WEBVTT - Graham Russell 0:00:08.600 --> 0:00:13.119 Welcome, Welcome, Welcome back to the Bob Website Podcast. My 0:00:13.320 --> 0:00:17.720 guest today is Graham Russell Leversa Griham. How'd you end 0:00:17.800 --> 0:00:19.040 up living in Park City? 0:00:20.160 --> 0:00:24.200 It's an interesting story. We were playing at the MGM. 0:00:24.760 --> 0:00:28.520 We were doing two weekends in Vegas. This was in 0:00:28.640 --> 0:00:33.720 nineteen eighty nine, actually in nineteen ninety and normally I 0:00:33.760 --> 0:00:36.560 would have gone home because I was living in Malibu, California. 0:00:37.280 --> 0:00:40.880 Normally I would go home, but I decided to rent 0:00:40.880 --> 0:00:43.880 a car and just drive north for a few days, 0:00:43.880 --> 0:00:46.920 with no plans, no where to stay. I just wanted 0:00:46.960 --> 0:00:52.080 to drive. And when I left Vegas behind, I entered 0:00:52.120 --> 0:00:56.920 this desert area and I found it really intriguing. And 0:00:56.960 --> 0:01:01.280 then all the red rocks appeared and I was driving 0:01:01.400 --> 0:01:04.399 for about five hours and the road was dead straight. 0:01:04.520 --> 0:01:08.319 I thought, wow, this is pretty cool. And when I 0:01:08.360 --> 0:01:13.160 got to this little town, I got the phone book 0:01:13.200 --> 0:01:16.600 and I called a real estate agent. So I just 0:01:16.720 --> 0:01:21.600 I didn't know anybody. I called this gentleman up out 0:01:21.600 --> 0:01:24.880 of the Yellow Pages and I said, I don't buy anything, 0:01:24.920 --> 0:01:28.040 but what's going on here? It's kind of interesting and 0:01:28.080 --> 0:01:31.880 he said, well, you know, it's a very rural area. 0:01:32.600 --> 0:01:37.520 And we met for breakfast and he showed me some houses, 0:01:38.520 --> 0:01:41.959 and the first one he showed me was the one 0:01:42.000 --> 0:01:46.480 I bought, although he showed me about twenty five houses, 0:01:47.480 --> 0:01:48.840 and I said, I don't want to buy anything. I 0:01:48.880 --> 0:01:51.880 just want to see what's happening around here, because it 0:01:51.920 --> 0:01:55.320 was all new to me. The mountains and the serenity 0:01:55.440 --> 0:02:00.160 and the clowns and the fresh air. I thought, wow. 0:02:00.680 --> 0:02:03.320 And he showed me a lot of houses. And then 0:02:03.440 --> 0:02:05.920 when he finished showing me, I said, remember the first 0:02:06.000 --> 0:02:07.920 one we looked at. I said, yeah, I said, I 0:02:08.000 --> 0:02:10.440 want to go and see that again. But it was 0:02:10.520 --> 0:02:13.680 just it was a weekender. It was it was just 0:02:13.720 --> 0:02:16.680 a shell. But he came with one hundred and twenty 0:02:16.760 --> 0:02:18.959 six acres, which I at that time I thought was 0:02:19.000 --> 0:02:22.720 a lot of land. In Malibu, I had about five acres, 0:02:22.760 --> 0:02:26.440 which was a lot of land. And I ended up 0:02:26.440 --> 0:02:28.120 buying the house. You know. I said, I'm going to 0:02:28.120 --> 0:02:32.040 buy it, you know, So I bought it. That's how 0:02:32.040 --> 0:02:34.480 I came to be in Utah thirty four years ago. 0:02:35.240 --> 0:02:38.720 Okay, how close to the town of Park City are you? 0:02:39.760 --> 0:02:41.840 I'm about ten miles away. 0:02:43.160 --> 0:02:46.320 I happen an old area, which direction, well. 0:02:46.160 --> 0:02:49.880 I'm east of Park City, so it sees, oh, you 0:02:49.960 --> 0:02:54.000 know the area. Yeah, yeah, it's a beautiful area, you know. 0:02:54.160 --> 0:02:58.000 And when I when I bought the place, it was 0:02:58.040 --> 0:03:00.799 park City that really nailed it for me because it's 0:03:00.800 --> 0:03:05.360 a cosmopolitan city, not too big, but it has great 0:03:05.440 --> 0:03:12.400 restaurants and it's a very liberal place, which I was 0:03:14.200 --> 0:03:17.680 not looking for, but it added to the mystique of it. 0:03:18.320 --> 0:03:22.400 And so I thought, what these great restaurants around because 0:03:22.440 --> 0:03:27.440 where I live then certainly there was nothing here, you know, nothing, 0:03:28.320 --> 0:03:32.000 but that's what I really wanted. So but then if 0:03:32.080 --> 0:03:34.560 I can be in park City within fifteen minutes at 0:03:34.920 --> 0:03:40.200 all kinds of restaurants, yeah, that put the nail in 0:03:40.280 --> 0:03:41.320 the deal for me, you know. 0:03:41.880 --> 0:03:44.680 Okay, Needless to say, in thirty four years, park City 0:03:44.680 --> 0:03:45.800 has really changed. 0:03:46.480 --> 0:03:50.600 It has it has? And you know, I actually don't 0:03:50.640 --> 0:03:52.680 go in there that much anyway, as much as I 0:03:52.760 --> 0:03:54.760 used to because there's a lot of people there now. 0:03:55.040 --> 0:03:58.800 But when when I bought the house, I'm in now 0:03:59.080 --> 0:04:02.960 the shells, should I say? The agent that I called 0:04:03.160 --> 0:04:05.320 out the phone book, who became a really good friend. 0:04:07.400 --> 0:04:11.240 We sat in the house and he said to me 0:04:12.200 --> 0:04:15.400 there were five lots in front that were pretty big lots, 0:04:15.840 --> 0:04:17.360 and he said, if I were you, if you can 0:04:17.400 --> 0:04:20.160 afford these lots, buy them now, and nobody you'll ever 0:04:20.200 --> 0:04:23.200 get any closer. And I was able to buy them, 0:04:23.880 --> 0:04:28.760 and I'm glad I did now because nobody can get 0:04:28.800 --> 0:04:31.719 as close as they were even thirty four thirty five 0:04:31.760 --> 0:04:35.640 years ago. So I kind of was able to buy 0:04:35.720 --> 0:04:40.159 my little sanctuary. And you know, when because I spent 0:04:40.240 --> 0:04:42.920 so much time in cities and traveling around the world, 0:04:43.480 --> 0:04:48.359 it's just wonderful to come back to the peace and 0:04:48.440 --> 0:04:52.440 the serenity is great for me. But it's not for everyone. 0:04:53.200 --> 0:04:55.960 You know. When I first bought it, Russell would come 0:04:56.040 --> 0:04:58.799 up occasionally because I put a studio in the house. 0:05:00.560 --> 0:05:03.680 He would he would look out the window and he 0:05:03.760 --> 0:05:07.960 would say, Wow, it's the quiet is beautiful. But it 0:05:08.000 --> 0:05:10.600 wasn't for him because he's more he needs a city. 0:05:11.279 --> 0:05:14.719 But for me, it's perfect. You know. I can just 0:05:15.960 --> 0:05:19.240 listen to nothing, and that's great for me. You know. 0:05:20.279 --> 0:05:24.080 Okay, thirty four years ago, you leave Vegas, you come 0:05:24.120 --> 0:05:27.680 to Park City, you call that real estate agent. Do 0:05:27.800 --> 0:05:30.279 you tell him you're in air supply? 0:05:31.120 --> 0:05:34.800 No, I didn't. I never do to anyone. But if 0:05:34.800 --> 0:05:39.240 they find out that's that's okay. He did find out 0:05:39.279 --> 0:05:42.880 once I wanted to buy the house because of finance 0:05:42.920 --> 0:05:44.479 and all that kind of stuff, and he kind of 0:05:44.600 --> 0:05:49.000 was shocked. He says, oh my god, I said, yeah, 0:05:49.120 --> 0:05:52.440 you know, but then they all get used to it. 0:05:52.760 --> 0:05:55.680 They refer to me in this area, or they used 0:05:55.680 --> 0:05:58.600 to as the movie star that lives upon the hill. 0:05:58.720 --> 0:06:02.440 You know. They say, when I go to the grain 0:06:02.520 --> 0:06:06.560 store to get grain and bird seed, well now they 0:06:06.600 --> 0:06:08.640 know me on a first name basis. But when I 0:06:08.680 --> 0:06:11.520 first used to go, they'd say, are you the movie star? 0:06:11.839 --> 0:06:14.320 And I'd say, no, I'm actually not a movie star, 0:06:14.480 --> 0:06:17.960 you know, but they've got used to me. Now now 0:06:18.000 --> 0:06:21.120 I'm considered a local, which is wonderful. 0:06:21.680 --> 0:06:26.120 Okay, everyone knows the name ere supply, but you know, 0:06:26.160 --> 0:06:28.080 the two of you, you and Russell have been in 0:06:28.160 --> 0:06:31.080 the you know, the act forever. But then the other people, 0:06:31.600 --> 0:06:33.039 are you recognized? 0:06:35.320 --> 0:06:41.000 You know, yes I am. However, you know, when I 0:06:41.000 --> 0:06:45.440 get on a plane, I'm recognized. But I'm six feet 0:06:45.560 --> 0:06:49.920 five and tall, you know, so wherever I go, people 0:06:49.960 --> 0:06:54.800 go whoa. But when Russell and I are together, we 0:06:55.400 --> 0:06:58.880 certainly we get recognized, you know, but it's always a 0:06:58.920 --> 0:07:02.000 positive thing. It's always great. People come up to us 0:07:02.040 --> 0:07:05.080 all the time and that will say, oh my god, 0:07:05.120 --> 0:07:08.840 I got married your songs, and you know, there's that 0:07:08.920 --> 0:07:11.320 and the other, and we'll go, oh, that's fantastic. And 0:07:11.920 --> 0:07:16.120 people have done that for decades and we've never turned 0:07:16.160 --> 0:07:21.040 down an autograph or taking a picture ever. And I 0:07:21.080 --> 0:07:24.080 think that has a lot to do with with our 0:07:24.160 --> 0:07:27.080 fan base, you know, because it spreads. But we've never 0:07:27.200 --> 0:07:29.680 said now, I'm not signing anything. We've never done that, 0:07:30.720 --> 0:07:33.760 and I don't think we ever will, because we're very 0:07:33.800 --> 0:07:38.239 aware that the people that come to our shows put 0:07:38.520 --> 0:07:41.600 gas in my car, you know, and they're part of 0:07:41.640 --> 0:07:45.120 the whole cycle of life. For me. They gave me 0:07:46.280 --> 0:07:48.720 the place where I live and everything that I own, 0:07:48.800 --> 0:07:51.040 they've given it me, They've helped me get it. So 0:07:51.600 --> 0:07:56.400 I will always be grateful and indebted to them for that. 0:07:56.520 --> 0:07:56.760 You know. 0:07:57.480 --> 0:08:06.280 Do you think that air supply gets the specter deserve. 0:08:07.080 --> 0:08:11.680 I think so. You know, there are when you know, 0:08:11.800 --> 0:08:15.520 in the eighties, for instance, you know, we had we 0:08:15.640 --> 0:08:18.760 achieved a lot. At one point, we had as many 0:08:19.240 --> 0:08:22.040 top fives as the Beatles, you know, for a short 0:08:22.080 --> 0:08:25.640 space of time, and that to us was quite staggering 0:08:25.720 --> 0:08:28.680 because the Beatles are everything to us. They were and 0:08:28.760 --> 0:08:32.800 still are. I think there are other bands that have 0:08:32.880 --> 0:08:36.079 achieved less than us that get a lot more attention. 0:08:36.720 --> 0:08:40.960 But you know, it doesn't bother us because we prefer 0:08:41.120 --> 0:08:43.920 to step back and let the music speak for us. 0:08:44.160 --> 0:08:47.720 You know, we've never been in the magazines. We've never 0:08:48.480 --> 0:08:50.960 been in Rolling Stone, let alone on the cover of 0:08:51.040 --> 0:08:55.840 Rolling Stone. In fact, when The One that You Love 0:08:56.760 --> 0:09:00.400 was number one, Rolling Stone didn't even have in the 0:09:00.800 --> 0:09:04.480 top twenty in the magazine. They pulled it out because 0:09:04.720 --> 0:09:09.240 we probably weren't good copy. However, we've kind of got 0:09:09.320 --> 0:09:11.360 used to it and it doesn't bother us at all 0:09:11.480 --> 0:09:16.640 because what's important to us are the fans and us 0:09:16.679 --> 0:09:19.600 getting on stage and playing. That's what we love to do, 0:09:19.760 --> 0:09:23.720 and we probably do more shows than any other band 0:09:23.960 --> 0:09:27.560 in the industry. We play one hundred and thirty every 0:09:27.640 --> 0:09:32.240 year and we're almost at fifty six hundred in our career, 0:09:32.720 --> 0:09:34.720 and I don't think a lot of artists have done that, 0:09:35.480 --> 0:09:38.320 or at least are able to play at a very 0:09:38.440 --> 0:09:41.480 high level. I mean, we're not the Rolling Stones, but 0:09:42.040 --> 0:09:47.120 for what we do, we do it with a lot 0:09:47.120 --> 0:09:51.440 of class and we created our own sound and that's 0:09:51.640 --> 0:09:54.440 what that's what we play. 0:09:54.559 --> 0:09:58.240 You know, since you've done so many gigs, do you 0:09:58.480 --> 0:10:02.520 find that it's a hardcore fan base that is coming 0:10:02.559 --> 0:10:06.120 to see you and you actually know these people or 0:10:06.880 --> 0:10:09.120 is it like air Supply goes to a town you've 0:10:09.120 --> 0:10:12.200 had a lot of hits. People come as they say, 0:10:12.280 --> 0:10:16.360 certain acts, you know surprisingly Kenny g you know Fish 0:10:16.400 --> 0:10:19.000 on the other stream, they have very hardcore of fans. 0:10:19.040 --> 0:10:20.680 What are the fans like for air Supply? 0:10:21.200 --> 0:10:25.599 They're hardcore the airheads that there's millions of them, and 0:10:27.040 --> 0:10:31.760 some of them a few, not a lot. I've seen 0:10:32.280 --> 0:10:34.079 maybe five six hundred shows. 0:10:34.480 --> 0:10:34.920 Wow. 0:10:35.400 --> 0:10:39.160 Yeah, it's their legion. And we talk to them because 0:10:39.200 --> 0:10:42.200 we know them on a first name basis, and we 0:10:42.320 --> 0:10:45.280 have a as all artists do. Now, we have a 0:10:46.040 --> 0:10:48.760 VIP thing at sound check and people come get a 0:10:48.800 --> 0:10:51.440 picture and they listen to soundcheck and we talk to them, 0:10:51.480 --> 0:10:54.559 you know, and we say why do you keep coming back? 0:10:54.600 --> 0:10:59.680 And they say, we can't stay away. We don't know 0:10:59.720 --> 0:11:03.040 what it is, but we can't stay away. If you're close, 0:11:03.520 --> 0:11:06.400 we have to come and see the show. I don't 0:11:06.440 --> 0:11:14.880 know why, but you know, after all these years, I think, well, 0:11:15.320 --> 0:11:19.079 I'm convinced that people go to see shows to hear 0:11:19.160 --> 0:11:21.440 hit songs. There's no doubt about that. When I go 0:11:21.480 --> 0:11:25.680 and see McCartney or The Stones, or Peter Gabriel and Sting, 0:11:26.520 --> 0:11:29.120 who are all my favorites, you want to hear the 0:11:29.200 --> 0:11:33.480 hit songs, you know. And fortunately we have a lot 0:11:33.520 --> 0:11:36.920 of them, and we play them all every night that 0:11:37.000 --> 0:11:40.760 we play, and people know that and they want to 0:11:40.800 --> 0:11:44.200 be part of your journey, you know, with us. But 0:11:44.320 --> 0:11:50.480 I think specifically with our music, it's very it's the word, 0:11:52.360 --> 0:11:56.600 it's very family. It's family music. You know. They have 0:11:56.640 --> 0:11:59.920 a lot of memories to us. They got married, because 0:12:00.000 --> 0:12:03.120 we've been together for fifty years. It's their whole family 0:12:03.320 --> 0:12:05.760 is part of it. They got married to us, they 0:12:05.760 --> 0:12:11.000 had the babies, they've lost people that you know, we 0:12:11.000 --> 0:12:13.240 can name any one of a dozen songs that are 0:12:13.280 --> 0:12:16.440 their favorite songs and we're going to play it for them. 0:12:16.880 --> 0:12:21.880 So it's it's like this nuclear fission that just keeps 0:12:21.880 --> 0:12:25.800 empowering itself every time we play, you know, it really does. 0:12:26.320 --> 0:12:29.960 Okay, So with this date, why do you play so 0:12:30.040 --> 0:12:32.400 many shows? 0:12:32.720 --> 0:12:37.520 You know, it's simply because we love to play, we 0:12:37.640 --> 0:12:40.400 really do. And we've you know, Russell and I have 0:12:40.720 --> 0:12:44.840 always said years and years ago, we said we'll stop 0:12:44.880 --> 0:12:47.600 playing when the people stopped coming, you know. But I 0:12:47.640 --> 0:12:53.360 think we we offer a message. You know. The songs 0:12:53.360 --> 0:12:57.280 are great songs for people to live by, and they 0:12:57.320 --> 0:13:02.360 have they hold incredible memories for everyone, and we're part 0:13:02.400 --> 0:13:05.920 of that cycle. They come to the show and I 0:13:06.040 --> 0:13:09.000 see them, you know, when we step on stage, I 0:13:09.080 --> 0:13:10.960 see them. A lot of them are in tears, you know, 0:13:11.000 --> 0:13:13.120 they go, oh my god, I can't believe I'm watching them. 0:13:13.480 --> 0:13:17.080 But it's not like it's different than like, although we 0:13:17.160 --> 0:13:21.079 are a rock and roll band, it's different than most 0:13:21.160 --> 0:13:23.480 other rock and roll bands. We don't come out and 0:13:24.520 --> 0:13:27.400 try and blow people's brains out with volume or anything. 0:13:27.720 --> 0:13:30.880 It's a different energy with us, and I'd like to 0:13:30.920 --> 0:13:35.480 think it's ours alone with our music, you know. But 0:13:35.600 --> 0:13:39.319 we just love to play, and one of these days 0:13:40.679 --> 0:13:44.280 we won't be able to for whatever reason, be it 0:13:44.280 --> 0:13:47.480 a health reason or we just can't do it. And 0:13:49.080 --> 0:13:51.440 who knows when that's going to be. I mean, if 0:13:51.440 --> 0:13:54.640 you look at like McCartney and the Stones, or keep 0:13:54.640 --> 0:13:58.880 referring to them again, because they really wield the power 0:13:59.000 --> 0:14:03.720 that they're the role models for artists like myself. You know, 0:14:04.280 --> 0:14:07.800 they're eighty two years old and they're just killing it 0:14:07.880 --> 0:14:11.600 and they're great. Got Mick Jagger running everywhere. So that's 0:14:11.679 --> 0:14:13.680 what I want to do. I want to be playing 0:14:14.920 --> 0:14:17.680 at a very high level when I'm eighty two. I'd 0:14:17.720 --> 0:14:21.960 love to do that. But who knows. You know, people 0:14:22.600 --> 0:14:27.600 suddenly have a heart attack or they have whatever and 0:14:27.680 --> 0:14:29.800 they can't do it. So I think we want to 0:14:29.840 --> 0:14:32.520 do it for a bit longer. You know. We just 0:14:32.640 --> 0:14:36.040 love being out there, love we love the industry, and 0:14:36.080 --> 0:14:43.040 we love our job and we've always been very thankful 0:14:43.520 --> 0:14:46.160 for being able to do this. You know, I in particular, 0:14:46.400 --> 0:14:49.400 I come from the center of England, and you know 0:14:49.560 --> 0:14:54.680 that unless you have great skills and you go to university, 0:14:55.800 --> 0:15:02.200 your choices of careers are very limited, especially especially then, 0:15:02.320 --> 0:15:06.480 you know, when I'm in the late sixties, it's very limited. 0:15:06.640 --> 0:15:08.600 A lot of people end up going down the pit, 0:15:08.920 --> 0:15:12.160 or that the pits have closed now. But I didn't 0:15:12.200 --> 0:15:15.000 want that. I wanted to be a songwriter from when 0:15:15.000 --> 0:15:18.800 I was thirteen years old, and I just followed that 0:15:18.920 --> 0:15:23.120 path that I thought would take me there. And I 0:15:23.200 --> 0:15:27.800 was really lucky. This should have happened to anyone, any 0:15:27.960 --> 0:15:31.360 thousands of people, but it happened to me. And I 0:15:31.400 --> 0:15:34.400 don't know if it was because I never let go 0:15:35.000 --> 0:15:38.080 of that thought or that dream, I mean, never let 0:15:38.120 --> 0:15:41.320 go of it, or it was just chance. I don't know, 0:15:41.440 --> 0:15:45.760 but whatever it is, I just have this incredible life 0:15:45.840 --> 0:15:50.120 where I'm able to write songs and may earn a 0:15:50.160 --> 0:15:53.120 living writing songs and do what I love to do. 0:15:53.680 --> 0:15:57.040 And wow, that's everything for me. 0:16:04.800 --> 0:16:06.640 Okay, there's a lot of stuff there, but let's go 0:16:06.720 --> 0:16:10.400 back to the live thing. You do one hundred plus 0:16:10.440 --> 0:16:11.240 shows a year. 0:16:11.760 --> 0:16:11.960 Yeah. 0:16:12.320 --> 0:16:16.360 I have been with musicians where the audience absolutely loved 0:16:16.400 --> 0:16:20.120 it and the people on stage said, oh man, it 0:16:20.160 --> 0:16:22.840 was a bad night, and vice versa. But usually the 0:16:22.920 --> 0:16:26.600 audience loves it. So what is your experience? What makes 0:16:26.640 --> 0:16:29.400 these shows different? Are you looking to, you know, get 0:16:29.440 --> 0:16:32.640 the Holy Grail once or twice at tour? What's it 0:16:32.760 --> 0:16:34.320 like being on stage? 