NO : How did you guys get started playing?

ZAC: We just started playing when I was about six years old. We started singing as a group. We had done it before then, but that was our first official concert. And then after that you continue singing and writing songs, and then instruments facilitate writing songs and performing live. So we kept playing for a long time, and we've been a band for I guess close to nine years.

NO : So did they throw you on the drumset at age six?

ZAC: We didn't start playing instruments as a band until I was nine. That's when we got drums and guitars. We'd all played piano before, classical piano, but we hadn't really done it in the pop/rock music sense. And then we got instruments and we started playing live with the band.

NO : How did you decide to become the drummer?

ZAC: You know, I actually don't know. Ike, he had always been the fondest for guitar, and to tell you the truth, I think part of it was that I found it slightly hard to hold the guitar. And Tay was a better piano player than I was. Tay played drums for a while, but never really live. He learned some drum stuff when I was taking some lessons.

NO : He's good though, I saw you guys in Oklahoma City, when you were out singing...

ZAC: Yeah, he's playing a left handed set, also, so that doesn't help. But Tay's definitely a pretty good drummer, he's definitely decent.

NO : When you guys are playing, what's the craziest thing anybody's ever thrown onstage?

ZAC: We get all kinds of things. There are so many rumors about things that we love. I made a comment about Shamu in a magazine as a joke, and for the life of me, people won't stop giving me Shamu dolls, and the big floaty pool toys and stuff. And it's like "Ok, it was a joke, get over it, please!" But you get lots of stuff.

NO : What's in your CD player right now?

ZAC: Tonic, Vertical Horizon, Lenny Kravitz and U2.

NO : Thanks a lot Zac!

ZAC: Thank you!

ISAAC

NO : So how does the new record differ from your old ones?

ISAAC: I think this one's a little more rock 'n roll than the other ones. It's a pop record, but I think it's got some more rock influences in it. We explore areas we didn't go before. And I think there's a lot more variety on this record, more ups and downs. You've got songs like "A Song to Sing," which is just piano and vocals, nothing else. And then you've got a song like "In the City," which is based on this really cool guitar riff, it's a total rock 'n roll song. It was one of those songs that we kind of came up with that riff, and we wrote the song around the riff. And then you have other songs like "Dyin' to be Alive," and "This Time Around," which are sort of ballads and sort of mid tempo and kind of introspective.

NO : You guys have a big teen-girl fanbase. What do you think of the whole teen pop thing that's going on? Do you think of yourself as outside of that?

ISAAC: I think we kind of always have, yeah. We kind of joke that we're the anti-teen group. We're not trying to do teen-based music. However, at the same time, it's like our fans are our age, which is cool. But I think that with regard to the whole teen-pop craze, I'm not a fan of that music. It doesn't really inspire me or motivate me musically. But I think what we're about is good music and hopefully it'll stand the test of time. And hopefully also inpire our listeners, and do something unique and meaningful. When you write songs, it's almost as if you're resolving your own inner turmoil, so I think that's part of it, and it's kind of what you hope happens with your listeners, too. If you're down, maybe there's a song that you identify with that makes you feel less alone, or maybe there's a song that lifts you up out of that.

NO : Who are your rock idols?

ISAAC: Chuck Berry, Aretha Franklin, The Beatles, Billy Joel, James Taylor...just a lot of different people.

TAYLOR

NO : How do you guys react to hysterical crying from your fans?

TAYLOR: Well, first of all, you have to say "It has nothing to do with me personally, it's just rock 'n roll." There's a group of really, really devoted Hanson fans, and it can be very cool, but then there are times when you have to say "Whoa, that's a little much." But overall it's just very cool, they're giving as much as we are. We have great, great, devoted fans.

NO : Do you ever just think to yourself "I wish I was just a regular guy?"

TAYLOR: Well, that's kind of an odd question, because, like, who wants to be a "regular guy"? Nobody works up the ladder to become a "regular guy." Everybody works to be more than a regular guy. I would never stop what I'm doing to go "I wanna be an accountant." There are things we miss, everyday things, proms or whatever, but I love what I do. I wouldn't ever want to do anything else.

NO : Did you guys always know you wanted to do this?

TAYLOR: It can depend on the day. We all had it in us from a young age. But it was just there. It wasn't a decision we made. We began to realize what we had and focus on it and watch people respond to it.

NO : Do you guys have a musical family?

TAYLOR: Our parents are incredibly supportive. They'd sacrifice anything for us. As young as we were when we first started, it was just so important to have somebody supporting you. They've always been our role models.

NO : What's the coolest place you've ever played live?

TAYLOR: There's a thing called Festival Bar in Italy. It's pretty phenomenal—you stand in the middle of this ancient square, looking out on 150,000 people screaming. It's pretty cool. Also, one of the first times we went to Australia, we did a little impromtu concert in a parking lot and 30,000 people showed up. And musically, I've really enjoyed playing at the theaters we've been doing on this tour, smaller arenas with really great sound and lots of history. Very cool.

NO : What about this teen pop phenomenon right now?

TAYLOR: I've met a lot of those guys. I know how hard they work. But to say that I'm a fan of it, to say that we're not in a complete dry spell in the music industry right now, I'd be lying. I think we're in the middle of a lot of mediocrity right now. I'm waiting for somebody to come out with something really, really good. Some of the groups out there have something, they're working hard and doing their thing, but I'm not a fan of that stuff.

NO : Do you have a girlfriend?

TAYLOR: Yeah.

NO : What's in your CD player right now?

TAYLOR: Moby, Tonic, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Lenny Kravitz, Beck, Sheryl Crow, Black Crowes—all the crows—Travis, Vertical Horizon, Macy Gray, Radiohead.

NO : What's the craziest thing anyone's ever thrown onstage?

TAYLOR: Their bodies. There was one show when we didn't have enough of a barricade or enough security, and it was just insanity. And of course the underwear items, which we really don't have a use for personally. But they throw everything from teddy bears to peanut butter jars.