone on keyboards. In 2000 they released "Funkytown Y2K: RMX" which included six new remixes of "Funky Town". In the same year they supported international artists Culture Club and Village People. In 2000, Pseudo Echo released a double-CD Teleporter. It was produced by Canham. Disc one featured four new tracks and five re-mixed tracks. Disc two was a live performances.

In 2005, Pseudo Echo toured extensively with Idols of the 80s and they released Autumnal Park - Live. In 2006 Canham performed at the Countdown Spectacular alongside an impressive gathering of Australian musicians.

In 2007, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Pseudo Echo, Canham and Gigliotti were joined by previous members James and Vince Leigh for a sold-out show at the Crown Casino, Melbourne. This performance was followed by a short Australian tour before Canham and Gigliotti were rejoined by Danielson and Grayson. In 2012, co-founder Gigliotti resigned from the band and was replaced by Simon Rayner (bass keys, backing vocals).

In July 2012, Pseudo Echo recorded and released their version of "Suddenly Silently". This was followed by "Fighting the Tide" in 2013. 2014 saw them undertake a successful crowd-funding campaign which enabled them to release their 5th studio album, Ultraviolet. The band toured Ultraviolet extensively across Australia and to New Zealand.

In January 2015, the group recorded a live performance in Hollywood's Viper Room in front of a sold-out crowd. This was released as Live at the Viper Room in June 2015.

In December 2017, the group released a cover of "Nutbush City Limits".

In April 2020, an acoustic album "Acoustica" surfaced on iTunes/Apple Music and via the band's website.

A forthcoming album, "After Party", is in the works and set for release in late 2020.

• Autumnal Park (1984)
  • Released in North America as Pseudo Echo
• Love an Adventure (1985)
• Race (1988)
• Teleporter (2000)
• Ultraviolet (2014)
• "Acoustica" (April, 2020)
• "After Party" (2020, no release date known)