Salt Lake City, Utah
February 01 2001

CHUNGA: So what we're going to do right now is chat with a guy, a young man, that some of you may know. Some of you may not know. People have been calling from all over the world; people have been calling from all over the country. We’ve been getting emails a plenty all week long. A little Salt Lake radio station, an alternative station no less, because we decided to have Hanson on the show.

MR WEST: Right.

CHUNGA: And people went crazy. People from - I’ve gotten letters from men. I’ve gotten letters from professional business men in their forties. From fourteen year old girls from Hawaii; from New York; from Dallas, Texas; from Michigan; from Atlanta, Georgia.

MR WEST: new Hampshire. We got a phone call this morning from Birmingham, England. Sammie from England. A lot of people listening on the Internet his morning.

CHUNGA: And it's all attributed to three- three- I feel like Ed Sullivan. Three young men by the name of Hanson. And on the phone with us, we have Taylor Hanson. Taylor, are you there?

TAYLOR: Yeah, how's it going guys? That was quite a buildup there. I don't know if I can live up to that. From all around the world, they go.

CHUNGA: It's very true, TAYLOR. This is no joke man. How do you rate dude?

TAYLOR: Dude, I don't know how that happens. What did you guys do to say you were gonna have us on?

MR WEST: We mentioned it once...

CHUNGA: And it landed on a bunch of fan webpages. Hanson fan webpages. Which there are probably thousands around the planet.

TAYLOR: Yeah.

CHUNGA: And the next thing you know, we have calls... we have e-mails. We have phone lines melted down because we have the mighty Hanson on the show.

TAYLOR: Well, I just wanna say thanks to all the people who are listening. You guys rock, so thanks for having us.

CHUNGA: Isn't that cool?

TAYLOR: It is extremely cool. That’s why we can keep doing it, I guess.

CHUNGA: How old a man are you, Taylor?

TAYLOR: I’m seventeen.

CHUNGA: You're seventeen. You’ve been doing this most of your life, right? You guys started this really young.

TAYLOR: Since way back when. Way back when... I think I was about nine when we did our first show.

CHUNGA: Wow, and you guys started out doing what? Like barber shop quartet kind of stuff?

TAYLOR: Well, when you know, we started off, we just kind of started. Yeah, we didn't play instruments right off the bat. We played piano and wrote songs like that. And then just kinda sang like that, and then slowly picked up instruments. *English accent* kind of became a rock band man.

CHUNGA: Okay, so you've got you. You’re the middle brother. You’ve got Ike; he's your older brother.

TAYLOR: Mmhmm, yeah Isaac plays the guitar and then Zac plays drums.

CHUNGA: now when you guys decided "okay, we're gonna play some instruments here." did you guys have a little fist fight or a game of twister or something to figure out whose gonna play what instrument? How did that develop?

TAYLOR: You know, it's um... it wasn't really... nobody really thought about it that much. It just kinda happened. You know, I was... we all played piano. Spec--spec--spec- uh, can't talk. Specifically, Ike and I because we played classical piano and had done that for years. And then we just kinda fell into the instruments. Zac just naturally hit things so he played the drums. And Ike idolized Chuck Berry so he picked up the guitar. And there I was left with the piano.

CHUNGA: So it was kind of by default?

TAYLOR: It was kinda by default but ya know.

CHUNGA: <yells> “You gotta play the piano!”

TAYLOR: There you go. It can work either way. Like Zac can say it was by default that he ended up on the drums, ya know, so...

MR WEST: That's true.

CHUNGA: So this is, uh, you never went to school right? You were home schooled your whole life?

TAYLOR: Well yeah.. it was... we're kinda freaks that way, yeah. Home school sounds like such an odd thing but um…

CHUNGA: Oh, I don't know, I don't know. Was it that your parents realized when you were kids at such a young age that you had some pretty serious talent for this sort of thing?

TAYLOR: Well it was.. I mean, we decided to do that when we were really young. And they decided they wanted to teach us when we were just growing up. You know, like first and second grade and then as we started doing music it just flowed right into it and then we started traveling and then it was like, well, you couldn't do anything else anyway so...

CHUNGA: Yeah, it was like this is never gonna work out right?

TAYLOR: Yeah, it was kind of a weird coincidence that they decided "hey, lets give this a try." and um, we've got three little kids and all that stuff and all the sudden we were doing this, and we were traveling. Just to local places on weekends and things like that. And before you knew it, it was kind of too much to handle.

CHUNGA: Yeah, of course. Judging by what we've seen so far, absolutely.

MR WEST: Yeah, lets ask you about that, Taylor. Now we've had five girls in here this morning with signs and everything. Even though they knew you were gonna be on the phone but uh, you know, the response has just been incredible.

