Author: James

Via FOX 5 San Diego

Air Supply Lead Singer Russell Hitchcock talks to Fox 5 about their tour and some of their new music.

Via thepitchkc.com

To give you all a peek behind the curtain, when we originally ran our interview with Air Supply’s Graham Russell, we referred to he and Russell Hitchcock as “soft rock duo Air Supply.” Their publicist emailed back saying, “They really rock in concert and nobody on the Air Supply team prefers the ‘soft rock’ term. it really does not apply to them anymore. They were only called that back in the ’80s due to coming up in Australia with AC/DC, INXS, Midnight Oil, etc. Yes, they do powerful, emotional love songs, but nothing soft about it. They are full on Rock Band. You can see that at the show.”

I rolled my eyes and went about my day quietly bitching to my coworkers about how silly it was that anyone would suggest that Air Supply were a full-on rock band.

My sincerest apologies to Mr. Russell and Mr. Hitchcock. I was quite wrong and gladly admit that fact.

Firstly: a sold-out weeknight show in Lawrence is impressive for a legacy act such as they. Secondly: the crowd at Air Supply was more involved, energetic, and appreciative than most attending the show of the current hot band playing downtown. There was dancing, singing along, and full-throated cheers and thunderous applause after every song.

Also, let’s be fair because Russell Hitchcock, at the age of 74, can fucking wail.

His range has narrowed a smidge over the decades, but these songs still sound like Air Supply’s Greatest Hits, only live. I was fairly convinced at various points he absolutely had to be using a backing track or something, because I’ve never heard a band going on 50 years of performing sound this good. It was astonishing to hear them play these songs and just kill it.

It certainly helped that the backing musicians were, as my friend Andy put it, a group of young guns obviously assembled to come out and fuck the place up.

That said, though, Russell and Hitchcock know how to work a crowd. They told stories, they interacted with the crowd, and just worked the stage like the veterans they were. Every frantic wave from the audience was met with a grin and a wave back, those sitting in the front row attending their 70th (!) concert were mentioned by name, and it felt less like a classic rock show than something vibrant from a band whose frontmen happened to be halfway to 80.

And seriously? Russell Hitchcock has full sleeve tattoos on both arms. He’s harder-looking than AC/DC’s Brian Johnson.

Respect.

Via Omny.fm

In the thirty-sixth episode of Vinyl Vibes, Jack is joined by Graham Russell, co-founder of Air Supply. Since Graham was kid, all he wanted to be was a songwriter. Growing up amongst Beatlemania in 1960s UK, the music of the Beatles inspired him greatly. On the other side of the world in Australia, Russell Hitchcock was also inspired by the Beatles. Russell and Graham would meet on the set of a production of Jesus Christ Superstar in 1975, and together would form Air Supply.  It was their love of The Beatles that brought them together.

Their first single “Love and Other Bruises” would come out in 1976 and would be a top ten hit in Australia. A few years later, they would find international success with their song “Lost in Love” which in 1980, would go to number 3 on the Billboard Top 100. This would be the beginning of a string of hits they would have in the US, with other US hits for the group being “All Out Of Love” (Number 2 on the Billboard Top 100) , “Every Woman in the World” (Number 5 on the Billboard Top 100) and “Making Love Out of Nothing at All” (Number 2 on the Billboard Top 100).

The band has been touring non-stop since 1975 and in December 2022 released a new single, “Be Tough”. Graham is currently working on book about his life leading up to Air Supply’s worldwide success and the band plans to return down under in 2024.

Jack zoomed Graham to discuss his early music beginnings, the impact the Beatles had on him, his time in his first band Union Blues, his moving to Australia in 1968, meeting Russell Hitchcock in 1975, the band’s first single “Love and Other Bruises”, playing on Countdown, why “Lost in Love” brought the band worldwide success, touring China and Vietnam at a time when most bands did not, the writing of “All Out of Love”, music videos and MTV, the group’s new single “Be Tough”, Graham’s upcoming book, and when the band is coming to Australia to play again.

“(Russell) would sing one take for pretty much everything in those days, he just did it, nobody said to him ‘ah, I want you to go up in the end and hold that note’ – he just did it . . . he just used intuition, and just went with the flow and I think that’s what became part of the song, part of the record, that energy and the freedom was inherent in the song.” – Graham Russell on this episode of Vinyl Vibes talking about Russell Hitchcock’s singing on All Out Of Love

Listen to the full interview HERE !

