I didn’t know who they were… until Alicia told me. One of my best girlfriends lives in Las Vegas, and the last time I went out to see her she told me about this new show she was working on. She said they were at Imperial Palace, and it was four dudes singing Motown. That didn’t initially excite me. That’s when she told me they were from Australia! The show is presented by Smokey Robinson and these guys can sure sing… they are amazing, actually. As soon as I heard them sing, I knew I had to interview them. So I reached out to Alicia, and scheduled the interview. I have been impressed since the beginning, and for these guys the sky is the limit. I am pumped to see what’s next for them. I’ll stop talking… it’s my absolute pleasure to introduce you to Human Nature, the ultimate collection of Motown sound.
You guys are from down under… that’s a long flight! What brought you all to fabulous Las Vegas, Nevada?
Well about two years ago we got the opportunity to headline our own show here on the Vegas strip, and that was just something we couldn’t pass up.
I bet Andrew and Michael are related… brothers?
Yes, we are brothers.
So what’s it like living in Vegas? I can only handle that town for a few days before I need to run for the hills! Do you guys like living in Sin City?
When we first moved here we stayed on the strip for about a month and soon realized you really do need to get off the strip to live. We al live about fifteen/twenty minutes off the strip and it really is a great lifestyle here… you have the strip if you want it but you can get away from it too – which is nice sometimes.
One of my best friends is Alicia Lee. Tell me what it’s like working with her.
Alicia has been fantastic. We do give her a hard time and she has a great sense of humor, so we have a lot of fun.
What’s a typical day look like for you?
It really depends on what else we have on apart from our show. We just filmed our show for a PBS special which will air in December and that really filled our days for the last few months getting all that together, but at the moment I’m getting to spend some time at home with my one year old girl… which is great.
I bet you are getting stoked about the upcoming PBS special. Tell me a little bit more about that. How did that come about? When and where can I see it?
It will air in December on PBS; we filmed it at the Paris theatre here in Las Vegas and we couldn’t be happier with how it looks. We’re really excited that America will get the chance to se our show in this way, and PBS is such a great supporter ot the arts and music shows so it’s fantastic to be on that station.
There are a TON of restaurants in Las Vegas. Where is your favorite place to eat on the strip? What about off the strip?
One of my favorites on the strip, for a great romantic spot, is Alize at the Palms. Off the strip there’s a great pizza place in Green Valley called Settebello.
How long have you been at Imperial Palace?
Just over two years now.
You guys went to an agricultural high school. What in the heck is an agricultural high school?
We got to learn all about farming, tending to animals, growing crops… that kind of thing. It was a boarding school, so a lot of families from rural areas would send there kids there.
When I am in Vegas, I put $20 on red… that’s it. That’s all I play. Do you gamble very often?
No, I don’t gamble at all.
I am sure you have eaten at an Outback. Is that what it’s like in Australia?
No, not really. Australia, particularly in Sydney and Melbourne, have fantastic food probably some of the best restaurants in the world.
Have you ever seen a kangaroo in the wild? (Sorry, I just love Australia!)
Yes, we took a train from Sydney to Perth which goes right across the middle of Australia; we saw a lot of wild kangaroo on that trip.
So you sing Motown… What in the world made you decide to get into that style of music?
Growing up we just loved listening to all the Motown groups, afterall being a vocal group ourselves its hard not to be inspired by the 4 Tops and the Temptations, some of the best groups of all time.
Tell me a little bit more about your relationship with The Harbour Agency.
They are our agent for booking shows in Australia.
Does the show ever change or are you singing the same songs every night?
We recently just changed a whole new section of the show, which feels great but mainly it stays pretty much the same and the audience changes every night which really makes every show different.
I love it that you guys are giving an incentive to “like” the group on Facebook. $15 off is a good deal! How many of those do you have out every week? Looks like you have quite a few “likes” already.
Not sure how many exactly, but it really is a great way to build up our following here in the states.
I am big into fashion. Who made those suits? (Do you ever watch How I Met Your Mother? Suit up!)
We’ve actually mainly had them made back in Australia, and we get them made to measure so they fit really well, we have gone through quite a lot of suits. They tend not to last so well with all the dancing we do on stage.
Fitting you have an album called “Vegas: Songs From Sin City”. What was it like working with Barry Manilow? How cool!
Barry Manilow was fantastic to work with, a real perfectionist and so great to sing Mandy and Could it be Magic with him… two absolute classics!
So tell me… how do you sing without your accents?
A lot of people ask that. I guess growing up listening to the music it’s just natural to sing in an accent that suits the style of music you’re doing, so Motown really wouldn’t work with a strong Aussie accent, would be quite funny though.
I am good friends with two guys in the group Straight No Chaser. They have a similar sound, sans the band. Do you ever sing a capella?
Yes, that’s how we started, and we do a few a capella numbers in our show. We love singing a capella.
If you could only sing one song for the rest of your career, which one would you pick?
Probably the Smokey Robinson song Ooo Baby, Baby. We do that in our show every night and it always gets a great reaction form the crowd. It’s such a beautiful song.
Let’s look ahead for a second… where do you see yourself in five years?
Hopefully a household name in America doing a show at Radio City Music Hall in New York… that would be a dream come true.
When it’s all said and done, what is the Human Nature legacy?
Great singing and great entertainers!
In all of the interviews that I have done, I always let the artist get the last word. Go.
Come check out Human Nature in Vegas or on tour next year; you’ll have a blast!
Click here to “like” Human Nature on Facebook.
Click here to follow Human Nature on Twitter.