CHUNGA: Actually, we should have you say hi to these girls here, Taylor.

TAYLOR: Sure, sure.

CHUNGA: They will freak out. They were in here. They were crying in our studio at 6am. I’m thirty-one years old, Taylor! I’m too old for that kinda stuff dude!

TAYLOR: Dude, just do it.

CHUNGA: Alright, here's Patty, Julie, Tanele, Mallory, and Aubrey. They came in here with a sign; they came in here with questions. And uh, you wanna say hi to them for us?

TAYLOR: Sure, absolutely. Hey everybody. Are they in the studio right now?

CHUNGA: No, they're not. They’re all listening right now. And I just wanted to say their names on the radio.

MR WEST: They're cutting school for you man.

CHUNGA: They're ditching school.

MR WEST: But I wanna know, Taylor. How you keep this from going to your head because I’m sure the fan mail comes in every day and you know....

CHUNGA: If I were in your spot, Taylor. I’d have like a solid gold car. I would have like a cocaine problem. *Taylor laughing* Ya know, I would blow like a million dollars a day just in bad drugs.

TAYLOR: Yeah well, that would kinda put a damper on the whole thing but you know, we tried that and it's kinda boring so we decided to go the other way.

CHUNGA: Oh is that right? In this ripe old age?

TAYLOR: Gold cars do not drive very fast!

MR WEST: How do you keep it all from going to your head though, Taylor?

CHUNGA: Or do ya?

TAYLOR: Well, you know, I haven't kept it from going to my head actually. I’ve got a head cold so there you go.

CHUNGA: I’ve noticed you sound like you have some kind of a cold this morning.

TAYLOR: Yeah, I actually ended up getting whatever darn bug it was at Sundance. So it's all your guys fault. So um, I don't know... I love to play music. I love to get out and play. I love *English accent* just to get to rock man. And so when that happens and you get to uh, write a song you feel good about and play music you feel good about um it's just sort of icing on the cake that people actually like it.

CHUNGA: Yeah but come on now dude. There’s gotta be part of you that's like "I wish I was older so I could be shagging chicks all the time."

TAYLOR: You know, that would be one way to do it. I don't know.

CHUNGA: Chasing girls...

TAYLOR: We chase them. They just, you know, they just don't chase us back. They run the other way.

CHUNGA: Yeah yeah, I’m sure they do.

MR WEST: I’m sure.

CHUNGA: Where's the other two kids at?

TAYLOR: They are... they are indisposed right now.

CHUNGA: Where are you? Are you on a cordless phone?

TAYLOR: I... you want me to go wake the other guys up?

CHUNGA: Don't wake them up!

TAYLOR: Come on, lets go grab them!

CHUNGA: Go wake them up. Get the other two out of bed.

MR WEST: They're sleeping.

CHUNGA: I wanna hear from all of them this morning. We’ve hyped this thing for like ten days. Where they at?

TAYLOR: We'll wake Zac.

CHUNGA: Little Zac.

MR WEST: He's the younger brother. He can always get mad.

CHUNGA: This kid’s crazy. I’ve seen this kid on TV. Out of his mind. *Taylor laughing*

TAYLOR: Yeah, Zac... let—lemme go get him.

CHUNGA: Yeah, okay. All right... we're just waiting... Taylor the middle brother... we're talking with the Hanson brothers. You taking the phone to him, Taylor?

TAYLOR: *pause* Yeah, I’m taking the phone to him.

CHUNGA: Taylor is awake. Somehow, Isaac and Zac managed to sleep in. Can't blame them really. And we're sending Taylor to go wake them up. Put him on the show. *pause*

TAYLOR: yeah, here we go... Zac is um... actually Ike has been really sick so I don't know if he's going to be able to get on.

CHUNGA: Alright.

TAYLOR: Unless you wanna be responsible for the death of a Hanson.

CHUNGA: Wow. Never seen what that would do.

MR WEST: For all the gurlies out there, what does Zac sleep in?

CHUNGA: Oh, nice Casey, nice!

TAYLOR: Ooo, that's more than you wanna see. That’s kind of visual man. That’s terrible.

CHUNGA: *laughing* alright, is he there? Where is he?

TAYLOR: He's coming... he's slow man. You gotta get this guy up.

CHUNGA: Tell him to hustle. Come on, you're his brother. You can do that.

TAYLOR: You know, he's gotten a lot bigger now. I don't want him to kick my butt.

CHUNGA: Ya know, i've noticed.. You all have gotten a little bigger now.

TAYLOR: Yes, that happens.

