The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
‘LOVE’ MAKERS
They don’t fight, and the gents of Air Supply once cornered market on power ballads about the L word
Romantic rock ballads arguably were responsible for keeping the 1980s alive and thriving. If you ever claimed to know “The Power of Love,” found yourself “Lost in Love,” were “All Out of Love” or somehow found yourself “Making Love out of Nothing at All,” it’s likely that you’ve spun your fair share of Air Supply records.
And who could blame you?
Shortly after the Australian soft-rock duo broke into the American music scene, they quickly found themselves with seven topfive singles — which at that time matched The Beatles’ run of consecutive top-five hits.
Graham Russell (singersongwriter and guitarist) and Russell Hitchcock (lead vocalist) have been fervently “supplying” (pun intended) their mega love anthems ever since — and in a major way.
They play at least 130 shows a year. In fact, by Labor Day, they will have played their 5,000th show.
Before then, on July 15, they will hit the stage at Hard Rock Rocksino Northfield Park. You can expect to hear some of their massive hits, such as “All out of Love,” “Lost in Love,” or “Even the Nights Are Better.”
In a recent phone call, after quickly rounding up a horse that got loose on his ranch in Utah, Russell reflected (in his ruggedly Australian accent) on his 40-plus-year run with his work partner and good buddy Hitchcock. He also shared his thoughts about today’s music landscape.
Q
Air Supply has had tremendous success, and you’re still going strong. Did that seem possible when you were trying to break in America? How tough was it?
A
It was pretty tough. We came first with Rod Stewart in ’77, and up until that time we had a lot of luck and great success in Australia, but we wanted to break into other areas, obviously. But it was tough. We thought [when touring with Stewart] “Oh great, we’re gonna break open in the U.S. too.” But we were quickly brought back down to Earth. All of our dreams became shattered at that point.
When we opened for Rod, we were only less than 2 years old, so we were pretty green. Then, suddenly, we were on the biggest tour with the biggest artist in the world, and we thought everything was gonna happen for us, but it didn’t.
However, I think that was a great thing for us because it really made us take stock of what we had and gather up all our ammunition again. We just had to work a little harder. We got back to Australia, and everybody had forgotten about us and we had to start again.
Q
How long after the tour with Stewart did you find success in America?
A
It was about two years. So we had two years of not really doing much. I mean, we were working in Australia. We were working for like $200 a night. We just couldn’t make any money. In the end, we couldn’t even afford to be on the road because we were just losing money. So I went and wrote some songs. I called Russell up and I said, “I think I’ve got some good songs here. Let’s get together.” That was the beginning of it, really.
Q
You also had great radio airplay when great radio was still with us and consultants had yet to take over. What are your thoughts about radio today?
A
I think it plays a part, certainly, but I don’t think it plays a part in breaking new artists. It’s very difficult for any artist to get played on the radio. It’s virtually impossible. I mean, it’s impossible for us to get anything new played on the radio. It just doesn’t happen.
“You have to put a new song between two big hits, and then if it’s a great song — and we presume it is or we wouldn’t be playing it — with it sandwiched in between two great hits, people go, “Oh wow I love that song,” but they’ve never heard it before.” — Graham Russell of Air Supply on working new songs into a show
But by the same token, new artists have other avenues. They have YouTube, and you know, they can do their own videos and put ’em up there, which they couldn’t do before. It was all taken care of by the record company in those days. They were in control of everything.
Now it’s in the hands of the artists themselves, so they have to figure out not only how to be a great artist and to write and sing and perform. They’ve got to figure out the business end and the “What do I do now?” It’s a different animal [now]. Certainly, in the old days, radio was the big thing. If you didn’t get played on the radio, you didn’t have a hit record. But now it’s totally different.
Q
Yes, everything has given way to downloading or streaming, yet certain generations and demographics are resistant toward downloading. Does at all affect your marketing?
A
I don’t think so. I mean, people download us — I know they do — but not, like, millions and millions like some artists experience. There are a few artists lucky enough to get that — I’m talking about the Taylor Swifts and the Adeles and all those right up there. It doesn’t really affect us because we still sell a lot of material at our shows.
