When you see the success of boy bands like 'N Sync, do you have a laugh at the monster you've created?

Isaac: Well, I always hate to take credit for anything, boy bands or anything like that. No, I don't laugh. They're way more successful than our last record was. I mean, man, they've sold so many records, it's ridiculous. It's just phenomenal.

On one hand, you kind of go, "Whoa." It's shocking. Honestly, I don't listen to their music, really. It's not really something that's on my mind a lot. The people I really identify with are guys like Jonny Lang and John Popper and all those guys. They're working hard. That's all I can say.

~E! Interview, May 19, 2000

Do you get frustrated when the press and public's focus shifts away from the music and more toward growth spurts, voice changes or haircuts?

Taylor: The truth is, the Beatles could have gotten freaked out about that and complained, with all the focus on the fact that they're cute or whatever. They're the biggest band ever. But everybody appreciates who they are as musicians.

I'm not saying we're the Beatles, at all. But it's an example of where you've got that thing, that great big box we often get put into--the teen thing and the fans and all those things they think of when they think of Hanson. You can think of it as a negative, but actually it's a huge positive. It's the reason we've sold records, the reason we've been able to travel around the world.

~E! Interview, May 19, 2000

You guys have had a charmed life thus far.

Isaac: I wouldn't say a charmed life. I would say we've had some pretty hectic moments and things like that, but by no means is it ever a piece of cake. We were doing so much traveling and so much promotion, it was ridiculous. As we are now, also. We're getting ready to go to Buenos Aires tonight. We've been all over Brazil. We've been in a different city almost every day for the last three weeks. It's pretty nuts right now.

What more can you ask for, except to do what you love as a career and continue to do music and be successful at it? All you can hope for is success.

~E! Interview, May 19, 2000

These days, Taylor sees the record, self-released in May 1996, as being pivotal because it forced Hanson to reevaluate who they were as performers, and the move toward rock music likely kept them from being completely dismissed by the music establishment nt. "We were white guys dancing to tracks, which isn't really something that makes too much sense," he says. "At the time, that's who we were. When we first started recording, we had just started playing [instruments]. We ended up evolving toward being a rock 'n' roll band."

~Oklahoma Today Magazine, 1998

"It's very traditionally artistic," Silver says. "They aren't the kind of musicians who are thinking about the market. They think about what they like, what they respect. They're real musicians, and they care about their music."

~Oklahoma Today Magazine, 1998

"Zac was fighting her!" Isaac says. "Zac was like 'No! No!,' and if Jenny McCarthy tackled me, I'd be like, 'Lay it on me!'"

~Oklahoma Today Magazine, 1998

"I was always confident it would be successful, but in a million years I couldn't imagine the level of success," Sabec says. "In an "MMMBop," which as the song describes is a brief moment in which everything can change, everything did."

~Oklahoma Today Magazine, 1998

Ike: I think it's more that just musically you change, you evolve just naturally. I don't think it's so much directly related to travel or things like that, I just think it's more that as natural evolution goes on, as you experience more, as you do more, you just grow and change.

~Teen Machine, April 2000

Taylor: Yeah, there's not really a way to write. I wish I could say there's a way to write songs.

Ike: In fact, you'll find that the hardest writing situations are the ones where you actually have to sit down and say "Darn, we need to write that second verse to that song. Doh!"

Zac: What were we thinking? Why didn't we write it in the spur of the moment?

~Teen Machine, April 2000

Ike: Well, I want some rest--beautiful rest. It feels so nice to have peace and quiet, be back with the family and just be regular old Ike. I have gone to my favorite stores, to the Laser Tag place, to the ice cream parlor and to the coffee place for my favorite iced tea--it's incredible how the littlest thing in life mean the most. I will also be catching up on reading, songwriting, and working a lot in our home recording studio. I am sure I will be bouncing new material off the other guys for their opinions and additions. It is so nice to not have to look at a suitcase for a couple of months. I hid mine deep in the attic!

~Teen Girl Power Magazine, April 1999

Taylor: The song "Wish That I Was There". We were demoing a different song and we were supposed to be working on it. I kept picking up the acoustic guitar, playing over the part right before we recorded it, and then all of a sudden I started playing something else, and we spent the entire day recording some completely different song. And we were supposed to finish this other one! We just completely went off on this song and it just totally came together.

