Early Career: The Four Trax
Brothers Andrew and Mike Tierney teamed up with schoolmates Toby Allen and Phil Burton to represent Hurlstone Agricultural High School in a combined regional schools concert at the Bankstown Town Hall, held on 27 November 1989. Andrew Tierney was 15, with Allen and Burton in the same school year, and Mike Tierney was 12. All four members had choir backgrounds. The quartet called themselves The Four Trax (also stylized as "The 4 Trax" or "4Trax"), inspired by groups from the Motown era such as The Four Tops. In Bankstown, they sang The Penguins' hit "Earth Angel". Andrew Tierney said that was the only song they knew, but they were encouraged afterwards to listen to more Motown groups.
After high school, Allen worked as a perfume salesman and studied accounting. Andrew Tierney studied physical therapy. Burton was studying to be a music teacher; he mentioned that he also once stacked beer for a living. Mike Tierney, the youngest member of the group, was still working on his Higher School Certificate. When not at work or at school, The Four Trax would do street performances, but after winning some "talent quest" competitions, they began singing professionally in clubs and built a following there. The group sent demo recordings to record labels. On a visit to the office of Sony CEO, Denis Handlin, they performed an a cappella version of "People Get Ready", and landed a contract with Sony Music Australia.
The group felt "The Four Trax" name was dated, so they brainstormed some alternatives. Most combinations involved the words "human" and "nature", until Mike Tierney suggested connecting the two. Allen said, "At first we thought it was probably a bit obvious, because it's such a well-used term, but then the more we lived with that we realized that it suited us. We were singing a cappella at the time, and it represented what we were about: Singing was our human nature."
Read more about this topic: Human Nature (band), History
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