0:16:35.120 --> 0:16:37.800 Oh, it's it's a dream come true every night when 0:16:37.800 --> 0:16:41.680 we step on stage, especially now, I mean Russell and 0:16:41.720 --> 0:16:46.360 I we're in our seventies, you know, we we shouldn't 0:16:46.360 --> 0:16:50.120 be here, you know, in the fifties and sixties, this 0:16:50.280 --> 0:16:53.600 was before rock and roll, became of age. The only 0:16:53.640 --> 0:16:57.400 people around then that were a little older was Bill 0:16:57.440 --> 0:17:02.520 Hayley and the Everly Brothers and those artists. But now 0:17:02.920 --> 0:17:07.960 that that boundary has been pushed, pushed to infinity by 0:17:08.080 --> 0:17:11.600 people like The Stones and Paul McCartney. So who knows 0:17:11.640 --> 0:17:13.560 where it's going to end, and we just want to 0:17:13.600 --> 0:17:17.720 be a part of that. But stepping on stage, there's 0:17:17.760 --> 0:17:21.679 nothing like it. I mean, we step on stage and 0:17:21.800 --> 0:17:27.920 everybody stands up and they're applauding, and we go, oh 0:17:27.960 --> 0:17:33.680 my god, this is incredible. And once again a night 0:17:33.800 --> 0:17:36.439 doesn't go by where right at the beginning of the 0:17:36.440 --> 0:17:38.840 show where I get goose bums right before I come on, 0:17:39.600 --> 0:17:46.119 and it's just this incredible feeling you can't describe. But 0:17:46.280 --> 0:17:50.320 every night that we play, it's there, and you know, 0:17:50.440 --> 0:17:54.600 Russell and I we always say we always look into 0:17:54.640 --> 0:17:57.120 the audience right before we come on and see what 0:17:57.200 --> 0:17:59.760 kind of audience it is, But it's always the same 0:18:00.119 --> 0:18:03.760 people are waiting and then we go on and everything starts, 0:18:03.800 --> 0:18:08.320 and it's just this incredible feeling that you can't describe. 0:18:08.400 --> 0:18:12.800 It's nothing else comes close. You can't compare it to 0:18:12.880 --> 0:18:13.600 anything you know. 0:18:13.920 --> 0:18:17.359 Okay, but are some shows better or worse than other shows. 0:18:18.080 --> 0:18:21.160 And what makes them so well, what you just said 0:18:21.320 --> 0:18:25.120 is true. They love it anyway. But sometimes for us, 0:18:25.480 --> 0:18:27.879 you know, Russell will come off and when we have 0:18:28.080 --> 0:18:29.879 a quick chat, he comes to my dressing room and 0:18:29.920 --> 0:18:33.080 he will say, oh, I wasn't on tonight. I just 0:18:33.119 --> 0:18:35.640 couldn't get in into the group, and I say, well, 0:18:35.960 --> 0:18:40.680 I didn't notice. It becomes a personal, a personal thing, 0:18:41.640 --> 0:18:44.520 and sometimes I'm like that. I say, god, I didn't 0:18:44.640 --> 0:18:48.119 I didn't get going tonight. I was thinking I didn't 0:18:48.200 --> 0:18:53.720 let go. But there that's very infrequently when that happens. 0:18:54.160 --> 0:18:57.320 But but when it does, you go, oh my god, 0:18:58.359 --> 0:19:01.000 I should have done this, and I didn't give everybody 0:19:01.040 --> 0:19:05.760 a one hundred percent. I was held back. But nevertheless, the 0:19:05.840 --> 0:19:11.000 audience loves it anyway. But our expectations are high and 0:19:11.040 --> 0:19:16.120 our goals are high, simply because, especially these days, people 0:19:16.200 --> 0:19:18.239 pay a lot of money to go to shows, you know, 0:19:18.960 --> 0:19:21.879 and they spend a lot of money that they probably 0:19:21.880 --> 0:19:24.800 should spend on something else, but they don't. So we 0:19:24.920 --> 0:19:27.760 want to give them the best show we can give 0:19:27.800 --> 0:19:31.160 them that's in our power to give them. And when 0:19:31.680 --> 0:19:36.160 we don't, individually, I get annoyed with myself and I say, well, 0:19:36.680 --> 0:19:40.200 I'll be better tomorrow night, but an audience wouldn't even notice. 0:19:40.960 --> 0:19:45.160 You know, it's a weird thing, but at least we 0:19:45.359 --> 0:19:49.879 always want to give one thousand percent every night, you know, 0:19:50.280 --> 0:19:54.240 and sometimes it's not possible. For instance, if I mean 0:19:54.280 --> 0:19:56.560 I'm not the lead singer, I sing a few leads, 0:19:56.920 --> 0:19:59.240 but if I get a cold and my throat's on it, 0:19:59.320 --> 0:20:01.880 I can't sing. I will say to the audience when 0:20:01.920 --> 0:20:05.000 it's my first turn to speak, which is usually around chances, 0:20:05.400 --> 0:20:07.960 I'll say, folks, I got to tell you something. I've 0:20:07.960 --> 0:20:10.760 got a really bad throw and if I sound out 0:20:10.800 --> 0:20:15.040 a tune, I'm apologizing now because I never sing out 0:20:15.040 --> 0:20:18.919 of tune. And I said, if I do, please accept 0:20:18.920 --> 0:20:21.560 my apologies. I don't because you deserve the best. So 0:20:21.640 --> 0:20:24.520 I tell them, you know, and because I don't want 0:20:24.560 --> 0:20:27.480 them to think I'm out of tune every night, because 0:20:27.480 --> 0:20:28.040 I'm really not. 0:20:29.440 --> 0:20:31.360 Okay, how do you do it? 0:20:32.000 --> 0:20:32.199 You know? 0:20:32.320 --> 0:20:34.600 On one hand, you know, on the lowest level, people 0:20:34.640 --> 0:20:37.000 are in station wagons and vans, and there are people 0:20:37.040 --> 0:20:40.359 who go in buses. There are other people take a 0:20:40.520 --> 0:20:45.240 jet into every show. Band members come from their own place. 0:20:45.600 --> 0:20:47.800 They meet at the gig. Then they go their separate ways. 0:20:47.800 --> 0:20:49.000 How does their supply to it? 0:20:50.760 --> 0:20:58.200 We fly commercial, sometimes, we bus. When we first toward 0:20:58.240 --> 0:21:01.439 the US and well on our own in nineteen eighty, 0:21:01.560 --> 0:21:04.200 we were in buses for nine months of the year, 0:21:05.119 --> 0:21:10.000 and occasionally we'd spend a night in hotel, but usually 0:21:10.040 --> 0:21:12.879 we'd shower at the show and we'd get on a 0:21:12.920 --> 0:21:15.879 bus and drive five hundred miles. But we were a 0:21:15.920 --> 0:21:18.560 lot younger than we thought it was really exciting. That 0:21:18.600 --> 0:21:22.119 doesn't appeal to us anymore, you know, So we go 0:21:22.280 --> 0:21:26.240 we fight commercial, or we rent vans. If it's a 0:21:26.280 --> 0:21:29.760 small distance between shows, which it usually is, it's usually 0:21:29.800 --> 0:21:32.960 within two hundred and fifty miles, so we rent cars 0:21:33.000 --> 0:21:36.879 and we'll drive there. But you know, our style of 0:21:37.600 --> 0:21:42.280 transportation is not super luxurious. We you know, we we 0:21:42.440 --> 0:21:45.080 can't afford to rent planes and stuff like that. You know, 0:21:46.400 --> 0:21:51.320 I wish we could, but that's not in our cars, 0:21:51.600 --> 0:21:54.480 not probably not for in the foreseeable future. 0:21:54.560 --> 0:21:57.560 Okay, So to what degree are you a student of 0:21:57.560 --> 0:22:00.520 the game, Like, would you know how many people were 0:22:00.520 --> 0:22:04.520 intending what the grosses or you just pass that off 0:22:04.520 --> 0:22:05.280 to other people. 0:22:06.040 --> 0:22:09.359 No, I'm very aware of everything like that. I even 0:22:09.480 --> 0:22:13.639 know how much merchandise we sell in the night, not 0:22:13.720 --> 0:22:17.080 because I'm interested in making money. I just want to 0:22:17.119 --> 0:22:20.959 see if the people are buying things that they're happy 0:22:21.000 --> 0:22:25.160 with that, and I want to know how many people. Well, 0:22:24.880 --> 0:22:30.399 we always sell out our show wherever it is, but 0:22:30.520 --> 0:22:33.840 if we don't, which is really unusual, I want to 0:22:33.880 --> 0:22:36.160 know why. You know, why didn't we sell out? It's 0:22:36.200 --> 0:22:39.000 really weird, So I want to know. Plus, it makes 0:22:39.040 --> 0:22:43.240 you feel good to know that you're selling a show out, 0:22:43.320 --> 0:22:47.360 be it two thousand seats or thirty thousand. You know, 0:22:48.560 --> 0:22:52.680 it's just feels good to be able to sell shows out. Plus, 0:22:53.280 --> 0:22:57.000 we want everybody to be successful. We want the promoter 0:22:57.760 --> 0:23:00.760 to make money because we want him to book Is again, 0:23:00.920 --> 0:23:03.720 you know. And that's when I come off stage. My 0:23:03.840 --> 0:23:07.240 first question to our tour manager is every night, I 0:23:07.280 --> 0:23:10.639 would say, is everybody happy? Is the promoter happy they've 0:23:10.640 --> 0:23:15.119 all made money? Yeah, everybody's happy. The producer of the 0:23:15.119 --> 0:23:18.439 show is ecstatic, And then I'm happy at that point. 0:23:18.520 --> 0:23:21.640 You know, do you know how much merch per head 0:23:21.760 --> 0:23:23.080 you do? Yeah? 0:23:23.080 --> 0:23:27.359 I do. I mean ours is not huge, but you 0:23:27.400 --> 0:23:31.840 know we probably do seven eight dollars ahead with a 0:23:31.840 --> 0:23:34.760 lot of artists probably do. Like eight hundred. 0:23:36.280 --> 0:23:41.159 Seven eight dollars isn't bad. So what's your view on 0:23:41.400 --> 0:23:45.000 using hard drives and other recordings in the live environment. 0:23:47.200 --> 0:23:52.879 We have some some strings, some cellos and stuff on 0:23:52.920 --> 0:23:55.919 a hard drive, but that's that's about it for us, 0:23:56.359 --> 0:24:01.280 simply because we've always been a loon. I bound, you know, 0:24:02.160 --> 0:24:06.560 and I know when I when I sing live, but 0:24:06.640 --> 0:24:10.520 I'm not the lead singing. Uh. You know, sometimes I 0:24:10.640 --> 0:24:13.160 push if I get excited, I push, and I may 0:24:13.680 --> 0:24:17.240 my may go sharp. So I'm I'm reminded reminded by 0:24:17.280 --> 0:24:20.480 our front of highs front of house engineer. He say, 0:24:20.880 --> 0:24:23.840 don't push, just sit there, let the microphone do the work. 0:24:24.040 --> 0:24:26.879 If you get if it's adrenaline, just relaxed. And so 0:24:27.000 --> 0:24:31.119 I'm very I'm always reminded of that. But we have 0:24:31.240 --> 0:24:34.600 some cellos and a couple of violins on a hard drive, 0:24:34.640 --> 0:24:37.680 but on a few songs. But that's that's all. It's 0:24:37.800 --> 0:24:42.200 very little, you know, simply because I love the live 0:24:43.080 --> 0:24:44.639 I love the live energy. You know. 0:24:45.200 --> 0:24:49.320 Okay, you've had monster hits and there supply songs are 0:24:49.320 --> 0:24:53.240 perennials a year in, a year out. Do you still 0:24:53.280 --> 0:24:56.080 own your right huh. 0:24:56.400 --> 0:25:01.920 We we about five years ago we sold we sold 0:25:02.960 --> 0:25:06.760 a high percentage of our catalog to Primary Wave, who 0:25:06.760 --> 0:25:12.200 are one of the companies that people were flocking that artists, 0:25:12.960 --> 0:25:17.040 vintage artists especially were flocking to. And we held out 0:25:17.080 --> 0:25:19.520 for a long time and then they came to us 0:25:20.000 --> 0:25:23.000 and our manager resisted it and he said, he said, 0:25:24.480 --> 0:25:28.560 I'm changing my mind on it. If you want to 0:25:28.680 --> 0:25:32.280 do it, then do it, you know, and he gave 0:25:32.359 --> 0:25:36.320 us his blessing, and he actually engineered the whole thing 0:25:36.680 --> 0:25:38.879 and we were very happy when we did it. We 0:25:38.880 --> 0:25:42.520 didn't sell everything. We actually sold seventy percent and so 0:25:42.600 --> 0:25:47.800 we keep thirty. But you know, we we got a 0:25:47.840 --> 0:25:56.200 big payment, which for us, it didn't solve any problems. 0:25:56.240 --> 0:25:59.000 We didn't have any problems financial problems. We've always been 0:25:59.119 --> 0:26:04.560 very fluid. But it's kind of a backup in case 0:26:04.880 --> 0:26:08.800 everything stopped tomorrow. Then we don't have to worry about, 0:26:09.240 --> 0:26:11.360 oh my, you know, what are we going to do? Now? 0:26:11.760 --> 0:26:14.720 We're okay, we're fine. But it's like you said, we've 0:26:14.720 --> 0:26:19.520 had a lot of big hits. And throughout all that time, 0:26:19.680 --> 0:26:23.719 I owned I owned all my own publishing rights, you know, 0:26:24.720 --> 0:26:29.600 So so I'm in a good place, and Russell Russell agreed, 0:26:30.800 --> 0:26:34.639 And Russell shares in my publishing, you know, and he 0:26:34.720 --> 0:26:39.800 always has simply because he's the singer on a lot 0:26:39.840 --> 0:26:44.840 of these great recordings, you know, and without him, I'm 0:26:44.960 --> 0:26:47.720 very aware that we wouldn't be where we are right now. 0:26:48.200 --> 0:26:51.320 It's the singer, it's the songs, it's a lot of things, 0:26:51.359 --> 0:26:55.399 but his voice is the trademark of air supply, and 0:26:56.640 --> 0:26:59.560 I always wanted to make sure he gets rewarded for that. 0:27:01.520 --> 0:27:06.000 Musicians are legendarily bad with money. You got a big 0:27:06.119 --> 0:27:09.040 check from Primary Way, what do you do with the money? 0:27:10.200 --> 0:27:15.600 Well, we're in a great position because our manager is 0:27:15.680 --> 0:27:21.160 also our accountant and he has been since we began 0:27:21.240 --> 0:27:21.720 our career. 0:27:22.520 --> 0:27:22.800 Wow. 0:27:22.840 --> 0:27:29.280 So yeah, it's incredible. And you know, Barry Siegel is 0:27:29.320 --> 0:27:33.560 his name, and he advises us not only as management 0:27:34.400 --> 0:27:37.160 to decide what we do in a year, but also 0:27:37.440 --> 0:27:41.199 accounting and what we do with the money. And he 0:27:41.440 --> 0:27:45.280 invests for us. But he said to us, you know, 0:27:45.760 --> 0:27:48.600 I want you to have that money and I don't 0:27:48.640 --> 0:27:51.360 want you to touch it, which is a very smart thing. 0:27:51.920 --> 0:27:54.840 And so instead of us going through it and buying whatever, 0:27:55.480 --> 0:28:01.480 he said, No, he's very he's very very frugal. So far, 0:28:01.880 --> 0:28:04.640 we haven't touched any of it because he wanted us 0:28:04.680 --> 0:28:07.919 to have it there as a backup in case anything happens. 0:28:08.000 --> 0:28:12.800 Of course that's the smart the smart thing. But with 0:28:12.960 --> 0:28:18.600 Barry in particular, we have an incredible relationship. Not only 0:28:19.560 --> 0:28:23.680 are we extremely close friends, we go on vacation together, 0:28:25.320 --> 0:28:28.639 we have dinners all the time. But we're very close. 0:28:29.160 --> 0:28:33.960 But there's a great trust there and we look after 0:28:34.040 --> 0:28:37.080 each other, you know. And I don't know if we'd 0:28:37.119 --> 0:28:40.480 be where we are with that Barry. In fact, we 0:28:40.760 --> 0:28:41.560 wouldn't for sure. 0:28:42.000 --> 0:28:43.040 So how did you meet him? 0:28:45.640 --> 0:28:50.040 That's an interesting story when nineteen eighty when Lost in 0:28:50.080 --> 0:28:55.200 Love was the biggest song in the world, and we 0:28:55.240 --> 0:28:59.760 didn't have any representation, no manager, no accounting or anything. 0:29:00.480 --> 0:29:03.240 And Russell and I were, of course still living in 0:29:03.280 --> 0:29:07.960 Australia and we got a lot of phone calls from 0:29:08.320 --> 0:29:12.280 lawyers from Los Angeles and money people saying, oh, I 0:29:12.360 --> 0:29:15.560 know you don't have any representation, I'd like to offer 0:29:15.640 --> 0:29:22.160 our services and from great people. And we didn't get 0:29:22.200 --> 0:29:25.920 a call from Barry. He came and knocked on my door. 0:29:26.720 --> 0:29:30.560 He flew to Australia and he said I'm Barry seeing 0:29:30.600 --> 0:29:33.520 on I am accountant and would you be interested in 0:29:33.560 --> 0:29:37.240 talking to me? And at that point he was working 0:29:37.280 --> 0:29:40.520 with a large accounting firm, but he wanted to go 0:29:40.600 --> 0:29:46.160 out on his own with a partner. And I took 0:29:46.240 --> 0:29:49.640 him out in Sydney that night and we got him 0:29:49.680 --> 0:29:53.200 really drunk and we just left him alone and he 0:29:53.240 --> 0:29:56.120 had to find his way through through his dodgy area 0:29:56.200 --> 0:29:59.640 called King's Cross in Sydney and he couldn't remember where 0:29:59.640 --> 0:30:03.600 his hotel I was. But we we just got on great. 0:30:03.640 --> 0:30:07.120 And I Russell and I both thought that him coming 0:30:07.160 --> 0:30:10.600 to Australia knocking on out door and saying I'd love 0:30:10.640 --> 0:30:13.840 to represent you, you know, and we said, yes, let's 0:30:13.840 --> 0:30:16.920 do it. And that's that was a long time ago, 0:30:17.440 --> 0:30:20.040 and that's how we get. That's how it started. 0:30:20.320 --> 0:30:24.880 So unlike most musicians, you haven't had an episode of 0:30:24.920 --> 0:30:26.440 being seriously ripped off. 0:30:27.840 --> 0:30:32.479 No, no, we haven't, thanks to Barry. We've had people 0:30:32.520 --> 0:30:36.720 that have tried to do that, but they they're not successful. 0:30:37.360 --> 0:30:44.880 You know, Barry Barry Barry's firm, which is PFM Provident 0:30:45.040 --> 0:30:54.400 Provident Financial Management, became very, very successful in an accounting world. 0:30:55.400 --> 0:30:59.160 But I believe we're the only artist that he personally manages, 0:30:59.320 --> 0:31:04.520 although he's company represents the krem Della Creme of artists 0:31:04.520 --> 0:31:09.440 and actors in the industry. So it's great for us, 0:31:10.440 --> 0:31:13.880 you know, but we've never nobody's ever tried to rip 0:31:13.920 --> 0:31:16.120 us off for him, well, they've tried a few times, 0:31:16.120 --> 0:31:17.920 but Barry just knocks it all down, as it's known. 0:31:18.720 --> 0:31:24.440 So he's you know, it's something about trust and when 0:31:24.480 --> 0:31:28.280 you have a career and if you trust someone totally, 0:31:28.880 --> 0:31:31.720 that's a big that's a big plus for us because 0:31:31.720 --> 0:31:35.040 we don't spend any time wondering if anybody is ripping 0:31:35.120 --> 0:31:37.960 us off. We just don't. And you know, it's a 0:31:38.000 --> 0:31:43.400 wonderful experience that we've had together and we we refer 0:31:43.520 --> 0:31:48.160 to ourselves as the Three Musketeers. 0:31:55.440 --> 0:31:59.240 Okay, jumping around. You were talking about in the eighties 0:32:00.240 --> 0:32:03.440 on the road so much. Why were you on the 0:32:03.520 --> 0:32:06.760 road so much? Today acts have to be on the road. 0:32:06.920 --> 0:32:10.000 I'm talking about you know, act starting up, recording step 0:32:10.040 --> 0:32:12.880 for a few don't generate that much money. Were people 0:32:12.920 --> 0:32:15.880 saying you have to go on the road to sell 0:32:15.920 --> 0:32:19.840 the act, to build the act, to visit the radio stations, 0:32:20.240 --> 0:32:22.520 or they were saying, you're so hot. This is the 0:32:22.640 --> 0:32:25.600 time to make money. Why were they having you work 0:32:25.680 --> 0:32:26.160 so much? 0:32:28.280 --> 0:32:31.200 We wanted to first up and we had the opportunity. 