Via ThePitchKC.com

Alongside Russell Hitchock, as one half of long-running rock duo Air Supply, Graham Russell is responsible for some of the most recognizably-beautiful songs in the pantheon of popular music. Air Supply’s string of eight top five hits from 1979 to 1983–“Lost in Love,” “All Out of Love,” “Every Woman in the World,” “The One That You Love,” “Here I Am,” “Sweet Dreams,” “Even the Nights Are Better,” and “Making Love Out of Nothing at All”–are still radio staples over 40 years later, and continue to find their way into film and TV placements to this day.

Thanks to tuneful musicianship and gorgeous harmonies, Air Supply’s songs hook their way into you head and remain there for life. Whether you’re a metalhead or jazz aficionado, you can definitely hum the hook to at least one song from their catalog without breaking the slightest mental sweat.

The duo comes to the Lied Center in Lawrence on Wednesday, October 4 [details here] and we took the opportunity to speak with Air Supply’s Graham Russell by phone ahead of their stop.

The Pitch: You and Russell Hitchcock met as performers in Jesus Christ Superstar and then started writing your own songs. What it’s like to go from singing someone else’s songs to writing your own songs to then getting so big that other people want you to perform their songs?

Well, it’s kind of it’s like a full circle thing. I mean, being in Superstar was my first real professional occupation. I always wanted to be in show business and I’ve been writing songs since I was 13 years old, but I really had no direction or no idea what I was doing. When I went into Superstar, it was such a great opportunity. It was great for me on a personal level because I got to sing some of the greatest music ever. I think we did over like 500 shows. Playing so many shows, you really get inside the music and I kind of got a grip of how he did everything and what he was thinking, in my own way.

I met Russell on the first day, believe it or not. It was like a switch went off that said to me, “Okay, you’ve got the whole run of this show to get something together. You’ve got a step up now because you’re in Superstar. You’ve got 8 months to really put something together with your own music,” and so I looked at it as like an opportunity because I knew the show wouldn’t last forever and I wanted to make the most of it.

Russell and I made plans to do something straight away within a few days. I’ve always wanted to play my own songs. I’d been in different bands when I was a teenager in England and I never fitted. It just wasn’t right for me. I didn’t like doing cover songs all the time, which most bands then were doing to earn a living and just to play, but it was never right for me.

I always felt, “I can’t join somebody else’s band. I’ve got to start my own. That’s the only way I’m going to have a shot at having any success,” and when I met Russell, that really stood out to me. I’d think, “Yeah, this is it. We can do this,” and that’s what we tried to do from the very beginning.

It’s so appropriate you started out in this big rock musical because then later on, performing songs that were written by Jim Steinman just seems to fit hand-in-glove.

Oh, absolutely. Well, the thing was, we had so much success. Even when we came out of Superstar, we have the number one album and single in Australia and nobody knew who we were. We were still in the show. Suddenly, there’s this group all over the radio in Australia and nobody knew who they were. But it was us. We left Superstar Saturday. On Monday, we started our own touring and so we had a big leg up with that.

After we had success in the US–which really is worldwide. If you have a success in North America, then everybody was coming to us and Jim Steinman was one of those. He says, “Oh, do you want to record this song?”

The thing is this: even though I’m a very successful songwriter, I think it’s great for Russell to sing other songs too. He doesn’t just want to sing my songs. I mean, he would, but I think he should have a broad spectrum and sing other great songs. We recorded “The Power of Love.” We were actually the first to record that song.

Then Jim came with “Making Love Out of Nothing at All” and it was just perfect for us. It was perfect for Russell to sing, for him to let people know he’s not just the singer in a band. He’s one of the greatest singers of our generation. I think it was very important for him to sing those songs instead of just singing my songs all the time, which he’s done for almost 50 years.

After coming out of Superstar, you opened for Rod Stewart. When you’re performing with with Rod Stewart, does that teach you something about stagecraft in a different manner?

Yes, it is stagecraft. You’re absolutely right. That’s what I was looking for. But at the same time, we learned so many other things that you can only learn through experience and you can’t read it in a book or anything.

