Human Nature

Human Nature was a progressive and psychedelic rock band. Active between the years of 2564 and 2664, the band was based on the planet Earth. It was composed at various points of Ivan Lockwood (vocals, bass guitar, and synthesizer), Tom French (drummer), Clark Kent (keyboard), Jon Gilmour (guitar and vocals), and Jonjo Hedges (guitar and vocals).
==History==
===Founding, Money and Madclap Laughs!===
Human Nature was Founded when Jonjo Hedges moved from Bristol to the Sprawling City of London, When He joined the group consisting of Ivan Lockwood, Tom French and Clark Kent. The Group was first known as Sigma 8, but Hedges proposed the name Human Nature and The Sound of Darkness.Human Nature won, and soon their began practicing in a Local Club. Human Nature was far off mainstream music, but became popular in the underground music scene. By collecting money from various people, they managed to get enough money to start their own recording company, to avoid being pressurized too much to do anything badly, and this also allowed their music to be distributed across Human worlds. The Band released their first album, The Madcaps laughs,on March 3rd 2565. The album was written mainly by Jonjo Hedges, with a Track written by Ivan Lockwood.The album was received with mixed reviews, both being praised and criticised for it's originally style, using the feel of a Drug induced trip to use a unique style. They Released 3 Singles from the Album, Madclap Laughs, Lucifer Sam, and Bar brawl. Madclap laughs made it to number 67 in the charts, while the rest did not peak in the top 100. The album was mixed by Liam Fillion.
The Tracklist was:
#Natural Selections
#Madclap Laughs
#Human Instinct
#Sorry, Excuse me?
#Lucifer Sam
#Towards The Right
#Falling from the left
#Bar Brawl.
Human Nature appeared at The English Festival, their first major event. They played their only single at the Point, Madclap Laughs, with a 4 minute extension for a Guitar solo by Lockwood, and their next Single, called Lucifer Sam. However, half way during Lucifer Sam, Hedges began to stop playing and stared into the distance, but the rest of the band carried on playing. This occurrence happened due to Hedges' intake of a psychedelic drug, which would happen more and more before the second album was released.
===Drug Abuse, Leaving, Oh by The Way===
In 2566, Lockwood got worried about the state Hedges was pulling himself into and hired Jon Gilmour to replace Hedges until Hedges returned to normal from the Drug induced states he would get himself in. This line up would be the line out for the next 8 years. The band line out changed to Lockwood on Vocals, with Gilmour and French as Back up vocals. The Band released an album in 2567, one year after the departure of Hedges. The Album was called Oh, By the Way and was released on the 14th of July. The album was written by Lockwood and Glimour, with only one track from the lot Hedges wrote before his departure. This song was the first single off the album, called Fleeting Glimpse. Two other songs were released, By The Way and Ace Race. Fleeting Glimpse and By the Way both peaked in the charts, positions thirty-two and 48 respectfully. The Album cover is of note, as the Painting behind it is a Painting done by Hedges for the band's recording studio.
The tracklist was:
#Fleeting Glimpse
#Space
#Shanty
#By the Way
#Time Fly
#Raggedy Man
#Ace Race
===The Rainbow Effect===
The band soon became well known, and was invited to play at the Earth Day. The band's performance was well received, and they released a non album single, Send You Back. The Single was received well by everybody, peaking at number 9. Human Nature became a Household name, but they did not release another album till 2570. The album was all written by Lockwood , and the final 4 tracks were written about Hedges' mental condition, as he was in a hospital receiving treatment. The Album was Called The Rainbow Effect. The Album had three singles, Rainbows, Spartan call and Sounds of Insanity. Rainbows became Human Nature's first number one. Sounds of Insanity was the final track of the Album, and was dedicated to those who had gone mad.
The albums tracklist was the smallest in terms of songs, but featured a song that was split into four parts. The tracklist was:
#The Fall
#Zigzag
#Rainbows
#Spartan Call
#I. Mind over Sanity: Normality.