0:32:31.320 --> 0:32:34.920 Suddenly we could have our own tour, which a lot 0:32:35.000 --> 0:32:37.840 of artists they have to wait a long time before 0:32:37.880 --> 0:32:44.000 they get that. They did say you need to headline 0:32:44.040 --> 0:32:46.640 your own tour. So we did a theater tour in 0:32:46.800 --> 0:32:50.280 nineteen eighty. I'll never forget it. I remember each show 0:32:51.520 --> 0:32:52.920 and we were on a bus. So for us it 0:32:53.000 --> 0:32:57.880 was exciting too. You know, I was in nineteen eighty, 0:32:57.920 --> 0:33:01.560 I was thirty years old. Russell was thirty one. So 0:33:01.720 --> 0:33:04.160 for us it was like, oh my, this whole new 0:33:04.200 --> 0:33:07.960 life just started. And they said, if you want to 0:33:08.000 --> 0:33:10.960 work every night, you can work every night, and we did. 0:33:11.040 --> 0:33:12.720 We wanted to. We were on a bus. It was 0:33:12.760 --> 0:33:15.680 a lot of fun where we had several buses. We 0:33:15.680 --> 0:33:18.320 were doing the show. Getting on the bus, habit a 0:33:18.360 --> 0:33:22.360 bottle of wine and life was fantastic. We'd be looking 0:33:22.640 --> 0:33:27.120 we'd get the billboard positions a week early. Clive Davis 0:33:27.120 --> 0:33:29.320 would be calling us all the time saying, oh, you've 0:33:29.400 --> 0:33:33.280 jumped another ten places. So life was incredible. It was 0:33:33.320 --> 0:33:39.000 what every artist, every musician dreams about. And it suddenly 0:33:39.040 --> 0:33:42.280 came to us, and we were kind of late in 0:33:42.360 --> 0:33:45.200 life for it to happen, thirty and thirty one years old, 0:33:45.880 --> 0:33:47.800 so we didn't look a gift horse in the mouth. 0:33:48.000 --> 0:33:52.600 Plus we wanted to play. We'd had four years of 0:33:53.720 --> 0:33:56.960 not earning any money. We were broke before Lost in 0:33:57.040 --> 0:34:00.440 Love hit in the US. We had no money, even 0:34:00.480 --> 0:34:02.280 though it was a big hit in Australia. We had 0:34:02.280 --> 0:34:06.959 several hits in Australia, we weren't earning anything. We couldn't 0:34:07.000 --> 0:34:11.000 even play in Australia. We couldn't afford to hire musicians 0:34:11.160 --> 0:34:14.359 or a PA system, so we just weren't working. So 0:34:14.520 --> 0:34:18.560 suddenly to headline our own tour was a big deal 0:34:18.640 --> 0:34:21.200 for us, and we wanted to get out there. You know, 0:34:21.360 --> 0:34:24.880 Lost in Love was you couldn't turn the radio one 0:34:24.960 --> 0:34:29.080 without hearing Lost in Love at all anywhere, and we 0:34:29.120 --> 0:34:32.520 had a little taste of that right before we came 0:34:32.600 --> 0:34:36.439 to the US. We went to Japan because they asked 0:34:36.480 --> 0:34:39.759 us to come. Lost in Love was released there, and 0:34:40.160 --> 0:34:45.200 in Australia a gold record is twenty thousand copies. We 0:34:45.719 --> 0:34:53.719 went to Japan in nineteen seventy nine and we sold 0:34:53.719 --> 0:34:57.400 a million albums in a week and we thought, oh 0:34:57.480 --> 0:35:00.439 my god, this is just outrageous, you know, and so 0:35:00.560 --> 0:35:04.080 we said, yes, that's what we want. And it wasn't 0:35:04.160 --> 0:35:07.120 the money, because we'd never had any all the fame. 0:35:07.239 --> 0:35:09.839 It was just being able to do, to have a 0:35:09.880 --> 0:35:13.279 career and to be able to play and get on 0:35:13.440 --> 0:35:18.040 stage and having people in the audience. We we had 0:35:18.040 --> 0:35:23.759 done shows in Sydney where nobody came. Nobody and the 0:35:23.920 --> 0:35:27.520 problem the guy that was running the pub, you know, 0:35:27.640 --> 0:35:30.239 he would because we'd do two we were booked for 0:35:30.280 --> 0:35:34.520 two one hour sets. He'd say, okay, nobody's here. After 0:35:34.520 --> 0:35:36.400 the first set, I'm going to give you half the money. 0:35:36.440 --> 0:35:39.680 You can go home, and we say, no, we have to. 0:35:40.040 --> 0:35:43.840 We want to, you know, sit by the contract. This. 0:35:44.080 --> 0:35:46.759 We wanted to two shows, two one hour shows, because 0:35:46.800 --> 0:35:49.000 we needed the money and we were making two hundred 0:35:49.000 --> 0:35:52.359 dollars a night. It was out. It was stupid, you know, 0:35:52.520 --> 0:35:56.000 but that's all we had. And then Lost in Love 0:35:56.080 --> 0:36:01.640 hit and everything changed, you know. That's why we wanted 0:36:01.680 --> 0:36:02.080 to play. 0:36:03.239 --> 0:36:09.680 Okay, you're in the pub in Australia, literally no one comes. Yeah, 0:36:10.040 --> 0:36:11.839 how do you keep your attitude up? 0:36:13.560 --> 0:36:16.520 It was very difficult, but just in case anybody was 0:36:16.600 --> 0:36:19.880 to walk in, which they didn't. We just did the show, 0:36:19.960 --> 0:36:24.280 so it was like a rehearsal and we played both 0:36:24.320 --> 0:36:32.000 sets and it destroys you. It's really it breaks your heart, 0:36:32.160 --> 0:36:35.680 you know. And at the same time we had a 0:36:35.680 --> 0:36:37.919 top ten record in Australia lost in it was top 0:36:37.960 --> 0:36:41.600 ten and we couldn't get anybody at the shows. But 0:36:42.280 --> 0:36:45.960 our hearts were breaking. But we never gave up. We 0:36:46.160 --> 0:36:49.239 never said this is I've had enough of this, I'm 0:36:49.239 --> 0:36:51.319 going to get a job. I think we said. We 0:36:51.400 --> 0:36:54.279 never did that. We said no, no, we've got to 0:36:54.320 --> 0:36:56.839 hang on. We've got to hang on, you know, And 0:36:56.880 --> 0:36:59.839 we did and I'm glad we did. 0:37:00.640 --> 0:37:02.080 So where did you grow up? 0:37:03.080 --> 0:37:05.680 I grew up in Nottingham in England, which is in 0:37:05.719 --> 0:37:07.720 the center of England. 0:37:07.719 --> 0:37:11.000 All I know was Nottingham. Didn't Raleigh bicycles made in 0:37:11.320 --> 0:37:12.240 notting Yes. 0:37:12.480 --> 0:37:16.120 He did. My sister used to work for him and 0:37:16.239 --> 0:37:17.320 dunlocked tires. 0:37:18.480 --> 0:37:21.560 So what were the circumstances? What were your parents doing 0:37:21.600 --> 0:37:22.120 for a living? 0:37:23.640 --> 0:37:27.480 Well, my mother died when I was ten, which was 0:37:27.600 --> 0:37:31.760 really instrumental in me starting to write songs and writing 0:37:32.000 --> 0:37:35.000 verse down because when my mother died I didn't speak 0:37:35.000 --> 0:37:38.080 to anyone for three months. And when I came out 0:37:38.160 --> 0:37:40.560 because I was I was ten years old, I was 0:37:40.600 --> 0:37:45.960 in shock. When I started to talk, I would write 0:37:45.960 --> 0:37:49.720 things down on a legal pad with add it around 0:37:49.719 --> 0:37:54.200 my neck with a pen and I would write things down. 0:37:54.280 --> 0:37:57.000 Then I started to put things into verse and make 0:37:57.040 --> 0:38:00.279 it right for fun. But then when I started to 0:38:00.320 --> 0:38:03.800 speak to people, would I would show them the verses, 0:38:03.840 --> 0:38:06.280 you know, say this is what I'm feeling right now, 0:38:07.120 --> 0:38:11.040 and they they turned into songs. But my father worked 0:38:11.040 --> 0:38:16.600 in a factory. He had for years and years. We 0:38:16.680 --> 0:38:20.879 never we didn't have a car or phone. We never 0:38:20.920 --> 0:38:25.200 went on vacation anywhere. We didn't have anything. But I 0:38:25.239 --> 0:38:29.479 had a great until when my mother passed away, which 0:38:29.560 --> 0:38:32.560 changed my whole life. Before that, I had a great childhood. 0:38:32.600 --> 0:38:35.480 I was happy and just like all the other kids. 0:38:35.520 --> 0:38:39.520 But I just wanted to be a songwriter from very 0:38:39.520 --> 0:38:40.240 early age. 0:38:40.600 --> 0:38:44.400 Okay, was your mother ill or did she die suddenly? 0:38:44.880 --> 0:38:47.800 She died from cancer. She had breast cancer. But I 0:38:48.400 --> 0:38:50.960 knew she was ill, but they kept it from me 0:38:51.040 --> 0:38:56.480 that she was really terminal. And then one morning my 0:38:56.600 --> 0:39:01.600 dad just said to myself, my two older sisters, he 0:39:01.640 --> 0:39:06.320 said your mother's gone. And I said, oh, where is 0:39:06.400 --> 0:39:09.080 she gone? And when she's coming back? And he said, no, 0:39:09.239 --> 0:39:12.200 she passed away, and I didn't know what that meant. 0:39:12.800 --> 0:39:15.560 I said, well, what when is she coming back? You know? 0:39:16.680 --> 0:39:19.000 He said, she's not coming back. That's it. And I 0:39:19.120 --> 0:39:22.680 was just devastated. And it took me a long long 0:39:22.800 --> 0:39:28.359 time to get used to the idea, you know, which 0:39:28.400 --> 0:39:32.360 is you know now, I understand when people when children 0:39:32.400 --> 0:39:35.319 lose their apparent at an early age, I understand what 0:39:35.360 --> 0:39:38.520 they're going through. But until you go through that, I 0:39:38.520 --> 0:39:42.040 don't know if you can understand it. My whole world died, 0:39:42.480 --> 0:39:46.960 everything died, and it took me a long time to 0:39:47.560 --> 0:39:49.800 build my life back together. 0:39:49.960 --> 0:39:54.040 You know, Okay, you didn't speak for three months. 0:39:54.239 --> 0:39:54.359 Now. 0:39:54.880 --> 0:39:58.719 People noticed that when they say, or what you don't 0:39:58.719 --> 0:40:01.439 want to take you to the doctor, they were ribbing you. 0:40:01.840 --> 0:40:02.600 How are people here? 0:40:03.960 --> 0:40:07.840 They were trying to comfort me because they realized that 0:40:07.920 --> 0:40:10.319 I didn't know that it was going to happen, that 0:40:10.360 --> 0:40:13.000 my mother was going to die. Everybody knew but me 0:40:13.239 --> 0:40:16.719 that she was going to go, so it was all 0:40:16.760 --> 0:40:20.680 it was a comfort thing. But I just didn't want 0:40:20.880 --> 0:40:22.839 anything to do with it. I didn't want to talk 0:40:22.880 --> 0:40:25.640 to people. I didn't want people comforting me and saying, no, 0:40:25.760 --> 0:40:28.759 it's going to be all right, because no, it wasn't 0:40:28.800 --> 0:40:31.000 going to be all right, and I needed to go 0:40:31.080 --> 0:40:34.640 through it. And even at that early age, I just 0:40:34.840 --> 0:40:37.720 wanted to be on my own. I needed to deal 0:40:37.800 --> 0:40:42.959 with it myself. But one must remember in England, where 0:40:42.960 --> 0:40:47.959 I came from, then I don't ever remember embracing my dad, 0:40:48.040 --> 0:40:49.919 or my dad coming up to me giving me a hug, 0:40:50.280 --> 0:40:53.200 or ever saying I love you. It just didn't happen, 0:40:53.560 --> 0:40:58.040 never happened. So I was on my own. I don't 0:40:58.040 --> 0:41:00.600 even remember my sisters coming up to me and putting 0:41:00.640 --> 0:41:05.880 their arms around me. And in fact, my sister was 0:41:06.320 --> 0:41:08.200 one of my sisters is eight years older than me, 0:41:08.280 --> 0:41:11.800 and we're very close now. But she said to me recently, 0:41:11.920 --> 0:41:15.640 she said, I had no idea what you went through. 0:41:16.120 --> 0:41:20.200 Nobody told you, and nobody tried to help you. And 0:41:20.239 --> 0:41:25.040 I said, no, they didn't. But on reflection, it gave 0:41:25.120 --> 0:41:29.000 me great strength and I started to listen to my 0:41:29.120 --> 0:41:32.880 own voice in my head and it set me on 0:41:32.920 --> 0:41:36.880 a path to write things down and to write verse. 0:41:37.600 --> 0:41:40.720 And then I wanted to learn to play the guitar. 0:41:41.040 --> 0:41:43.000 I got a guitar and I learned to play it 0:41:43.080 --> 0:41:49.839 really quickly, and the first song I learned was Home 0:41:49.880 --> 0:41:51.879 on the Range, which is like a two chord song. 0:41:52.320 --> 0:41:54.200 As soon as I could look, as soon as I 0:41:54.200 --> 0:41:57.560 could play that, I started writing my own songs. Not 0:41:57.680 --> 0:42:00.920 knowing what I was doing. I just and that was 0:42:00.960 --> 0:42:05.440 the beginning. And I would write songs maybe three or 0:42:05.480 --> 0:42:10.840 four every week, even as a young teenager and right 0:42:10.920 --> 0:42:15.920 into my adult life, you know. So it became second 0:42:16.040 --> 0:42:19.640 nature to me, and it became everything to me. It 0:42:19.719 --> 0:42:24.160 became the shoulder that I could cry on, and it 0:42:24.280 --> 0:42:28.600 became my life everything, you know. So songwriting for me, 0:42:29.560 --> 0:42:33.200 it's not just something to do to try and get 0:42:33.200 --> 0:42:35.759 a song on the radio. I mean far from it. 0:42:35.760 --> 0:42:40.880 It's just it's the other, my other persona that I 0:42:40.920 --> 0:42:44.480 talked to, and it's kind of like my twin if 0:42:44.520 --> 0:42:44.799 you like. 0:42:45.719 --> 0:42:48.360 Okay, is that when you knew you were going to 0:42:48.360 --> 0:42:49.239 be a songwriter? 0:42:50.320 --> 0:42:52.880 Yeah it is, yeah, well not when I knew I 0:42:52.960 --> 0:42:55.480 was going to be. It was when I wanted to be. 0:42:56.000 --> 0:42:58.360 But you know, I was in the center of England. 0:42:58.360 --> 0:43:00.760 The last thing anybody needs in the center of England 0:43:00.800 --> 0:43:06.120 is a songwriter. But I never let go of it. 0:43:06.200 --> 0:43:11.320 I always wanted my career's person, my career's teacher at school, 0:43:11.640 --> 0:43:16.640 who I am actually still in touch with. Yeah, she 0:43:17.360 --> 0:43:19.000 and I said, She said, well, what do you want 0:43:19.000 --> 0:43:20.800 to be? Do you want to be a doctor or 0:43:20.880 --> 0:43:23.000 policeman or what do you want to do? I said, 0:43:23.040 --> 0:43:24.880 I want to be in a band. I want to 0:43:24.920 --> 0:43:30.040 write songs. And I'm thirteen years old, right, And she says, ha, no, 0:43:30.200 --> 0:43:32.000 you can't do that. What do you really want to be? 0:43:32.040 --> 0:43:34.319 And I said, I really want to be a songwriter? 0:43:35.600 --> 0:43:39.920 So yeah, isn't that weird? It's funny? 0:43:40.080 --> 0:43:44.600 Okay, a couple of things. You're very verbal thinking, but 0:43:44.680 --> 0:43:47.280 you're talking about this alone time when your mother pats. 0:43:48.120 --> 0:43:51.520 Are you someone who likes their own company or you 0:43:51.680 --> 0:43:54.760 someone like Jerry Maguire always has to have somebody around. 0:43:55.920 --> 0:43:58.279 No. I like spending a lot of time on my own. 0:43:59.400 --> 0:44:01.880 I don't know if that's good or bad for anyone, 0:44:02.040 --> 0:44:06.400 but I always have. Even at school, I was a loner, 0:44:06.680 --> 0:44:11.839 you know. I know when I was fifteen sixteen, nobody 0:44:11.920 --> 0:44:14.200 would go out with me on a day to the pictures, 0:44:14.239 --> 0:44:17.719 the movies, and so I became I was my own 0:44:17.800 --> 0:44:22.239 best friend, and then I would just The only thing 0:44:22.360 --> 0:44:26.200 I used to run to was writing songs. I'd dash 0:44:26.239 --> 0:44:30.440 home from school and i'd listened to this program on 0:44:30.480 --> 0:44:33.040 the BBC called Pop Go the Beatles. It was on 0:44:33.600 --> 0:44:36.160 a Tuesday afternoon at five o'clock, and I used to 0:44:36.239 --> 0:44:39.200 dash home and listen to it. And then i'd listened 0:44:39.239 --> 0:44:41.520 to that, and then i'd go and write a song, 0:44:43.239 --> 0:44:46.920 you know, obviously imitating what i'd just heard, but it 0:44:47.000 --> 0:44:50.400 was a great What I didn't realize what I was 0:44:50.440 --> 0:44:55.640 doing is I was informing myself. I was going to school. 0:44:56.360 --> 0:44:59.560 I was going to the University of learning how to 0:44:59.600 --> 0:45:02.920 write a song, even at thirteen and fourteen. But I 0:45:03.000 --> 0:45:07.239 loved it. And you know, I would say to a 0:45:07.280 --> 0:45:09.920 couple of school friends. They'd say, what are you just 0:45:10.000 --> 0:45:13.000 still writing songs? I said yeah. They say, okay, let 0:45:13.040 --> 0:45:16.440 me let me have a listen to some. And I 0:45:16.480 --> 0:45:20.320 was never shy. I usually had a guitar with me anyway, 0:45:20.680 --> 0:45:22.479 and I would say, okay, listen to this, and I'd 0:45:22.480 --> 0:45:24.800 play them one or two or three or four songs 0:45:25.480 --> 0:45:29.359 and they go wow, you know, And so that's how 0:45:30.440 --> 0:45:34.239 over I overcame my shyness because I wasn't afraid to. 0:45:34.640 --> 0:45:37.120 I would just stop and play for anybody. You know. 0:45:37.320 --> 0:45:41.000 Okay, so you're writing songs. I mean you're in England. 0:45:41.040 --> 0:45:44.800 It's not the same as America. But in America, certainly 0:45:44.880 --> 0:45:49.160 post Beatles, everybody got a guitar, drums, whatever, and they 0:45:49.200 --> 0:45:52.400 started to play and they played it high school assemblies 0:45:52.440 --> 0:45:57.120 and they played parties. Did you play those kind of gigs? 0:45:58.440 --> 0:46:00.760 A few of them in England? When whenever I could, 0:46:01.239 --> 0:46:04.360 If my school friends would say, oh, we're having a 0:46:04.360 --> 0:46:08.200 few people around and I was invited, I always took 0:46:08.200 --> 0:46:11.880 my guitar just because that was what I did. It 0:46:11.960 --> 0:46:15.040 was like my date. You know, I had a guitar, 0:46:15.600 --> 0:46:17.920 and of course if somebody sees you with a guitar, 0:46:17.960 --> 0:46:21.720 oh you play guitar. There you want to play something? Yeah, sure, 0:46:23.320 --> 0:46:26.200 so that's how it started. You know. I've never been 0:46:26.360 --> 0:46:29.839 shy about playing. But I'm not a great guitar player. 0:46:29.920 --> 0:46:32.319 I just play rhythm guitar and I play enough to 0:46:32.400 --> 0:46:37.000 get by. I get I know enough guitar to play 0:46:37.040 --> 0:46:40.560 my songs. But that's yeah. I used to play those 0:46:40.680 --> 0:46:42.280 kind of things, you know for sure. 0:46:42.920 --> 0:46:47.600 Okay. One have to ask many musicians play music because 0:46:47.640 --> 0:46:51.680 it's a way to find girls or girls have been 0:46:51.800 --> 0:46:54.759 drawn to them. Was that of your motivations? And did 0:46:54.800 --> 0:46:55.280 it work? 0:46:56.480 --> 0:46:59.560 It was never a motivation for me at all. In fact, 0:46:59.600 --> 0:47:02.920 I never even thought about that. It wasn't on my 0:47:03.080 --> 0:47:06.560 radar at all. I just wanted to play songs. I 0:47:06.600 --> 0:47:11.440 wanted to play my own songs. And when I joined 0:47:11.440 --> 0:47:17.399 the band in England and I played drums, you. 0:47:17.360 --> 0:47:19.240 Know, how did that happen? 0:47:19.920 --> 0:47:24.640 Well? I loved the Beatles and you know, I bought 0:47:24.680 --> 0:47:28.520 every record they had. I used to go around to 0:47:28.560 --> 0:47:31.960 my aunt's and say, the Beatles albums coming out? Can 0:47:32.040 --> 0:47:34.600 you help me pay for it? You know? And they would. 