We learned about respect, being on time–but respect for everyone, like the drum techs. We got to know Rod quite well and his band, and they were just incredible. They were all top notch musicians, you know. Carmine Appice was on drums, he’s super famous, and we became really good friends, and they were teaching us without realizing it, and they were saying, “Now you do this, and you do that,” and so in the end, we learned so much, it was kind of this massive crriculum that we discovered, so we felt that something was going on.

Why were we suddenly thrown to the wolves like this to learn everything? And then, of course, in 1980, we realized, “Oh, wow, here it is. It’s happening now.” We were ready for it, but there’s so much that we had to learn, that we needed to learn, because we were really young.

Well, we weren’t that young. We were 25 and 26, which actually is late to come into any success. But we were very grounded and we thought, “Okay, this opportunity presented itself in 1980 when ‘Lost in Love’ came along and took the world by storm,” but we didn’t want to be, first of all, a one-hit wonder. We wanted a career and and that’s what we got, but we worked for it.

We have the songs and we have Russell’s incredible voice. I’d only had four years experience at that point, but we didn’t waste anything. We realized that we needed to work if we’re going to have a career for a long time, which, of course, we have had so far, you know?

What’s sort of fascinating about bands that have had long careers is the way that your songs start to become shorthand for certain things. You’ve had your songs featured in hundreds of films and TV shows. What is it like for you to have these songs that you wrote used to soundtrack someone else’s vision?

It’s really cool. It’s a great feeling, for several reasons. Take “All Out of Love,” for instance, which has been in dozens of movies. Every time people pick it to be in a movie, our manager will call us and say, “Oh, ‘All Out of Love’ is going in there,” and I go, “Wow, that’s amazing.”

The song’s 40 years old but it spans generations because of its simplicity and its message, I think. It’s a great feeling. It really is because Russ and I think, “God, you know, we recorded this in 1978, and here it is, and it’s in another movie, and the movie’s the number one movie in the world”

It’s really, it’s really strange, but at the same time, I think those songs, and songs like that, become the soundtrack to everybody’s lives and it keeps us as a band so relevant because people hear it. I mean, younger generations hear that song or songs like that in the movies and then they go, “Oh, who’s that?That’s Air Supply? Who are they? Oh, I’m going to find out,” and when we come to their city, they come and see us and once they see us, they want to see us again.

It’s kind of this cyclic thing, but the songs in movies and TV shows and commercials keep us relevant and they keep us in the public eye, when in fact, throughout our career, we’ve always been the opposite. We’ve always wanted the music to speak for itself. We’ve never been the opposite, on the front pages of all the magazines in people and stuff like that. We really chose to be low profile and let the music speak.

Of course, the music does speak for us now and it keeps us there. It keeps us relevant. We get so many young kids at our shows and sometimes I’ll say, “I want you to come back with your parents,” and they come back and I say, “How come you’re at our show? You’re 11 years old and you know all the words to every song,” and they go, “Wow, they just love you guys and they listen to you all the time.”

Of course, our music isn’t for everyone, but the people that do follow us, they follow us forever and they keep coming to the shows and Russell and I are perplexed. We go, “Oh my God, it’s amazing,” and we go, “Yeah, I know,” but we really don’t know any more than what I’ve just said of why it happens. You know, it’s bizarre, but it’s a beautiful thing too.

Via Good Morning America 

ABC News’ Phil Lipof sits down with legendary rock duo Air Supply about their five decades of performing and touring together.

Watch the full interview below!

Via Philstar.com

MANILA, Philippines — Air Supply, the iconic rock group that lorded over the music scene back in the 1980s, returns to the Philippines for yet another exciting live performance in December.

The night will definitely be better on December 15, 2023 when the Australian musical duo of Graham Russell and Russell Hitchcock take their The Lost in Love Experience 2023 concert tour live performance to the Santa Rosa Sports Coliseum in Sta. Rosa, Laguna.

Russell and Hitchcock began as Air Supply in 1975 after the two met on the first day of rehearsals for the musical Jesus Christ Superstar in Sydney, Australia.

Soon after the musical ended in October the following year, Rod Stewart invited the pair to open for him on his Australian and North American tours. This was where Air Supply’s humble musical journey began.

From there, they had a succession of hits worldwide, including eight Top 5 hits on the US Billboard Hot 100: “Lost in Love” (1979), “All Out of Love” (1980), “Every Woman in the World” (1980), “The One That You Love” (1981), “Here I Am” (1981), “Sweet Dreams” (1982), “Even the Nighta Are Better” (1982), and “Making Love Out of Nothing at All” (1983).

