Since 1994, Australian pop stars Human Nature have earned 23 platinum awards in their native country and have toured throughout the world.  Their largest audience was at the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000 where they performed before 4 billion viewers worldwide.

Australian pop stars “Human Nature” talk about Mardi Gras and touring with Michael Jackson

The band has had 17 Top 40 Hits and Five Top Ten Hits since 1996, has opened tours of Asia and Europe for both Michael Jackson and Celine Dion, and have won several Arias (Australia’s version of the Grammys) and virtually every other major entertainment award that country has to offer.  Their last four releases in Australia have reached #1 on thecharts there.

Now Human Nature has set their sites on America.  The group is launching its assault via a headlining run at The Imperial Palace Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas in a show presented by their mentor and friend Smokey Robinson.   The show, billed as “The Ultimate Celebration of the Motown Sound,” is running now through May 2010.   During their run, the boys will also be performing  select dates in several other U.S. cities.

Their new album, Reach Out, is a collection of songs that pay tribute to some of the best songwriters and performers in Motor City—and to the  renown recording  studio  and record company that brought the sound of young America to the world.   On Reach Out, Human Nature—Toby Allen, Phil Burton, Andrew Tierney, and Michael Tierney–bring an infectious energy and their amazing vocal talents to music that has inspired them throughout their storied career.

Here, the guys talk about their love of American soul music, touring with Michael Jackson, and the night they camped it up for thousands of screaming gay fans at Mardi Gras in Sydney.

Q: How did four hot Aussie guys end up singing Motown songs in Las Vegas?

Toby Allen: Come November, we’ve been together 20 years, releasing albums in Australia for the last 15 years. Our last 3 albums were us doing Motown classics, and they took Australia by storm. It’s always been a dream of ours to release a record in the U.S., and now, with the Motown songs, we felt it was the perfect opportunity for these Aussies to bring the music of Motown “back” to America. We’ve always thought that the way we present this music would work really well in Las Vegas. To test the waters, we did a Motown show in Atlantic City, and the reaction was fantastic. And then last year, this opportunity in Vegas presented itself, and we’re really excited to be here.

Q: It seems like doing these very American songs might be a great way to get your music before a U.S. audience.

Andrew Tierney: We originally did the Motown records because we loved the idea, and we love the music.  And then all of a sudden, it just kind of happened. Then, in Australia, after it was a success, we’d hear people say, “This would really work in America. Why don’t you guys try that?” Other people would say, “You should put this show in Vegas.” As a way to introduce us to America, we’re really proud of this show and this record.  And having Smokey introduce us, it gives us a blessing straightaway.

Q: What’s it like being famous in Australia and not as well-known—yet–here in the States?

Toby Allen: It’s actually starting to happen now. I saw a woman in the supermarket yesterday, and she said, “Your name wouldn’t happen to be Toby, would it?” She told me she saw the show with her husband, and they loved it so much, they came back a second time.  Ultimately, we feel grateful to have gotten here, performing on the Strip. Now, we just have to let the rest of the country know.

Phil Burton: For us, it’s a challenge we want to rise to. We’ve had a lot of success in Australia, and we relish the idea that maybe someday that will happen here. It’s not something we feel bad about; we like the idea of starting over fresh.

Q: What’s it like actually living in Las Vegas?

Michael Tierney: It’s definitely different than Sydney, where we all come from, but we enjoy living here. I guess the majority of people who come to Vegas are here for a few days, and they try to take in everything on the Strip. But for us, it’s become real life. We’re not actually living our lives on the Strip—we’ve moved ten to fifteen minutes away.

Andrew Tierney: Yet, at the same time, I wanted to feel like we lived close enough to feel the Strip. You’re living in Vegas, so you might as well live in Vegas.

Q: You guys have been together for 20 years now. Do you all get along?

Phil Burton: It’s like a marriage without sex [laughs].  We do fight every now and again, although there’s never been a punch thrown.  Something that Smokey Robinson pointed out to us, which is true, is that the groups that started for the enjoyment of singing and having fun are the ones that stayed together.  And that’s why we originally got together—to have a bit of fun singing while we were in school.  Also, we’ve gotten really lucky in that all four of us seem to enjoy working on the same path. No one wants to break off and do their own thing.

Q: Was it jarring for you to go from singing the mainstream pop music you did earlier in your career to these soul classics?

Andrew Tierney: I think it was originally more jarring for the fans than it was for us.  We just thought it was a natural thing because we’d always sung bits of Motown throughout our career in addition to bits of soul and gospel. Our older records were more pop, but they always had the kind of harmony structure that the Motown songs have. To ease our fans into it, we put a Motown section in the middle of our live show, choreographed it ourselves by looking at some old Motown videos, and the crowd just went berserk. But even with that, some of the fans were still a bit dubious because we decided to take it the whole way and wear the suits and really have fun with it.

