CHAT TRANSCRIPTS

hanson.net
27 February 2006

HANSON: Hey everyone! Welcome to the first HANSON.NET Chat of 2006. We're excited and are anxiously awaiting the questions you have for us. We'll answer them to the best of our ability, so here we go! And sorry we're late :)

MUSICISLIFE5191: What plans do Hanson have for Strong Enough To Break as far as further promotion, release dates, etc.?
HANSON: We are anticipating releasing SETB on DVD later this year. We can't really talk about release schedules but we're hoping to have a DVD copy of the documentary in your hands in the first half of this year. We're hoping to bring the documentary to a lot more universities across the country before the summer as well.

TRACKSTAR: If you could describe the new album using only one word, what would that word be?
HANSON: Is "kickass" one word? :) How about "Sexcellent"?

FORMOE47: What kind of inspiration have you had that has fueled your writing for the new album?
HANSON: A lot of the inspiration for this album has been to do what we should have been able to do for Underneath. To be able to capture our energy together. The songs are definitely more to the point and in your face. We think you'll like them. And if you don't... well... And Oompaloompa's. (Is that how you spell it?)

DETECTIVEKERRY: When you sit down to write your setlist the night of the show, do you choose your songs based upon your moods and recent events that have happened to you, or is it purely based upon the desire to "switch it up a bit"?
HANSON: A little bit of both... but mostly its the mood before the show starts. If you're feeling kind of mellow that night you're not going to plan a really upbeat set. Most of the setlist choice though does depend on trying to vary the show from night to night.

ILOVEZACHANSON: Hey guys, I just thought it would be interesting to see your perspective on touring through the US and other countries. So, what is your most memorable moment that you always look back on and either wish you could go back and do it again, or always bring it up as one of those moments that was the best ever? You all are awesome, love you :o)
HANSON: The last show at Cain’s was awesome. The mariachi band, the confetti, the silly string definitely stand out. We'll remember it as one of the more memorable shows. Wasn't the best performance, but the show sure was memorable!

ALY6109: Is that Zac playing drums on "Need You Now?" The drums sound amazing on that song. Personally, I think they make the whole song.
ZAC: Yes. It is. Don't I always sound amazing?
ISAAC: Don't worry. We pro-tooled it. It's all computers.

BECKYBEAR85: How has the new music you guys are writing now different than the songs that were on Underneath?
HANSON: Like we said earlier, they're a little harder hitting. Writing this album has been more about playing as a band than writing songs. Rather than sitting down with an acoustic guitar, we're all singing and writing together.
ISAAC: Also, the number one focus for us has been to combine the vibe of all the previous records together into one musical experience. That's been one very strong, driving factor in this whole experience.

DFS915: Can you tell us something about the recent Songwriters Workshop you hosted? Did you all enjoy it? Did any great songs come out of it that we may be hearing soon?
HANSON: We have generally not talked about the songwriting conference that we put on, but it did go really well and we're happy with all the artists that managed to come. We look forward to doing them every year, and we were very satisfied with the songs that came out of it. We think so far that at least three songs from that event will end up on various artists' albums.

SVENJAM: Who decides what kind of videos go along with the songs? Do you take ideas from fans into consideration?
TAYLOR: Ideas are much likes songs, so we're always looking for an inspiration. Got any good ideas? :)

BLUEMOON: Hey Hanson, will 2006 include any special Hanson.net events such as the doc viewing at Mayfest? Can't wait!
HANSON: We would be remiss to try and tell you any specific date, but we do hope to put on another event this year. We'll keep you up to date :)
ISAAC: Acoustic Album? Documentary? Who Knows?

TAYZBETH: In the record industry jungle, which animal is Hanson?
HANSON: A gang of spider monkeys. :)

JU1IEFANS0N: Hey guys! My name's Nadya and I’m from Russia. I know Taylor read The Philosophy of Andy Warhol: From A To B & Back Again. Then in the song “Love Somebody To Know” the lyrics goes, “Andy Warhol gave her a point of view.” Is it the influence of the book? And what do you think about the book? Did it affected you in some way? Thank you!
TAYLOR: I was always very curious about Andy Warhol. I really loved the eccentricities of the book, however I can't say it affected my point view. But yes, that was the spark for that lyric.

MARIANA1011: Whenever we record our voices and listen to the recording, we go "WOW!!! That’s not how I hear myself!" How do you feel about your voices when you hear them in a recording? Or through an amp (when using a mic)? And how do you "tune" yourselves when you're harmonizing? Cause you're listening to the other two guys just as they sound, but hear yourself totally different... is it a problem at any point? How do you manage it?
HANSON: I think it's always hard to hear yourself very clearly. You probably always sound different than you do in your head but we're pretty used to it at this point.
ISAAC: I do remember having that feeling though when I was younger… about 12 or 13. Thinking "Do I really sound that way?" As for the second part of the question... practice, practice, practice. There's an instinctual part of harmonizing but we've always had an ear for it. On the other hand… as we said... practice :) Getting technical quickly... when you're harmonizing you're listening to more than one thing. You're not only listening to the other singers, but also to the chords of the song in relation to that melody. So, it takes a lot of experience.

NATITTA: I'd like to know if there are any plans to make a world tour this year? Specially thinking in South America?
HANSON: We definitely plan on touring this year. We anticipate North American and European shows before the year is over but nothing has been confirmed yet and it all depends on the schedule of the album.

JTHRULES: Would you consider revisiting any of the colleges that have added the documentary to their curriculum and speaking directly to the classes?
ISAAC: We've had multiple colleges begin to add the doc to their curriculums and had multiple professors ask us that question. We hope that we will have that opportunity, but while we're making the album we will focus on only the music. So, in the next few months we don't anticipate that happening.