In July 2005, Air Supply’s live DVD “It Was Thirty Years Ago Today” celebrated 30 years of recording and touring and, in the same month, smashed the attendance record by performing in Havana, Cuba, to 175,000 fans.

They were inducted into the Australian Recording Industry Association’s Hall of Fame on December 1, 2013, at the Annual ARIA Awards. and a year later Evolution Music Group released Air Supply’s first high-definition concert film, “Air Supply: Live in Hong Kong,” under its Evosound label.

In 2020, Air Supply was listed at No. 48 on Rolling Stone Australia’s list of the 50 Greatest Australian Artists of All Time. Australian newspaper Herald Sun named Air Supply in the Top 5 of “Greatest Aussie Bands” of all time in the company of AC/DC, The Bee Gees, and INXS.

Air Supply’s scheduled live performance in Sta. Rosa, Laguna, in December will be their second time at the same venue and it is anticipated to sell out just like the first time in 2018.

Tickets are available starting September 25, 2023, at smtickets.com and are priced at P5,500/4,500/3,500/2,500/1,500 plus ticketing fees.

For more details and updates about the concert please check the official website and Facebook Page of Ovation Productions at https://ovationproductionsmanila.com/ and https://www.facebook.com/ovationproductions/

Via Broadwaypodcastnetwork.com

We are “All Out of Love.” We are “Making Love Out Of Nothing At All.” We think “Even The Nights Are Better.” We can go on and on, but you get the drift! We are “Lost In Love” with Air Supply and honored to have Graham Russell with us!

2023 is Air Supply’s 48th Anniversary! They have been Named One Of The Greatest Groups Of All-Time According To Rolling Stone. Air Supply performed their 5000th concert in 2020. It took place in Las Vegas. They are up to about 5300+ concerts as of today.With an energetic live band on tour these guys really ROCK in concert! proclaimed Air Supply in the Top 5 of Greatest Aussie Bands of All Time. In great company of course with the likes of AC DC, BEE GEES and INXS. This is the AIR SUPPLY LOST IN LOVE EXPERIENCE TOUR.

We had the chance to chat with Graham Russell about this journey, the fate that led to the group, life on the road, his style of songwriting, and why writing Musical Theater has given him joy! It is a special chat with someone we all grew up singing along with!

For Tour Dates and info: www.AIRSUPPLYMUSIC.com

Listen to the full podcast HERE! 

 Via Good Morning America

ABC News’ Phil Lipof sits down with legendary rock duo Air Supply about their five decades of performing and touring together.

Via Consequence.net 

WATCH VIDEO HERE!

The Australian duo Air Supply has been melting hearts and serenading souls since 1975. Just a few years into their career, the band had found themselves in the midst of an incredible run of acclaimed, chart-topping hits. Between 1980’s Lost in Love and 1983’s Greatest Hits collection, the group had a remarkable eight singles break the top five on the US Billboard Hot 100.

Their second such smash, “All Out of Love,” hit No 2, and in particular stands as one of the band’s most enduring, love-sick ballads. On this episode of The Story Behind the Song, Air Supply guitarist Graham Russell connects with host Peter Csathy to tell us all about the rock classic.

Russell explains how he met lead vocalist Russell Hitchcock via Jesus Christ Superstar, chronicles the band’s rise to stardom, and reflects on their pop culture. He also reveals Clive Davis’ role in making the song an international success: “He said, ‘You’ve got to change some of the lyrics you had in the Australian version,’” recalls Russell. “I also knew at that point, if Clive suggested two lines, they were the lines that he wanted. So, I agreed… I changed it, and the rest became history.”

Listen to the full conversation with Graham Russell about the story behind Air Supply’s “All Out of Love” and more in this episode, and watch some of the interview highlights below. Then make sure to like, review, and subscribe to TSBTS wherever you get podcasts for updates on all our new episodes.

Air Supply are in the midst of celebrating their 45th anniversary on “The Lost in Love Experience” tour; get tickets to their upcoming dates here.

Via WFMU.org

Bob Barth reviews Air Supply’s Hollywood Bowl performance on his radio show “Bob Barth’s One Night Stand.”

Listen to the full review here:

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