0:47:35.400 --> 0:47:38.280 And then I just had this thing of for ringo, 0:47:38.440 --> 0:47:40.880 you know. And so I would sit on my couch 0:47:40.960 --> 0:47:44.600 and I would play drums. I had a cardboard box 0:47:44.800 --> 0:47:49.840 for the bass drum. I bought a cheap second and 0:47:49.960 --> 0:47:53.480 not even second, and a kick drum pedal hitting a 0:47:53.520 --> 0:47:57.239 cardboard box. And I had another cardboard box for a 0:47:57.360 --> 0:48:00.520 tom tom and I would hit the couch and I 0:48:01.160 --> 0:48:05.200 learned every single Beatles song, all the drums, so to 0:48:05.320 --> 0:48:07.120 go into I wanted then, I wanted to go into 0:48:07.200 --> 0:48:11.480 a band, and I joined a band, but quickly I 0:48:11.560 --> 0:48:17.719 realized that drums weren't for me simply because it it 0:48:17.880 --> 0:48:21.200 was playing a lot of blues songs, which I didn't 0:48:21.239 --> 0:48:24.480 care for, and I wanted to play my own songs. 0:48:24.719 --> 0:48:27.600 I would say to the guys man, hey, guys, how 0:48:27.640 --> 0:48:30.360 about playing an original song, you know? And they go, no, no, 0:48:31.160 --> 0:48:34.840 we're a cover band. So that's what was going on 0:48:34.880 --> 0:48:36.920 in England, and I got really fed up with it, 0:48:37.000 --> 0:48:41.520 you know, and that's when I decided to leave England 0:48:41.520 --> 0:48:42.920 because I couldn't get anywhere. 0:48:50.920 --> 0:48:54.400 Okay, a few questions when you would play your songs, 0:48:55.760 --> 0:49:00.040 was reaction always positive? Or was sometimes people would the 0:49:00.120 --> 0:49:03.040 morning people said, hey, I'd rather listen to her hit song. 0:49:04.320 --> 0:49:07.560 It was always positive, which was great for me because 0:49:08.000 --> 0:49:10.920 a lot of my early songs they weren't great songs. 0:49:10.960 --> 0:49:13.640 It was just a young kid trying to learn how 0:49:13.640 --> 0:49:17.560 to write songs. But even my sisters, when I play them, 0:49:17.560 --> 0:49:20.640 they say, oh, wow, that's really nice. But so they 0:49:21.120 --> 0:49:24.520 empowered me. And my school friends would say wow, that's cool, 0:49:25.400 --> 0:49:29.200 and they would start learning the songs with me and 0:49:29.280 --> 0:49:33.719 they'd sing with me, and so I knew. I knew 0:49:33.800 --> 0:49:37.640 the songs were okay. They weren't hit songs, and they 0:49:37.640 --> 0:49:40.719 were all over the place, but they were finished, and 0:49:40.760 --> 0:49:44.040 they had lyrics and there was a beginning, a chorus 0:49:44.040 --> 0:49:46.319 and an ending. So I was very happy with that. 0:49:47.280 --> 0:49:51.160 But everybody was always positive. Nobody ever said, oh, that's terrible. 0:49:52.040 --> 0:49:55.640 I think if they had I would have been destroyed. 0:49:55.680 --> 0:49:59.800 But nobody ever did, Okay, do you still write songs 0:49:59.840 --> 0:50:03.560 to Oh? Yeah, every day, every day. 0:50:04.239 --> 0:50:06.000 Yeah, I'll tell me a little bit more about that. 0:50:07.040 --> 0:50:12.160 Well, you know, a supply. We just finished our Ladies' album, 0:50:12.160 --> 0:50:15.520 which is our first in fifteen years, so I don't 0:50:15.640 --> 0:50:19.320 have a lot of outlet for my songs. So about 0:50:19.360 --> 0:50:23.080 ten years ago I started to get involved with musicals. 0:50:23.120 --> 0:50:26.840 I love writing musicals, and now I just finished my 0:50:26.960 --> 0:50:33.360 twelfth musical simply because I love to write around a story, 0:50:33.440 --> 0:50:37.520 so I get the story from somewhere and now I'm 0:50:37.880 --> 0:50:41.759 getting the hang of it, and so it's something that 0:50:41.800 --> 0:50:44.080 I love to do. I don't know if it's supply 0:50:44.120 --> 0:50:46.920 after this album, won't make another album. I don't want 0:50:46.960 --> 0:50:50.920 to say we won't, but this one took fifteen years 0:50:50.960 --> 0:50:52.919 for us to come around to say, oh, yeah, let's 0:50:52.920 --> 0:50:55.319 make an album. I don't know if we have that 0:50:55.440 --> 0:51:00.160 much time left, but I just love writing songs. So 0:51:00.239 --> 0:51:03.920 people started to come to me with with the scripts 0:51:03.960 --> 0:51:06.040 and these stories and say, I really want to turn 0:51:06.080 --> 0:51:08.880 this into a musical. Would you be interested? I say, yeah, sure, 0:51:10.280 --> 0:51:13.160 So it's good for me. I just love writing songs, 0:51:13.200 --> 0:51:18.640 you know. And you know the the air supply musicals 0:51:18.680 --> 0:51:23.240 coming this year, so it's all kind of coming full circle. 0:51:25.640 --> 0:51:28.600 I mean once again. You know, I just have a 0:51:28.600 --> 0:51:31.120 great life. I kind of do what I want to do, 0:51:31.239 --> 0:51:32.399 and you know. 0:51:32.920 --> 0:51:36.400 Okay, So what happened with the twelve musicals you wrote? 0:51:39.560 --> 0:51:43.360 Well, four of them were attempts at air supply musicals, 0:51:43.520 --> 0:51:47.439 but the book, the book that people wrote, I never 0:51:47.440 --> 0:51:50.080 have anything to do with the book. People would say, oh, 0:51:50.120 --> 0:51:52.800 the book's not great, you know, But then I try again. 0:51:54.320 --> 0:51:59.399 But then I wrote three with two gentlemen from here 0:51:59.480 --> 0:52:04.920 in Utah that were and two of them went on stage, 0:52:04.960 --> 0:52:08.720 had limited runs, so that was great. So every every 0:52:08.800 --> 0:52:15.480 musical I'm getting more and more experience. Now, last July, 0:52:16.160 --> 0:52:20.400 I started to write one about David Copperfield, the Charles 0:52:20.440 --> 0:52:25.440 Dickens Book, and I finished that in six weeks, and 0:52:25.520 --> 0:52:28.440 so that's how it has a reading. A second reading 0:52:28.440 --> 0:52:30.560 in March and I think it's going to open in 0:52:30.640 --> 0:52:35.880 London in November. That's when I'm tough. So my musicals 0:52:35.920 --> 0:52:40.960 are getting more and more notoriety. But even if they don't, 0:52:42.480 --> 0:52:45.080 I just love doing it, you know, it's great. And 0:52:45.800 --> 0:52:49.880 I enjoyed the readings and they hire all these singers 0:52:49.920 --> 0:52:54.160 and and suddenly I'm seeing all these people and rehearsal 0:52:54.280 --> 0:52:57.920 singing all these songs, and wow, that's really cool. But 0:52:59.280 --> 0:53:01.600 it's great, you know, it's wonderful for me. 0:53:01.840 --> 0:53:04.520 So how do you write songs? And what's the difference 0:53:04.520 --> 0:53:08.160 between writing songs for ear supplier for a musical. 0:53:09.000 --> 0:53:13.759 Because in a musical, the parameters are given to me. 0:53:14.560 --> 0:53:17.880 There's a story, the script or the book if you like, 0:53:18.560 --> 0:53:22.640 and I read the book, I absorb it and I 0:53:22.680 --> 0:53:25.799 think where a song should be, or the author of 0:53:25.840 --> 0:53:30.400 the book will tell me where the song he thinks 0:53:30.600 --> 0:53:33.799 or she thinks needs to be. And I like that. 0:53:33.840 --> 0:53:36.279 They give me a lot of pointers and tell me 0:53:36.360 --> 0:53:39.279 what should be said in the song. So for me, 0:53:39.400 --> 0:53:42.359 it's kind of easy because they're telling me what needs 0:53:42.400 --> 0:53:45.960 to happen in the song, who's singing it, and the 0:53:46.000 --> 0:53:49.120 parameters of the scene. And then I go and I'll 0:53:49.160 --> 0:53:53.759 write the song. So it's great for me, but for 0:53:53.840 --> 0:53:56.400 a supply, I have to come up with everything, which 0:53:56.440 --> 0:53:59.000 is great too. I have to come up with a 0:53:59.080 --> 0:54:03.640 story well, because a song is a story that you've 0:54:03.640 --> 0:54:06.080 got to have a beginning, a middle, and a great 0:54:06.200 --> 0:54:09.560 ending in three and a half minutes, you know. So 0:54:09.760 --> 0:54:14.480 that's a challenge for anyone. But that's what writing a 0:54:14.560 --> 0:54:19.160 song is all about. And I love that too. But 0:54:21.120 --> 0:54:23.840 there's no doubt I have a gift. I don't know 0:54:23.880 --> 0:54:27.800 where it comes from, but I can pretty much write 0:54:27.800 --> 0:54:29.120 a song on demand, you know. 0:54:29.640 --> 0:54:33.120 Okay, some people eke it out. I mean, Leonard Cohen 0:54:33.200 --> 0:54:37.040 wrote songs over years. Some of the greatest songs in 0:54:37.719 --> 0:54:41.360 rock history were written in fifteen minutes. Yeah, So do 0:54:41.400 --> 0:54:46.480 you work on inspiration or you know, is it something 0:54:46.480 --> 0:54:48.520 you work on a song and you do a song 0:54:48.560 --> 0:54:51.120 a day or a song a week. How do you 0:54:51.360 --> 0:54:54.600 actually do it? Is it more workman like or is 0:54:54.640 --> 0:54:56.440 it more a lightning bolt? 0:54:57.600 --> 0:55:00.879 It's a lightning boat. But I'm very aware, after all, 0:55:01.239 --> 0:55:04.279 you know, I've been writing songs now for over sixty years. 0:55:04.320 --> 0:55:06.839 That's a long time. So I've kind of figured out 0:55:06.880 --> 0:55:10.880 a few of the things. But for me and I 0:55:10.920 --> 0:55:13.719 know a lot of songwriters are different, but for me, 0:55:14.880 --> 0:55:18.560 I know when it's going to strike. I get a feeling. 0:55:18.680 --> 0:55:20.839 If I know I've got to write a song, I'll 0:55:20.880 --> 0:55:23.360 just sit at the piano or I'll sit my guitar 0:55:24.800 --> 0:55:27.040 and I'll sit there and I think about what I 0:55:27.080 --> 0:55:30.239 want to write about, and then I just do it. 0:55:30.920 --> 0:55:36.240 And most of my biggest songs were written in fifteen 0:55:36.360 --> 0:55:38.680 or thirty minutes. Yeah, Lost in Love was written in 0:55:38.719 --> 0:55:43.120 fifteen minutes, simply because I know when the muse, if 0:55:43.120 --> 0:55:45.480 you want to call it, that is there. I just 0:55:45.680 --> 0:55:49.560 know it, and we have a communication. I just feel 0:55:49.560 --> 0:55:52.399 it and I get goosebumps, and I say, Okay, I'm 0:55:52.400 --> 0:55:56.280 going to write this song. And then when it's done, 0:55:57.000 --> 0:56:00.279 you know, I have my phone going to record it. 0:56:00.920 --> 0:56:04.840 I don't have any sophisticated recording technique. I just record 0:56:04.920 --> 0:56:08.680 the song and then I'll go back and I listen 0:56:08.920 --> 0:56:13.200 to what's on my phone. And I'm always nervous when 0:56:13.239 --> 0:56:16.560 I go back to listen because I say to myself, God, 0:56:16.640 --> 0:56:19.719 that was great, but it isn't that great. I listen 0:56:19.760 --> 0:56:23.560 to my phone and every time I go, yes, I 0:56:23.640 --> 0:56:25.600 got I've got the essence of it. Then I go 0:56:25.760 --> 0:56:29.040 back and tidy it up and you know, and finish 0:56:29.080 --> 0:56:34.680 the lyrics. So it's a great revelation for me, and 0:56:34.880 --> 0:56:38.680 it's I love it so much because and every time 0:56:39.800 --> 0:56:45.759 that comes, where that inspiration strikes me, I end up 0:56:45.800 --> 0:56:51.800 in tears because it's such an incredible feeling and a moment. 0:56:51.920 --> 0:56:54.640 You know, it's like I get taken over and I 0:56:54.760 --> 0:56:58.960 just can't. I go into this massive crime thing almost 0:56:59.040 --> 0:57:03.839 like wow, it happened again. But I don't deserve to 0:57:03.920 --> 0:57:06.880 have these feelings and to do this. You know, there 0:57:06.920 --> 0:57:10.360 should be somebody else, but it's not, you know, and 0:57:11.400 --> 0:57:15.160 I you know, I don't have any training, musical training 0:57:15.239 --> 0:57:21.520 about anything. It's all intuitive, but it's never let me 0:57:21.600 --> 0:57:24.920 down so far, and I just love it. I just 0:57:24.960 --> 0:57:25.800 love it so much. 0:57:26.200 --> 0:57:29.000 Okay, do you know when you write a hit? 0:57:30.200 --> 0:57:34.320 I do? Yeah? Well should I say I know when 0:57:34.360 --> 0:57:38.840 I write a great song? I do yeah, because it 0:57:38.920 --> 0:57:42.480 happens quickly, and I can just tell after all these years, 0:57:42.880 --> 0:57:45.560 I go, oh yeah. But if I'm start to write 0:57:45.560 --> 0:57:52.160 something and it doesn't reach my expectations, I'll stop and 0:57:52.200 --> 0:57:54.680 I'll never go back to it. It has to happen 0:57:54.880 --> 0:57:59.080 really fast so I can get that inspiration, that lightning boat. 0:57:59.120 --> 0:58:01.320 I have to catch it and put it in a 0:58:01.360 --> 0:58:05.400 bottle so that it's there, And when it is, it's 0:58:05.480 --> 0:58:11.880 like the most incredible euphoria. It's like, I imagine it's 0:58:11.960 --> 0:58:14.760 like a bit a drug. I don't do drugs, I 0:58:14.800 --> 0:58:19.280 never have, but I imagine it's something like that where you know, 0:58:19.320 --> 0:58:22.480 you go, oh my god, and it's incredible. It's like 0:58:22.520 --> 0:58:25.280 you want to jump off the roof of your house. 0:58:25.360 --> 0:58:30.320 You know, lightning doesn't strike every day, So if you 0:58:30.400 --> 0:58:33.040 want to have an album with ten or twelve tracks, 0:58:34.320 --> 0:58:38.080 my experience is you can't have lightning strike all those times. 0:58:39.000 --> 0:58:44.280 No, that's true. But with this new album of ours, 0:58:44.360 --> 0:58:47.560 we took a long time to record it, simply because 0:58:47.600 --> 0:58:50.200 we were on the road so much and we wanted 0:58:50.240 --> 0:58:53.280 to play, so we would block out two weeks or 0:58:53.320 --> 0:58:57.400 three weeks and we'd go and record. So by the 0:58:57.480 --> 0:59:01.480 time we came to a recording block, I'd written another 0:59:01.560 --> 0:59:05.240 half a dozen songs, of which two or three I 0:59:05.440 --> 0:59:08.800 was really I really knew that they were going to 0:59:08.840 --> 0:59:12.680 be strong, so in my opinion, but I may be wrong. 0:59:13.120 --> 0:59:18.520 This album is packed with really strong songs, but it 0:59:18.640 --> 0:59:21.240 may not be. They may not be songs that people 0:59:21.240 --> 0:59:24.280 want to hear anymore, because I don't pay any attention 0:59:24.480 --> 0:59:29.800 to what's current or what's what's going to be a 0:59:29.880 --> 0:59:32.640 hit or the new flavor of the moment. I just 0:59:32.680 --> 0:59:36.800 don't pay any attention because if I did, I wouldn't 0:59:36.800 --> 0:59:39.000 be doing what I want to do. I'm not going 0:59:39.080 --> 0:59:45.720 to follow another person in their career because mine takes 0:59:45.760 --> 0:59:48.960 two much time. I don't have time to listen to 0:59:49.080 --> 0:59:52.600 new stuff because I'm working on songs all the time. 0:59:53.000 --> 0:59:57.640 And maybe that's a failing, but I don't know. I 0:59:57.680 --> 1:00:00.919 don't even know what gen x is or what's hip 1:00:01.120 --> 1:00:04.760 or what's current or any of the new artists at all. 1:00:05.200 --> 1:00:07.720 But I'm okay with that, you know, I don't. I 1:00:07.760 --> 1:00:11.600 don't need to know anymore. And Air Supply takes a 1:00:13.280 --> 1:00:16.280 lot of my time, but I love it, and it's 1:00:16.680 --> 1:00:20.000 it's the band that Russell and I created, So why 1:00:20.000 --> 1:00:25.320 wouldn't I love to to fill that that energy, fill 1:00:25.400 --> 1:00:28.800 the band with that energy. And the people that work 1:00:29.880 --> 1:00:32.720 for air Supply, all that crew and the band, they 1:00:32.720 --> 1:00:35.040 all feel the same way. They just love it and 1:00:35.680 --> 1:00:38.120 it's we all have a part to play, and it's like, 1:00:39.200 --> 1:00:42.120 you know, when we I mean, I'm digressing. But when 1:00:42.200 --> 1:00:46.360 we go to a show, like I leave tomorrow. We 1:00:46.440 --> 1:00:48.760 go to Chicago and we have we have three shows 1:00:48.800 --> 1:00:51.400 in a rown. When I see everybody, it's like, oh, 1:00:51.440 --> 1:00:53.200 how you doing it? It's great to see you. I 1:00:53.400 --> 1:00:56.840 mean I saw him four days ago, but we go, 1:00:57.000 --> 1:01:00.240 oh wow, you know, it's great, what a what a 1:01:00.240 --> 1:01:02.640 great life. 1:01:03.040 --> 1:01:06.760 How did you feel towards the end of the peak 1:01:06.840 --> 1:01:11.160 of the air supply career in the early eighties late seventies, 1:01:11.800 --> 1:01:14.640 when you recorded other people's songs. 1:01:14.880 --> 1:01:19.480 Yeah, well, you know, we were with Clive Davis for 1:01:19.520 --> 1:01:24.080 a long time, and you know that I think maybe 1:01:24.120 --> 1:01:28.720 eighty five or something. Yeah, it wasn't a good time 1:01:28.760 --> 1:01:35.040 for me. Although everything was cool, we weren't selling any 1:01:35.040 --> 1:01:39.400 albums anymore. It was just that time where people were 1:01:39.440 --> 1:01:43.400 trying to have us hang on to everything. You're right. 1:01:43.480 --> 1:01:47.080 We recorded a few songs that I really didn't care for. 1:01:47.360 --> 1:01:51.520 You know, But I've always said this that Russell is 1:01:51.560 --> 1:01:55.400 such a great singer. He deserves to sing other people's songs, 1:01:55.440 --> 1:01:58.240 not just mine. He deserves to sing the greatest songs 1:01:58.280 --> 1:02:01.800 in the world. But when we came on the scene, 1:02:02.480 --> 1:02:05.200 of course, every man and their dog were sending songs 1:02:05.200 --> 1:02:08.160 to Clive Davis for us, and some of them were 1:02:08.200 --> 1:02:12.680 great songs. But then in eighty five or so people 1:02:12.720 --> 1:02:16.200 thought they could reinventors. But I don't know where they 1:02:17.240 --> 1:02:19.880 they figured out that we wanted to be reinvented because 1:02:19.880 --> 1:02:23.360 we didn't. It was just we suddenly weren't on the 1:02:23.440 --> 1:02:27.480 charts anymore. But that happens to every artist, or most artists, 1:02:27.520 --> 1:02:30.640 should I say. And it was a weird time, you know. 1:02:31.160 --> 1:02:33.680 All these songs were flying around and we had had 1:02:33.720 --> 1:02:36.720 different producers for the albums and they said, oh, yeah, 1:02:36.840 --> 1:02:40.360 record this, and ih, it just wasn't my thing. But 1:02:40.520 --> 1:02:44.640 we recorded several of those songs that I really didn't 1:02:44.640 --> 1:02:48.640 care for. One of them was a Bruce Springsteen song 1:02:49.400 --> 1:02:51.720 that Clive Davis said, oh, you should record this. It 1:02:51.800 --> 1:02:55.960 was called Sandy, and it taught I mean, I'm a 1:02:56.040 --> 1:02:59.880 Bruce Springsteen fan. I don't mean any disrespect, but this 1:03:00.120 --> 1:03:03.560 Sandy was about the New Jersey or the Atlantic City 1:03:03.560 --> 1:03:07.120 Boardwalkers something, and we'd never even been there, you know, 1:03:07.160 --> 1:03:10.880 And I said, why are we recording this? Because apart 1:03:10.880 --> 1:03:13.400 from the fact that Clive said we should, why are 1:03:13.400 --> 1:03:16.160 we doing this? We know nothing about this And the 1:03:16.240 --> 1:03:19.920 song was a crappy song anyway. You know, every great 1:03:20.000 --> 1:03:23.560 artist writes crappy songs as well as great ones. This 1:03:23.800 --> 1:03:26.480 was one of those. And I thought, ah, you know, 1:03:26.680 --> 1:03:32.960 but anyway that we got through that episode and we said, 1:03:33.000 --> 1:03:38.840 you know, let's go to places that nobody's been to before. 