{"id":11310,"date":"2012-09-03T07:30:11","date_gmt":"2012-09-02T21:30:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/?p=11310"},"modified":"2012-08-27T19:31:40","modified_gmt":"2012-08-27T09:31:40","slug":"taylor-hanson-of-hanson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/2012\/09\/taylor-hanson-of-hanson\/","title":{"rendered":"Taylor Hanson of Hanson"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n<\/a>\u201cTo me Rock and Roll is where it starts, and it\u2019s being able to think what is good and not sitting around asking what everyone else approves of, so I guess hopefully more people that don\u2019t necessarily get what Hanson\u2019s about get a chance to dig in a little.\u201d<\/p>\n

Twenty years as a band and fifteen years since the song they\u2019re renowned for, Hanson in case you didn\u2019t know are still going strong and producing great pop rock albums, in fact there\u2019s been seven albums since 1997\u2019s \u2018Middle Of Nowhere\u2019 which produced \u2018MMMBop\u2019 yeah that one\u2026 but take a step back, and before you dismiss Hanson, why not have a listen to what they\u2019re doing now.\u00a0 Albums like \u2018This Time Around\u2019, \u2018Underneath\u2019, \u2018The Walk\u2019 and their most recent \u2018Shout It Out\u2019 have some of the best pop rock you\u2019ll hear around.\u00a0 Essentially, they\u2019re not kids anymore\u2026<\/p>\n

Ahead of their pretty much sold out Australian tour, we had the opportunity to speak to Taylor Hanson for a great chat about the band and to get across to people the fact that they\u2019re still making music, their upcoming Australian shows as well as looking back at a couple of albums and moments throughout their career including the creation of their own record label, plus a sneaky question about Tinted Windows…<\/p>\n

Thanks for taking the time to talk to us Taylor and it\u2019s great to talk to you.<\/strong>
\nAnd to you.<\/p>\n

I wanted to start by saying of course people will always associate you with \u2018MMMBop\u2019, how hard is it for a band like Hanson to get past that stigma and to make people realise you\u2019ve now released 8 albums and that you are more than that one song?<\/strong>
\nHa ha ha that\u2019s a little bit of a loaded question, but it\u2019s a good one.\u00a0 We\u2019ve never been about getting past \u2018MMMBop\u2019 we\u2019ve always been about adding new things to it, and so I think our philosophy on how to do it or how to increase that list is what we\u2019re doing right now.\u00a0 To some degree you don\u2019t know who\u2019s going to be lasting and what songs are going to be quote unquote \u2018timeless\u2019 until you spend some time, and we\u2019re here fifteen years later with touring all over the world and running our own label and with lots of people that follow what it is that we do and we still like it ha ha.\u00a0 We\u2019re doing as a band what we chose to do, we\u2019ve been independent on our own label for almost ten years now and those choices have always just been about the forward movement, the turtle wins the race\u2026 the continual just putting out great stuff and sticking to what you do well, that\u2019s what we do. I will say that there\u2019s definitely been some degree of critical mass as we\u2019ve come with this album and getting back to a lot of places like being able to be doing an extensive tour in Australia and we\u2019re focusing on getting to a lot of places we haven\u2019t been for some time and really uniting a lot of fans that have stuck with us through the years and trying to make sure to really feel them and get everybody on the same timeline so to speak, fans all over the world, that\u2019s something that has been a great moment to reach here, we\u2019re at twenty years as a band and so it\u2019s great to be rekindling fire in places where we haven\u2019t been at this point.<\/p>\n

Over your career, which is now twenty years as you said, in that time, how have you specifically seen the band grow as artists?<\/strong>
\nWell we\u2019re just better at what we do, we\u2019ve always been students of great song writing and musicians and we are fans, we geek out about a lot of classic American soul music and rock and roll, but really musicians that come from every walk.\u00a0 We\u2019re geeks about music and song writing, so I think as an artist, we\u2019re all much better at taking an idea that\u2019s sitting in your brain and fully realising it.\u00a0 So, one of the comparisons to that, like I said, always talking about Soul Music and the American brand of Gospel and Roots and the way it all comes together in to Rock and Roll. On this record \u2018Shout It Out\u2019 it really sonically sounds and matches the actual song writing and the influences more than any other record, when you hear it you actually hear the sound of the album itself, I think is the most cohesive in the way it connects with the song writing, it feels classic, it feels more like a little bit of a throwback and so I think each time as an artist you\u2019re trying to get closer and closer to that version of what you\u2019ve got going on in your head.<\/p>\n

