HANSON: Hey everybody, thanks for joining us. We are really excited to be able to do our first international focused H net chat, we are really glad that there are so many fans from all over the world that are with us we are anxious to hear all your questions. Off we go!!

JASMINE84: from Canada asks: My question relates to a cross-Canada tour. It's kind of sad in Canada because we aren't international enough to get our own tour, and we aren't American enough to be a part of that tour (besides the one city of Toronto). Canada is HUGE - bigger spatially than the USA. And we love Hanson! :) I was wondering if Hanson would ever, EVER, consider doing a Canadian tour?? So the short question version is: any plans for a FULL Canadian tour?? :)
ISAAC: Right now there is not a plan for a full Canadian tour, there are a lot of factors that come into play when you are planning a tour. Unfortunately there are not as many large cities around the country even though it is really large so that makes it harder. We hope it will happen.

RACHAELMARIE: from the UK asks: Do you guys realise that on The Best Of Hanson: Live & Electric UK release your Hanson logo is printed wrong?
TAYLOR: We are aware that there was a mistake in the printing, I guess that will be one for the collectors. :)

SPANISHEYES: from Germany asks: Und die letzte frage ob sie weiter an proje3kten mit anderen Künstlern denken sowie sie das schon mit emma und michelle gemacht haben? [Will you do future projects with other artists like you did with Emma and Michelle?]
TAYLOR: We have always been interested in working with other artists, we are really anxious to do more collaborations. Writing and producing for other artists is something we hope to do a lot more of. And by the way... Our awesome HCL's will be translating these answers back into your native languages after the chat so I hope you'll see that soon.

TILLYMINT from the UK asks: Hey guys! I was wondering if you will be doing the opening band contest when come to the UK? Or have you not thought that far ahead yet? Cuz I think I know a band who'd love to enter for a show in London. Thanks! Adele
TAYLOR: Right now we are only planning on touring in the states with the Live & Electric tour, but we would love to carry over some of the elements like the opening band contests in future tours.

NELLYNA (and many others) from Italy asks: Europe wants an hanson.net event, is it possible then happen? Thank you-
TAYLOR: We would love to do an H net event in Europe and other parts of the world, our hope is to include more special events when we are back on the next tour. Stay tuned!

CLA from Brazil asks: About "Are You Listening" project, are you planning do concerts or festivals with all these bands?
TAYLOR: Are you listening is just beginning, the most important thing right now is developing a diverse strong community of music fans. Concerts, and fan events, along other content related outlets will all come out of that communities growth.

ZACYBOY from Israel asks: Hi, what's up? My name is Elad. Will you ever do a show in Israel? Your Israeli fans really want to see you LIVE!!
TAYLOR: First of all it is amazing to have fans all over the world, and we have always wanted to come to Israel. Like we said earlier right now we are only doing the Live & Electric tour in the USA and then we will be making plans for the upcoming studio album. It would be amazing to come play a show on that tour. Thanks for your question.

FANTATTITUDE from France asks: Isaac, when you recorded "Someone" did you really learn all the lyrics in French, or did you use phonetics?
ISAAC: A little bit of both, I had a lot of help from the person I wrote the song with who spoke French.

SPARKEY from Austria asks: What are your plans for the European market. Like, release of the Strong Enough To Break documentary. Do you plan to release it in every country or just in selected ones?
TAYLOR: In the long run we are planning on release the film as a DVD around the world, we would also love for the film to get screened around the world and in Europe the same way we are in the states and other places. It is really important to us to us the film as a tool that will educate people's perceptions of the music business.

COTTONCANDYKISS from Switzerland asks: Nowadays in 2005 when you watch videos of 97 like "Tulsa, Tokyo & MON" for example, what do you think of yourselves? As you know we don't act the same way at 11, 14, and 16 than we do at 19, 22, and 24. So what are your feelings when you see images of you when you were little boys? (was it cool enough? maha :D ) Cyrielle, 20, SWITZERLAND
TAYLOR: Well, there are a lot of things that are different that of course you have to laugh at, at the same time there is nothing wrong with a red wood forest nature tour (laughter)

ROCKETSHIP from France asks: What kind of relationship do you have with the labels distributing your music overseas? Because it seems like the distribution/promotion process is really different from one country to another (not including the USA). Could you tell us more about that? How does it work? Do you explain them what you want them to do, or are they kind of "free" to do whatever they want? Celine
ISAAC: Outside of the US we license our albums to them, which means we own all the content and provide them with it and them work together to develop the plan for the marketing and promotion for the record.

KAISA from Finland asks: You guys have been to Europe many times in the past years. What place/country would you say feels the most "homey" on this side of the Atlantic?
ISAAC: We have spent the most time In London so that is probably the most comfortable place for us.

THAL from Switzerland asks: [J'apprécie certains textes engagés de groupes ou chanteurs qui expriment les problčmes politiques, sociaux ou écologiques de notre société, et j'aurais aimé savoir s'il vous est déjŕ arrivé d'ętre inspirés par un de ces thčmes au point d'en faire un texte] I appreciate certain writings of groups or singers that express the problems that are more political, more social or more ecological of our society, and I would have liked to know if you already are inspired by any of these themes to the point of writing about them?
TAYLOR: Up to this point we have not chosen to make an outward political statement with the music, but everything you are passionate about gets into your music.

SIMO from Romania asks: Will the song "Go" be on the next album?
ZAC: We have not decided for sure on the songs for the next album but it is very possible that it will be one of the tracks.

