At home with Nature

After 23 years together and numerous hit songs, Human Nature is returning to Australia for a tour featuring some of the many Motown songs that have made them a hit Las Vegas act. Alex Dunkin speaks to Phil Burton.

Over two decades ago, during their high school years, four friends decided to form a band for a bit of fun. Fast-forward to present time and Human Nature, comprising of brothers Andrew and Michael Tierney, Toby Allen and Phil Burton, became the first Australian band to have a resident act in Las Vegas and have since been selling out their shows.

“It’s 23 years at the end of next month. It has been long and varied. We’ve had some amazing things happen. We’re only just seeing parts of it now. We’ve had a few ups and downs. It’s been a great journey. It’s fun and now here we are. I don’t think we thought we would be together this long or being in Vegas performing five nights a week in our twenty-third year of singing together,” Burton told blaze.

US popularity was found in 2009 when music legend Smoky Robinson saw Human Nature perform and later labelled the group as the future of Motown.

“That’s a really nice thing for him to say definitely. I think he and a lot of the other original artists and original performers and song writers have seen us and they really like what we do,” Burton said.

“Smoky saying something like that is a beautiful thing to hear. We can’t claim credit for all of it because the music itself is just so catchy, it’s just so infectious. You listen to this music and you get to perform well, you can’t help but move to it, they’re just such great songs.

“He (Smoky) actually told us when we first met him, he said ‘guys I love what you do and if there’s anything I can do to help you then please let me know’. So, when it came time for us, our producer was looking for a showroom in Vegas for us to perform in and Smoky allowed us to put his name to the show and that sort of made the casinos prick their ears up and say ‘well if Smoky thinks the shows great then we might give it a shot’.”

Each year the band returns to Australia to see their families and take the time to reconnect with their local fans. This year they will be touring the capital cities to perform with the backing of the local orchestras.

“It’s quite an amazing feeling to be standing up and singing in front of that many people. It’s just one of those things where every now and then you pinch yourself and go wow I’ve got this whole orchestra behind me. It’s a very cool feeling,” Burton explained.

Human Nature will be performing at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre on Monday December 17. Book with Ticketek.