PRINCESSCHICK01: Are you planning to do anymore podcasts?
HANSON: Yes, we are! Expect more video and audio podcasts. That is one of the things we will anticipate being a larger part of the fan club experience. We plan on creating multiple behind the scenes elements as recording goes on and anticipate making that available to the fan club.

FERNANDAFEFE: Zac, this question is for you, I’m very anxious to see the new music video that you’ve created for the song "Misery," so I’d like to know how was the experience of creating your own music video.
HANSON: It was very cool.. The idea started the last time we were in Sweden almost a year and a half ago. We were in this hotel and started taking pictures of it, thinking of the idea of making that into a video. It didn't come to fruition until a few months ago when we decided to make it happen. We had a lot of fun creating the storyline and it was a very long process. It was my first substantial animation project in Flash.

ELY: I know that probably you can't or won't say much about it, but I’d love to know if you are going to do some GREAT collaborations that will leave us speechless for the next studio record?
HANSON: All we're going to say is... we have many friends. We look forward to the possible collaborations that can happen on this album. They're usually spontaneous so until we get to the recording process, we won't really know.
TAYLOR: However... there ARE some writing collaborations, so expect some eclectic guest appearances :)

CHRISTALENA: Hey guys, what new bands, from the last couple of years, are you really excited about? You've shared some of your early influences, but is there anyone new out there now that has you hooked and wanting more?
ISAAC: Good question!
TAYLOR: A couple of the people are on areyoulistening.com. Jonah Cohen and also Averi is a great band from Boston. A band called the Sunday Mail.
ISAAC: I actually found this one on areyoulistening.com -- Johnny Society, I really like their stuff.
ZAC: The El Paso Eastern Express.

XXANGELXX: My question is about the College Tour for the Strong Enough To Break documentary. I am a student at Northeastern University and I was one of the lucky ones to make it in and see the end of the documentary. When the Q&A started, the audience had some amazing questions and some not so great questions that strayed away from the subject matter intended. Overall, do you feel that the message you intended to reach the students was adequately delivered?
HANSON: We were really happy with the college tour and especially the lectures, because it was all about us communicating with people passionate about music and understand from a fan-perspective what's going on.
ISAAC: The message that we hope everyone walks away with is NOT, "Oh wow, look at what Hanson had to deal with." What we hope people will truly understand is that it's not just a Hanson story, it's a story that's been experienced by so many artists in the last 5 years in particular that it's painful. We hope to empower the fans of our music and music fans in general with more information so they can empower their favorite bands to not have to live through that experience.

KYE: On the previous membership CDs, there has been new recorded songs. What made you want to do something different this year and put on live recordings? Not that we mind, it'll bring back memories for us Aussies.
HANSON: We had multiple songs that had not made it to the L&E album, including LWEO, which we knew was a song that many people wanted a live version of. We felt like this was a valuable thing to pass along to the fan club.
TAYLOR: Also, we needed to put all our energy in writing and creating into the album, so we wanted to focus on that. We hope you will enjoy the live tracks.

CADILLACBLUES97: Hey guys, I think many of your fans are greatly interested in the process you go through to make your albums. Would you mind simply summarizing what you did just today while working on the album so we could get an in depth idea of the day-to-day process? Thanks! Rock On!
ISAAC: Great Question! We started with a meeting, talking about the documentary and what its release plans are and other college-related things such as colleges asking about SETB. We also talked about our overall plans for the year, and where we think we're going for the next 6 months. And then we spent many hours in the studio just playing together and writing, of course :)

ZEALOUSMONKEY: What made you guys decide to release Strong Enough To Break to New Zealand television (thank you so much for doing it!!) and any chance you will ever come over here??
HANSON: We hope to come down sooner rather than later. We thought we had an opportunity when we were in Oz but it didn't pan out. The television appearance of SETB will hopefully happen in other countries. The opportunity in New Zealand came from a contact that our Australian Record Label partner had.

EVRYWRDISAY314: Taylor, what is your favorite thing to order at Starbucks?
TAYLOR: I usually order a Venti latte or an iced latte. I throw in an extra shot once in a while :)
ISAAC: I like toffee nut latte's and mocha's and also cappuccinos. I don't like latte's :) For the true coffee lover, illy is the only way.

KRAZYBABEUK: During my interview with you in London in November 2004 when I was reporter you were telling me about an online hanson.net music store. Is this still going ahead? If so what kind of music will be available? It would be great to hear some unreleased tracks!
HANSON: We've had ambitions to form a music store on hanson.net for quite a while. But we don't wanna launch it unless we can provide frequent content to the fans. So we hope over the next year we'll be able to figure out how to keep the content coming and then we'll launch the store.

HANSON: Ok. A couple more questions guys then we need to move on to our contest winner :)

LISAHANSON: Who would you like to collaborate with and you haven't yet?
HANSON: We never really had the opportunity to work with Ben Folds. We almost did in 2001 or 2002.
TAYLOR: Another person would be Barry or Robin Gibb. John Legend is another one.

NIINA: How would you describe the year 2005?
HANSON: I think we would say we took a lot of steps in the right direction with the documentary... finally touring extensively in Australia.
TAYLOR: And having Baby #2 was a big deal. We also as a record company are establishing ourselves in a way that will allow us to do much more things in the future so that was a real success for us. The college tour was definitely very rewarding for us personally and something we hope to do again.
ISAAC: I would say the lectures were the highlight of the year for me... being able to openly talk to music fans as a whole.

PURPLEGIRL: I would like to know who drew the design on the drumhead I won recently? It is awesome!
HANSON: Zachary Hanson... the artist savant :)

HANSON: Anyhow… Thanks everybody for getting out to the chat. We hope to do more of these soon, and thanks for the great questions! See you guys soon :)

chat transcript © hanson.net
edited by THD