MMM_MARICA from Australia asks: What do you think about the food in Australia? And please no jokes about "scary pizzas."
ZAC: The food is great. We had Kangaroo (kinda sad) but it was really good. ;)

HANNAHHANSON asks: Hey Hanson! What do each of you think about while you’re performing? Are you thinking wow that’s a lot of people or just remembering lines?
TAYLOR: After as many shows as we have done you are rarely thinking about the lines to the songs, but you are thinking about the show.

FRANCESTAY1413 from France asks: Isaac, I'd like to know why do you prefer playing with Gibson guitars (SG & Les Paul) rather than with Fender ones (Stratocaser & Telecaster)? AI
ISAAC: I prefer the shape of the neck because it is more curved, and I also like the sound of the humbucker pickups that Les Paul's use. I also really like the Gibson firebirds, they are a lot more rare.

FEFY from Brazil asks: What is the process of choosing the length of a song? Are there any specific process of choosing if the song is gonna make into the album?
TAYLOR: That is an interesting question. The length of the song is not usually something you think about until you already have the shape of the song.
ZAC: As far as deciding what songs go on the record, that is really hard to explain. We all have a sense for what the overall album should sound like to as you work on new songs you shape the overall album, sometimes there are songs you love that just don't work with the overall sound.

LIEZIEWIEZIE from Belgium asks: Lately we international fans got a lot of attention. Like getting our own forums, the site being translated in different languages... (thanks for that by the way). What did you make the decision to do this?
ISAAC: First of all, I am really glad that you like some of the things we have tried to do with the site for international fans. That was one of the main things we were set on for 2005 was that we would not only visit more countries but that we would really try and do a better job with H net of catering to our amazing fans all over the world. This chat right now is another example of that. We hope the international communities will continue to grow.

HANSONSABBATH from Russia asks: Hey, guys! Thank you for spending your time with us! Have you ever been to Russia? Have you ever think about playing here (Moscow, f. ex.)?
TAYLOR: Russia is another place that we have always wanted to play concerts in (someone mentioned Israel earlier) Maybe '06 will be the year for that.

GASTONIA3 from Mexico asks: Hello, My question is the following: I am a college student in Mexico City and I know that many people in my university are very interested in the message you are trying to get across with your documentary and your visits to colleges. My question is: are you planning to do some lecturing in colleges in other countries? Thank you!
ZAC: We would love to do more lectures around the world, if there was enough interest around the world to justify a whole world tour for the doc we would love to do that, but we would still have to think twice about delaying the recording of the next album any further.
TAYLOR: We do really want the documentary to reach especially students around the world, so we are trying to do as much as possible to encourage and support the interest from international universities.

MARIANA1011 from Chile asks: How do choose your back up musicians? Does someone recommend them to you? Or maybe you hold auditions? Or maybe you just run the voice? What do you look for in a backup musician? I mean as a musician and as a person.
ISAAC: When we are trying to decide on the musicians for our live show we hold auditions, we play some of our music with them to get a sense of how skilled they are and also just jam so that we can get a sense of their style and vibe.

TAYZBETH from the UK asks: Of all the songs you have performed live over the years on tour, which have you most enjoyed reshaping and what has influenced the way it has changed?
ZAC: There are a couple songs that we played on that Underneath Tour that were really fun to play like "Look At You" and "Hand In Hand". The reshaping on those songs happened because we wanted to make room for some songs that we could really jam on and give each band member a chance to be featured.
TAYLOR: There are also some cool arrangements that we are doing for the Live & Electric Tour, some covers, and also some songs that we rarely play live like "Down," "Can't Stop," and others.

GREICY83 from Brazil asks: My names is Greicy, I'm from Brazil and my username on H.net is greicy83. I want to know when they will release The Best Of Hanson: Live & Electric here in South America?
TAYLOR: There was a question earlier about how the labels we work with are different in each part of the world. South America is one of the only place in the world that we license to a major label, and they have been in a merger that has caused some delay with the release of the record there. There is still a possibility that it will be released to South American fans and we are doing our best to make that happen.

KAY from the UK asks: Who are some of you favourite film directors and are there any films of theirs you could pin-point as your favourite?
TAYLOR: We all have a little different taste in film, my favorite films range from The Goonies to The Usual Suspects and Baz Lurman’s Romeo & Juliet or Spinal Tap. I especially like the Coen Brothers as Directors. Sorry guys... flaky internet here.
ISAAC: That is funny I was about to say the movie The Big Labowski, which is a Coen Brothers movie. John Goodman does an amazing job in that movie. Of course Star Wars, the old and the new are at the top of my list.

SECRETSMILE from Brazil asks: There's a big rumor Hanson would be coming to Brazil in December since MTV Brazil announced it, which made us stare at the TV for minutes. From what we know the L&E Tour ends in Tulsa on November 23rd, so could you tell us if there is any (even a tiny one) chance of Brazilian fans get extremely lucky and be surprised by a Live & Electric concert?
ISAAC: I wish I could confirm that we are coming to Brazil in December, but unfortunately right now there is nothing confirmed at all. It will not be too long until we are back in Brazil and thanks to the amazing fans that we saw while we were there.

ALICE1440 from the UK asks: Can you use chopsticks?
HANSON: (unanimous) YES. KINDA :)

HANSON Anyhow, it's time for us to leave unfortunately. Thanks so much everybody for all the questions. It is amazing just to know that there are fans in Israel, Japan, Russia, Brazil, and Switzerland... that are all a part of the same music community. Thanks for your continued passion, and we hope you enjoy the Live & Electric album. We will talk soon. - ITZ

chat transcript © hanson.net