CHUNGA: When “MMMBop...” I mean, that was like a lifetime ago for you guys.

MR WEST: Before you guys couldn't ride the rides at Disney Land. Now you guys are going everywhere.

TAYLOR: Yeah, well actually lets see... it was, 97 was when that first record came out so yeah, it's been a while.

CHUNGA: Yeah, it has.

TAYLOR: Okay, the infamous Zac is now in our presence.

MR WEST: Oh, very good.

CHUNGA: Put him on the phone.

TAYLOR: Alright, here he is.

ZAC: Yo.

CHUNGA: Zac! Good morning!

ZAC: Good morning! *sleepy voice*

CHUNGA: It’s Chunga and Mr in Salt Lake City. How are ya?

ZAC: Uh, I’m fine. I have a... the flu.

CHUNGA: Oh yeah... everybody's sick. You’re all sick.

ZAC: Well, that's what you get for going to Sundance.

CHUNGA: Yeah, did you have a good time when you were there?

ZAC: Well, I wasn't there. I actually just, ya know, I kinda...

CHUNGA: Taylor got you sick?

zac: Tay got me sick, yeah.

CHUNGA: Yeah. So when are you guys gonna play Salt Lake?

ZAC: *sucks in teeth* Goood question.

CHUNGA: Do you get that a lot? We saw on some websites people going "hey, we want you to come to Utah." Some petitions and stuff like that.

ZAC: Yeah, I think more importantly, when are we gonna come out with the next album?

CHUNGA: Ah, we've got it right here.

ZAC: Yeah, so you know...

CHUNGA: When does that come out, Zac?

ZAC: Uh well, we're not exactly sure. You know, we're still working on... doing that.

CHUNGA: Oh okay.

MR WEST: They're working on the new album.. We have the current album.

CHUNGA: Ohh no, we have the current album.

ZAC: Yeah, you have the current album.

CHUNGA: You have to understand. We’re an alternative station man. We don't play a whole lot of Hanson but we're very interested in the whole phenomenon that is Hanson. *Zac snickering* And uh, we heard you guys. I work for Radio Disney as well as this radio station. I heard you guys kind of on mistake and I was very impressed with the music I heard and said "who the hell are these guys?! Why are we not playing them on our alternative station?!" And [another DJ] said "this is Hanson, dude. Where have you been?" And sure enough, I checked it out and it's pretty good stuff. So do you guys have a musical preference? What do you like to listen to, most of the time?

ZAC: You know, to be honest, we listen to mostly rock stuff.

CHUNGA: Yeah?

ZAC: You know... uh, Tonic, uh Travis, Wilco...

CHUNGA: Yeah... all the stuff we play, basically.

ZAC:Lenny Kravitz. You know... we don't listen to much of the pop stuff. We’re more into the R&B and rock.

CHUNGA: How do you like being a teen icon, dude?

ZAC:*snickering*

CHUNGA: That's gotta be pretty outta control.

ZAC: Um, I don't know how to answer that question.

CHUNGA: I know. It’s kind of a hard question. You’re how old?

ZAC:I’m fifteen.

CHUNGA: You're fifteen years old. You’re beloved by girls and women everywhere. You’re loaded, aren't ya? You’re just filthy damn rich? How much money do you have, zac? Come on.

ZAC: I’m not gonna answer that question.

CHUNGA: What's in your wallet right now?

ZAC: I plead the fifth.

CHUNGA: He sleeps on a big bed of cash.

MR WEST: Rhere ya go. That’s not bad.

ZAC: Yeah, my mattress is all green.

CHUNGA: Zac, we know you're sick dude so go back to bed.

ZAC: Okay.

CHUNGA: Why don't you put Taylor back on the phone?

ZAC: Okay, thanks.

CHUNGA: thanks Zac! Poor kid... getting him outta bed.

TAYLOR: Hello?

CHUNGA: I didn't know he had the flu, Taylor!

TAYLOR: *laughs* Hey, there ya go man.

CHUNGA: You didn't have to wake him up if he had the flu. I feel like a jerk now.

TAYLOR: That's part of the guilt trip, dude.

CHUNGA: We're talking with Hanson. Taylor Hanson to be specific cause the other two are sick. Taylor’s kind of sick in his own right. More sick than Taylor is.

MR WEST: So what did you do at Sundance, Taylor? I understand that they didn't let you into a lot of clubs cos you're underage. That they had to keep you in your own room.

