Canadian raised but adopted European sons, Psyche are coming to Australia in early August to play shows in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth. Their second visit in as many years, Psyche’s last tour saw them weather a series of freak storms and organisational setbacks, but like Arnie in the Terminator they vowed “I’ll be back!” This time Psyche are determined to keep a smooth sailing ship through the rocky waters of an Australian winter.

With a 25 year history as synthpop pioneers, Psyche certainly have accumulated a large discography and touring history, playing alternative rock and pop festivals plus club shows all over the world. With a voice that’s often compared to fellow synthpop legend Marc Almond (of Soft Cell), lead singer Darrin Huss has a reputation for having the golden chords, and often is cited to have one of the best live voices on the synthpop circuit. Over the years Psyche have been touched by the hand of Kraftwerk, Sparx and even the Cure (who have asked them to do covers for two compilation albums so far, including the Cure 25th Anniversary covers album), have been remixed by the legendary Razormaid boys, and recently have made it into Miss Kittin’s playlist with their ‘Unveiling The Secret 2.0’ remix album. Despite all of this, their reputation in Australia remains underground, with their upcoming shows primarily gaining support from indie radio and obscure music forums. But the hype seems to be growing steadily, if not always in the most expected way; somebody is even going to bake them a cake for the Melbourne show! It looks as though they might be ‘Unveiling The Secret’ of their live performances to more pop fans this time around.

Darrin from Psyche recounts the last tour and explains why, just like a boomerang from a 2 dollar shop, he’s coming back down under, and that if you can’t beat the Cure, you can always join them at the afterparty… “We’re really looking forward to coming back to Australia. Last time it was a mixture of holidays and shows, this time we’re ending up with 5 different shows in 5 cities. Unfortunately Perth might be a bit of a problem because we’re on the same night as the Cure! They announced their show after we booked our tour, and we couldn’t cancel the flights – so we’re going to give it a red hot go! We’re going to be there anyway so it’s nicer to fly to a city and get a chance to play there while we’ve got the opportunity it’s an ‘after the Cure’ party, they’ll be done by 11 – maybe they’ll come down,” Darrin chuckles. “We had to arrange our other city dates because of them so they could at least drop by.”

Having artfully managed to dodge any clashes with the Cure in other cities, it seems all Darrin has to worry about now are freak storms. You’d normally say they wouldn’t strike twice in two visits, but with the weather the east coast has had lately… I’d still be bringing my brolly. “Last visit we felt that things could have gone better in Sydney. We played on the same night as a freak storm! A bit of a bad sign, really, and we were really grateful to anyone who got out to see us that time and it’s great to have another chance to have an audience come out and see us and not die of aquaplaning. Originally we were going to tour with Covenant, but I want to prove that Psyche stands on its own, which is partly just my ambition. It’s not about selling records but it is partly for the recognition,” Darrin pauses, before admitting, “it’s also a bit of a vacation.”

One of Psyche’s trademarks is his cover of ‘Goodbye Horses’ (the ‘tuck scene’ track from Silence of the Lambs, if you don’t know it). Covers can be fantastic for an artist but they can also be a trap – not only artistically but financially. For example, Soft Cell’s biggest hit ‘Tainted Love’ didn’t earn them a cent in royalties because it was a cover. Being a Marc Almond fanatic, it’s something Darrin possibly could have foreseen would haunt him for the rest of his career, so why did Psyche do it? “It’s funny – I managed to avoid doing covers till 1994, then I covered ‘Sex Dwarf’ by Soft Cell, which became popular. ‘Goodbye Horses’ we did as a b-side in 1996 and now I’m I’m stuck with the
‘Goodbye Horses’ phenomenon! There are very few concerts, where I don’t end up doing it. Other than ‘Goodbye Horses’, there is not a big demand for us to do other cover songs,” Darrin says sounding very grateful. “I have songs I love and want to do other versions of at some stage, and when I do it’s because I like the song, because it’s fun.”

Most of the reviews of Psyche shows focus on Darrin’s voice, which is often compared to his hero Marc Almond’s. Is that total coincidence or just a little deliberate because he’s such a Marc fan? Did Darrin try to sound like that even just in the early days? ‘Without Soft Cell and Marc Almond there wouldn’t be Psyche,” Darrin admits. “Every band has at least one icon or hero, but it just happens to be the way that it is that I sound and look a bit like Marc! There are a lot of press photos where I got compared to Dave Gahan (from Depeche Mode). I used to get compared to Ian Butler (from the Psychedelic Furs) and Ian Mcculloch (from Echo and the Bunnymen). That’s fine with me! But as soon as I start singing, the vocal comparisons come, and it’s always to Marc. But there are big differences between us, my voice is a bit rougher and more rock, he’s smoother.”

As he’s about to board a plane from Germany to Australia, I ask him how he feels about flying – it’s a barrier to many artists, but obviously hasn’t put Psyche off travelling here again. “As I get older I have more of a fear of it, and it is a long plane ride. The first time was the longest I’ve ever been in the air! But how many people really love flying? I like the free movies and the free food and alcohol,” Darrin laughs. “I also like the landing in a completely different place. I’d be more afraid to be on a cruise boat where you’re stuck in the water for months or weeks. Maybe I’m afraid because of the Titanic, if a boat did crash you’re in the middle of nothing – water, storms and typhoons are freakier to me than flying.”

You can catch Darrin Huss and his band Psyche when they tour Australia in early August:

Aug 4 – Gilkinsons, Perth
Aug 10 – Evelyn Hotel, Melbourne
Aug 11 – Tailors, Sydney
Aug 17 – Mass, Brisbane
Aug 18 – Lizard Lounge, Adelaide