1:03:38.960 --> 1:03:41.920 Let's let's go where they know who we are, and 1:03:42.000 --> 1:03:50.240 let's we went to Taiwan. At Taipei, we went to Vietnam, 1:03:50.520 --> 1:03:54.720 South Korea, they'd never seen a Western band before. We 1:03:54.800 --> 1:03:59.440 went to China and all these weird places, and it 1:03:59.560 --> 1:04:01.960 was great to see a different point of view, in 1:04:02.040 --> 1:04:05.120 a different perspective. And we went and talked these places 1:04:05.120 --> 1:04:11.280 for about five years, and everybody said, even Billboard Magazine said, oh, 1:04:11.320 --> 1:04:16.000 they've broken up. We never broke up. We just wanted 1:04:16.000 --> 1:04:18.680 to do a different thing. You know. We went to 1:04:18.720 --> 1:04:24.560 South America, into cities you can't even pronounce where we 1:04:24.840 --> 1:04:28.120 come into town. There would be everybody came out of 1:04:28.160 --> 1:04:33.480 their houses, dogs and cats, and people would just be waving, 1:04:33.720 --> 1:04:37.280 hundreds of people like, oh, you know, this is really 1:04:37.960 --> 1:04:40.760 what music is all about. It's doing things you haven't 1:04:40.800 --> 1:04:45.560 done before. And then we got used to the fact 1:04:45.640 --> 1:04:48.040 that we weren't going to be in the charts anymore. 1:04:48.160 --> 1:04:51.480 It's just it was a fact, you know. So we 1:04:51.560 --> 1:04:56.200 got used to that, and then we decided that we 1:04:56.400 --> 1:04:59.680 just love to play anyway, Let's just play. And that's 1:05:00.240 --> 1:05:03.640 that's when it started. We just played everywhere. We went 1:05:03.800 --> 1:05:07.000 all over and we go all over the world. And 1:05:07.040 --> 1:05:12.840 it's funny because not a lot of artists play all 1:05:12.880 --> 1:05:15.360 over the world, you know, And I'm surprised. I mean, 1:05:15.560 --> 1:05:19.480 of course, Taylor sway up the stones. Do not very 1:05:19.480 --> 1:05:23.760 few really venture out of the US and go overseas. 1:05:23.800 --> 1:05:28.040 I'm surprised, you know, But we did and it was wonderful, 1:05:28.240 --> 1:05:32.360 you know. We we were up there and had a 1:05:32.360 --> 1:05:35.840 photo shoot at the Great Wall of China and the 1:05:36.440 --> 1:05:41.560 President of Taiwan gave us medals, you know, and he said, 1:05:41.600 --> 1:05:44.320 when you come to Taiwan in the future, you don't 1:05:44.400 --> 1:05:47.240 need to show your passport. You come straight through and go, 1:05:47.360 --> 1:05:52.600 oh okay. So it was just not being in the 1:05:52.720 --> 1:05:57.320 charts was a part of our career that we hadn't 1:05:57.360 --> 1:05:59.880 thought about when we were in the charts. But you know, 1:06:00.680 --> 1:06:03.480 then we went into a different a different phase, and 1:06:04.600 --> 1:06:07.320 here we are, we're still in that next phase. 1:06:15.880 --> 1:06:19.760 Okay, whose idea was it to tour all these disparate places? 1:06:20.120 --> 1:06:25.520 It was Russell and mine. It really was we. You know, 1:06:25.640 --> 1:06:32.000 when when my daughter was born in nineteen seventy, took 1:06:32.040 --> 1:06:35.360 way before the man. The first song I heard was 1:06:35.360 --> 1:06:40.680 a song called without You, which is which Nielsen's version, 1:06:41.040 --> 1:06:45.000 and I've always loved that song. And in I think 1:06:45.200 --> 1:06:49.240 nineteen eighty eighty eight or something, I said Harry, Harry 1:06:49.280 --> 1:06:53.200 Masleum was producing, and I said, you know, Harry, I 1:06:53.240 --> 1:06:56.360 want to record with at you. And he said, what 1:06:56.440 --> 1:06:58.360 have I done? He thought, what did you want him 1:06:58.360 --> 1:07:02.040 to do? I said, no, we want to record the 1:07:02.080 --> 1:07:06.240 song without You. So we recorded it just because it's 1:07:06.800 --> 1:07:09.800 one of the most beautiful songs ever written. And the 1:07:09.840 --> 1:07:13.800 story behind it is tragic how it came to be written. 1:07:13.840 --> 1:07:17.280 But anyway, we recorded it and it was on an 1:07:17.320 --> 1:07:20.240 album that we recorded with Harry, and it became this 1:07:20.360 --> 1:07:26.200 massive hit everywhere except the US, and then when people 1:07:26.280 --> 1:07:30.480 heard our version, everybody else started to record it, you know, 1:07:30.560 --> 1:07:34.280 Maria Carey, et cetera, all that. But it was a 1:07:34.280 --> 1:07:38.760 big hit for US, especially in South America and in Asia, 1:07:38.960 --> 1:07:41.280 and we said, okay, let's go down there. And it 1:07:41.360 --> 1:07:44.880 was everything happened all over again for us. So that 1:07:45.040 --> 1:07:51.600 introduced us to South America and places even in Asia 1:07:51.640 --> 1:07:54.640 we hadn't been before, so it was a great thing. 1:07:54.720 --> 1:07:58.560 And then once they got used to us again, another 1:07:58.640 --> 1:08:03.680 generation discovered us. All the all the old albums started 1:08:03.720 --> 1:08:07.160 to sell, and then everything became what it is now. 1:08:07.400 --> 1:08:11.960 Really, okay, tell me about a couple of places you 1:08:12.080 --> 1:08:14.720 went there were really quite an experience. 1:08:16.680 --> 1:08:20.120 Uh do you mean the places are an experience? 1:08:20.280 --> 1:08:22.320 I mean I I you know, I like places that 1:08:22.360 --> 1:08:24.960 are very different, where they don't speak English. I went 1:08:25.000 --> 1:08:29.680 to Bogata once and literally everybody I interacted with it 1:08:29.760 --> 1:08:32.439 had a family member killed, and there were a lot 1:08:32.479 --> 1:08:34.840 of things, you know. Yeah, there are some other places. 1:08:34.840 --> 1:08:36.960 I thought, you know, we have unique experiences that you 1:08:37.040 --> 1:08:40.200 don't encounter in the United States. Oh sure, So I 1:08:40.240 --> 1:08:42.720 was wondering if maybe you had a couple of experiences 1:08:42.760 --> 1:08:43.639 you could tell us about. 1:08:44.280 --> 1:08:47.559 Of course, Well, we played in Metagine. We played there 1:08:47.560 --> 1:08:49.920 two or three times. The first time we went there, 1:08:50.320 --> 1:08:55.320 the promoter was not a gangster, but he was he 1:08:55.400 --> 1:08:59.120 knew what he was doing. And we were in our 1:08:59.200 --> 1:09:03.559 transport going to the hotel from the airport and there 1:09:03.560 --> 1:09:08.120 were a couple of guys on the roadway that will't 1:09:08.160 --> 1:09:11.320 looked like they're laying down. They were resting or something. 1:09:11.439 --> 1:09:14.639 And I said, to that our promoter, what's going on there? 1:09:15.280 --> 1:09:17.160 He said, oh, he's just gone, you know. I said, 1:09:17.160 --> 1:09:18.840 what do you mean he's going? He said, oh, he's 1:09:18.840 --> 1:09:24.360 dead And I said really and he said yeah. And anyway, 1:09:25.240 --> 1:09:28.520 we he took us out that night and he said, 1:09:29.200 --> 1:09:31.960 I want I'd like you to take you out, you know, 1:09:32.160 --> 1:09:34.160 to a club and all that we used to go 1:09:34.240 --> 1:09:38.000 out in those days, not anymore. And then we said okay, yeah, 1:09:38.160 --> 1:09:41.680 and we had a security to security guards with us, 1:09:42.439 --> 1:09:43.960 and he said, we're going to go to this, to 1:09:44.000 --> 1:09:46.080 a club that I go to all the time, and 1:09:46.120 --> 1:09:48.680 I want you to meet my partner. So we go 1:09:48.800 --> 1:09:52.800 to this. We pull up to this club and this 1:09:53.080 --> 1:09:56.400 massive iron gates and on each side there's a there's 1:09:56.760 --> 1:10:00.559 a guy in a suit with a machine gun and 1:10:00.600 --> 1:10:03.640 we start freaking out, whoa And the gates open. We 1:10:03.720 --> 1:10:08.200 go and say, just don't worry, everything's great, and we 1:10:08.360 --> 1:10:13.599 go inside and it's a private club and there's you know, 1:10:13.680 --> 1:10:16.519 the guy greets us and he says, yeah, we're going 1:10:16.560 --> 1:10:19.280 to have a great time. You know, whatever you want. 1:10:19.640 --> 1:10:25.639 What do you want, you know, booze, broads or blow 1:10:25.880 --> 1:10:28.760 and we said we don't want any of those. So 1:10:28.880 --> 1:10:30.880 we go in and he got a dinner for us 1:10:30.920 --> 1:10:33.040 and on the table in the center at the table 1:10:34.040 --> 1:10:38.479 is like a big ball and it looks like sugar 1:10:38.600 --> 1:10:41.120 or salked and it's cocaine, you know. And he said, 1:10:41.520 --> 1:10:44.360 dig in whatever you want to do. But we've never 1:10:44.400 --> 1:10:48.240 been into that, you know. But some of our band impruded. 1:10:48.400 --> 1:10:51.479 But it's like whoa, you know, and all these guys 1:10:51.520 --> 1:10:54.240 walking around with you see the guns sticking out of 1:10:54.280 --> 1:10:58.599 the chest. So it was really heavy. And when we 1:10:58.680 --> 1:11:05.040 wanted we did the show and the promoter's partner wanted. 1:11:06.200 --> 1:11:08.720 He wanted us to do a TV show because we 1:11:08.760 --> 1:11:11.200 had bo guitar coming up. And we said, no, we 1:11:11.920 --> 1:11:14.320 don't want to do that, you know, and he said, well, 1:11:14.360 --> 1:11:16.880 I think I think you should. I said, no, we 1:11:16.880 --> 1:11:18.719 don't want to. We don't want to do a TV show. 1:11:18.720 --> 1:11:21.240 It was a day off, you know, and he said, 1:11:22.200 --> 1:11:26.880 you're going to do the TV show. He said, first 1:11:26.880 --> 1:11:29.200 of all, I have your passports. He said, if you 1:11:29.200 --> 1:11:31.240 don't do the TV show, you're going to stay in 1:11:31.280 --> 1:11:34.400 this hotel until you do. And we said, oh really, 1:11:35.600 --> 1:11:38.439 and he said yeah. So we ended up doing the 1:11:38.479 --> 1:11:44.120 TV show and then we left. Once we were in 1:11:47.280 --> 1:11:51.880 we were in Vietnam and it was the first time 1:11:51.920 --> 1:11:55.400 we'd gone there, and everybody was freaking out. They've never 1:11:55.400 --> 1:12:00.000 seen a band before, and we had to go before 1:12:00.120 --> 1:12:04.400 for all these generals and they were all in military dress, 1:12:04.720 --> 1:12:08.200 didn't speak a word of English, and I think it 1:12:08.280 --> 1:12:11.200 was like a dozen of them, and they said, through 1:12:11.240 --> 1:12:14.880 an interpreter, we want you to play your show. I said, 1:12:14.880 --> 1:12:16.960 what are you talking about. He said, we want you 1:12:17.000 --> 1:12:20.240 to play your show. I said, We're not doing that, 1:12:21.000 --> 1:12:23.639 and I kind of dug in, you know, I said, 1:12:23.680 --> 1:12:25.599 you know what, We'll do our sound check. They can 1:12:25.680 --> 1:12:28.839 listen to that. They didn't speak a word of English, 1:12:29.200 --> 1:12:31.800 and we did the sound check and they said no, 1:12:32.400 --> 1:12:34.599 and the interpreter came up and he said, now you've 1:12:34.600 --> 1:12:36.200 got to play the whole show. I said, I'm not 1:12:36.280 --> 1:12:38.760 playing the whole show. And I said they can shove it. 1:12:38.760 --> 1:12:40.439 I don't care if we don't play it. And I've 1:12:40.439 --> 1:12:43.040 had enough and I put my guitar down and I 1:12:43.080 --> 1:12:44.960 walked out and I went back to the hotel and 1:12:45.040 --> 1:12:48.000 everything was fine. Nobody said anything, and we did the 1:12:48.040 --> 1:12:53.680 show and we left. But they they want to see you, 1:12:53.680 --> 1:12:56.720 you know, under their own terms. But I says, no, 1:12:56.840 --> 1:12:59.160 it's not going to happen. And I was just said, no, 1:12:59.240 --> 1:13:02.800 it's not going to happen. So and it didn't. When 1:13:03.200 --> 1:13:06.280 when we played China the first time in ninety six, 1:13:08.120 --> 1:13:11.760 they'd never seen a band before, a Western band, and 1:13:13.400 --> 1:13:15.120 we would go in the audience for the One that 1:13:15.200 --> 1:13:19.080 you Love, and the promoter said, well, you can't go 1:13:19.160 --> 1:13:21.559 in the audience here, you know. And it was a 1:13:21.560 --> 1:13:27.000 big twenty thousand seat arena and when we got there 1:13:27.040 --> 1:13:30.439 there was soldiers all around the perimeter, every six feet 1:13:30.680 --> 1:13:36.320 with machine guns, you know, army people, and you know, 1:13:36.720 --> 1:13:40.000 during the show, we came to the One that you Love, 1:13:40.080 --> 1:13:42.720 and you know, I started it and Russell and I 1:13:42.760 --> 1:13:44.639 looked at each other and I said, are we going 1:13:44.920 --> 1:13:47.519 and he said yeah. So we got down off the 1:13:47.560 --> 1:13:51.439 stage and we walked around. We went into the audience 1:13:51.600 --> 1:13:56.120 and all everybody freaked out and the soldiers were they 1:13:56.120 --> 1:13:59.320 didn't know what to do, but we just walked around 1:13:59.320 --> 1:14:03.400 the wholes and everybody was fine. They were waving, and 1:14:03.439 --> 1:14:07.679 we went back on stage and finished the song finished 1:14:07.680 --> 1:14:10.639 the show, and they said, you can never come back 1:14:10.680 --> 1:14:13.760 to China again. You can't do that. Of course, we 1:14:13.800 --> 1:14:18.000 went back many times, but that was just what goes 1:14:18.040 --> 1:14:23.519 on there, you know, and it's part of getting people 1:14:23.560 --> 1:14:25.559 in the in the zone. You know, this is what's 1:14:25.600 --> 1:14:30.240 happening people, but they're very reluctant to to to share 1:14:30.320 --> 1:14:33.160 what's going on in the West, very careful about it, 1:14:33.240 --> 1:14:35.880 you know. But it was a great experience, and after 1:14:35.920 --> 1:14:39.600 that we've been back maybe half a dozen times to 1:14:39.760 --> 1:14:43.120 China and it's great now. Of course everybody screams and chants, 1:14:43.840 --> 1:14:46.439 but in those days they didn't do that, you know. 1:14:46.520 --> 1:14:51.000 So we were kind of pioneers, if you like, with music. 1:14:51.240 --> 1:14:56.200 But they wouldn't let any band whose lyrics or image 1:14:56.560 --> 1:15:02.320 is considered contrary to the communist way of life, you know, 1:15:02.360 --> 1:15:05.320 they they would We had to send all our lyrics 1:15:05.320 --> 1:15:07.920 in they had to be okayed, and what we were 1:15:07.960 --> 1:15:09.920 going to wear. We had to show pictures of what 1:15:09.960 --> 1:15:12.760 we're gonna wear. And we couldn't swear on stage. We 1:15:12.800 --> 1:15:17.080 don't anyway, and we always cool. We never wear jeans 1:15:17.120 --> 1:15:21.680 on stage. So we passed all the auditions, but you know, 1:15:21.760 --> 1:15:23.679 we gave him a couple of things to think about, 1:15:24.520 --> 1:15:25.920 but we had to, you know. 1:15:26.920 --> 1:15:31.280 Okay, let's go back to Clive Davis. He is very 1:15:31.439 --> 1:15:36.920 controlling of his artist careers. Yes, your experience, good beat 1:15:37.080 --> 1:15:37.760 or otherwise. 1:15:39.160 --> 1:15:42.320 It was good with Clive, and he had a lot 1:15:42.360 --> 1:15:46.920 to do with our success, you know. He All Out 1:15:46.920 --> 1:15:49.719 of Love was a big hit in Australia two years 1:15:49.720 --> 1:15:53.360 before it was released in the US, so you know, 1:15:53.520 --> 1:15:56.040 it was a hit, and so the song had been 1:15:56.080 --> 1:16:00.599 okay by everybody. But he came to me and he said, 1:16:00.640 --> 1:16:02.360 you know, we got to change some of the lyric 1:16:02.439 --> 1:16:05.320 a couple of lines in the corpse. Originally it was 1:16:05.520 --> 1:16:08.120 I'm all out of love. I want to arrest you, right, 1:16:08.160 --> 1:16:10.960 which is really weird now I think about it. And 1:16:11.000 --> 1:16:12.840 he said, we can't. You can't have that here and 1:16:12.880 --> 1:16:14.599 I said, but it was a hit already, it says, 1:16:14.920 --> 1:16:17.479 yeah in Australia, not in the US. He said, you've 1:16:17.479 --> 1:16:20.920 got to change that, and he said, what about I'm 1:16:20.960 --> 1:16:24.719 so lost without you? And I sort of think thought 1:16:24.720 --> 1:16:28.680 about it, you know, and the guy that was my 1:16:28.840 --> 1:16:34.200 publisher pulled me aside and he said, listen to Clive. 1:16:34.960 --> 1:16:38.120 He said, if you change that line, it'll be the 1:16:38.160 --> 1:16:41.040 mass the biggest hit you'll ever have, and he said, 1:16:41.080 --> 1:16:43.680 it's up to you. He says, change the line. What 1:16:43.760 --> 1:16:46.760 the hell you know? And he said, Clive's right, it 1:16:46.880 --> 1:16:51.000 may not get played, and so I said, okay. So 1:16:51.080 --> 1:16:54.479 Clive got a credit, a writing credit on the song, 1:16:54.840 --> 1:16:58.880 and he always donates it to charity. So instead of, 1:16:59.640 --> 1:17:02.599 you know, a part of me said, God, somebody's trying 1:17:02.640 --> 1:17:05.640 to mess with my songs. But then I thought, if 1:17:05.680 --> 1:17:07.519 it's going to be a big hit, it's going to 1:17:07.520 --> 1:17:10.519 be part of our legacy. So I said, yeah, let's 1:17:10.560 --> 1:17:13.320 do it, you know. And you know, that was the 1:17:13.360 --> 1:17:18.639 beginning of a great relationship with Clive. But then I learned, whatever, 1:17:19.120 --> 1:17:23.160 if Clive suggests something, it's not merely a suggestion. He's 1:17:23.160 --> 1:17:27.320 really telling you that you should do this. And all 1:17:27.439 --> 1:17:31.800 the artists that he's worked with went through the same thing. 1:17:33.880 --> 1:17:38.000 I had some stories, you know about that, And there 1:17:38.040 --> 1:17:41.360 was one Eric Carmen was one of them, and he 1:17:41.479 --> 1:17:46.760 was on Arista and Clive Clive wanted to wanted him 1:17:46.760 --> 1:17:49.559 to sing a Billy Joe song. You know, I don't 1:17:49.560 --> 1:17:52.200 know which one it was, but Eric says, now I'm 1:17:52.200 --> 1:17:56.120 not doing it, you know. Anyway, he had a single 1:17:56.200 --> 1:18:00.720 coming out and it came in the charts really fat, 1:18:01.400 --> 1:18:04.280 and I spoke to her, so I know this is true. 1:18:04.439 --> 1:18:07.759 He said, well, if he said, if you don't record 1:18:07.800 --> 1:18:10.240 this song, the single just just come out for you 1:18:10.360 --> 1:18:14.400 is going to die. And eric'sas now, it came in 1:18:14.439 --> 1:18:17.519 the chart at like seventy with the bullet. Sure enough, 1:18:17.560 --> 1:18:22.400 next week it just disappeared. So I learned that Clive 1:18:23.520 --> 1:18:29.040 likes to have things his way, you know. But by 1:18:29.080 --> 1:18:32.880 the same token, he gave us a great career, you know, 1:18:32.960 --> 1:18:36.920 and he's always been very respectful to us and we 1:18:37.520 --> 1:18:41.559 to him. We've never spoken derogatory about Clive. I mean 1:18:41.600 --> 1:18:44.880 all the artists he's worked with, whether he has a 1:18:44.880 --> 1:18:46.519 lot to do with their career or not, I mean 1:18:46.840 --> 1:18:51.120 it's pretty much everybody. But with us, he was great. 