TAYLOR: Yeah well... that was part of the... that was a funny story. There’s a couple funny stories about that. We kind of just went up to... meet some people. We have some friends that are connected to movies and we were invited to a couple of the big parties that were going on up there. Cos, you know, there's always parties. The Radiohead party, they have a new record coming out... um, so we were invited to go to their, kind of a listening party. It was insane cause we're invited by all the people that were, you know, hosting it and you get there and the laws in Utah are really, really strict. So we get up there and they won't let us in.

CHUNGA: Sure.

TAYLOR: It was just like totally ridiculous.

MR WEST: Now, let me get this straight. So because you're Taylor Hanson, you can like go and have some martinis at the Viper Room if you want?

TAYLOR: Well, sometimes yeah... you can probably weasel your way. I know a lot of times, they'll let you at least go to a bar... they'll let you, you know, stamp your hand or whatever. Just long as you don't drink. You can actually get into places like that. You know?

CHUNGA: Oh okay.

TAYLOR: Like, they'll give you a little leeway to go into some of those places. Especially if you're with, you know, some other people that are, you know, overage and you're...

CHUNGA: With your posse. When you're with your posse.

TAYLOR: When you're with your posse. Exactly. When the posse walks in, you're fine. But they were just not budging and so we made a big stink about it and uh so then, Isaac was marked. You know, they weren't going to let him in because they totally spotted him and I was kind of not seen as much. So, we um, found a couple of other people that were from the party and they uh helped... the restaurant below the club...

CHUNGA: So you just had to hang out...

TAYLOR: Yeah, we were just kinda hanging out down there.

CHUNGA: You're like "man, this is great. I’m sure great I came to Sundance."

TAYLOR: Yeah, exactly. That was kind of like "okay, crap. What are we gonna do?" Um so then, I just... we bolt. Me and the person who was a representative from the party. And we just kind of walk up and she just sorta grabs my arm and we kind of just go for the VIP room where she was taking me. And we get through so I’m safe.

CHUNGA: So you're alright?

TAYLOR: So I get in there and Isaac’s still... they've totally... you know, all the security guys are on him, you know? ... he's coming around the corner! You know? So…

CHUNGA: Keep that little Hanson kid outta here!

TAYLOR: Yeah, exactly. So they totally had him spotted and uh, so I go up there and where it gets interesting is... I gotta go to the bathroom really bad.

CHUNGA: Yeah.

MR WEST: Right now?

TAYLOR: Huh?

MR WEST: Right now?

TAYLOR: *laughs* Scuse me, I’m leaving! No, so that night I do.

CHUNGA: Ohh okay.

TAYLOR: You know... you're drinking. I’ve been up there for like, what, two hours? You’re drinking... and I’ve been up there for what so...

CHUNGA: Sure.

TAYLOR: And uh, so, I’ve gotta use the restroom. But there's an upper level where we are and all the bathrooms are downstairs. And all the security guards are down there.

CHUNGA: So this was like a little sitcom for you?

TAYLOR: So there we are... I’m trapped. So all there is, is a window that goes out to the roof.

CHUNGA and MR WEST: Ohhhhh no. *laughing*

TAYLOR: So there you go. So I climb up to the roof and I find a corner... so you know, there ya go.

CHUNGA: You peed on a roof?!

MR WEST: You peed on the roof at Sundance?!

TAYLOR: Well, yeah.

CHUNGA: Right now there are teenage girls on the roof!

TAYLOR: They're not gonna let me back in. I think this is gonna be in rolling stone too. *Chunga laughing* so I go there and I’m like "look, this is what I gotta do." and uh, find a corner and felt relaxation. I thought that was great. And uh...

CHUNGA: Right now there's kids seriously going "I gotta find the roof that he peed on!"

TAYLOR: Then I look over to the left and I realize that there's the alley way goes right up to the roof. And so, I call Ike on his phone and he jumps up on the roof and comes right through the window and there we are.

CHUNGA: That is crazy.

MR WEST: I hope he didn't climb up where you were peeing.

TAYLOR: No, well, yeah. He avoided that particular spot.

CHUNGA: Cos man. It’s kinda cool for some kids but when he's your brother...

TAYLOR: No, that's not really that cool. But I had to throw that in for dramatic effect. But the best the kind of pinnacle thing is, throughout the whole party, there's kind of like megatron screens and stuff and uh, kind of, a couple hosts with camera's walking around. And the funny this was, by the end of it, we were there up on the screens talking to the guys.

CHUNGA: Sure, and nobody cared at that point.

TAYLOR: No. You were just like "oh whatever." You know, the point is for all you eighteen year old guys out there...

CHUNGA: Keep trying dude.

TAYLOR: Keep trying man. Keep on trying!

CHUNGA: Or get a fake ID.

MR WEST: That was a good adventure for you that you'll remember.

TAYLOR: Yeah, exactly.