Besides \u2018MMMBop\u2019 as that\u2019s too easy and I won\u2019t mention it again, but is there one song throughout your career that you feel defines you as a band?<\/strong>
\nWell that\u2019s kind of a tough thing to pick one song, the short answer is no, there isn\u2019t one song, there isn\u2019t\u2026 it\u2019s sort of like asking an author or an actor, \u2018what\u2019s the one book?\u2019 or \u2018what\u2019s the one movie?\u2019 for one defining thing.\u00a0 You really don\u2019t know what it is until you step back and you look at all of it, I would say, the way to know this band is, pick any record, really listen through any one album and then go see a show.\u00a0 It really doesn\u2019t matter which album you hear, we\u2019ve always been coming from a point of view where we haven\u2019t left behind our point of view, we\u2019ve evolved, we\u2019ve had different interests on different albums but we\u2019re coming from the same place I think with what we\u2019re trying to say to the world.\u00a0 Then go see a show and if you paired one record and a show you really will get the sense of what we are, what we try and communicate to fans.<\/p>\n

You are finally heading back to Australia, so at the shows what can people expect from the shows when you\u2019re here in September?<\/strong>
\nIt\u2019ll be a mix, we\u2019ll definitely play old stuff and we\u2019re gonna feature the new record.\u00a0 One thing about our show is that for fans that have kind of followed what we do, our show is changed nightly, it\u2019s really all about catering to the fans that are following the band and are devout and there are definitely fans as it\u2019s been some time, that are seeing more than one show on this tour I know, so we\u2019re excited about mixing it up every night.\u00a0 The main thing we\u2019re trying to do on this tour is really just celebrate that we\u2019ve been doing this for fifteen years for the most time that people knew us, we want to touch on the songs that people know and love and introduce them to sort of the defining songs from the new album and kind of share it with them.<\/p>\n

Are you surprised at the response you\u2019ve received here in Australia regarding the tour?<\/strong>
\nOur operating procedure here is high hopes and low expectations, so we didn\u2019t have any expectations about the tour but we were definitely hoping for a great response.\u00a0 So, we\u2019ve been really pleasantly surprised and pleased with how much excitement there seems to be.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>You talked about \u2018Shout It Out\u2019 being your newest album, but it has been out for almost two years now, are you already working on material for a new album?<\/strong>
\nYeah ha ha, we are yeah, we\u2019re working on a new record and we talked to a lot of our fans, not that we\u2019re not making an album, but we\u2019re really excited about approaching the release of music differently, and you can tell part of the way we\u2019re approaching things, even when you go to the website and see there\u2019s an EP just recorded for fan club and we do a whole lot of live streaming events.\u00a0 So I guess the whole thing about the next album and where we\u2019re headed, is as much as possible continually putting out content and music that people can get in touch with.\u00a0 Having more of a constant flow of material, so yes we\u2019re working on new music, and you know we may be test driving some songs from a newer album by the time we\u2019re on tour in Australia.<\/p>\n

I wanted to ask specifically about your album \u2018The Walk\u2019 which was a killer release, and how the concept for that album and the charity work surrounding it came about?<\/strong>
\nFirst of all, thanks, that record was definitely a moment and it was a series of choices to make the way that record sounded and just the whole mission behind it.\u00a0 Ultimately we had a really personal experience, we kind of felt getting call to go to Africa and we were in the middle of making that album when we actually went, we\u2019d already started working on that record and it was as if we needed to make that trip to really figure out what that album was going to be about and what really struck us about the whole trip and the whole mission that ensued afterwards, was particularly now in the world you\u2019ve got this global connection and this global way to communicate with one another, especially our generation and younger. We\u2019ve all grown up with it to go directly to a problem, to not put it in to a government fund, or having trickle down, but to really say \u2018I want to give shoes, I want to give clean water\u2019 and HIV Aids and poverty especially in certain areas of Africa are this toxic combination that can be combatted by a lot of tangible, direct giving, and so that really just, it was like we couldn\u2019t let go of that realisation.\u00a0 We wouldn\u2019t have taken it on if we didn\u2019t feel like we could honestly talk about it, we wouldn\u2019t want to preach about something from a red carpet as a celebrity walking down and giving money to a cause, but we really wanted to be able to do it ourselves.\u00a0 So I guess the inspiration was seeing a problem and realising that there was some solutions we could be a part of, it inspired a simple idea.\u00a0 The barefoot one mile walks was a way for us to not just preach something to people but to say \u2018Hey we\u2019re going to do this\u2019 and not be afraid to talk about poverty and not be afraid to talk about HIV Aids, and we\u2019re going to ask you to be a part of it and it\u2019s been amazing because we\u2019ve seen there\u2019s a lot of inspiration that can come from that and a lot of good that can be done.\u00a0 We\u2019ve done in the big scheme of things very little, but when you can drill clean water wells and you can give thousands of shoes and you can buy HIV anti-viral drugs and you can see people all over the world get involved and self-initiate and do walks, it\u2019s hard to not feel good about.<\/p>\n

