They’ll be home for Christmas
Aussie man-band Human Nature are set to return to local stages next month for a string of Christmas-themed concerts. It’ll be the first time their fans have seen them in a while, with the quartet having spent the past three years channelling the Motown greats at the Imperial Theatre in Las Vegas.
The extended US stint has been quite a career breakthrough for a group who burst onto the scene in the mid-‘90s with the endearingly naff single We Got It Goin’ On (later singles have certainly aged better – check out Cruel, Last To Know or Always Be With You on YouTube for a pang of patriotic pride).
‘“It was a big challenge for us to uproot our lives and move over here, to a place where nobody really knew us. It was liking starting all over again. It was a big gamble, but it it’s payed off. We’re making good headway,” band member Toby Allen told the Star Observer over the phone from Vegas.
He sounded remarkably chipper given Human Nature are contracted for around another two years of shows in the glitzy gambling capital.
“For me, I go out there every night thinking, ‘I’ve got to win over this crowd’. That’s our approach – we’re still making our way, so we can’t afford to be complacent.”
Their stateside success is all the more remarkable when you consider that these white Australian boys are in effect selling ice to the eskimos, performing Motown classics night after night to often-skeptical American audiences.
“I think that is a big part of what draws people to the shows – why do these white Aussies think they can sing Motown, and why has Smokey Robinson put his name to it?
You see those people during the show, and they do relax into it and enjoy it.”
Helping the Human Nature boys settle into life in Las Vegas is the fact their respective wives, families and partners have been with them since day one (“We shipped them over in a container on a slow boat. We gave them some food and water,” Allen joked), but they admit they miss the Aussie fanbase that has, over the years, delivered them an unbroken string of 10 hit albums on home turf.
“We never approached it like we’re letting go of those fans, but I suppose it’s something we have to try and manage better – that’s why we’re coming back for Christmas. We’re trying to come up with things that can at least give us a presence, even though we’re not there very much any more,” Allen said.
And while the upcoming Christmas concerts will present a chance to reconnect with those fans, for Human Nature, it’ll also represent a chance to reconnect with the material that made them household names here in Australia.
“I can’t wait to sing some of our original songs again, because we haven’t been able to do that here in Las Vegas. And of course there’ll be a few Christmas songs in the mix, too.”
INFO: Human Nature play Adelaide, Sydney and Melbourne, December 17-23. Dates at www.humannaturelive.com