CHUNGA: I bet that's how you guys all got sick. Being up on that roof.

TAYLOR: There you go man. It was a traumatic peeing experience.

MR WEST: I bet it was.

CHUNGA: Go go go go go! Oh my gosh! Hurry! So I just have so many questions and so many kids wanted to ask you. There’s just no way I can get to them. When are you guys going on tour again? Anytime soon?

TAYLOR: Well, we're working on the new record right now. That’s part of why we were up at Sundance. We’re talking about doing a documentary on this album process. And we're always filming stuff. We take digital cameras with us everywhere. But we're kind of actively doing something now. And um, we wanted to see some documentaries and things while we were there and uh, so that was part of the reason we were there. But hopefully, we're going to try and get out on tour sometime in the summer but that's you know... that's sketchy because we're still working on this record.

CHUNGA: Okay, yeah sure. And Sammie from Birmingham, England wants to know "why didn't you come to Europe?"

TAYLOR: *laughs*

MR WEST: She's mad!

CHUNGA: She's mad at you guys!

TAYLOR: She's mad? Well, we did go to Europe but we just didn't play any concerts.

CHUNGA: Ohh, I see.

TAYLOR: The thing is, you know, every time we come out with a, you know, a record.. and then we get letters from all over the place and they go "come here, come here, come here." and sometimes we say too much. Say "yeah, we're gonna come. We’re gonna come." Instead of saying what's honest which is "we don't know for sure. We want to come but we don't know for sure whether it's going to happen."

MR WEST: And you guys have very little say in that...

TAYLOR: Yeah, well, it's you know... it's a hard thing to route a tour. So getting your tour to, all the way to England because there's, you know, one particular fan going "please come here." you know, the rest of the tour is routed.

CHUNGA: Sure. All right, so I asked Zac this question and I expect an answer, young man.

TAYLOR: Uh oh.

CHUNGA: Just how much money do you guys make? Come on. Be honest with me.

TAYLOR: How much money have we make?

CHUNGA: What was the first real big expensive thing that you bought? When you realized, okay, "I am like the biggest rock star on the planet right now. I’m going to buy me something really extravagant and really expensive." What did you buy?

TAYLOR: Hmm.. Well. First of all, I was thinking about buying your radio station so I could get you fired, man

CHUNGA: People have been trying for years, dude. It’ll never happen. Let’s see, so you guys are set for life pretty much, you can safely say that, right?

TAYLOR: Um, well, yeah, I think we can survive.

CHUNGA: Yeah, well good for you, good for you. Sure, sure, sure. If you don't want to that's cool. Some people have no problem with it so I ask it to everybody.

TAYLOR: Yeah, I think it's kind of an odd one. I don't think I’d feel right talking about that kinda stuff. It’s, you know, it makes it possible for us to do this so I mean it's like... we were having a conversation with, with um a couple different artists that we're going to write with. And one friend, we were talking about Napster and record sales and stuff like that. And you know, people just don't think about selling records, that's how an artist makes money so they can live. You know? So it's just keeps us going, you know?

CHUNGA: Sure, sure. Absolutely.

MR WEST: How about this question, Taylor? It’s been bugging Chunga and I a lot.

CHUNGA: Yeah, yeah. Who let the dogs out?

TAYLOR: *laughs* Good question. Who did let the dogs out? I have no idea. Actually a guy named Steve Greenberg used to be our A&R representative.

CHUNGA: Is that right?

TAYLOR: Yeah.

CHUNGA: He's the guy that was responsible for that whole mess.

MR WEST: That clears it up.

TAYLOR: Mmhm. thanks very much you guys.

CHUNGA: Hey, can we have you hang on the line and do a liner for us real quick?

TAYLOR: No problemo.

CHUNGA: Taylor Hanson of the rock band Hanson on the show. Very mature cats. Which I wasn't expecting at all. I expected him to say, "I have more money than everybody!" Which he does... he does. Come on Taylor, don't you? So anyway, there you go. There’s your damn Hanson interview. 8:26. Yeah, nice kids. I feel bad that they were all sick. We got them all up out of bed and they're all sick.

MR WEST: Well, if you're peeing on a roof, that happens.

CHUNGA: Yeah, well, let it be a lesson to you youngsters out there. No peeing on roofs. You’ll get sick. You’ll get the flu. You pee on a roof; you'll get the flu.

CHUNGA: That's it. I was kind of impressed with those kids.

MR WEST: Taylor is very, very sharp kid. Seventeen. You wouldn't think he's seventeen.

CHUNGA: No. Funny, sharp. Good kid. They’ve really done well for themselves. You know what, they really have.