1:18:51.360 --> 1:18:56.040 You know. He came, he flew out. We were mixing 1:18:56.080 --> 1:18:58.000 the one that you loved, and he wanted to know 1:18:58.520 --> 1:19:00.400 what was going on with that because this was our 1:19:00.479 --> 1:19:03.360 second album, which is very important, you know, we'd had 1:19:03.360 --> 1:19:07.240 threest fives. He flew out to the he came to 1:19:07.280 --> 1:19:12.280 the studio in Los Angeles and he sat right in 1:19:12.280 --> 1:19:15.040 the middle of the console and he said to Harry, 1:19:15.160 --> 1:19:17.599 who was producing the track. He says, okay, I'm ready 1:19:17.600 --> 1:19:23.280 to hear it, you know, and he played the one 1:19:23.280 --> 1:19:25.400 that you look a rough mix and he just sat 1:19:25.439 --> 1:19:27.960 there with his eyes closed and he didn't say anything 1:19:27.960 --> 1:19:30.599 for like two minutes. And I said, oh Jesus with one. 1:19:31.479 --> 1:19:34.720 And he turned around and he said, it's going to 1:19:34.800 --> 1:19:37.240 go to number one and it'll win. You were grammy, 1:19:37.840 --> 1:19:41.120 he said, and he said that he walked out and 1:19:41.200 --> 1:19:47.920 he was right, and we went, oh, okay, that that 1:19:48.080 --> 1:19:51.040 just gave us another ten years on our career, you know. 1:19:51.960 --> 1:19:54.080 So he was he was something else like. 1:19:55.120 --> 1:19:58.720 Well, you know the first yeah, the hit in Australa yea. 1:19:58.760 --> 1:20:01.000 And he says, it didn't you know, work with Lyric 1:20:01.080 --> 1:20:05.080 in America. Now you have success in America. To what 1:20:05.200 --> 1:20:08.040 degree did he ask you to change or do things 1:20:08.080 --> 1:20:11.679 that you would not plan to do? Well? 1:20:11.920 --> 1:20:14.840 After all out of love? There was nothing after that, 1:20:15.000 --> 1:20:17.679 you know, with the one that you love. He never 1:20:17.720 --> 1:20:20.160 touched it. He said, it's perfect, it's going to go 1:20:20.240 --> 1:20:24.120 to number one, and it did. So I think I 1:20:24.120 --> 1:20:26.240 don't think it was it was never ego with Clive. 1:20:26.360 --> 1:20:29.839 It was just he wanted his way. He was the president. 1:20:30.000 --> 1:20:34.400 Of Arista Records, which was an independent record company, and 1:20:34.439 --> 1:20:38.439 he had a lot of success with Barry Manilow. And 1:20:39.720 --> 1:20:41.639 you know, we went to see him in New York 1:20:42.280 --> 1:20:46.320 in the early days in like nineteen eighty or eighty one, 1:20:46.840 --> 1:20:49.200 because we'd go and he wanted to take us to 1:20:49.280 --> 1:20:51.720 lunch whenever we were playing in New York. We were 1:20:51.760 --> 1:20:55.840 in his office and there was this young African American lady, 1:20:55.920 --> 1:20:58.360 she was really young, waiting to see Clive. It was 1:20:58.400 --> 1:21:03.559 Whitney Houston and and we were you know, we said, oh, 1:21:03.600 --> 1:21:06.280 I'm Graham and Russell. She knew who we were. She said, oh, 1:21:06.280 --> 1:21:08.240 I'm really use and I'm I'm going to make a 1:21:08.320 --> 1:21:11.080 record with Live. And Clive came out and he introduced 1:21:11.120 --> 1:21:15.360 us again to and of course that became history. You know, 1:21:15.479 --> 1:21:18.680 she was just incredible. She was such a she was 1:21:18.760 --> 1:21:22.960 really young, and she was just bouncing with energy and 1:21:23.000 --> 1:21:25.839 I thought, wow, she's going to be a big start. 1:21:25.920 --> 1:21:30.880 And Clive was, you know, she was the new the 1:21:30.960 --> 1:21:34.840 new kid on the block. I mean we still were too, 1:21:35.200 --> 1:21:37.519 but that's what he did when he when he got 1:21:37.520 --> 1:21:41.920 into an artist, it was total and for some reason, 1:21:43.320 --> 1:21:46.640 he just got into us and he loved Lost in 1:21:46.720 --> 1:21:49.479 Love And I asked him how we found lost enough. 1:21:49.520 --> 1:21:52.960 He said, every every Monday morning he'd have a stack 1:21:53.000 --> 1:21:55.599 of singles on his desk and he got one. It 1:21:55.640 --> 1:21:58.240 was Lost in Love from Australia and he said he 1:21:58.280 --> 1:22:02.760 played it and he loved it, and he said, I 1:22:02.800 --> 1:22:07.000 want to buy this, and he bought the rights to it. 1:22:07.800 --> 1:22:11.360 And that was it. Once he got into your space 1:22:12.320 --> 1:22:18.479 and you were agreeing with him, you could do anything. 1:22:18.600 --> 1:22:24.720 You know. He was the man that made careers or 1:22:24.760 --> 1:22:25.880 didn't you know? 1:22:26.840 --> 1:22:28.120 So how did it end with Clive? 1:22:29.400 --> 1:22:32.479 Oh? It ended great. I mean we left Arista. Suddenly 1:22:32.479 --> 1:22:37.280 we weren't in the charts anymore, and we left Arista 1:22:37.600 --> 1:22:41.479 and we went with Irving as Off. We went from 1:22:41.560 --> 1:22:45.760 one legend to another one, and Irving was great. But 1:22:45.880 --> 1:22:50.519 when we left Arista, we left on great terms. And 1:22:50.600 --> 1:22:55.439 Clive chords. He had a nineteen ninety he had I 1:22:55.520 --> 1:22:57.280 can't remember what it was, something going on at Radio 1:22:57.320 --> 1:22:59.280 City Music w and he had a lot of big 1:22:59.320 --> 1:23:03.360 stars and in he called us and he said, would 1:23:03.360 --> 1:23:06.240 you come and play Radio City for me? You know? 1:23:06.560 --> 1:23:09.000 Of course? Yeah, So Russell and I went and we 1:23:09.040 --> 1:23:11.439 did it. We just we played all out of log 1:23:11.760 --> 1:23:16.960 just one guitar and two voices sounded incredible. And then 1:23:18.880 --> 1:23:23.120 right at the beginning of COVID, uh yeah, he said, well, 1:23:23.479 --> 1:23:27.360 he called me and I didn't know who it was, 1:23:27.439 --> 1:23:29.720 you know, and he said, this is Clive. He said, 1:23:29.760 --> 1:23:32.040 oh really, he said yeah, He said, would you do 1:23:32.080 --> 1:23:35.400 a zoom thing for us? You know, a friend of 1:23:35.400 --> 1:23:37.439 his was doing zooms and he had all these big 1:23:37.479 --> 1:23:40.519 stars singing on zoom. He said, yeah, of course. So 1:23:40.560 --> 1:23:43.080 we have a great relationship with him. He called me. 1:23:44.320 --> 1:23:48.760 It was his ninetieth birthday and he said, what do 1:23:48.800 --> 1:23:53.000 you want to come to this party? We couldn't come. 1:23:53.040 --> 1:23:55.639 We already had shows books. So we have a great 1:23:55.680 --> 1:23:58.960 relationship with him, which is wonderful, you know. But then 1:23:59.000 --> 1:24:01.440 we went from Clive to Irving. 1:24:03.120 --> 1:24:04.400 And how was that experience? 1:24:05.000 --> 1:24:07.880 It was great, It was wonderful. You know. We went 1:24:07.920 --> 1:24:11.760 to his label Giant, and it was with him we 1:24:11.800 --> 1:24:15.240 had with that you became a massive here. And he said, 1:24:15.840 --> 1:24:18.360 I remember we sat down to a restaurant and we 1:24:18.439 --> 1:24:23.439 had that album and it sold way over a million 1:24:23.479 --> 1:24:27.400 copies overseas, which was huge in those days. And we 1:24:27.439 --> 1:24:29.800 wanted to see if we couldn't record another album. We 1:24:29.840 --> 1:24:34.360 read it and he said, we said, well, we'd like 1:24:34.400 --> 1:24:37.040 to record another album, you know, and he said, go 1:24:37.080 --> 1:24:39.439 and do it. She says, just go and do it, 1:24:39.880 --> 1:24:44.080 and so we did, and that that was even bigger 1:24:44.120 --> 1:24:46.559 than the one with without you on it. It was 1:24:46.600 --> 1:24:49.400 called the Vanishing Race. And so we had great success 1:24:49.439 --> 1:24:51.760 with Irving and he was he was terrific, you know, 1:24:52.439 --> 1:25:00.080 terrific guy. 1:25:00.840 --> 1:25:03.760 Okay, let's go back a story. How did you end 1:25:03.840 --> 1:25:06.720 up leaving the UK for Australia. 1:25:08.560 --> 1:25:15.360 Well, after my mother died, there was two years where 1:25:16.880 --> 1:25:19.840 my dad was just working. Then suddenly he started seeing 1:25:19.880 --> 1:25:23.880 another lady, I mean fairy enough. He was still quite young, 1:25:23.960 --> 1:25:31.160 you know, and then suddenly, without telling us, he got married. 1:25:31.479 --> 1:25:34.840 You know. So I had a bit of an axe 1:25:34.920 --> 1:25:38.080 to grind. And suddenly this lady came to our house 1:25:38.080 --> 1:25:40.720 and he said, we just got married. And she had 1:25:40.760 --> 1:25:44.200 three children too, and I had two sisters and we 1:25:44.200 --> 1:25:46.599 were all going to live in the house that we had. 1:25:46.640 --> 1:25:51.720 That wasn't a big house. It was two up. Oh, 1:25:52.040 --> 1:25:54.960 he had won three bedrooms, an attic up on top 1:25:55.040 --> 1:25:58.840 and then two rooms downstairs in the kitchen. Well, then 1:25:59.080 --> 1:26:02.960 my eldest sister decided to leave and my other sister, 1:26:03.000 --> 1:26:05.719 who was four years older than me, decided to get 1:26:05.760 --> 1:26:09.599 married because she didn't want to live with another person 1:26:09.680 --> 1:26:16.479 in the house. And I really resented it. And you know, 1:26:17.120 --> 1:26:20.120 my dad's knew wife, whose name was Dorothy, had three children, 1:26:20.320 --> 1:26:23.000 so they came into the house. So suddenly I had 1:26:23.040 --> 1:26:25.080 to give my bedroom. I was sharing my bedroom with 1:26:25.120 --> 1:26:29.680 two other boys that I didn't care for. And then 1:26:29.720 --> 1:26:34.200 they started to talk about going to Australia, and I said, 1:26:34.240 --> 1:26:37.880 I'm not really into that. I was doing very well 1:26:37.880 --> 1:26:42.320 at school, you know, academically, I was really doing well, 1:26:43.080 --> 1:26:48.760 writing my songs and everything was great. Then suddenly he said, well, 1:26:48.800 --> 1:26:51.760 we've actually got a date to leave for Australia and 1:26:51.800 --> 1:26:56.000 it's in like a month, and I said really, And 1:26:56.080 --> 1:26:58.840 I didn't want to go. So when it came time, 1:27:01.040 --> 1:27:03.640 when the night before they were going to leave, they 1:27:03.640 --> 1:27:05.280 were going to go on the boat before they were 1:27:05.280 --> 1:27:07.720 going to leave for Southampton on the train to get 1:27:07.720 --> 1:27:10.759 on the boat, I said, I'm going to say goodbye 1:27:10.840 --> 1:27:13.080 to my school friends. And I had a little rocksack 1:27:13.160 --> 1:27:16.599 on my back and I left and I ran away 1:27:16.720 --> 1:27:21.880 and I never saw him for five years, and only 1:27:21.920 --> 1:27:25.560 two people knew where I was. I couldn't tell anybody, 1:27:25.600 --> 1:27:29.479 even my closest friend at school. I couldn't tell because 1:27:30.200 --> 1:27:32.400 I knew if he was questioned by the police, he 1:27:32.400 --> 1:27:34.760 would tell him where I was. So I didn't tell. 1:27:35.160 --> 1:27:40.120 Only two people knew, and for two days I went underground. 1:27:41.120 --> 1:27:44.439 You remember, I was fourteen years old, you know, I 1:27:44.479 --> 1:27:47.120 had no money, but I just didn't want to go 1:27:47.160 --> 1:27:50.200 to Australia and I didn't want to go with his 1:27:50.280 --> 1:27:54.720 new wife and their kids. Then I found out that 1:27:54.800 --> 1:27:58.679 my dad left. He went, so that was the biggest 1:27:58.720 --> 1:28:01.639 relief for me. So then I was on my own 1:28:01.920 --> 1:28:04.280 and I went to my live with an aunt an uncle. 1:28:05.800 --> 1:28:07.679 Then I went to live with another art and uncle. 1:28:07.760 --> 1:28:14.679 I got passed around, you know, and then I started 1:28:14.680 --> 1:28:20.600 to I had a girlfriend and I was seventeen. She 1:28:22.000 --> 1:28:25.800 got pregnant and I had a son. Seventeen years old, 1:28:25.800 --> 1:28:29.720 I had a son, and we decided to go to 1:28:29.760 --> 1:28:33.280 Australia on our own terms. My sister had already gone 1:28:33.280 --> 1:28:39.760 as well, and so we decided to go. And interestingly enough, 1:28:40.400 --> 1:28:43.200 I was ready to go. Then musically I was playing 1:28:43.280 --> 1:28:46.360 drums in this band going Nowhere and do It, playing 1:28:46.400 --> 1:28:48.640 songs I didn't want to play, and I thought it 1:28:48.680 --> 1:28:53.280 would be a nice change and maybe an Australian an 1:28:53.320 --> 1:28:57.400 English musician might have some chance in Australia. So I 1:28:57.479 --> 1:29:01.559 went there and everything was cool. I lived with my 1:29:01.720 --> 1:29:07.519 sister and her husband, and you know, my dad never 1:29:07.640 --> 1:29:12.280 mentioned anything about me running away ever, even to the data. 1:29:12.479 --> 1:29:18.000 He never mentioned it, and neither did his new wife. 1:29:16.880 --> 1:29:21.160 And I never really thought about it. And we became 1:29:21.520 --> 1:29:24.839 very close as a family because I had my family, 1:29:25.160 --> 1:29:29.360 and I started playing guitar and writing songs. Still, I 1:29:29.400 --> 1:29:33.760 was playing in pizza parlors and I was making a 1:29:33.800 --> 1:29:37.320 decent living. I was doing okay, you know, and that's 1:29:37.360 --> 1:29:40.719 but that's how I went to Australia with a family. 1:29:41.960 --> 1:29:46.000 So playing in pizza parlors, you could support your wife 1:29:46.040 --> 1:29:46.880 and young child. 1:29:47.520 --> 1:29:53.200 Yeah, I could. So one story, I don't mean to interrup, 1:29:53.240 --> 1:29:57.080 but we went to a this place called Papa's Pizza, 1:29:57.080 --> 1:30:00.400 which is where we lived, and I I saw her 1:30:00.400 --> 1:30:03.120 in the corner. They had this little dice about four 1:30:03.160 --> 1:30:06.000 feet square diace and I said to the guy, the 1:30:06.080 --> 1:30:08.280 manager that said, what's that over there? He said, it's 1:30:08.320 --> 1:30:10.600 a it's a little dice. He said. We used to 1:30:10.640 --> 1:30:14.759 have a singer songwriter come in and not a singer songwriter, 1:30:14.880 --> 1:30:17.760 a singer come in and play cover songs. I said, well, 1:30:17.920 --> 1:30:19.759 you don't do it any much as now. He left 1:30:19.800 --> 1:30:21.639 and I never got around to it. He said, would 1:30:21.680 --> 1:30:23.800 you be interested in I mean, somebody come in and play? 1:30:24.400 --> 1:30:26.000 He said yeah. He said, do you know anybody? I 1:30:26.000 --> 1:30:31.400 said yeah, I said it's me, And so I went 1:30:31.439 --> 1:30:35.240 there and after and he really liked I was playing 1:30:35.280 --> 1:30:42.600 some cover songs Neil Young, you know, Van Morrison, and 1:30:43.040 --> 1:30:46.679 a lot of my songs. But the people there didn't 1:30:46.680 --> 1:30:49.000 care what it was. They just wanted some music. A 1:30:49.000 --> 1:30:53.120 lot of kids throwing pizza around and slurping everything. But 1:30:53.320 --> 1:30:56.120 I was making decent money there, and he said to 1:30:56.200 --> 1:31:00.480 me one about after two or three weeks, he said, 1:31:00.520 --> 1:31:03.480 would you be interested in playing at other Popper's pizzas? 1:31:03.520 --> 1:31:05.040 Because there was a lot of it was a chain. 1:31:05.200 --> 1:31:07.960 I said yeah, sure, I said, okay, would you be 1:31:08.000 --> 1:31:11.600 interested in playing five nights at different ones? I said absolutely? 1:31:12.520 --> 1:31:15.840 So I got paid and I got a big giant 1:31:15.840 --> 1:31:18.720 pizza to take home for dinner. So I ended up 1:31:18.760 --> 1:31:21.240 playing at all these Popper's pizzas, and I was making 1:31:21.280 --> 1:31:25.920 a pretty decent living for then, you know, And I 1:31:26.080 --> 1:31:30.200 was playing a lot of my own songs, some covers 1:31:30.240 --> 1:31:33.760 which I played really well. And then I used to 1:31:33.880 --> 1:31:37.120 start making songs up on the spot because nobody cared anyway, 1:31:37.960 --> 1:31:40.519 and the kids really liked me. They come up and 1:31:40.560 --> 1:31:44.680 pull faces and I would do the same thing, and 1:31:45.280 --> 1:31:47.800 I went down really well and you got great reports. 1:31:48.520 --> 1:31:52.040 And then I started to play universities at lunch time 1:31:52.479 --> 1:31:55.639 and making even more money. And I played folk club 1:31:55.760 --> 1:31:59.840 so I got a bit of a following. So that 1:32:00.120 --> 1:32:01.120 how it began for me. 1:32:01.320 --> 1:32:05.000 You know, so you never from the moment you landed 1:32:05.000 --> 1:32:08.240 in Australia, you didn't get a street job. You just 1:32:08.280 --> 1:32:09.400 started making music. 1:32:10.280 --> 1:32:12.880 I did have a straight job yet, and the job 1:32:12.960 --> 1:32:16.439 I had, which I loved, It was the best job 1:32:16.439 --> 1:32:22.759 I ever had, except for a supply. And I needed 1:32:22.800 --> 1:32:26.679 a job where I could finish early because my wife 1:32:26.760 --> 1:32:31.280 at the time was one was working, so I needed 1:32:31.320 --> 1:32:35.479 to look after my son, who was five years old, 1:32:35.800 --> 1:32:39.200 and then we had a daughter too that was one 1:32:39.920 --> 1:32:42.519 one year old. I needed to look after them in 1:32:42.560 --> 1:32:45.320 the day so I could play at night. So I 1:32:45.360 --> 1:32:48.960 got a job delivering bread in a truck. You know, 1:32:49.520 --> 1:32:52.519 people want bread early, so I started at four o'clock. 1:32:53.160 --> 1:32:57.080 By seven o'clock seven point thirty, I was finished and 1:32:57.240 --> 1:33:00.679 I could go home, get to sleep, look after the kids, 1:33:01.560 --> 1:33:05.400 and then when my wife came home, I could have 1:33:05.439 --> 1:33:09.799 a nap, oh go and play do my papa's pizza. 1:33:10.640 --> 1:33:12.280 But I had to be in bed early because I 1:33:12.320 --> 1:33:15.280 was getting up at three thirty every day. But I 1:33:15.320 --> 1:33:19.759 loved it because I was my young boss. My round 1:33:19.840 --> 1:33:23.080 was in the mountains in the Dandinong's a mountain range 1:33:23.080 --> 1:33:27.000 in Victoria, Australia, and I loved it. I was on 1:33:27.040 --> 1:33:31.519 my own. I could smell beautiful trees early in the morning. 1:33:32.000 --> 1:33:35.280 All these weird creatures would make all these weird sounds, 1:33:37.160 --> 1:33:40.879 and I was finished early. I would meet the butcher. 1:33:42.400 --> 1:33:45.719 We'd swap bread for meat and dairy and all kinds 1:33:45.760 --> 1:33:50.240 of things. It was a wonderful job. I loved it 1:33:50.280 --> 1:33:53.120 so much. I was really sad when I left. But 1:33:53.240 --> 1:33:56.640 I left to go into Superstar. So that's what that 1:33:56.840 --> 1:33:58.200 was my main job. 1:34:00.160 --> 1:34:02.280 So tell me about how you ended up going into 1:34:02.520 --> 1:34:03.760 Jesus Great Superstar. 1:34:05.600 --> 1:34:10.360 Well, when I was doing my bread run, I was 1:34:10.520 --> 1:34:14.880 driving my car in the day after I got back 1:34:14.960 --> 1:34:19.719 from my bread run, and I had this really weird 1:34:19.800 --> 1:34:22.640 feeling come over me, and this is true, it's a 1:34:22.680 --> 1:34:28.080 bit weird. I had this incredible feeling welling up from 1:34:28.120 --> 1:34:32.000 my feet up through my whole body, and I started 1:34:32.040 --> 1:34:36.400 to cry, like profusely, and I thought I was having 1:34:36.400 --> 1:34:39.760 a heart attack. I had to pull over. I couldn't drive. 1:34:40.160 --> 1:34:43.519 I was crying and making this ridiculous noise and I 1:34:43.560 --> 1:34:47.360 didn't know what was happening to me. And I pulled 1:34:47.400 --> 1:34:50.640 over and I had my head in my hands, and 1:34:53.479 --> 1:34:58.960 suddenly I lost all hearing. I couldn't hear anything, and 1:34:59.000 --> 1:35:03.160 all I could see the car that I was in disappeared. 