II. Mind Over Sanity: Grasping at Straws
III. Mind Over Sanity: Crawling
IV. Mind Over Sanity: Sounds Of Insanity
===Shine On, The Return of Hedges===
During the Recording of Crazy Diamond, there was an unexpected visitor to the studio, during the recording of Shine on, a 24 minute song which was one of the two songs on the album that was dedicated to Hedges. The visitor had shaven his eyebrows and was slightly overweight, but when the members of Human nature recognised the visitor, Lockwood burst into tears. The visitor was Hedges. He listened to the band record Shine on, and before they recorded How close are you?, he asked if he could replace the guest guitarist to record it, he was allowed and began Hedges' first time playing with the band since 13th January,2566.The Album was well received, and Hedges formally became the Third Vocalist and Backup guitar. This line up was the band's strongest time, as Hedges' mentally illness had been helped by Drugs. The Two songs written before Hedges' return about Hedges were released, both peaking to 2nd. Soon, Human Nature toured, and Hedges did not mess up. The album was released on 16th May 2572.
The tracklist, mixed by Liam Fillion as always, was:
#Shine On
#Toyman
#Seasons
#How Close Are You?
#Diamonds
#Crazy?
#All Your Sins
===The Urban Hymns===
The Next Album was to be written by Lockwood , Gilmour and Hedges. The Album was Called The Urban Hymns, and the tone of the album stuck to the last few, except this was about the slow dip into insanity. This resulted in the slightly jazzier tone, but this was well received by the Fans. No singles where released from the album, but Bit of a Joke was played on the airwaves. Hedges' contribution to the album was the title Track, The Urban Hymns which was Hedges' only contribution. The song however, was nineteen minutes long, which each Guitarist, the three writers, having a Solo. This track is also known for being one of the few times French was the main vocalist. Gilmour and Lockwood wrote the rest of the album. The album was released on 8th August, 2574, and the album cover featured the city of New Mombasa before the Slipspace incident during the Battle of Earth.
The tracklist was:
#Cane
#Bit of a Joke
#Losing Time
#Urban Hymns
#Sorry, What?
#Medley Schmedley
#Counting Backwards
#Desperate Ascent.
===Run Like Hell, Peaked.===
Human Nature had a four year absences, with no concerts done at all, They started to record a rock opera known as Run Like Hell, with it being split into thirds. Gilmour, Hedges and Lockwood all had a third, but had to make the tracks sound like the soundtrack to the life of a Person. Lockwood had the Child years, Gilmour had the Young adult and Hedges had later years and Death. A Single was released from each Third, Lockwood's being Tigers Roaming Free, Gilmour's being One of my days and Hedges' being Gig in the Sky. All Singles reached into the top 10, Tigers roaming free reached 5th, One of My Days 9th, and Gig in the sky reached number one. Many Fans consider this to be Human Nature's best work, as it's story for showing life of a Human-Covenant war Veteran, presumed to be a close friend of Lockwood's. This isn't the first time Human Nature touched on the issue of war, as the albums Oh By the Way, The Rainbow Effect and Urban Hymns, each a song, telling them to avoid another war putting humanity at risk so much. Run Like Hell became Human Nature's best selling album, and become the Second best selling album of all time, reaching 1.1 billion sales, earning Human Nature an almost godlike status among music.
It's tracklist was the longest of Human Nature's studio albums:
#Liquid Float
#Tension Night
#Escape from Safety
#First Dawn/Red Night
#Loving Mother
#Hating Father
#Caught in a New Millennium
#Tigers Roaming Free
#Electing Not To Bother
#Teenager.
#Romance is in the air
#Rejection from the Reflection
#Worthless?
#Divorce
#The Marines
#One of My Days...
#Reach Falls
#Escape
#Earth Defense...
#Veteran
#Sarge!
#Retirement
#Looking through a Distorted Mirror
#Struggling
#Shattered
#Time to Run
#The Final Steps
#Gig in the sky
#Epilogue
#Run like hell.
