The boys are currently touring together in a flashback kinda tour.

So I went to see them on Friday night.  It was almost 80's prices too with the ticket costing $25 !!

I wasnt sure that I wanted to see how my Melbourne playmates from 85/86 had turned out 17 years down the track - but curiousity eventually won !


Kids In the Kitchen came on first.  Scotty looked like the only original - didnt recognise the keyboardist - pretty blonde lad with big biceps, and the guitarist looked familiar but not from Kids - but after I got thru a few dozen posters I will place what band he was from!  The drummer was from Real Life.  

Scotty has put on a tonne of weight and looks like a little roly poly lad - but he cracked plenty of jokes about being twice his age and twice his weight since he last toured Perth !  

Anyway - WOW - his voice is awesome !  It sounds better that in even did in the 80's - and he looked like he was having an absolute ball on stage and really interacted with the crowd well.  Had them eating out of his hand - soundwise his band was really tight together.

They did every hit they had plus a new one Scotty wrote that sounds like it was straight out of 1985 - it blended in to the set nicely.

Psuedes - hmmmmmm where to start.  

Well Pierre Pierre - for a guy who is a year younger than me - looked about 45.  He was also smashed when he got on stage and drank at least 7 cans of beer while on stage.  I still remember being at parties where no one would let him drink cos he was too young - sheesh.  
Brian C looks older naturally and has a Prince Charles bald patch.  Didnt recognise the keyboardist at all.  Couldnt see the drummer but he looked as if he was still in the 80's so it could have been the original guy.

Anyway - the first two songs were like a sound check gone wrong - they spent more time talking and signaling to the mixer than actually looking at the audience.  Pretty atrocious sound quality all round - lots of those nasty deafening screeches that audiences tend to hate.  Brians voice has not remained nor improved with age - it sounded really quite weak and he definately couldnt hit the original notes.  

He seemed quite uncomfortable with the crowd and spoke to Pierre Pierre instead - mostly mumbling.  They spent 15 minutes chatting to each other about whether they remembered the words to 80's songs or not before the crowd got restless and reminded then what they were on stage for.

Then they left the stage without doing Funky Town - much to the horror of most of the crowd - but really it was the only way they were ever going to get and encore demand.  So out they came - did a ten minute teaser musical solo before launching into Funky, then more music solo - before Brian says "lets get Scott back on stage" - the crowd went wild - obvious that after hearing Psuedes bad effort - they wanted the pro back out on stage.  So out comes Scotty and he rips into a rawcus few verses of Funky and really woke the crowd up again.

Then they were off with a "see ya in another 20 years" !!

Did any other Aussies venture out to see them ??

Hey there, BM girl!!! It's great to hear that two of my fave Aussie 80s bands are going strong and out performing! I would never have been exposed to bands like Kids In the Kitchen if it hadn't been for my wonderful Aussie penpal from Queensland, Janelle, who set me scads of stuff, including a vinyl single or two from KITK!!! :)

I had really liked Pseudo Echo.  I didn't know they were still around though!  Around here, they were almost total one hit wonders... ::)

Hi Marci
Over here both groups had plenty of hits.  Problem is they had to work their butts off for 5 years in the pubs to save up enough cash to release a single in the US so you guys would generally only know the one hit that was released at the time - whereas we already had earlier albums.

I guess it was still the era when bands had to work with audiences for a long long time before they got record deals in Aus let alone overseas.  These days its so different - we have bit of blond fluff soapie star at the moment who has a number one single in Oz and the UK and half of Europe - yet she has yet to sing live in front of anyone - mostly because she probably cant.  In the old days you had to prove you had a voice and an audience !!!

I use to fly to Melb (a 5 hour flight) every few weekends to see Kids and Psuedes and Xmen and many others of my faves back in 86/87.  

Brian from Psuedo mostly manages/produces/writes these days - I think the current bands under his wing are Chocolate Starfish and Taxi Ride.

I didnt get a chance to ask Scotty what he was doing these day - I wasnt sure if he would remember me from all those BBQ's in the 80s.  I dont know that I was a very memorable little teen !!  So I kinda chickened out of finding out !!


80sTriv - you were spoiled by your penpal !!  I loved having an English penpal back then cos she would send me Smash Hits magazines - they were always 3 months old by the time the were actually sold in Aus !!