1:35:03.920 --> 1:35:09.040 I was just sitting there. Everything was quiet, and it 1:35:09.120 --> 1:35:13.200 went kind of a gray, misty color. And over there 1:35:13.240 --> 1:35:16.400 to the right, I saw this figure and he was 1:35:16.560 --> 1:35:19.679 off the ground. He was about three or four feet 1:35:19.720 --> 1:35:23.400 off the ground and he was and he had a 1:35:23.439 --> 1:35:28.560 beard and a big, long, you know, white rope and 1:35:28.720 --> 1:35:32.840 he came over in front of where the car was, 1:35:33.560 --> 1:35:36.880 and I thought, I remember thinking to myself, don't look 1:35:36.920 --> 1:35:40.439 at me. I will freak, you know. I didn't want 1:35:40.479 --> 1:35:42.439 him to look at me. And he came over. He 1:35:42.520 --> 1:35:44.960 stood right in the middle of the of where the 1:35:45.080 --> 1:35:47.679 road was, and he turned to look at me and 1:35:47.760 --> 1:35:52.720 I'm dying, but I couldn't move. I'm crying profusely. I 1:35:52.760 --> 1:35:57.480 had this incredible feeling over me that I'd never experienced 1:35:58.320 --> 1:36:03.840 until then or since. It was this incredible feeling of love. 1:36:05.360 --> 1:36:08.600 And he looked at me. He didn't say anything, but 1:36:08.680 --> 1:36:12.040 I knew what he was saying, and he said, not speaking, 1:36:12.120 --> 1:36:14.439 he just I knew what he was saying. He said, 1:36:14.920 --> 1:36:17.880 it's not time for you yet, and I don't know 1:36:18.000 --> 1:36:21.160 what it meant. And after he said that, he carried 1:36:21.200 --> 1:36:26.479 on off the ground, just floating, and he disappeared. And 1:36:26.520 --> 1:36:31.320 then gradually the car came back and I could hear things, 1:36:31.800 --> 1:36:37.519 but I had this incredible feeling and it stayed with me, 1:36:37.960 --> 1:36:44.400 and I went home. I didn't tell my wife Linda 1:36:44.439 --> 1:36:47.439 about it for some time because I couldn't. I couldn't. 1:36:47.840 --> 1:36:49.880 I didn't know what it was. I thought I was 1:36:49.960 --> 1:36:55.000 dying or something. But I had this incredible feeling, and 1:36:55.920 --> 1:37:01.360 I started to reach I wanted to read some books, 1:37:01.400 --> 1:37:05.240 so I started a couple of religious books. And then 1:37:06.760 --> 1:37:10.240 this friend of mine that was a guitar player too, 1:37:10.960 --> 1:37:13.679 who I used to speak every couple of weeks, speaks 1:37:13.800 --> 1:37:15.720 on the phone every couple of weeks. He came to 1:37:15.800 --> 1:37:19.160 my house and he said, he said, I don't know why, 1:37:19.800 --> 1:37:21.800 but I could have called you, but I needed to 1:37:21.840 --> 1:37:23.840 come and I have to tell you something. I said, 1:37:23.880 --> 1:37:27.400 what's that. He said, there's a lady. Her name's Dorothy Whittle, 1:37:28.240 --> 1:37:31.080 and he said she's a friend of mine and she 1:37:31.200 --> 1:37:33.200 has a book for you, and you need to go 1:37:33.320 --> 1:37:36.600 and see her. I didn't know who she was. I 1:37:36.680 --> 1:37:41.519 went to her house and then she was about seventy, 1:37:41.960 --> 1:37:46.920 this little lady from the north of England, beautiful, beautiful soul. 1:37:47.320 --> 1:37:51.400 And she said, you've had a weird experience r I said, yeah, 1:37:51.439 --> 1:37:53.439 I have. She said, I got some books for you 1:37:53.479 --> 1:37:56.000 to read, and I said, okay. I said, that's what 1:37:56.040 --> 1:38:02.439 I'm looking for. So I became a verac reader. When 1:38:02.479 --> 1:38:05.480 I came home, would come home from my bread run, 1:38:05.680 --> 1:38:10.240 I'd read a book every day and it was, you know, 1:38:10.520 --> 1:38:16.080 on Comparative Religion, the first book I ever I read 1:38:16.080 --> 1:38:18.720 on it was it was a religious book, but I 1:38:18.760 --> 1:38:22.160 wasn't a religious person and I'm still not. It was 1:38:22.200 --> 1:38:26.360 the power of positive thinking. But it changed my whole life. 1:38:26.720 --> 1:38:30.000 And I read it and I needed more, and I 1:38:30.120 --> 1:38:34.839 read book after book after book trying to find an answer. 1:38:35.280 --> 1:38:38.559 And then one day I went to Dorothy's house because 1:38:38.760 --> 1:38:41.640 she lived near where my work was, so i'd go 1:38:41.720 --> 1:38:44.559 to her place and she became like a library for me, 1:38:44.640 --> 1:38:47.559 and I would swap books. She said when I went 1:38:47.600 --> 1:38:50.160 there wondering, she said, did you see they had for 1:38:50.280 --> 1:38:52.640 Superstar in the paper? I said, no, I haven't seen it. 1:38:53.120 --> 1:38:56.679 She said, they're advertising for singers and in dancers and stuff. 1:38:56.880 --> 1:38:59.360 I said, oh, really, I said, that's not my thing. 1:38:59.600 --> 1:39:03.439 I'm not singer, I'm not a dancer. And she said, 1:39:04.200 --> 1:39:07.240 she said, listen to me, if you go to that show, 1:39:07.400 --> 1:39:11.160 it'll change your life. And when I knew enough to 1:39:11.200 --> 1:39:13.840 know when she said something, I needed to listen, and 1:39:13.920 --> 1:39:17.360 I said, really, she said, it will change your life. 1:39:18.120 --> 1:39:19.840 So I went. I got the paper, I looked at 1:39:19.880 --> 1:39:22.120 the thing. I called them up, and I asked for 1:39:22.160 --> 1:39:27.840 an audition date and I got an audition. I didn't 1:39:27.840 --> 1:39:31.840 know what to sing, so I picked a song and 1:39:32.720 --> 1:39:35.320 I went to the audition. There were hundreds of people 1:39:35.400 --> 1:39:38.479 there waiting to get in, and I thought, oh, the 1:39:38.560 --> 1:39:42.599 chances of me getting an audition, not even getting a part, 1:39:43.160 --> 1:39:46.679 so remote. But because she told me to do it, 1:39:46.920 --> 1:39:50.599 I stuck it out and I waited. I did my audition. 1:39:51.439 --> 1:39:54.080 It took about three minutes. I said thank you and 1:39:54.160 --> 1:39:57.679 I was done, and I thought, thank god, that's over. 1:39:58.200 --> 1:40:02.639 I followed through and I thought, great, now I can 1:40:02.680 --> 1:40:05.799 get on with my life. And I didn't let Dorothy down. 1:40:06.320 --> 1:40:09.400 Two weeks later, I get a cool this is Superstar 1:40:09.439 --> 1:40:11.400 of the Office from Superstar. We're offering you a part 1:40:11.479 --> 1:40:14.200 in the show. You have to leave in two weeks. 1:40:14.439 --> 1:40:18.719 There's a month rehearsal in Sydney and you'll be gone 1:40:18.800 --> 1:40:22.320 for eighteen months to two years. Can you take the job? 1:40:22.360 --> 1:40:23.680 And they told me how much I was going to 1:40:23.760 --> 1:40:31.240 get and I said yes, and I was on top 1:40:31.280 --> 1:40:34.479 of the world. My whole life had changed suddenly. I 1:40:34.560 --> 1:40:38.920 was going to be a professional singer, not singing my songs, 1:40:38.960 --> 1:40:45.920 but singing Superstar music, which is incredible. And so I 1:40:46.000 --> 1:40:52.439 go the first day of rehearsal, I meet this guy 1:40:53.400 --> 1:40:57.000 with the big afro and we sing together for the 1:40:57.000 --> 1:41:01.120 first time and I hear and it was Russell. Of course, 1:41:01.200 --> 1:41:03.960 we hadn't even met nobody, knew anybody in the room 1:41:04.640 --> 1:41:07.920 and he was sat next to me and I went, 1:41:09.160 --> 1:41:12.960 I said, after the rehearse, I said, what an incredible voice. 1:41:12.960 --> 1:41:14.960 You have. He said, oh, really, thank you, He said, 1:41:14.960 --> 1:41:18.840 I've never really sung much before. I said, you sign incredible. 1:41:19.720 --> 1:41:23.200 But an alarm went off in my brain and it said, 1:41:23.760 --> 1:41:26.679 you need to meet him, you need to work with him. 1:41:26.880 --> 1:41:31.559 Because I knew how to write songs, not hit songs 1:41:31.560 --> 1:41:34.240 at that point, but I was never a singer, and 1:41:34.280 --> 1:41:36.400 I knew it. You know, I didn't want to be 1:41:36.439 --> 1:41:40.559 a lead singer, but this guy was. And we became 1:41:41.160 --> 1:41:45.599 such incredible friends from the very first moment we met. 1:41:45.640 --> 1:41:49.200 It was a pluncanny. We had so much in common. 1:41:49.320 --> 1:41:53.519 You know, first of all, we have the same name, 1:41:53.600 --> 1:41:58.679 We're born three days apart. Neither of us had a brother. 1:41:58.800 --> 1:42:03.439 We had a sister. I had two sisters, and you know, 1:42:03.479 --> 1:42:05.799 we didn't have anything else. We grew up with nothing 1:42:06.520 --> 1:42:10.040 and we just hit it off. You know. It was uncanny, 1:42:10.840 --> 1:42:12.840 and that's how that's how it all began. 1:42:21.760 --> 1:42:25.760 Okay, what did your wife say when you said you 1:42:25.760 --> 1:42:28.559 were going to go on the road for eighteen months. 1:42:29.160 --> 1:42:32.760 I must say she was incredibly supportive. She had we 1:42:32.800 --> 1:42:35.760 had two kids, but I was going to make a 1:42:35.800 --> 1:42:39.080 lot of money, well for me then, you know, I 1:42:39.120 --> 1:42:43.639 was assured of making a decent wage and she liked 1:42:43.680 --> 1:42:49.320 that it wasn't any uncertainty, and she was so supportive, 1:42:49.400 --> 1:42:52.320 and I said, I want you to come with me 1:42:52.400 --> 1:42:55.320 when we start touring, not in rehearsal. We were in 1:42:55.360 --> 1:42:59.160 rehearsal for Sydney for a month, but when we went 1:43:00.960 --> 1:43:03.880 we started in New Zealand, and I said, you're coming 1:43:03.880 --> 1:43:07.040 with me, and she did, and she brought the kids 1:43:07.880 --> 1:43:11.240 and straight away she got a job in the show 1:43:11.320 --> 1:43:16.640 selling programs, and so she was earning money. We had 1:43:16.680 --> 1:43:19.800 a babysitter for the kids. Then then she got into 1:43:19.840 --> 1:43:22.559 the office because she was in accounting. She was really 1:43:22.560 --> 1:43:25.840 good too, so she took a job selling programs, became 1:43:25.920 --> 1:43:27.240 really good at that, and then she ended up in 1:43:27.240 --> 1:43:31.719 the office. So she went all over with Superstar working. 1:43:32.160 --> 1:43:36.559 So that was great. The family were there and during 1:43:36.600 --> 1:43:40.599 that time, even from the very early days when I 1:43:40.640 --> 1:43:44.439 met Russell, we said are you inter forming a bat 1:43:44.479 --> 1:43:46.400 and he says, yeah, I'm into it. And he said 1:43:46.400 --> 1:43:48.160 to me, she said, bro, I don't want to write 1:43:48.200 --> 1:43:50.400 any songs, and I don't write songs. I just want 1:43:50.400 --> 1:43:53.960 to sing. And I said that's perfect. I'll write the 1:43:54.000 --> 1:43:58.760 songs and you sing. And it was the most perfect 1:43:58.800 --> 1:44:01.719 scenario that we could even actually, and we were both 1:44:02.560 --> 1:44:04.840 green as grass. We didn't know what we were doing, 1:44:05.600 --> 1:44:09.439 but we just knew we wanted to do it, and 1:44:09.520 --> 1:44:12.519 that's how it began. And it went from there, you know. 1:44:13.320 --> 1:44:16.240 Okay, So what was the experience of being in Superstar 1:44:16.439 --> 1:44:17.400 like and how did that end? 1:44:19.560 --> 1:44:22.200 Well? I knew when we went in that we were 1:44:22.200 --> 1:44:26.200 going to be guaranteed eighteen months, maybe longer. But I 1:44:26.240 --> 1:44:29.559 also knew that Superstar at that time, in nineteen seventy 1:44:29.600 --> 1:44:33.479 five was a big, big show. It was when it 1:44:33.520 --> 1:44:36.479 came to Towan, it took over all the media, all 1:44:36.520 --> 1:44:40.040 the papers, and I knew that it was a stepping 1:44:40.120 --> 1:44:43.960 stone for us. We had to make use of it. 1:44:44.120 --> 1:44:49.280 We had to use Superstar. So straight away we got 1:44:49.720 --> 1:44:53.559 we started singing my songs and a couple of other 1:44:53.720 --> 1:44:58.400 cover songs, and we started and we had the lady, 1:44:58.560 --> 1:45:01.559 another lady in the show that actually got the role 1:45:01.600 --> 1:45:06.360 of Mary eventually, but she was I knew her from 1:45:06.560 --> 1:45:10.920 before my Papa's Pizza days. She was in the show. 1:45:11.120 --> 1:45:13.360 She had a great voice, and she came in with 1:45:13.439 --> 1:45:17.200 us and we had a little trio three part harmonies 1:45:17.240 --> 1:45:20.320 Lack Crosby, Stills and Nash I was playing guitar, Russ 1:45:20.439 --> 1:45:24.519 was playing congers, and we sang all these songs, ninety 1:45:24.600 --> 1:45:28.519 nine percent of in with my songs, and we sounded 1:45:28.560 --> 1:45:32.320 fabulous and people would come by the dress room and say, God, 1:45:32.400 --> 1:45:36.519 you guys sound good. And we started. I would call 1:45:36.680 --> 1:45:41.600 clubs wherever we were in New Zealand say, we're from Superstar. 1:45:42.040 --> 1:45:45.799 We have a little act. Can we come and play? Yeah? 1:45:45.840 --> 1:45:49.240 Of course, because it was a big draw Superstar, we would. 1:45:49.360 --> 1:45:51.360 They would pay us to come and play. We'd do 1:45:51.920 --> 1:45:56.400 an hour set and we sounded so good, and that 1:45:56.640 --> 1:46:00.519 just grew and grew. We ended up doing making videos. 1:46:00.520 --> 1:46:02.439 People would come up to us and say, do you 1:46:02.479 --> 1:46:04.639 want to make a video? Yeah, let us do it, 1:46:05.439 --> 1:46:08.640 and we got this reputation of being with Superstar. 1:46:09.200 --> 1:46:12.080 Just to be clear, Superstar plays every night. When were 1:46:12.080 --> 1:46:13.040 you playing these. 1:46:12.880 --> 1:46:17.400 Gigs, the show would end about ten point fifteen. We 1:46:17.560 --> 1:46:21.160 go to a club at eleven o'clock and play pretty 1:46:21.200 --> 1:46:24.960 much every night. So we got really good at doing this. 1:46:25.520 --> 1:46:28.640 And we were young. We didn't care if if we 1:46:28.680 --> 1:46:32.439 got tired or anything. You know, we weren't We weren't 1:46:32.479 --> 1:46:35.400 doing any drugs, we weren't drinking or anything. We were 1:46:35.600 --> 1:46:39.360 just wanted to play, and we were really good at it, 1:46:40.400 --> 1:46:43.840 and everybody in the show was noticing and they come 1:46:43.880 --> 1:46:48.200 and see, say, god, you guys great. Then suddenly Chrissy 1:46:48.880 --> 1:46:51.760 got the role of Mary. They fired Mary. She got 1:46:51.800 --> 1:46:54.080 the role of Mary Magdan, so she couldn't sing with 1:46:54.160 --> 1:46:59.960 us anymore. So when we got to Brisbane, they high 1:47:00.080 --> 1:47:03.679 had another three people and one of them was this guy, 1:47:03.800 --> 1:47:08.280 Jeremy Paul and he was a bass player and he 1:47:08.320 --> 1:47:11.760 had a great voice. He was our age and we 1:47:11.840 --> 1:47:13.600 said to him, do you want to step in and 1:47:13.640 --> 1:47:15.400 sing with us? And he says, yeah, I'd love to, 1:47:16.280 --> 1:47:19.320 and that that became a supply. That was the first 1:47:19.400 --> 1:47:22.960 one and we made we were We made a demo 1:47:23.080 --> 1:47:27.040 in the pit of Superstar, using the show's drummer and 1:47:27.080 --> 1:47:31.480 the show's keyboard player. We recorded two of my songs 1:47:31.600 --> 1:47:35.679 on a cassette and you know, talk about low fi. 1:47:36.400 --> 1:47:39.360 We just did it live on a little portable cassette 1:47:39.400 --> 1:47:45.519 machine and it sounded amazing. It was no high fire 1:47:45.600 --> 1:47:49.320 or anything, but it sounded great. Russell's voice was incredible, 1:47:50.240 --> 1:47:52.960 and we took that little cassette we only had one 1:47:53.000 --> 1:47:57.120 copy around to all the record companies and they all 1:47:57.160 --> 1:48:00.720 said no. And then the last one we took it 1:48:00.760 --> 1:48:05.160 to was CBS Records, and it was a guy that 1:48:05.520 --> 1:48:09.439 had just been made a producer for CBS. He was 1:48:09.479 --> 1:48:11.799 already a famous producer. He had a lot of success 1:48:11.840 --> 1:48:15.559 with other artists. And he listened to it and he said, 1:48:16.760 --> 1:48:19.880 he said, this kind of music isn't isn't happening. But 1:48:20.200 --> 1:48:23.760 he said, something's telling me to sign you guys that 1:48:23.800 --> 1:48:26.960 I don't know what it is. And he signed us 1:48:27.840 --> 1:48:32.479 and we made it. We made a single, and we 1:48:32.600 --> 1:48:36.360 made the album in a week and the single came out, 1:48:36.520 --> 1:48:40.400 it screamed up the charts. It was the biggest hit 1:48:40.520 --> 1:48:44.080 of the year. And nobody knew who we were because 1:48:44.120 --> 1:48:47.559 we were still in the show. And he before the 1:48:47.640 --> 1:48:49.679 record came out, he said, we didn't have a name, 1:48:50.479 --> 1:48:52.519 and he said, what are you going to call yourself? 1:48:52.640 --> 1:48:55.200 We said, we don't know. He said, I need a 1:48:55.280 --> 1:49:00.679 name by tomorrow morning. So that night we were trying 1:49:00.680 --> 1:49:03.960 to think of names, and I had a dream, and 1:49:04.000 --> 1:49:07.240 this is a true story. I dreamt of a big 1:49:07.280 --> 1:49:11.200 billboard and it was pure white and on the perimeter 1:49:12.040 --> 1:49:15.879 with flashing lights or strokes and neon lights going crazy, 1:49:16.479 --> 1:49:19.599 and in the middle of the billboard in big black letters. 1:49:19.600 --> 1:49:23.759 It said air supply. And I told Russell and Jeremy 1:49:23.760 --> 1:49:25.439 in the morning, I said, I don't know what this means, 1:49:25.439 --> 1:49:29.000 but I had this really vivid dream and they said, well, 1:49:29.040 --> 1:49:32.639 we haven't got any names either, let's go with it. 1:49:32.840 --> 1:49:35.960 So that's how we got the name. And that's that's 1:49:36.800 --> 1:49:41.559 it began right there, and the record was going to 1:49:41.600 --> 1:49:47.439 come out, and the producers said, Peter Dawkins was wonderful person. 1:49:48.680 --> 1:49:52.960 He said, there's a friend of his wants to play 1:49:53.200 --> 1:49:56.800 the song at like nine o'clock at night the first time. 1:49:56.800 --> 1:49:59.120 He said, he's given him the right to be the 1:49:59.120 --> 1:50:02.640 first one to play, and so we all wait. You know. 1:50:02.840 --> 1:50:06.040 It was a Sunday, so we were doing a superstar 1:50:06.120 --> 1:50:09.200 show and the guy said, yeah, I've got this band. 1:50:09.240 --> 1:50:12.080 It says, I'm going to play this record first time 1:50:12.120 --> 1:50:15.519 anywhere in the world. You know, I'm going to play it, 1:50:15.600 --> 1:50:18.479 and then I hope you're listening, guys, here here we go, 1:50:18.600 --> 1:50:22.479 you know. So he played it and it sounded amazing, 1:50:22.880 --> 1:50:24.800 you know, first time he had heard a song on 1:50:24.840 --> 1:50:30.680 the radio. And about half an hour later he said, 1:50:31.360 --> 1:50:34.439 my fans have gone berserk. He says, I've got to 1:50:34.439 --> 1:50:37.760 play this song again, and he played it about ten 1:50:37.840 --> 1:50:41.760 times that night and his phones just lit up. Everybody 1:50:41.800 --> 1:50:45.720 wanted that song, and within two weeks it was in 1:50:45.760 --> 1:50:50.400 the top ten. So suddenly this band called Air Supply, 1:50:51.200 --> 1:50:54.679 we're getting all these plays and it became a big, big, 1:50:54.720 --> 1:50:57.840 big hit. It became a classic song in Australia. 1:50:57.920 --> 1:51:02.120 You know, So how do you then with Superstar? And 1:51:02.160 --> 1:51:05.160 then you made a couple of records before you know, 1:51:05.320 --> 1:51:06.280 Clive picked up. 1:51:07.120 --> 1:51:11.120 We did well Superstar. We were told it was going 1:51:11.200 --> 1:51:15.800 to end, so we had about a month's notice, but 1:51:16.000 --> 1:51:18.920 our record was in the charts when it Superstar ended, 1:51:18.960 --> 1:51:21.519 so we were pretty happy about it. We were ready 1:51:21.600 --> 1:51:26.559 to make that move, and so we made the move. 1:51:27.479 --> 1:51:31.200 And they had a show called Superstars in Rock or 1:51:31.640 --> 1:51:35.080 the two big stars were Trevor White and John English 1:51:35.080 --> 1:51:39.759 who played Jesus and Judas, and they were the biggest 1:51:39.800 --> 1:51:43.559 stars in Australia. We become really good friends with them. 1:51:44.080 --> 1:51:47.760 So we were on their show Superstars in Rock, and 1:51:48.000 --> 1:51:52.599 we opened the show and we pretty much stole the show. 1:51:53.000 --> 1:51:56.680 We had top five songs and then suddenly were going, 1:51:56.800 --> 1:51:59.080 oh wow, this isn't a supply. We know who they 1:51:59.080 --> 1:52:03.000 were and so we played with them for about six 1:52:03.040 --> 1:52:06.919 weeks all around Australia. Then we started our own shows. 