HANSON: A Good Wow 11th Feb If you want to see the benefits of taking a good, long time-out, you've just got to get caught up with those Hanson guys.
In the years since Hanson released the giddy breakthrough hit "MMMBop" and the 1997 debut "Middle Of Nowhere," we've been poked with all three points on the dreaded filler triangle: the holiday album ("Snowed In"), the "rarities/demos" comp ("3 Car Garage), and the live album ("Live From Albertane"). A dry spell, it seemed.
What we weren't privy to, however, was how the towheaded trio of Oklahoma hermanos -- Isaac, Taylor, and Zac -- stretched out and bulked up, settling into their young adult selves with comfort and confidence, radiating with good health and good vibes. The picture is so reassuring, you just might think for a moment that all is right with the world, or something.
Take a listen to what the brothers have been up to in the studio, and you may feel the need to jump back and smack yourself. The group's infectious melodies and sunny harmonies remain intact on the tracks readied for the group's true follow-up disc, "This Time Around" (due out in May), but the expected bubble-gummy, cavity-causing sweetness has been displaced by grit, gospel, and a few strong whiffs of patchouli and incense.
Jackson 5 comparisons of old will be lost as you find yourself making sonic allusions to The Black Crowes (and, in the band's more romantic moments, Matchbox 20). Hooking up on the LP with H.O.R.D.E. Tour-ready folk as Blues Traveler harpsman John Popper and blues-travelin' guitarist Jonny Lang (who appears on the title track, which is also the first single) seems only to point up the group's metamorphosis from a cute lil' caterpillar into a groovy-colored butterfly.
MTV News' very own John Norris met up with Los Bros. Hanson to get the scoop on the eternity between albums, the current boy-band climate, the fans who've stuck by them through thick and thin, and early reactions to the new LP -- something Isaac describes as "a good wow."
Oh, and let's not forget the new haircuts.
John Norris: When "This Time Around" comes out, it will have been about three years since "Middle of Nowhere." Honestly, three years is a long time, even for an established band. Why the wait?
Taylor Hanson: We'd thought we'd release it last year, but I think with the way things happened, it actually seems like really good timing, because things have settled down, and you're able to kind of come back and say, "Here's the new [one]." We've kind of grown up. It's easier to come out with something different and something that's changed and evolved a little bit, because people aren't [saying], "Get outta my face, please stop with Hanson, oh, God!" And they can just take it from a different perspective without being thrown. You can go "I understand this, that they're a little older, it's a little different." It kind of makes it interesting for you, 'cause you're able to be a little bit more open.
Isaac Hanson: I think also, with songs and the songwriting and all that stuff, it was a good amount of time for us. I think the right songs really came together.
MTV: Even if you guys were comfortable taking that much time to do the new studio record, were there people around you, forces around you saying, "Come on now, where is it?"
TH: Yeah. "Sell, sell, sell. Come on. Next record." I think the big decision was, we decided to tour last summer. In the summer of '98, we could have gone into the studio then, but we just wanted to play shows. All of '97 we were like, promotion, promotion, promotion for the record. And we just wanted to play concerts, which made the decision that ended up pushing it back. But that was an awesome experience for us, and even if the world had exploded, we would have been able to say we had an awesome time doing that.
MTV: It's a pretty brave thing to do, because the conventional wisdom with a band that actually has, and let's be honest, a younger fan base is that you capitalize on being hot, and you don't really take that kind of time. It really wasn't a tough decision?
TH: It really wasn't a decision, actually. To be honest, it was the way things happened. We decided to tour, we took the break. The album had to have that time to really flesh out. For some reason, it naturally happened. When it comes down to it, it's about making the right record. If you push it up and try and say, "Okay, we gotta get something out," that's not the right call.
MTV: Are you guys convinced that the audience is still there and still interested and cares?
IH: You can never be sure.
Zac Hanson: Yeah. I think you just hope for the best. Whether we came out the year after [the last album] or next year, you really can't tell, because it's just however people feel; if they like the music or if they don't.
TH: It's pretty much impossible, if they don't.
ZH: We're excited to see the response of the fans. Actually some of the demos of the record have gotten out on the Internet, and we've gotten good responses so far.
MTV: So how different would you say this record is? Because I've heard five or six tracks now, and I think it's a rockin' album. Actually, I was playing the title track the other day, and someone walked by my office and was like, "Who's that? Like a Joe Cocker song or something?" I think a lot of people are going to be surprised.
TH: It's been an evolution. For us it's totally natural. But I think, yeah, there are going to be some people who are going to be like, "Wow. What's that?"
ZH: Our big response is, "Wow."
IH: It's a good wow.
MTV: Ric Ocasek was originally working with you guys on the album. What happened?
TH: We met with a lot of different producers. We're like, "Okay, who we wanna try?" 'cause we wanted to try some different things. We worked with Rick for about three... three weeks... we did three songs with Rick, and I think it was just one of those things where it just wasn't the right thing for the band right now. I don't know if you've met Rick, but he's just an awesome guy.
IH: He is the coolest guy.
ZH: Amazing guy.