===Behind the Wall, Ducktank Pt 1.===
In 2580, they started to record a new 11 track album, with it written by Hedges, Lockwood and Gilmour. It was dedicated to the Covenant who had helped in the rebuilding of the earth. 4 tracks were written by Lockwood, 3 written by Hedges and Gilmour. Whilst dedicated the the Covenant, there was no real Covenant inspired music. It featured their longest song, clocking in a impressive 59:59 minutes.This song was known as Ducktank, Part 1, and was written by Gilmour, with Hedges on solo lyrical duties. The album was entitled Behind the Wall, and the album cover was a painting done by Hedges, of an unknown figure in front of a Great wall. As per the Human Nature tradition, they released three singles off this album, Coral Caves was the first, peaking at #1, and is considered to be Human Nature's first and only Love song. Penned by The two other songs, Ode to War', Charting at #3, and Carpe Diem, which charted in at #1.
The tracklist was:
#Carpe Diem
#The Tears
#Water
#Life
#Death
#Coral Caves
#Ode to War
#Constant Fear
#Personal Phobia
#The Legion
#In Maslab's Eyes
#Ducktank Part 1.
===Break, Ducktank pt 2.===
With another tour successfully completed by the early beginning of 2582, Human Nature had a year break from any musical activity. Jonjo became quite a well known artist and political commentator during these five months, a career ideal he kept during the years of Human Nature. Ivan became an avid writer and antiques collector to help draw influences into his work. Jon helped famous journalist Beth Hedges write various articles from tales of Human Nature to Unjust war theory. Tom briefly became a photographer for a few weeks before spending more time fixing his car. Clark , famously, hosted a tv show to help gain light on UNSC marines valiant efforts during the Human-Covenant War.
When they met at the studio ground in 2583, in the month of January, Jon had a very specific idea of what Human Nature's next album should be. He had, thanks to Beth, seen the lasting effects of UEG and the Insurrection conflict since 2578. He produced a 180 minute demo tape for the rest of the band to get a feel for what sort of album that Jon wanted. He wanted one that not only criticised the Insurrection, like nearly every other artist at the time, but he also was criticising the UEG and their weapons. The band could see exactly what Jon wanted with this. One that didn't slander one side, it was going to be one to slander both sides and offer an alternative viewpoint.
On 13th of March, 2583, Human Nature began recording of the album, with no idea of what it was going to be called or what the album cover was going to be. Jonjo raised the point that this could be the sequel to Ducktank Part 1, with an interesting lyric being used in “Ignorance”, of "Struggling to feed our poor / yet our weapons drive ever forwards / ducktanks quacking with the madness of our leaders". During the recording sessions, Jonjo felt that he should drop guitaring. He felt that having three guitars for a band was a bit too much, also feeling that it wouldn't give the right sound that Human Nature needed from this album. Jonjo carefully adapted his Violin workmanship to help try and give Human Nature the sound.
The album was released on 24th of June, 2583, with an almost instant political backlash. Human Nature became the most famous and hated people in the galaxy. No one had openly criticised both parties before, however, because of the hatred people had for this, they had to hear the political message that Human Nature was trying to get heard, which resulted in an astonishing 89 billion sales, becoming the most listened and brought album ever.
The tracklist, mixed by Leo Fillion and Beth Hedges, was:
#United Hands
#Another Government
#Darkest Ascent
#Clearance
#The March
#Ignorance
#Quack.
#Time has Come
#Unrighteous Heroes
#Undeserving Conflicts
#The Killing Colonies
#Violin Weep
#Rolling in
#Total Devastation
#They Lie Down
===Echoes of a distant past===
By the time Human Nature had released Ducktank Part 2, they had appeared on a dedicated Music challenge "Time Ticking" show, where the artist who appeared were given a band to research, chosen by a random generator, then perform a two hour gig using only that artists songs. Human Nature enjoyed doing this so much they appeared on the show eight times. Wanting to take a longer break than last time to avoid huge whiplash, but also wanting to keep the fans happy, they released five of their Time Ticking Shows as one album with five Discs. The shows that appeared on them where the Pink Floyd covers, Dream Theater Covers, King Crimson Covers, and Roger Waters Covers. Released in 2586, the five disc album spanned over several hours and featured the entire Yawning in Technicolour on the fifth disc, including Tom the Janitor. The Fifth disc was a selection of tracks of the covers performed live by Human Nature alone, with some other covers from bands such as Kiaus, Genesis and Queen.