~Teen Machine, April 2000

TH wishes TLS a VERY, very Happy Birthday! :)

All three seem to be more self-confident, more mature and cooler. "Since I haven't got my braces anymore I can really laugh again". Isaac grins during the POPCORN-interview at the hotel "Leslie" and proudly shows his dazzling white teeth. "He used to feel awful about it", gibes his brother Taylor, who cut 20cm of his hair.

~Popcorn Magazine, April 2000

How's your youngest sister?

Taylor: Zoe is now one and a half years old and she can already walk and talk. She's really cute...

Zac: ...and very musical! If one of our four siblings follows our footsteps, it will be Zoe - or Mekenzie. Both of them have good voices.

~Popcorn Magazine, April 2000

You make me feel so young You make me feel like spring has sprung Every time I see you grin I'm such a happy individual

The moment that you speak I want to go and play hide-and-seek I want to go and bounce the moon Just like a toy balloon

You make me feel so young You make me feel there are songs to be sung Bells to be rung, and a wonderful fling to be flung

And even when I'm old and gray I'm gonna feel the way I do today 'Cause you make me feel so young

~You Make Me Feel So Young, Frank Sinatra

I don't think one song means the most, I think every song means something slightly different to you.

~Zac, Worlds Chat, May 2000

Thanks to Kris for the pic!

You don't know who shamu is?? Haven't you ever been to sea world?

~Zac, Worlds Chat, May 2000

All my life was a paper once plain, pure and white Till you moved with your pen changin' moods now and then Till the balance was right Then you added some music, ev'ry note was in place And anybody could see all the changes in me by the look on my face

And you decorated my life, created a world where dreams areaapart And you decorated my life by paintin' your love all over my heart You decorated my life

~You Decorated My Life, Kenny Rogers

All of the albums are our thoughts and emotions. So, I guess you can say it's our diary- but that sounds strange.

~Taylor, Worlds Chat, May 2000

MODERATOR: When are you guys going to get your butts 'down under?'

TAYLOR: Our butts were just down under and our butts will be back later on this year on tour.

~Worlds Chat, May 2000

It (TTA) was just a natural change. I think of an album as being a time capsule of where you are at that point (in your career). This is Hanson 2000. The next one will be Hanson 2001. As far as the sound goes, it's sort of like some of those funk and more polished elements of 'Middle of Nowhere' were replaced by a little more rock and a little more rawness. There's less of that funk/R&B that people were talking about more on the first record.

~Taylor, Midwest Beat, October 2000

People ask you - 'Why did you guys write 'This Time Around', which is about war and death?' You're not quite sure where songs come from, but once you've got those songs and you feel good about those songs, that defines where you are going (musically) on your album.

~Taylor, Midwest Beat, October 2000

Trying to make those songs sound like others you've done isn't going to work, so you make them sound the way they need to sound. The way our band has changed, you know, just the voices for instance, and the time and the chords used in writing songs, you tend to experiment more as time goes by. It's just that next step.

~Taylor, Midwest Beat, October 2000

Any band wants to have a massively successful record. Did we really want that to happen? Yeah, of course. But you know what? We feel really proud of this record (TTA), and we know that's the only record we could have made and felt good about.

~Taylor, Midwest Beat, October 2000

In my mind, I feel that it's been a true success because we are slowly gaining respect from people by being who we are.

~Taylor, Midwest Beat, October 2000

We're not trying to be anything but who we are.

~Taylor, Midwest Beat, October 2000

More people than ever have walked up to me, people that I wouldn't expect, and they are giving the record respect and talking about it in a really positive way. To me, that's a bigger step then anything.

~Taylor, Midwest Beat, October 2000

You can sell a ton of records and never get the kind of respect from people that makes you feel good about doing the work that you do. I think that's really cool.

~Taylor, Midwest Beat, October 2000

We have an amazing, concentrated group of fans that look forward to the next album, and the next and the next. And we're having a good time doing it. That's the most important thing to me.

~Taylor, Midwest Beat, October 2000

As a band, I'd say that we are a much better band than we were two years ago. We're tighter. We've played more together.

~Taylor, Midwest Beat, October 2000

We're growing and hopefully improving with time.

~Taylor, Midwest Beat, October 2000