I recently watched \u2018Strong Enough To Break\u2019 which was an amazing documentary on the band and the making of my favourite Hanson album \u2018Underneath.\u2019 In making it, when it began did you ever think it would end up the way it did?<\/strong>
\nNo, we certainly didn\u2019t when we started.\u00a0 The way the film started out was we were on our third record and we had a young guy and we put him through film school and he had toured the world doing videography stuff and he wanted be a film maker and he\u2019s gone on to do that.\u00a0 At the time, he was like \u2018let\u2019s do a real music making documentary, let\u2019s show people how you guys write songs and let\u2019s just do an in depth story.\u2019\u00a0 We were like this is great, we were instantly open and it never mattered what we filmed as it was safe to turn on the camera and just capture everything.\u00a0 As a result it really became, this is how hard it is to actually get a record made instead of let\u2019s make a record, and again it\u2019s another one of those things where you wouldn\u2019t want to go through that period again but I\u2019m so glad that it exists because it makes a point about a moment in time, I think in ten years from now, especially when you look back, people are going to talk about that era as record labels were losing the site of themselves and the digital thing was all beginning and this really bad model of big labels that have no creative people and spend too much money on the front end and don\u2019t know how to work with their bands ha ha.\u00a0 It\u2019s how it all crashed and burned and our story is just one example of how to kind of get out of it in one piece, I\u2019m really proud that we were able to make it and it\u2019s been really cool because like last night we were at a show with a couple of different bands, Neon Trees and Awolnation who were playing in our hometown in Oklahoma, and we\u2019re friends with the Awolnation guys and we were sitting there talking about kinda what we\u2019d done and our story and stuff and then Neon Trees bass player comes up to Isaac and talks about how he watched the documentary and how he had seen that story.\u00a0 To me what\u2019s cool about the film is for whatever reason, it\u2019s had its own second life, it\u2019s been discovered by people which I think that\u2019s the way it should be it\u2019s a story that\u2019s kind of every band\u2019s story.
\n I literally cheered at the end of it too; I thought it was so cool.<\/strong>
\nHa ha ha ha<\/p>\n

As a result of the doco you now record and release music under your own record label 3CG Records, how does having the freedom to do this help the band?<\/strong>
\nWell it\u2019s made some things absolutely liberated, but it also makes everybody\u2019s life, daily life, very challenging because you\u2019re taking on all of it, we\u2019ve actually continued our operation is more and more in house.\u00a0 We\u2019re the label, we\u2019re the merchandiser, all our web stuff, our fan club community, we\u2019re very much this top to bottom deal and that influences the culture around you.\u00a0 Has it changed us as a band?\u00a0 No.\u00a0 Our music is as open and as liberated as it could be, but it\u2019s never been about changing course it\u2019s really been about, hey we\u2019re not gonna get messed up and start become something else, we\u2019re wanna stay the course, I think in general it\u2019s just allowed us to set out to do what we wanted to do.<\/p>\n

Are you at the point yet of signing other artists to the label?<\/strong>
\nWe\u2019re close.\u00a0 The dilemma that we have since we started the label is that we\u2019ve had bad record companies ourselves and the worst thing we could do, and we\u2019ve joked about this is, we don\u2019t want to become the devil that we all know, and really the only way to avoid that is to know that you\u2019re really prepared to give something that is really valuable to an artist and really be dedicated to them.\u00a0 So we are probably now, at almost ten years as a label, we have an operation where we feel we can really bring something to the table for an artist, we can really do something that isn\u2019t just \u2018hey we\u2019re a record company, we can get your record distributed\u2019 we want to actually want to be a partner.\u00a0 Short answer is, we\u2019re close.<\/p>\n

Looking back over your career is there anything you would\u2019ve done differently?<\/strong>
\nThere are some shirts I wouldn\u2019t have worn, and there\u2019s probably some outfits, some clothes.\u00a0 The hard thing about really sitting back and saying oh I never would\u2019ve done that is, it\u2019s life is strange, you do one thing and it makes you decide to do another, you\u2019re glad you did.\u00a0 Sometimes bad decisions lead to good ones, so I don\u2019t know, I\u2019ve never been into going backwards and editing the past, I just have a hard time doing it.<\/p>\n