The Pink Floyd disc was performed in 2570, was a copy of the setlist that was performed in the 1995 Pink Floyd Live album release P*U*L*S*E, along with a couple of other songs. Performed before their arrival properly into the music scene, there was only a relatively small crowd. A Small fact about the recording was it was done in the last remaining Top of the Pops, and grabbed whoever was a half decent singer and this included Beth Hedges, BBC Chief of Television Iain Robinson and future Human Nature Janitor Tom, who was a Janitor. The setlist was Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts 1-7), Astronomy Domine, What Do You Want From Me?, Learning To Fly, Keep Talking, Coming Back to Life, Hey You, A Great Day For Freedom, Sorrow, High Hopes, Another Brick in the wall Part 2, One of These Days, Speak To Me/Breathe, On The Run, Time, The Great Gig In The Sky (Featuring Beth Hedges), Money, Us and Them, Any Colour you Like, Brain Damage, Eclipse, Wish You Were Here, Comfortably Numb, Run Like Hell, Set the Controls for The Heart of the Sun, If, The Gunner's Dream, The Final Cut, Let There Be More Light , Echoes, More Blues, Obscured by Clouds/When You're In and Sheep.
The Dream Theater disc was performed and recorded on 16th of May, 2572, the day their album Shine on was released. The band was officially in it's full lineup with the addition of Jonjo back into the band, they didn't use him as a guitarist for this. Instead he sat as the backup keys player and synthesizers. The band had a month to find the songs for the show, and the setlist featured the then famous twelve step suite in their setlist. Tom The Janitor once again appeared on the album, holding a can full of beans to shake into a microphone. The setlist was The Mirror, The Glass Prison, This Dying Soul, The Root of All Evil, Repentance, The Shattered Fortress, Peruvian Skies, Lifting Shadows off a Dream, Trial of Tears, Pull me under, Metropolis, Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, In the Name Of God, Vacent, The Count of Tuscany and Learning to Live.
The King Crimson disc was recorded on 28th October, 2754, two years on from their previous appearance. This time around the band donned what would become famous in the career during the tour Turning back the clock. Wearing costumes from characters described in the song The Court of the Crimson King. Ivan was the Purple Piper, dressed as a simple piper will a velvet purple cloak. Tom French was dressed in a black cloak and wore a black crown, a male version of the black queen. Beth, who was brought in to play flute, was dressed in a very eye-candy fire coloured dressed and wore a hat, being the fire witch. Clark Kent dressed as a Juggler, whose costume was made with many patterns, becoming the Pattern Juggler. Jon Gilmour dressed in a yellow jester suit whilst Jonjo wore a full red cloak and crown, The Crimson King. The setlist was: 21st Century Schizoid Man, I talk to The Wind, Epitath, Moonchild, In the Court of the Crimson King, Larks' Tongues in Aspic, Dinosaur and Sex Sleep Eat Drink Dream.
The Roger Waters disc was recorded the next day, in front of a particular rowdy crowd, which when Human Nature entered the stage, threw bottles at them for no reason. This started a large occurrence of shouting and yelling at the stage, even before Human Nature had the chance to do anything right or wrong. They began to perform anyway, playing their song of What God Wants? During the first part of the songs, someone threw a knife at Lockwood, who managed to dodge out of the way, and lost it. He told everyone who was there to purposefully cause problems to bugger off. The Police arrived just as he said it, and the main perpetrators were arrested, allowing Human Nature to perform their set in peace. The set list was What God Wants, who Needs Information?, The Powers that BeW, It's a Miracle, Three Wishes, Home, Every Strangers Eyes, The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking, Perfect Sense, Amused to Death and The Tide is Turning (After Live Aid.)
The fifth, and final disc was performed at a special gig entitled “Human Past”, and was performed with the full Yawning in Technicolour team. Performing selections of songs they had wanted to play on Time Ticking and a couple of other bands they had discovered in their scouring for music. The gig was done as a complete surprise to the audience. The Setlist was Wearing the Inside Out, Space-Dye Vest, Arnold Layne, One of these Days, Stream of Consciousness, The Number of the Beast, Hallowed be thy name, The Spirit of Ukko, Until We Reach the Shore, Supper's Ready, I Know What You Like (In Your Wardrobe), Flick of the Wrist, Plug in Baby, Apocalypse Please, Citizen Erased, Soldier's poem and Starlight.