1:52:07.080 --> 1:52:10.799 So Superstar ended and we went straight into our supply. 1:52:11.360 --> 1:52:15.320 One of the first shows we played on our own 1:52:16.280 --> 1:52:20.360 after we played with John with Superstars in Rock was 1:52:20.520 --> 1:52:22.680 at the Opera House and New Year's Eve on the 1:52:22.720 --> 1:52:25.519 steps of the Opera House, and there were ninety thousand 1:52:25.520 --> 1:52:28.599 people there. We weren't the only act on the build. 1:52:28.640 --> 1:52:31.080 There were a lot of other big acts, but nevertheless 1:52:31.560 --> 1:52:34.400 it was our first big show to a lot of people, 1:52:34.439 --> 1:52:38.160 and we were like whoa, we were so green, we 1:52:38.200 --> 1:52:41.000 had no idea what we do. We hastily put a 1:52:41.040 --> 1:52:44.599 band together and we went on tour and that's how 1:52:44.600 --> 1:52:48.160 it all began. So Superstar ended and air supply began. 1:52:48.600 --> 1:52:51.520 Okay, how'd you end up in Los Angeles? 1:52:51.560 --> 1:52:58.240 Brook, Well, we had a two or three big hits. 1:53:00.080 --> 1:53:03.960 Next year we were touring in Australia, big hits, but 1:53:04.040 --> 1:53:08.840 we couldn't really make any money. And in the end 1:53:09.439 --> 1:53:14.040 we we said, God, what are we going to do? 1:53:14.400 --> 1:53:19.519 You know? And then suddenly Rod Stewart was touring and 1:53:20.720 --> 1:53:23.519 we were asked to open for him because we were 1:53:24.080 --> 1:53:26.880 like the biggest band in Australia at the time, so 1:53:26.920 --> 1:53:32.840 we opened for him. After the first show, Rod came 1:53:33.080 --> 1:53:37.599 to our dressing room personally and he said, I want 1:53:37.720 --> 1:53:39.599 I want you to open for me in the US 1:53:39.800 --> 1:53:43.360 next year, and we went what we couldn't believe it, 1:53:43.800 --> 1:53:47.320 but he meant it, and so we went to the US. 1:53:47.400 --> 1:53:51.040 We opened for Rod. We did about sixty shows and 1:53:51.080 --> 1:53:54.599 we everything was happening for us so fast, and we thought, oh, 1:53:54.680 --> 1:53:57.600 this is it, We're going to break wide open, but 1:53:57.720 --> 1:54:01.960 we didn't. But we learned from Rod. We watched this 1:54:02.040 --> 1:54:07.120 show every night. We became really good friends, and we 1:54:07.240 --> 1:54:11.040 learned so much from him, just about an audience, how 1:54:11.080 --> 1:54:14.840 to handle big audiences. We played everywhere, we opened for him, 1:54:14.920 --> 1:54:20.559 Madison Square, Gardens, everywhere. But then we got we got 1:54:20.600 --> 1:54:23.960 dropped after you know, when that tour ended, we were 1:54:23.960 --> 1:54:27.280 back in Australia and we had no hope. We had 1:54:26.800 --> 1:54:30.960 no shows to do, we had no band, we had nothing. 1:54:31.040 --> 1:54:36.880 We were broke, and I went I decided to go 1:54:37.000 --> 1:54:39.160 away and I just wanted to write some songs on 1:54:39.200 --> 1:54:42.960 my own. So I went to a friend's place in 1:54:43.000 --> 1:54:47.320 Adelaide to get away from everything, and I started to 1:54:47.320 --> 1:54:52.080 write some songs and then I over six month period. 1:54:52.200 --> 1:54:54.600 I called Russell up and I said, I think I've 1:54:54.640 --> 1:54:58.600 got some interesting songs, you know, And he came down 1:54:58.640 --> 1:55:01.760 on a bus. He took her like a twenty two 1:55:01.840 --> 1:55:06.560 hour bus ride to come and see me. And the 1:55:06.600 --> 1:55:10.640 first song I played him was lost in Love, and 1:55:10.680 --> 1:55:13.280 I thought lost in It was a good song, but 1:55:13.360 --> 1:55:16.600 he said stop. He said, this is the song that's 1:55:16.640 --> 1:55:18.520 going to change it for us. I said really, he 1:55:18.560 --> 1:55:21.520 said yeah. I played him that, and I played him 1:55:21.560 --> 1:55:23.640 a few of the songs, Chances, all out of Love. 1:55:25.080 --> 1:55:28.120 He said, okay, let's do it again. Let's put a 1:55:28.200 --> 1:55:32.080 band together. So we did. We released an album we 1:55:32.240 --> 1:55:34.640 Lost in Love on it. It became a big hit, 1:55:35.840 --> 1:55:38.400 but we still weren't making any money. We had a 1:55:38.440 --> 1:55:43.280 gold album, twenty thousand copies of an album, but we 1:55:43.280 --> 1:55:47.000 weren't making anything. We couldn't afford to do anything. So 1:55:48.160 --> 1:55:52.920 I decided, well, we both decided to stop. I wanted 1:55:52.960 --> 1:55:56.080 to go to this music festival in Cannes, in the 1:55:56.120 --> 1:55:59.440 south of France, so I sold a couple of guitars 1:55:59.600 --> 1:56:04.440 to get to go there to try and sell some songs. 1:56:05.800 --> 1:56:10.960 I get to can and I got food poisoning. I 1:56:11.000 --> 1:56:13.200 couldn't get out of bed for three days. I thought 1:56:13.240 --> 1:56:16.320 I was going to die. And by the time I 1:56:16.360 --> 1:56:19.560 got out of bed and walked down the street, the 1:56:19.600 --> 1:56:23.520 whole festival was over. It was done. And I thought, okay, 1:56:23.600 --> 1:56:27.560 here we go. Just my look. And then there was 1:56:27.600 --> 1:56:32.840 a copy of Record World was blowing down the street. 1:56:33.160 --> 1:56:36.560 It's all rubbish blowing. Every everybody had left, and I 1:56:36.640 --> 1:56:38.520 picked I thought, okay, I picked it up. I picked 1:56:38.520 --> 1:56:42.200 it up. On the front cover it said lost in Love. 1:56:43.040 --> 1:56:46.680 I turned to page five. This song is destined to 1:56:47.160 --> 1:56:50.560 go all the Way? And I thought, oh great, somebody, 1:56:50.840 --> 1:56:54.240 somebody's written a song called lost in Love, which is 1:56:54.280 --> 1:56:58.520 our biggest chance of anything. And I thought everything. I 1:56:58.560 --> 1:57:01.720 thought we were sunk. But I turned to page five 1:57:02.640 --> 1:57:05.440 and there's a picture of Russell and myself there on 1:57:05.520 --> 1:57:09.240 that page, and it said air supply going to go 1:57:09.320 --> 1:57:12.800 all the way and is an article by Clive Davis. 1:57:12.840 --> 1:57:18.320 He'd licensed the song without our knowledge. So I thought, WHOA, 1:57:18.320 --> 1:57:21.960 what's going on here? I called Clive, who I didn't know, 1:57:22.960 --> 1:57:25.280 and I reversed the chargers. Because I had no money. 1:57:25.960 --> 1:57:29.160 I called him at Arista Records. He was in I 1:57:29.200 --> 1:57:31.960 called New York. He said he's in Los Angeles. I said, 1:57:32.000 --> 1:57:34.920 can you give me the number? He gave me the number. 1:57:34.960 --> 1:57:38.320 I reversed the chargers. He accepted and he said, are 1:57:38.320 --> 1:57:40.440 you from air Supply? I said yeah. He said what 1:57:40.560 --> 1:57:42.200 where are I said, I'm in the side of France. 1:57:42.360 --> 1:57:44.800 He said, what are you doing there? Get back to Australia. 1:57:45.080 --> 1:57:47.240 We need that album. He said, Lost in Love's going 1:57:47.280 --> 1:57:50.360 to be the biggest song of the year. But as 1:57:50.400 --> 1:57:54.480 soon as I heard that, I knew everything was going 1:57:54.560 --> 1:57:59.200 to be okay. But on my way back, I went 1:57:59.280 --> 1:58:01.520 through Los Angeles. I said, can I come and meet 1:58:01.560 --> 1:58:04.840 you to tell me that this is all for real? 1:58:05.840 --> 1:58:08.000 And he said, yeah, come on, we'll have lunch. I 1:58:08.040 --> 1:58:12.800 went to the Bevery Hills Hotel and his bungalow lunch 1:58:13.480 --> 1:58:15.960 and he kept it and said, you've got to get 1:58:15.960 --> 1:58:18.760 out of it. Get back to Australia, get that album 1:58:18.840 --> 1:58:22.560 right now. And so I went back. We made the 1:58:22.640 --> 1:58:27.920 album and then everything after that became history. 1:58:28.080 --> 1:58:30.720 You know, Okay, Just a couple of questions after the 1:58:30.840 --> 1:58:35.280 Rod Stewart tour, Yeah, did you and Russell think you 1:58:35.320 --> 1:58:36.280 were going to continue? 1:58:38.400 --> 1:58:42.160 No? We well, we weren't going to give up, but 1:58:43.280 --> 1:58:47.560 we just had no money. You know. Russell was working 1:58:47.600 --> 1:58:51.879 on videos with other artists with a fog machine, sticking 1:58:51.880 --> 1:58:55.960 a fog machine in a bass drum. And he was 1:58:56.000 --> 1:59:00.960 actually on a little riverband video for reminiscing, and he's 1:59:01.000 --> 1:59:04.120 sticking the fog machine in the base room. And they 1:59:04.200 --> 1:59:06.400 knew he was a singer, and they said, and what 1:59:06.440 --> 1:59:07.960 are you doing here? You need to get to the 1:59:08.040 --> 1:59:12.920 US because they were a huge little rivermand But I 1:59:13.120 --> 1:59:17.120 just needed to earn some money. I had two children, 1:59:17.280 --> 1:59:22.320 you know, and I wasn't making any money. I needed 1:59:22.360 --> 1:59:24.720 to do something. So the only thing I should think 1:59:24.760 --> 1:59:28.920 of was to sell songs. And somebody recorded Lost in 1:59:29.000 --> 1:59:34.080 Love in Europe, a Greek artist called Demise Rusos, and 1:59:34.160 --> 1:59:36.680 it was a big hit all over Europe. So I 1:59:36.760 --> 1:59:39.440 made a little bit, a few thousand dollars from that. 1:59:41.480 --> 1:59:43.320 But I thought, I've got to sell all the songs. 1:59:43.360 --> 1:59:46.040 I've got to earn a living, you know. But that 1:59:46.160 --> 1:59:47.680 was the only way I could think of. I had 1:59:47.720 --> 1:59:53.320 no skills. I wasn't a tradesman or anything. I had nothing, 1:59:53.440 --> 1:59:56.160 you know. The only skill I had was I knew 1:59:56.160 --> 1:59:59.680 how to write songs, but I was unknown. Nobody wanted 1:59:59.680 --> 2:00:01.480 to buy songs from me, I was unknown. 2:00:01.680 --> 2:00:03.360 How did it end with your first wife? 2:00:04.720 --> 2:00:08.080 Well, when I went with Rod, you know, she knew 2:00:08.120 --> 2:00:10.080 I was going to be gone for six months, which 2:00:10.120 --> 2:00:13.840 I was, and we kind of knew it was going 2:00:13.920 --> 2:00:19.600 to come to an end, you know, we both realized it. 2:00:19.640 --> 2:00:22.960 And once I was there for a month and two months, 2:00:23.040 --> 2:00:24.600 you know, she said, I'm going to go back to 2:00:24.680 --> 2:00:27.800 England and she went back to England with the kids 2:00:27.960 --> 2:00:32.120 and we were okay with it. I said, yeah, it's 2:00:32.400 --> 2:00:35.280 a different vibe now, isn't it. She said, yeah, it is. 2:00:36.000 --> 2:00:40.000 But she was never antagonistic. She was always very supportive 2:00:40.240 --> 2:00:42.280 and I must give her that, and I always have. 2:00:42.520 --> 2:00:47.800 You know. She was wonderful and the only thing that 2:00:47.960 --> 2:00:50.960 was important to us was the children, making sure they 2:00:50.960 --> 2:00:54.120 were okay, and they were, you know, I would see them. 2:00:54.160 --> 2:00:56.400 I went to England to see them. I threw them 2:00:56.400 --> 2:01:00.600 out to Australia all the time, and I always wanted 2:01:00.600 --> 2:01:04.520 to maintain a great relationship with them. And now they're 2:01:04.560 --> 2:01:07.480 in the fifties, so I have a great relationship with them. 2:01:07.480 --> 2:01:09.200 You know, what are they doing. 2:01:10.800 --> 2:01:14.840 My son lives in Tennessee. He works on a big 2:01:14.920 --> 2:01:21.320 ranch actually, and my daughter lives in Brisbane, Australia, and 2:01:21.400 --> 2:01:27.080 she worked for the government on ecosystems and things like that. 2:01:27.200 --> 2:01:30.000 So they're doing really well. They You know, I have 2:01:30.160 --> 2:01:34.880 six grandchildren, so life has been good to me. You know. 2:01:35.200 --> 2:01:38.560 There was that time around Rod's time where I thought, 2:01:38.600 --> 2:01:42.000 oh god, I've got no money, I'm losing my family, 2:01:43.400 --> 2:01:48.080 I've got no prospects. But right when it was darkest, 2:01:49.080 --> 2:01:50.640 there was a light shining. You know. 2:01:51.840 --> 2:01:53.520 So are those the only two kids you have? 2:01:54.400 --> 2:01:56.600 Yeah? They are. Yeah. I didn't want to go through 2:01:56.600 --> 2:02:00.160 it all again, you know, but you ultimately got red, Ma, 2:02:01.000 --> 2:02:01.800 I did. Yes. 2:02:02.320 --> 2:02:04.640 So how did you meet your new wife? 2:02:05.600 --> 2:02:09.960 She was at a show in Rockford, Illinois with her mother. 2:02:10.160 --> 2:02:16.280 She was quite young, and somehow she got backstage and 2:02:17.040 --> 2:02:18.880 we swapped her dresses and I said I'd love to 2:02:19.560 --> 2:02:22.560 She was like sixteen. I said I'd love to write 2:02:22.560 --> 2:02:25.920 to you, you know. And we wrote to each other 2:02:26.080 --> 2:02:31.720 for two years. And when she was nineteen, they were 2:02:31.760 --> 2:02:35.880 looking for somebody to shoot the video of making love 2:02:35.920 --> 2:02:38.720 out nothing at all, and they couldn't find anybody. And 2:02:38.760 --> 2:02:40.800 they said to me, do you know anybody this young 2:02:41.440 --> 2:02:46.440 blonde lady that's kind of very good looking and attractive 2:02:46.480 --> 2:02:48.080 and I said, as a matter of fact, I do, 2:02:48.720 --> 2:02:51.960 and they called her and they said we want, we 2:02:52.000 --> 2:02:54.920 want you to come out and be in that video. 2:02:55.600 --> 2:02:59.840 And when she came out, we we final in love 2:03:00.160 --> 2:03:03.200 because we were thrown together for the first time to 2:03:03.360 --> 2:03:06.080 fun in Love. We got engaged and we got married 2:03:06.120 --> 2:03:09.720 when she was twenty one and ever since. 2:03:11.680 --> 2:03:15.200 Wow, just one other thing, going back to Rod's do 2:03:15.320 --> 2:03:19.600 it you did all those dates, no one came up 2:03:19.640 --> 2:03:21.440 and said, wait, wait, I don't want to sign you. 2:03:21.480 --> 2:03:22.760 There's something going on here. 2:03:23.440 --> 2:03:27.400 Well, we were signed to CBS because we were signed 2:03:27.440 --> 2:03:32.720 to CBS Australia and CBS in the United States were 2:03:32.840 --> 2:03:37.800 really handed us. They were given us. They had to 2:03:37.800 --> 2:03:41.000 look after us, you know, and they really didn't want to. 2:03:41.120 --> 2:03:43.680 They didn't see any future for us. So you know, 2:03:43.800 --> 2:03:46.680 our album wasn't in the stores. We never did any 2:03:46.800 --> 2:03:50.000 press or any interviews. They just didn't want anything to 2:03:50.040 --> 2:03:53.400 do with us. We just happened to be on their 2:03:53.480 --> 2:03:56.600 label and they were handed us and that they had 2:03:56.600 --> 2:03:58.560 to do something with us, but they never did. There 2:03:58.600 --> 2:04:01.440 was nobody that came to the show said hey, guys, 2:04:02.000 --> 2:04:05.200 let's release a single. They never released anything. The album 2:04:05.320 --> 2:04:09.800 was released, but nothing happened. They just didn't want anything 2:04:09.840 --> 2:04:10.640 to do with it, you know. 2:04:11.640 --> 2:04:15.040 And then you know, it was a typical opening act deal. 2:04:15.120 --> 2:04:17.240 The money was so poor that at the end of 2:04:17.280 --> 2:04:18.640 the tour there was nothing. 2:04:18.440 --> 2:04:22.720 Left, nothing left. I think we made maybe five hundred 2:04:22.760 --> 2:04:26.080 dollars a show. But I must say Rad and his 2:04:26.280 --> 2:04:29.320 entourage really did the right thing. You know. We never 2:04:29.360 --> 2:04:31.200 had a sound check. We were just got thrown on. 2:04:31.760 --> 2:04:34.440 I mean, this is his show, you know. But we 2:04:34.440 --> 2:04:37.640 were fortunate enough to be opening for the biggest act 2:04:37.680 --> 2:04:41.160 in the world. We didn't make any money, but we 2:04:41.280 --> 2:04:44.920 became good friends with his whole entourage. We would he 2:04:45.160 --> 2:04:47.920 we would have dinners with them all night, so you know, 2:04:48.520 --> 2:04:51.720 suddenly we'd be I mean, we were nobody, you know. 2:04:51.840 --> 2:04:54.360 Then we'd be having dinner with the biggest act in 2:04:54.400 --> 2:04:58.720 the world at a posh hotel and we'd never been 2:04:58.840 --> 2:05:03.880 used to eating whatever we felt like or drinking fine wise, 2:05:03.880 --> 2:05:07.440 and we would say, you know, we can we have 2:05:07.520 --> 2:05:09.880 this this or that, and they say, whatever you want, 2:05:09.960 --> 2:05:12.880 you know, And it was pretty much two or three 2:05:12.960 --> 2:05:16.880 nights a week was like that. So we really were 2:05:16.920 --> 2:05:20.920 looked after, and they did the right thing with us, 2:05:21.400 --> 2:05:25.480 which was incredible. They could have just you know, they 2:05:25.520 --> 2:05:28.000 didn't need to have us open for them. They didn't 2:05:28.000 --> 2:05:31.800 need us. We needed them. And you would imagine that 2:05:31.880 --> 2:05:35.320 we would break after doing sixty shows with them, but 2:05:35.360 --> 2:05:40.000 we just didn't. And it was meant on reflection that 2:05:40.160 --> 2:05:43.520 it was meant for us to get in the trenches, 2:05:43.840 --> 2:05:47.120 go back and learn your craft. We'd learned a lot 2:05:47.160 --> 2:05:50.960 from Superstar, we'd learned a lot from being with Rod. 2:05:51.320 --> 2:05:54.280 Now we had to learn to be ourselves and to 2:05:54.720 --> 2:05:58.400 get ready for the success that was coming our way. 2:05:58.480 --> 2:06:00.120 But we didn't even know it. 2:06:00.200 --> 2:06:03.800 You know, Well, we've learned a lot here, Graham. Today, 2:06:04.920 --> 2:06:08.680 I think that we've covered the surface at least of 2:06:08.720 --> 2:06:12.880 what's going on, and I think we're gonna stop it here. 2:06:12.960 --> 2:06:15.640 I want to thank you for taking the time with 2:06:15.720 --> 2:06:17.640 my audience, Bobby. 2:06:17.640 --> 2:06:21.200 It's been such a pleasure. Thank you for the invitation. 2:06:21.320 --> 2:06:24.320 When they first had always it's going to be two hours, 2:06:24.360 --> 2:06:26.120 I thought, God, I don't know if I can sit 2:06:26.160 --> 2:06:29.400 still for two hours, but I managed to do it 2:06:29.440 --> 2:06:32.240 and it's been fantastic. Thank you so much. 2:06:32.240 --> 2:06:35.160 Well, you know, once we hit the groove there, you know, 2:06:35.360 --> 2:06:37.000 it's like you you start telling this stray, I can 2:06:37.160 --> 2:06:39.640 as I say we can talk all day. I got 2:06:39.680 --> 2:06:42.720 a few more questions, but we're gonna leave it here 2:06:43.200 --> 2:06:43.720 for now. 2:06:44.160 --> 2:06:47.240 Hopefully I'll see on the road at some point, I hope. 2:06:47.280 --> 2:06:49.280 So, I hope you come and see how show it again? 2:06:49.440 --> 2:06:53.160 Right? In any event, till next time. This is Bob 2:06:53.280 --> 2:06:53.800 Leftstock