“We will continue playing as long as we think we are still good at what we do”

Since they recorded their first song in 1976, “Love and Other Bruises”, the word “love” is present in most of their song titles, spread across their 17 studio albums, including the name of their new tour “The Lost in Love Experience. With almost 50 years of musical experience, Air Supply He has sung about love in times of difficulty, peace, war, Christmas, youthful madness and mature sobriety, now facing his new challenge of releasing a new album.

“We are almost there to finish our next album, the first in 14 years. It has some wonderful love songs. “We hope to finish it by the middle of this year so that people can listen to it and remember that there is still love,” says one of the founding members of the band, Russell Hitchcock, in an interview with El Comercio.

―Did the world change or did romantic music change?

Since we gave our first presentations, the world changed. It was a better place, much more peaceful, where people coexisted very well with each other. Romance does not change even though its surroundings change; It is something as primitive as the fact that a man and a woman fall in love. Sometimes you lose it, sometimes you find it, but it’s always there.

―Despite the change, every band always opts for songs that talk about love.

It’s always boring to listen to a new song that talks about romance, but everyone wants to hear a good love song, it’s something that fills us with nostalgia and gives us a break from the terrible things that happen in the world. After so much time singing about love, I can firmly say that it is one of the most powerful forces in the universe and a necessary element if you want to have an optimistic and positive future; To believe in love is to believe in the hope of a better future.

―Although romance for some bands has other concepts different from theirs…

There are some bands that play very aggressive songs about that topic, but it’s cool to see that other point of view. Personally, I don’t listen to them, but I’m a big AC/DC fan. His musical aggression seems positive to me, not negative as in other cases, that is important to highlight from many current songs that talk about that topic.

―One of these romantic songs that was very well received was “Making Love Out of Nothing at All”. What is the story behind this song?

I wish I could say that song was written by us, but it was written by Jim Steinman, who wrote Meat Loaf’s hits like “I’d Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That)” and the song “Total Eclipse.” of the Heart” by Bonnie Tyler. One day they introduced us to the song and soon we were with Jim in New York, seeing that the song and Air Supply were like a marriage made in heaven; It suited what we wanted and was a perfect combination that marked part of musical history.

―How would you summarize this stage of the band?

After 50 years, I would like to think that we have evolved all the time, but the big change is the way we look at things and our fans. They went from being 15 to 20 years old and so on; There are millions of people who like our songs and new people always join in to see our shows. Is there a better testimony that good music is made than the warmth of the people?

―Is retirement a possibility?

This question is becoming more and more frequent, but for now we will not stop. Graham and I love working together; Furthermore, we cannot disappoint those millions of fans. Although our limit is that we will continue playing as long as we think we are still good at what we do and not some old fools who get on stage.

―Is the romantic idea of ​​dying on stage valid?

Of course, we see our heroes like The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, Ringo, The Eagles and many other bands that are on tour after so many years and we think that we want to end up like that. We want people to say, ‘I just saw Air Supply, they’re 80 years old and they still sound great.’ We don’t see retirement anytime soon.

―To get to play for so long, difficult decisions had to be made.

Learning to say goodbye to the musicians who accompanied us was very hard. We didn’t want to do it for various reasons, but they had to leave the band. There’s nothing more to say about that, it’s difficult to say goodbye to friends under any circumstances, but you have to learn to let them go, even though it can be devastating.

―And about the good times?

It’s great to be able to say that it is difficult to select any. I could say it was when we played for Lady Diana and Prince Charles in 1988 in Australia while the bicentenary was being celebrated. She looked beautiful in person and I was one of the lucky few to get to meet her. Another memorable moment was playing for 175 thousand Cubans in one of the highlights of our career. And I will never forget when we played at the Sydney Opera House, accompanied by the symphony, after the worldwide recognition we obtained. Being able to play in our own country during that moment of success was one of the most beautiful feelings I experienced in my life.

―With so many experiences, how close is the possibility of a documentary about Air Supply?

We are in the process of doing so. We met with some people recently in Miami and we are already discussing whether it will be a documentary or a biopic, in which we would be looking at who the actors will be who will play Graham and me. It’s definitely a pretty big possibility for the future.

―And a new album?

We are almost there to finish our next album, the first in 14 years. It has some wonderful love songs. We hope to finish it by the middle of this year so that people can listen to it and remember that there is still love in the houses, in our hearts and certainly, there is still a lot of love at Air Supply.