TV Hits caught up with the guys from Human Nature before they jetted off to Europe!

So, tell us about your trip to Europe?
Mike: We're going to the UK to support Eternal and we're releaseing "Wishes" over there as our first single. Then in June we're supporting Celine Dion throughout Europe.

Are yo looking forward to it?
Andrew: I think it'll be great, because two weeks after the Eternal tour we release the single, so it'll be a good opportunity to get out there. Hopefully the girls will be really nice.

There's talk you might topple the Backstreet Boys as the Number One boyband in Europe!
Andrew: It's kind o finteresting that when we're in Europe there's instant comparisons to all these groups that haven't made it in Australia, thught they've tried. We're really proud we've had success here in Australia because it's such a cynical audience. They don't take shit.
Toby: They want music to be real, I think. Take the Spice Girls - a single like 'Wannabe' works here because it worked everywhere, but those kind of groups tend to die quickly here, because Australians won't take that. There's got to be some kind of talent and depth.

The guys from Bravo magazine in Germany flew out to Australia recently to do an article about HUman Nature. What did they think of you?
Phil: Because so many of the acts over there are manufactured, they were suprised to see an act like us which is all about music. They had a really great time here

How do you chill out after a gig? Say you have a late gig and then you have to get up at 9am and check out of the hotel? What do you do?
Toby: Struggle!
Mike: We don't have any rituals or anything. We just kick back and have something out of the mini bar, like, um, a diet coke or somethign!

Did you expect so much success? It's really gone off hasn't it?
Mike: We're pretty ambitius guys, but we never dreamed the album would be successful so quickly. We used to walk around in here [Dony's offices in Sydney] and see other people's platinum records on the walls. We'd think, 'Wow, it would be great to have one of them!' It's been a spin-out to have the album go platinum in such a short time. But there's always something more to achieve.

Have you bought anything extravegant with your earnings?
All: What earnings? We haven't got any!
Toby: We should trade some albums for something!
Andrew: Everything we make on large gigs we have to put back into the group because we always need clothes and stuff. We also need money for a tour we want to do in July. You can't make money without spending it and at the moment it's all about spending.
Toby: We aren't going to get anywhere by just taking the money we earn and spending it on ourselves.

Have you had much contact with the other Aussie R&B groups?
Mike: Yeah, we've done a couple of gigs with CDB and Kulcha and Past to Present too.
Andrew: CDB are really nice. We get on well with them.
Phil: When we go down to Melbourne we give them a call and say 'We're going out to this nightclub' and they say 'Great, we'll be there!' And then they don't show up! So it's really cool! [laughs]

What is the worst thing you've ever read about yourselves in the media?
Phil: There was this one article about how there's a lot of groups doing cover versions and we were thrown in there. That was all wrong.
Toby: It called us a manufactured group and, you know, we're not. If this guy had done his research he would have known.
Mike But we haven't had any alien stories, like Toby being taken away and beaten up by an alien woman! [?]

Do you get a lot of fan mail?
Andrew: Yeah, since 'Wishes' went well we get a heap! We've started up a fanclub and we're really dedicated to making that work. Without the fans we wouldn't be where we are, we wouldn't have had such a strong debut on 'Don't Say Goodbye'. They're really devoted and we want to keep it that way.

Have you had any obsessive fans?
[Laughter all round]
Phil: We haven't had too many obsessive fans. No psychos yet!
Mike: We had that one girl who jumped in front of the car.
Phil: She's wierd.
Toby: We've also gotten a couple of dirty letters. Mike got a dirty poem!

Do they know where you live?
Andrew: Yeah, some of them. The more hardcore fans do. They're really into it, but they know you want your space and they really respect you.

So true fans understand that you want your privacy?
Andrew: Yeah, that's exactly what some of the really dedicated girls are like. Although when the're far away it's a different story. These people from Perth kept ringing our home phone number! But we haven't had any nightmares yet.

Lastly, what are you looking forward to getting up to while you're overseas?
Toby: Go-karting! When we're travelling around Australia, if we've got a spare hour or two we always go go-karting. I think Phil already went over in Frankfurt once!
Phil: Yeah, I'm the international one of the four of us!

Insert: 'The History Of Nature'
The boys formed the a capella band The Four Trax while at Hurlestone Agricultural High School in Sydney [Kate Ritchie of Home and Away's School]
Andrew, Toby and Phil finished school in 1991, and with Mike, performed in Sydney clubs and even had several gigs on cruises throughout the Pacific!
A few years ago the guys decided they'd had enough of the club scene, so they started writing material and Mike came up with the name 'Human Nature'.
"We just sort of killed off the Four Trax" explains Toby. "We'd gone as far as we could in the club scene in Sydney - we'd won a few Mo Awards. We got bored with it. Andrew and Mike started writing some stuff and we just started saying no to gigs as the Four Trax and tried to get a record deal."
And the rest is history!