Hanson

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0><script type="text/javascript" src="http://hb.lycos.com/hb.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://ratings.lycos.com/ratings/lycosRating.js.php"></script> <script type="text/javascript"><![CDATA[//><!]]></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://scripts.lycos.com/catman/init.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://members.tripod.com/adm/ad/code-start.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://members.tripod.com/adm/ad/code-middle.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://members.tripod.com/adm/ad/code-end.js"></script> <noscript> <img src="http://members.tripod.com/adm/img/common/ot_noscript.gif?rand=212987" alt="" width="1" height="1" />  <iframe frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" width="728" height="90" src="http://ad.yieldmanager.com/st?ad_type=iframe&ad_size=728x90&section=209094"></iframe>  </noscript> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=125 BGCOLOR="#AAAAAA" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="03c467d1euxmic.gif"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Arial" ><B>Kristi Singer</b></FONT><B>     </b><B>|     </b><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Kristi Singer"><U><B>home</b></U></A></div> <div> <B>Hanson</b>   |   <A HREF="id180.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Havana Taxi"><U>Havana Taxi</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id51.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Heart and Soul"><U>Heart and Soul</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id181.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Hobex"><U>Hobex</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id221.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Hall Oates"><U>Hall & Oates</U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=190 BGCOLOR="#111111" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <div> <A HREF="id16.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Writing Samples"><U><B>Back to Articles</b></U></A></div> </td> <td valign="top" height=355 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> Hanson</div> <div> <B>Hanson shrugs off boy-band comparisons</b></div> <div> Friday, September 1, 2000 </div> <div> <B>Kristi Singer, Morning Star correspondent</b></div> <div> <I>Wilmington Morning Star</I></div> <div> Copyright 2000 Wilmington Star-News</div> <bR> <div>      <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="arial" >Critics can't seem to agree. Was The Jackson Five the first boy band? New Kids on the Block? Menudo? Although Hanson has been labeled a pioneer of the boy-band era ("Paved the way for the current teen pop explosion," says Rolling Stone), the three young brothers couldn't care less.</FONT></div> <div>      Guitar player Isaac, 19, singer keyboardist Taylor, 17, and drummer Zachary, 14, make up the jammin' family that captured the hearts of young girls everywhere with their first big hit, Mmm...Bop, in 1997.</div> <div>      But aside from begin a few cute boys, the comparisons with the Backstreet Boys and N'Sync end there.</div> <div>      "It's not particularly the kind of music I listen to," Isaac says. "I'm not particularly a fan of that style, but it's just one of those things. They're doing really well and doing a good job and at least they're not talking about killing people, so there you go."</div> <div>      These brothers are more into rock than teen pop. It's the song writing and instrument playing that separate Hanson from their boy-band counterparts. Hanson is touring in support of its new album, This Time Around. The band will play Saturday in Greensboro and Sunday at Myrtle Beach's House of Blues. Aside from the apparent voice changes, the band's sound hasn't changed much, Zack says. </div> <div>      "I don't think there' too much difference in it. You listen to it and obviously the voices, that's the first thing. The voices have changed quite a bit as far as resonance...It's gotten a little more rockier...I think it's mainly the song writing has changed a little bit, it's evolved over three years to maybe a slightly harder sound," he says.</div> <div>      Being young in today's music industry certainly offers some benefits, particularly the large fan base of screaming girls. But that can be annoying at a live show, Zack says. "During the ballads it's like 'okay this is romantic, it's a ballad, just be quiet...Why are you screaming?'"</div> <div>      "You're not defensive about it at all," Taylor adds. "It's a good thing to have people that are excited. We have a lot of very excited fans, to put it mildly." </div> <div>      The Tulsa, Okla., natives discovered their harmonizing capabilities by repeating 50's and 60's songs they heard on the radio. They also began writing songs at early ages; by time Isaac was 11, the brothers were writing songs and performing on a regular basis. </div> <div>      From 1992-1995, Hanson shopped its act to record labels, but found mostly dead ends.</div> <div>      "We got turned down multiple times. In fact, we got turned down by our current label a couple of times," Isaac says.</div> <div>      Hanson quickly learned that sometimes it takes getting to know the right people. The trio was discovered while performing at a festival in Coffeeville, Kansas. Within a few days, a record deal was on its way and their debut album, Middle of Nowhere, produced by the Dust Brothers, who have worked with the Beastie Boys and Beck, was in stores shortly thereafter. Middle of Nowhere sold more than eight million records. </div> <div>      Hanson's first single release, Mmm...Bop, flew up the charts and had music lovers young and old bopping to the beat. But if you ask where the phrase Mmm...Bop came from, even the Hanson brothers can't explain it. "I don't really know who that song came about...it's just something I don't think I'll ever figure out," Zack says. </div> <div>       "It's a song about life, and friendships and how fast, how fleeting life can be and hold on to the people that matter, that's the moral of the story to that one," Taylor says. </div> <div>      And the people that matter to Hanson seem to be each other. The brothers agree that being family in the biz has its good and bad moments, but that being in a band with anyone else would be difficult. </div> </td> </tr></table></body>