Supply and demand
All out of love? Fret not, air Supply is back.
BACK in 1975, two young singers auditioned for a staging of Jesus Christ Superstar in Sydney, Australia. The two chorus singers and understudies Russell Hitchcock and Graham Russell shared a name, the birth month of June and a deep love for the Beatles and music.
Hitchcock, 64, and Russell, 63, became fast and lasting friends. They began working together on songs written by Russell. They called their band Air Supply and after releasing four albums and finding some success in Australia, they took the United States by storm in 1980 with a little lullaby called Lost In Love.
The gentle heartfelt ballad peaked at no. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and began a string of hits for singer Hitchcock and songwriter Russell that included two more Top 5 hits Every Woman In The World and All Out Of Love.
The band followed its debut with three consecutive platinum albums containing hits such as Even The Nights Are Better, The One That You Love and Making Love Out Of Nothing At All.
For many music lovers in the US, the band’s heyday was in the 1980s, but though its commercial fortunes waned stateside, Air Supply has continued to be a big draw around the globe, particularly in South-East Asia, parts of the Middle East and Latin America.
The band has steadily released albums, the most recent being 2010’s Mumbo Jumbo. The group is also working on a musical to be called All Out Of Love based on its ‘1980s hits that will feature some new songs. It’s set to premiere in Perth, next year.
Between the approximately 150 dates the duo performs around the globe, Air Supply is working on a new album to be called Desert Sea Sky that will feature some up-tempo dance tracks alongside the band’s classic softrock sound.
Recently, the band was welcomed into the Australian Recording Industry of Australia’s Hall of Fame. From the road, Hitchcock talked about the band’s storied history, current success and future plans.
some dance tracks – that’s certainly flouting expectations of an Air Supply album.
Some of the tracks are dance recordings. The first one is called Desert Sea Sky. It’s very dance oriented, which is different for us, but if you have a good song and great melody, it can lend itself to anything, so we’re very proud of that.
We haven’t completed the recordings for this album, but there’ll be something on it for everybody, Air Supply fans old and new.
Did you just want to challenge or stretch yourselves musically?
The songs come from Graham’s mind and his brain, so obviously we haven’t, certainly as far as performances and recordings are concerned, wanted to rest on our laurels. He’s always looking to put something different in a song and ... we don’t want to be considered and don’t consider ourselves anything but current.
We usually put a show together at the beginning of the year and then it’s modified as we go. But, obviously, we can’t play a show without playing Lost In Love, Here I Am, Sweet Dreams and Every Woman In The World because we’d get lynched on our way out. We base the show around the songs people are familiar with, but there are new songs. Graham plays a great solo song and we’ll be playing Desert Sea Sky, the dance track.
GreatestHits
Well, a lot of people who come to see us the first time are surprised. There’s a lot of comments from people afterwards, that say I didn’t realise that was your song, that was your song and that was your song, that’s the first thing.
Also, we have a rock ‘n’ roll show, it’s not an evening of acoustic guitars and sitting around and doing nothing.
We engage the audience as well as anybody does and it’s loud, which surprises a lot of people.
You can’t please everybody and someone will say well, that’s too loud or whatever but we aim to please and we have a great track record. – Akron Beacon Journal/McClatchyTribune Information Services