===Control===
Human Nature, after their short break, took to the studio amidst calls for an audit into them for suspected support of the Innies. Many had ignored the fact that it was criticising both sides, and the UEG could not audit Human Nature at all. The short break allowed the creative juices of the members to flow and write down ideas. This meant the first album since Madclap Laughs where every member contributed a song to the album. All Hope Gained, Green Man, Court of Tears and Honour were written by Jonjo Hedges. Extreme Might was written by Clark Kent, which also featured him on chorus vocals. Soul Remover, In The Reflection and Reality was written by Ivan Lockwood. Introductions are here and Noble Minds was written by Tom French. Jon Gilmour wrote the title track, a Thirteen minute progressive instrumental piece. For Court of Tears and In the Reflection, they hired the Dunedin Orchestra to provide backing music. the The entire album was mixed and produced by Liam Fillion. The track list was: 
#Introductions are here
#Extreme Might
#All Hope Gained
#In The Reflection
#Control
#Noble Minds
#Honour
#Reality
#Green Man
#Soul Remover
#Court of Tears
The tour that Human Nature embarked on took place on six worlds over the span of ten months, a small tour to reduce the chance of any fallout from the rebels or Covenant Remnants. On Earth, they did not sell out a single show due to their huge fall from popularity due to Ducktank Part 2. They played a total of Thirty shows on Earth before heading off to the next world, Llwy. Here they sold out a couple of shows but also met their first serious threat from the rebels, where someone had tried to set a bomb off outside a stadium in the Hwyaden Country, but thankfully no one was killed but some were seriously hurt. Human Nature played a total of Seventeen gigs on Llwy before leaving to Mitre, where they played only four gigs due to how small the planet was. They returned back to Sol System and performed a special gig on Mars, specifically for the United Nations Space Command. They altered the setlist on that gig to feature most of Ducktank Part 2 to prove that they would not back down in the face of public opinion. They were booed off the stage, which please Lockwood and Kent. They repeated the same idea on their three gigs on Reach, where they were met with applause which surprised them. Their last few gigs were done on Sanghelios, becoming the first Human Band to do a tour of a Former Covenant planet.
The setlist of the tour was:
#Tension Night
#Bar Brawl (Replaced with United Hands for Mars/Reach)
#Quack
#In Maslab's Eyes
#Extreme Might (Replaced with Darkest Ascent for Mars/Reach)
#In The Court Of The Crimson King
#Court of Tears
#Time To Run (Replaced with Unrighteous Heroes for Mars/Reach)
#Progressive Tea Time (Improv Jam)
#The Tears (Violin Weep)
#Lucifer Sam
#Ducktank Part 1.
#Encores: Dream Theater Melody
#Coral Caves
#The Final Steps (Total Devastation)
#In The Reflection
==Discography==
*The Madclap Laughs (2565)
*Oh by the way (2567)
*The Rainbow effect (2570)
*Crazy Diamond (2572)
*Urban Hymns (2574)
*Run Like Hell (2578)
*Behind The Wall (2580)
*Run Like Hell: Live in London (2582)
*Ducktank Part 2 (2583)
*Careful with the axe (2585)
*Echoes of a Distant Past (2586)
*Control (2591)
*Untitled Citizen (2594)
*Strange Deja Vu (2597)
*Hallowed of the Past (2600)
*Looking Back (2601)
*Dwryd Adamant (2603)
*Sanghelios (2610)
*Mainstream Love (2614)
*Daybreak (2618)
*Angel's Kiss (2621)
*Dominici (2625)
*Ducktank Part 3: Appendix. (2628)
*Zinko (2629)
*Aspho Fields (2633)
*Dream Floyd (2636)
*In The Court Of The Natural Instinct (2637)
*Best Things Ain't Free (2640)
*Ducktank Part 4: Closing. (2644)
*Ducktank: Parts 1-4 Live. (2645)
*Fade Away (2647)
*Honor Thy Ancestors (2650)
*Natural Sound: Best of Human Nature (2651)
*The Great War & Swan Song (2653)