Brothers Andrew and Mike Tierney, both part of Australian internationally successful band Human Nature have opened up about the breakdown of the band and personal demons on LiSTNR’s The Jess Rowe Big Talk Show.
With a brand-new album as the Tierney Brothers, Andrew and Mike reflect on their long careers, the personal reasons behind forming a duo and Andrew also shares his hidden alcohol addiction and how a simple question from Mike — “What’s going on?” — became a turning point.
Andrew: “I was doing it secretly, which is always the problem. I had a bottle in my bag and I was, I’ve been drinking at one of the shows and I thought I’d hidden it in my bag. I hadn’t hidden it well enough and Mike confronted me about it, which was brave. I could see he didn’t want to have to do that, but he did. And it was like, okay, this is, this is a problem for me. Maybe not the same as everyone else’s problem, but it’s a problem. And then I just realised, I’m not never going to have dealt with it. And it doesn’t have to be my story, but maybe my story is just that I’ll constantly be dealing with it. And yeah, I was just trying to wrestle with that.”
Mike: “Yeah, I kind of wrestled with it myself. But deep down if you really love somebody and you care for where something might be taking them, it’s like you have an obligation, I think to just do that, because I think if you don’t do that, what’s the outcome? Where does this lead to? I don’t think it ever leads somewhere good.”
Andrew: “He just said, what’s going on? And he didn’t actually address the bottle. And I said, what do you mean? I knew. I knew that he’d seen it because I could see it in his face. And Mike just said, what’s going on? I was grateful. I actually was grateful because I kind of struggled with it every day.”
About the disconnect within Human Nature:
Andrew: “I can tell if Mike’s being passive aggressive towards me and saying something where he thinks, ‘Just pull your finger out, Andrew,’ and I’ll have a go back at him. But then it just never seems personal. It’s like, ‘Okay, Mike’s having a shitty day or I’m having a shitty day and Mike probably thinks the same.’
But with Toby and Phil, if they’re kind of moody, it’s kind of gets a bit more personal and it’s a weird dynamic. You know, we started as friends and now the friendship I think is very just surface level. I’ll notice that Toby or Phil never asked me how my day is or how my kids are or how my wife is… you know… they just don’t. And I don’t do the same for them.”
Jess: “Does hurt your feelings though or does that make you feel a bit sad now?”
Andrew: “Not sad, but I just do like Mike said, I think that’s why we’re still together because we don’t deal with the dirt. I don’t know. And it’s like… just get to work and you get to sing. We all sing great together. We work well together, we don’t deal with the mess or don’t want to deal with the mess in each other’s lives.”