IT is a bright sunny Tuesday in the beer garden of the Subiaco Hotel, with a smattering of suit-wearing office types finishing their lunches, draining their drinks and thinking about returning to the office.
Seated at one table are four dapper gentlemen who might pass for young Subiaco businessmen that share a fondness for black jackets and white shirts.
This debonair foursome are in fact Aussie vocal group Human Nature and they are at the hotel to promote their latest album, A Symphony of Hits.
Sitting down with band members Toby Allen and Andrew Tierney, it was asked why they tampered with a winning formula by introducing a 70-piece symphony orchestra.
Tierney said this did not mean the group’s famous harmonies had been pushed into the background.
“Harmonies have always been at the core of what we do, but for this album, we have introduced orchestral arrangements around them,” Tierney said.
“In recent years we’ve had the Motown albums, as well as earlier hits from the 90s, and these are all on the album.”
The band has an impressive record of 17 top 40 hits and five top 10 hits in Australia, as well as success overseas.
Allen said the idea for the album had come about when they were approached by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra earlier this year.
“They asked us to do a show with them at the Opera House, which is coming up in December,” Allen said.
“It was only through working with them for the live show that we decided to do A Symphony of Hits.”
Tierney said he found performing with an orchestra created more pressure to sing everything perfectly than performing their own shows.
“In a weird way, you actually feel a bit more exposed,” Tierney said.
“With the delicacy of symphony orchestra instruments like woodwinds, you really have to be on top of your game.”
Perth audiences can see the symphonic show when the group teams up with the WA Symphony Orchestra for performances in Kings Park on Saturday, February 28 and Sunday, March 1.
Allen said he had no doubts about using a different orchestra for the WA shows.
“It’s always amazing to watch these musicians read a piece of music and then play it perfectly straight away,” he said.
“We’re using the same conductor from the other shows, too.”
Tierney said the new album was basically a document of their career so far.
“Hopefully, everyone who hears it will love it,” he said.