Good Day Atlanta
Atlanta, Georgia
06 July 2004
SUCHITA, HOST: Well, they exploded onto the music scene in 1997, a swirl of blond hair and catchy beats that MMMBopped them to the top of the charts. Well, hanson is back with a new look and a brand new album. Brothers Isaac, Taylor, and Zac have made a long trip to join us this morning and we are thrilled to welcome them to Good Day. Hello guys!
ISAAC: Hello, how are you doing?
SUCHITA: It's so good to have you. We certainly appreciate the effort you made to get here!
ISAAC: We were just in Myrtle Beach and we made a long drive.
ZAC: Well, we have a show tonight at The Tabernacle so we were just on our way through and we decided to stop in!
TAYLOR: We said, "I don't know if we'll make it" but we're here.
SUCHITA: And you guys were able to sleep on the way…
ZAC: Yeah, on the bus.
TAYLOR: Yeah, they just drive us to the rooms.
SUCHITA: How's the tour been going so far?
TAYLOR: It's been going really great. It actually officially just started last night was the first show and tonight we'll be playing The Tabernacle.
SUCHITA: What's it like getting back out in front of your fans?
TAYLOR: Well, we've actually been playing acoustic shows starting last year; we went out and played a kind of brokendown tour where we went out with three acoustic guitars and kind of built up the record and got to see the fans for the first time, but really this whole tour is us plugging back in and playing full electric shows.
ISAAC: First plugged in tour in four years.
TAYLOR: Yeah, four years ago was the last time we were playing The Tabernacle.
ZAC: Last time we were here.
SUCHITA: Oh really, okay. I guess we should say "welcome back" then!
TAYLOR: Exactly, "welcome back." It's amazing just to see the fans that have grown up and changed, to see them continuing to come back time after time.
SUCHITA: You've sort of grown up with your fans, I mean, to a large extent…
TAYLOR: They've grown up with us.
SUCHITA: Well yeah, for some people who may have lost track of you for a moment and seeing you now, I mean, major changes in your lives! Not the last of which is look at you! You're 18 years old now!!
ZAC: I mean, to be 18, to have been playing together with these guys for 12 years and having formed your own independent record company that you're releasing your albums on, we've just gotten to do so much and still to be so young so early in hopefully your long career.
TAYLOR: Yeah, we've always just loved making music.
ZAC: And Tay's gotten married.
TAYLOR: In fact the last time I was here was the day before I met my then just an acquaintance but now my wife.
SUCHITA: Incredible. And you got married here in Georgia?
TAYLOR: Yes, we did.
SUCHITA: Cos she's a Georgia native from what I understand.
TAYLOR: Yep, she's from Newnan.
SUCHITA Okay, wow, incredible. So obviously you must be coming back here from time to time anyway, right?
TAYLOR: We are, a lot of family. Zac's girlfriend is from here also. We have a whole-
ZAC: We just LOVE Georgia!
TAYLOR: Tons of family that's coming to the show.
ISAAC: Who knows, maybe I think I should date a Georgia girl, it would make it a little more convenient!
ZAC: Those southern Belles, they just…
SUCHITA: Well, let's talk a little bit about the music and the album. This is your third album; it was more than three years in the making. I'm thinking that you guys were very particular in putting this out and you wanted to have complete creative control, obviously, but you stayed true to your roots, the R&B sound, the soul sound, all of that haven't you?
TAYLOR: Well, we always have. It's always been a labor of love, I guess. We've always produced, always written all our music but this album, like Zac was saying before, we're releasing it on our own independent record company, which was really different and also we produced most of it completely on our own. And like every record, you're growing and changing and this has always been about continuing to put albums out to put out another album and another album and continue to take people on a journey of change.
ISAAC: This is the most intimate and broken down album we've done. I think people will be pleasantly surprised by some of the things they hare on this record. I think there's more-I think it kind of covers more emotional bases than any other record because it really gets down to just the deep intimate moments in several places on the record.
SUCHITA: I'm guessing that it really is reflecting that maturity and range you've developed over the years. Can we get a quick sample?
ISAAC: Oh, sure…
SUCHITA: I know it's early in the morning guys. Please?
HANSON: (clears throats)
TAYLOR: We'll sing you a little piece off the first single we released off the album, it's called "Penny & Me."
HANSON: sing chorus of "Penny & Me"
SUCHITA: Wow, great, you guys sound awesome! And you know it's such an early hour of the morning too. That's awesome, thank you. And you know it's interesting cos as I'm reading more about you, not only do you have a huge fan base but you have throngs of screaming fans all around the world, but some of them are stars themselves. Like I read that Michelle Branch, you helped to sort of launch her career. She toured with you. Everybody knows who she is!
TAYLOR: Well, we're all music fans, we've always had a lot of support ourselves from other people and Michelle Branch, she was a fan of the band and she came out and played with us four years ago, last tour.
SUCHITA: Avril Lavigne, another fan. Incredible. You guys hang with Maroon 5, I mean, very, very interesting and again, it sort of reflects a diverse and eclectic group of people who are kind of drawn to you music.
ISAAC: Well, I think it definitely-there are very few boundaries when it really comes down to music and kind of identifying with each other. We actually spent a decent amount of time with the Black Eyed Peas over the course of recording this last record, which was really cool. They're another excellent band.
TAYLOR: It's just about a love for music and on this album we collaborated with people like Matthew Sweet, Gregg Alexander from the New Radicals, Carole King. I mean, there's a whole slew of people and again, it's just putting your talents together and hopefully making music.
SUCHITA: Well, it's great to catch up with you guys, lots of success to you, and have fun tonight at the show. You can see Isaac, Taylor, and Zac singing songs from their new release as well as older hits tonight at The Tabernacle on Luckie Street and the show starts at 7:30.