Our shows [have] become a vehicle now. When we play a venue, it becomes a marketplace. The fans come, and they want this, they want a CD and they wanna buy this that and the other. So we actually call it the “Lost in Love Experience.” It’s not just coming to see us. It’s getting to do the meet and greet — we talk to the fans, and they can take as many pictures as they want. It becomes this whole experience that they get to enjoy, and we do, too. We have a great relationship with the fans, and I think, obviously, that’s been built over four decades.
You can’t be a new artist and get that familiarity straight away. You have to learn that, and you have to get in the trenches. I think, too, that it’s only time that allows you to do that. We have that luxury now. We’ve been around for 44 years. A lot of our fans know our history. I think that goes a long way. Funny enough, I see a lot of artists touring like we do on the road, and most of them have been around a long time, like, you know, Journey, Styx, even The Eagles. These artists have been around forever. They’ve got it all down. They know exactly what they’re doing, and they work a lot. But it must be difficult for a new artist because they haven’t fig- ured it out yet, and it takes a while to figure it out because, after all, it is a business and you have to learn it.
Q
You do so many shows a year, but is there one venue or audience that you still want to perform to?
A
Oh yeah. There’s a lot. We’ve never been to Scandinavia. We’ve never been to Russia. I used to really want to go to Russia, but I’m not so sure anymore [laughs]. But there are many places we haven’t been.
Artists like ourselves that have been around forever, we go to new places every year, but predominantly we go to places that want us back again. But there’s still a great excitement when we go back.
Quite often we stay at the same hotels, and we often stay in the same rooms. I do this weird thing: I leave notes for myself, you know, behind a painting in the room. It’s such a joy when I go back to the room and I look, and my note is there that I wrote to myself in the future. I say, ‘Hi there, this is me in the past ,but I’m gonna see you again in the future.’ It’s this weird time-space thing that I do.
Q
I want to try that. You mentioned new music earlier; you have such a strong catalog dating back decades ago. Is it tricky to get fans to be receptive to new material?
A
No. The thing is with that in particular, we’ve always put two or three new songs in a show. We could do a whole hour and 45-minute show with just the hits, and we do play most of the hits, but we want to play new things, and our fans have grown accustomed to that. It’s a great platform for us to introduce new songs.
Although we have to be careful. You have to put a new song between two big hits, and then if it’s a great song — and we presume it is or we wouldn’t be playing it — with it sandwiched in between two great hits, people go, “Oh wow I love that song,” but they’ve never heard it before. Radio won’t play anything new, so it’s up to us to find our own avenues for that and the fans love it.
Q
I heard that you and Russell have never had a fight in 42 years of working together. That’s shocking, especially considering how many shows you do per year together. How do you manage to keep that streak going? You pretty much qualify to give relationship advice.
A
You know, you’re probably right. But it’s true. We’ve never even had a crossed word, you know. I mean, that thought has never come into our mind at all. I think one of the reasons why that’s true is because we have different roles. We’re both totally different personalities. Russell is a year older than me, but we were born three days apart. So we really should be alike, and we are in many ways, but the two things where we’re not alike are the great ingredients for the band. Russell is the lead singer, and he doesn’t write songs. I’m the songwriter, but I don’t wanna be the lead singer. I do sing, but I’m not the lead singer, and I’ve never wanted to be. So we both have different roles. There are no egos involved. It’s a great way to carry on a business.
Q
So since you have your separate roles, there’s no toe-stepping. It’s not like a Lennon-McCartney situation, where you have a tug-of-war over songwriting.
A
That’s exactly it. Q This may be an unfair question considering how many shows you do a year, but do you have any particularly fond memories of performing in Cleveland over the years?
A
Well, we played there with Rod in ’77, so that was my first experience there. Our tour manager has been with us for 28 years, and he comes from Cleveland. So he’s always talking about it.
I remember there used to be a show that we did every year, especially in the ’80s, and I think it was the Front Row Theater (in Highland Heights). We used to so look forward to playing there. I was so bummed out when they knocked it down, and now I think it’s a shopping mall. But it was such a great vibe and I can still remember the backstage area, and it was a very communal thing — we were all in one big room. It was great. We used to love being there for three or four nights. The thing is when you’re around for so many years, things change. They just do. That’s the way of the world. Things disappear, and new things come. And that was one of them.