Q: The suits are hot. But, one might think that when you put the whole thing together—the songs, the suits, the dance moves—it might come off as either too literal or too camp.  But your show is neither.

Phil Burton: We didn’t want to copy the originals, and we didn’t want to step too far away from them either. We asked ourselves, “What would Motown be like today?” And that’s what we wanted to capture.

Andrew Tierney: And we’ve had such a great reaction from Smokey and a lot of the original Motown singers. They’ve said, “I’m glad you guys aren’t just doing a Motown tribute show—you’re doing it your own way.” We’re not impersonating anybody. We’re using these songs to express who we are.

Q: I also think part of the reason why the show works so well is that you all seem very connected to each other, particularly when you sing, “People Get Ready” and “Ooh Baby Baby.”

Andrew Tierney: There’s so much history that we share together. We’re just so secure and comfortable with each other onstage. We each know innately what the others are going to do onstage, we don’t even have to think about it. You almost know when they’re going to breathe.  That means we also go flat and sharp together, too [laughs].  It’s become totally unconscious. It’s…well…human nature [all laugh].

Phil Burton: We could never do this show if one of us was sick. If someone else was up there, you’d constantly be thinking, “What’s this other guy going to

do?” It would ruin your own performance because all of a sudden, you’re thinking about things you’ve never thought about onstage.

Michael Tierney: And particularly on those acappella moments, you have to have that kind of innate connection with each other because you’re so exposed. You have to feel it to make those moments come across.

Q: Let’s talk about the dancing.  I know you’re not lip synching, so how are you able to do all of those athletic moves and still keep singing?

Andrew Tierney: There’s one song for me—“Uptight”—where it really feels like a spin class.

Phil Burton: At the end of the show, we all come off drenched.

Toby Allen: We have thought about releasing the Human Nature Motown Instructional Weight Loss DVD. It comes with a 3-piece suit [all laugh].

We can’t afford to get to the end of the show looking like we didn’t give it everything. There are a couple of light-headed, pain-in-the-chest moments when we’re offstage after the show [all laugh], but what’s important is that people enjoyed the show.

Q: The moves go with the music, but they’re also modern and sexy.

Michael Tierney: We were inspired by old Motown groups, but we didn’t want our choreographers to actually copy them. I mean, I’ve watched a lot of Four Tops videos, and none of the guys really moved like that. The dancing is over the top in parts, but that adds to the music and to the show. It’s ramped up and also a bit tongue-in-cheek.

Andrew Tierney: There are some moves that are a little cheeky and cheesy. But think about a song like “Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch.” It’s a cheeky song.  Basically, if you look like you’re enjoying yourself, people go along with it and have fun.

Q: You guys have had a very varied career in Australia, both together and alone. Toby performed in Cabaret and was on Dancing with the Stars. You all toured in a symphonic concert of Beatles songs conducted by George Martin. And, you sang the Australian national anthem at the opening ceremonies of the 2004 Olympics in Sydney.  That must have been an honor.

Phil Burton: That’s still one of the biggest things we’ve ever done. We felt like we were chosen to represent the best of Australian music to the world. It was like saying, “This is what we have in our country.”

Q: You also toured with Michael Jackson in Australia and Europe. How was that?

Michael Tierney: It’s more amazing now knowing that it was one of the last times anyone would get to see him live. It was incredible for us because it was right after our first album, and we were doing shows in these huge venues, like Wembley Stadium, with 100,000 people there. It was also great to be able to go out after our show and watch Michael Jackson perform.  We couldn’t help but learn things and be blown away by it all.

Toby Allen: Eventually, we were blessed with a meeting the third to last show of the tour. We went up to the side of the stage to this quick-change area where he was getting his makeup done. He seemed like a pretty casual guy to talk to.  We had a photo with him—never saw it—but just to be able to say “G’day” for that 5 minutes was pretty cool.

Q: Hot guys like you, you must have a lot of gay fans in Australia.

Andrew Tierney: We’re definitely aware of our gay fans. We did Mardi Gras in Sydney once, it was really great. We’d always thought it would be a cool thing to do. It was weird to hear the difference in the screams in our audience. We were used to the screams being a lot more high-pitched, but this was more of a roar [laughs].

Phil Burton: It was the only time we’ve ever gone onstage at 4am. That’s the headlining spot. We did “I’m Your Man” by Wham.  We looked pretty camp, but butch camp. It was really fun to dress like that and do that kind of posturing, something we’ve never done before in our shows, to kind of preen around like Freddie Mercury [all laugh].

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