TH: You can't say anything bad about Rick, because he's just, he's really, really talented. He's a huge supporter of the band too.
IH: It was a really great opportunity to work with him. We're actually hoping that we get to work with him later on at some point.
MTV: "This Time Around" is the single, and Jonny Lang plays on that. How did you guys hook up with him?
IH: We actually kind of called him, because we wanted to meet him, because we were big fans of his. "We're in London, we're going to see this movie, you want to come with us?" And he was like, "Sure." So he came down and saw the movie and kind of struck up a little friendship, and then he was in Tulsa playing, and we came and saw him and said, "Hey, do you wanna play on the record?" and he said, "Sure." So we called him, and it happened, and it turned out killer. ZH: We're trying to get him in the video.
MTV: He qualifies as an honorary Hanson. He's got the look.
IH: He could be a brother.
TH: He's a better musician than all of us. He puts us to shame.
IH: He's actually quite the keyboard player.
MTV: Also, John Popper is on the album. There's no mistaking that harp. How did that go?
TH: We were on tour and just was like, "Hey, would you ever wanna play on something if we were working on it?" and he was like, "Yeah." So basically once we were working on the record, we called him up and said, "Hey, what do you think of guest appearing on some songs?" and he was just like, "Totally."
IH: John Popper is one of the funniest people you'll ever meet. I mean, just totally. He'll totally get you rolling on the ground. He's so funny. Great guy to talk to. You don't often get that opportunity to work with people that are that talented and are that good at their craft, and so it's a really great opportunity to, I guess, spread the artistic musicality everywhere.
MTV: It creates an interesting, kind of ironic situation for you guys. You're clearly about the music. You're a real band. You're really at home with John Popper. You'd probably be more at home on the H.O.R.D.E. tour. When you guys first came out, 'cause of your ages and the way that you were marketed, you guys got a certain fan base, and you were perceived as being in the same breadth as the boy bands. Is that frustrating for you? How do you make that transition to be perceived as a band that's serious about what they do musically?
ZH: Well, I think when you hear this record, it's just a whole different spectrum than rhythm pop.
TH: What we always said was just, "Listen to the music." I mean, you're right, we just love to play music, and we're just a band doing what any other band is doing. So I think it's just like, "Hey, listen to the music." You can like it. You can not like it. But this is who it is. This is what we are.
IH: I think, actually, John Popper said it best, though: rock and roll is about teenage girls. I mean, that's what it's about when you're talking about Elvis. That's where it is.
TH: Rock and roll is, like, the life of the young people [and] being a young person [who's] into music. Look at Buddy Holly; he was, like, 19. I think it should be about people making music and rocking out, whatever age they are.
MTV: Except for what it seems like these days, many teenage girls are flocking to, like you said, more of this R&B pop, which is fine too, but it's just not who you are. It's just weird that people can't see beyond, "Oh, they're young guys."
TH: Well, that's the kind of thing that you can push. You just kind of have to keep hitting people with it. "This is what it is. This is who Hanson is."
MTV: Would you would you ever just stop doing teen press altogether?
IH: I think that'd be silly.
TH: I mean, the point is, you're not about shutting people off and saying, "We hate this" or "We're afraid of this." Instead of trying to shut something off, you wanna open a door for something else.
IH: I think it also is important for people to have a grasp of musical history and where everything comes from.
TH: When we were first starting, we used to sing the Jackson 5 stuff or "Johnny B. Goode" and all that kind of music. And you'd have these young people coming up, and they'd be like, "Oh, what's that song?" They didn't know where that came from. "What's that song you guys wrote?" You'd be like, "No, you don't understand, this is like an Otis Redding song. The soul god wrote this song."
MTV: What stuff were you guys listening to in the last year?
TH: All the crows: Counting Crows, Black Crowes, Sheryl Crow. Beck, Lenny Kravitz, Lauryn Hill. We listen to everything.
MTV: Do you listen to 'NSYNC?
IH: We've heard it, but we don't own the record.
MTV: That's real diplomatic! Now before we go, I have to ask about the haircuts.
IH: I got my hair cut halfway through the record I guess, right? Mid-October sometime. It's one of these things where I was about to cut it, and I was like, "Yeah, let's cut it. I'm going to be spontaneous, I'm gonna be crazy, I'm gonna cut my hair." So I walk in and I was like, "Okay, cut it." And they started, and I was like, "Oh, crud, I don't want to cut my hair. This is not cool. I had long hair for four years, why am I cutting it? I kinda like it this way."
TH: Yeah, he was sad for about a week. When he started his haircut is when I cut mine. I was kind of like the one who was like, "I have to cut my hair." I had that braid for like, three years, and I was like, "It's got to go." So I just swiped it off.
MTV: Have all the online fans been giving their opinions?
TH: There's this Hanson hotline where people call up and say [fake crying] "Oh, we support you!" Then there are other people who are like, "Dude, it's cool." It's hair. I mean, it grows back.
ZH: I always thought it would be cool to have short hair, and Ike has not promoted having short hair.
IH: I swear, I've had so many more bad hair days than I had when I had long hair .
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