What does the remainder of 2012 have in store for Hanson?<\/strong>
\nFor one, really working hard on the next album, music, all the things are coming. We\u2019re actually kind of plotting a proper world tour hopefully that will happen next year, getting back to places that we\u2019ve been able to touch on, maybe who knows, maybe looking ahead at coming back to Australia instead of knowing it\u2019s going to be six or seven years, we don\u2019t really want that to be the case.\u00a0 A lot of planning and a lot of working on a new record and honestly for us at this point, in all seriousness we\u2019re really excited about coming back for the Australian tour.<\/p>\n

I have to ask, just because I loved the album, but what\u2019s the status of Tinted Windows?<\/strong>
\nAdam and James and I are kind of throwing ideas back and forth as we speak, the thing with Tinted Windows is that it\u2019s fun and its great and it\u2019s not anybody\u2019s like bread and butter and so the way we try to approach it is, as time allows, you get together and you write a song or you record something, so I think there will probably be another Tinted Windows record at some point, but I wouldn\u2019t sit around holding your breath for it because you\u2019ll be holding your breath for a while.<\/p>\n

Do you have you got a message for your Australian fans?<\/strong>
\nIt\u2019s hard to put one message in there, I mean the big message just has to be thank you.\u00a0 The people that are actually fans, especially, thanks for your patience and I hope we\u2019re visiting enough cities that where ever you are that you get to come and actually catch a show.<\/p>\n

Thanks for doing this Taylor, we\u2019ve copped a little flack for putting up Hanson before but with our site we cover every form of rock and we wanted to hopefully get some people to read this and realise that you are more than that one song, as I mentioned before, so we\u2019re hoping we can get your music out there to some people who may not have had a listen before.<\/strong>
\nYeah, first of all, thanks, I\u2019m glad you\u2019ve followed what we do, you know Rock music is about, to me Rock and Roll is where it starts, and it\u2019s being able to think what is good and not sitting around asking what everyone else approves of, so I guess hopefully more people that don\u2019t necessarily get what Hanson\u2019s about get a chance to dig in a little.
\n For the one or two that don\u2019t, there\u2019s another five that do\u2026<\/strong>
\nHa ha yeah, exactly, we\u2019re not worried about it.<\/p>\n

Essential Information<\/span><\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n

From:<\/strong> Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA<\/p>\n

Band members: <\/strong>Isaac – Guitar, Bass, Piano, Vocals, Taylor – Piano, Guitar, Drums, Vocals, Zac – Drums, Piano, Guitar, Vocals<\/p>\n

Website:<\/strong> http:\/\/www.hanson.net<\/a><\/p>\n

Latest release:<\/strong> \u00a0Shout It Out (2010 – and now digitally in Australia, September 7 2012)<\/p>\n

Catch Hanson on their Shout It Out Australian Tour 2012<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Tuesday 11 September Hifi, Brisbane\u00a0(Final tickets still available!)<\/strong>
\n<\/strong>with special guest Matt Wertz
\nwww.moshtix.com.au<\/a><\/p>\n

Thursday 13 September HQ, Adelaide\u00a0(Sold Out!!!)<\/strong>
\n<\/strong>with special guest Matt Wertz<\/p>\n

Friday 14 September Palace Theatre, Melbourne\u00a0(Sold Out!!!)<\/strong>
\n<\/strong>with special guest Matt Wertz<\/p>\n

Saturday 15 September HiFi, Sydney\u00a0(Sold Out!!!)<\/strong>
\n<\/strong>with special guest Matt Wertz<\/p>\n

Sunday 16 September Enmore (All Ages Show) Sydney\u00a0(Final tickets still available!)<\/strong>
\n<\/strong>with special guest Matt Wertz
\nwww.enmoretheatre.com.au<\/a>\u00a0\/\u00a0<\/strong>www.ticketek.com.au<\/a><\/p>\n

Tuesday 18 September Palace Theatre, Melbourne\u00a0(Sold Out!!!)<\/strong>
\n<\/strong>with special guest Matt Wertz<\/p>\n

Thursday 20 September HiFi, Brisbane\u00a0(Sold Out !!!)<\/strong>
\n<\/strong>with special guest Matt Wertz<\/p>\n

Friday 21 September Coolangatta Hotel, Gold Coast\u00a0(Sold Out!!!)<\/strong>
\n<\/strong>with special guest Matt Wertz<\/p>\n

Saturday\u00a0 22 September Metropolis, Fremantle\u00a0(Sold Out!!!)<\/strong>
\n<\/strong>with special guest Matt Wertz<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n\n

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