toazted.com
Amsterdam, Netherlands
17 January 2005

DJ: Could you please introduce yourself?

TAYLOR: Hi, this is Taylor.

ISAAC: Hey everybody, this is Isaac.

DJ: From the band…

TAYLOR: Hanson.

DJ: How you doing?

ISAAC: We're doing very good. Excited to be in Europe, excited to be in Amsterdam, in Holland…

DJ: It's been a while, hasn't it?

ISAAC: It's been quite a few years now. The last time we were here was promoting our album This Time Around. That was back in 2000, now it's 2005. We've done some shows around Europe recently. We did some shows to promote the coming release of Underneath. We did some acoustic shows in the UK and in Denmark and in France and Germany and what we're excited about is just continuing to be in Europe for the next several months and play concerts and talk about Underneath.

DJ: I also saw on your website that you've been playing some shows in Brazil.

TAYLOR: Yeah, well, we've been touring all over the world. We'll be going back to Latin America to play music, play some shows and definitely coming back to Europe. Last year we were all over Asia and the United States and we visited Europe in November. But definitely, we've been doing our fair share of traveling.

DJ: That's great. Isn't it cool just to see every continent of the world?

TAYLOR: It's really amazing part of getting to be a musician and travel, getting to see so much. It's unfortunate that we don't get more time to just, you know, cruise around and see the sights, but the coolest thing about it is to see how people, fans, all over the world still respond to music. Music is something that everybody likes to be involved with.

DJ: In 2000 you were also at the TMF studios, I worked there at that moment. And that was a couple years after the big hit "MMMBop" because we know you, of course, for that. What happened after that, after that "MMMBop" scene that went all around the world, 27 countries #1 and everything you almost got?

TAYLOR: There's much in the story. A big thing about our story over the last several years has been our searching for how we want to release our music. You know, we were with a new record company on our second album because of record company mergers and in between that second album and making the beginning of the new record Underneath with our former label, we just found that we didn't have a relationship where everybody was passionate and we had great partnerships. And we really felt like owning our own music, starting our own record company, and kind of going back to being an independent band was a way for us to really look forward, towards the future. And what we've done with this record is really a huge testament to all the things we've wanted to do, which is to just get back to focusing things in the right place, have a lot of really great, passionate people working on the project, and…

ISAAC: And focus on the fans, really.

TAYLOR: Focus on the fans, yeah, focus on the fans. There's a lot of reasons why it's taken a long time in between albums but the biggest reason is that, just the struggle to find the partnerships and to set up the record company the way we wanted it. And it took a long time of kind of going back and forth to make that decision during the process of making this record, so now we're in a position where we own our own music, we're licensing our music to record companies around the world, and it won't be four years between records.

ISAAC: In fact, we're gonna be recording another record this year, so we're excited about that also because in the past there have been 3-4 years in between albums and now there'll be a year and a half, two years.

DJ: This album was already out in September of 2004 in other countries but here it's going to be out soon.

TAYLOR: Well what we've done is we've tried to stagger the releases of the album over the world so that we were able to really give more attention to the record as the record is being released and focus on each market and be here in Amsterdam, to be talking about the record as it's coming out as opposed to 8 months after it came out and that way it allows us to, I think, better focus on the fans and better focus on the message we're putting out with this new music. And who knows if we'll do that next time but since we've had such a big space in between albums I think we just wanted to do it right. We wanted to do it the right way and really build the fan's energy and really give people more attention and give the fans hopefully what they deserve, which is some more time.

DJ: Was it easy to write the songs from this new album then?

ISAAC: It was really easy to write songs. The writing of the songs and the creation of the actual album itself was not as much the hard part. The hard part was having synergy with our record company because as Taylor said, in the past we had worked with a record company initially called Mercury Records and as corporate mergers happen, we found ourselves, as the second record was being released, on a record company that was still evolving and changing and also a record company that did not understand us as a band. They would have never signed us if we were some random band on the street. So as we made our third album, Underneath, it definitely put us in a position where we were challenged to try and find a way to develop synergy with the record company. And so the cool thing about Underneath now is that with all of the music that got written and with all of the time that was taken to make this album, I feel like we have a very diverse record, a record that's unique from previous albums. The album's a lot more mellow than previous albums. There are songs like "Strong Enough To Break" and "Believe," which talk about kind of different elements of similar feelings that we'd referenced in the past, but the specifics of those songs kind of were inspired by the difficulty that we were dealing with as we were making the album. The song "Strong Enough To Break" talks about playing like broken records in a deaf man's charade and in many ways that's in reference to the fact that no matter how hard you try to create, to put yourself into the music that you're making, you are catering to a deaf ear, to someone who's not really interested in what's going on. So you find yourself in these awkward positions, but the cool thing is the inspiration actually is still there even though you're struggling to finish the product that is in your heart, at the same time you're inspired by the difficulties that you're having.

TAYLOR: I was just going to say (DJ laughs) - not much more, just that definitely this album is, as every record is, a step forward.

DJ: I think so too.

TAYLOR: Yeah, it's a step forward. I mean, every record should be a step forward and every one we've made has been a jump. The next record will be a lot different than this one. I mean, we're already writing for the next album and thinking about it and there's a lot of different inspirations. But this album, I think, is definitely a landmark for us because everything surrounding it and because of the time in between and I think Underneath is going to be an opportunity for people to see Hanson in a different way.

DJ: What are the first reactions on this new album in other countries where the album is out now?

TAYLOR: The reaction has been amazing. We had a #1 independent record in the United States debut, #2 single in the states…

DJ: Really? Wow.

TAYLOR: Yeah, and we've toured… amazing touring. You know, this last summer has been a hard year for touring in general just with people buying tickets in the United States, and the fans came out in droves and we had a really successful tour this summer. The biggest thing for us now is not about having hits; it's not about going out there and trying to have a moment where you can explode. If you have a song that catches fire because it has momentum and has timing then that's amazing to have that, but the real focus is, how do we build a really strong relationship with our fans around the world?

ISAAC: And how do you develop a career?

TAYLOR: Cos we want to come back over and over. We want fans to be involved in what we're doing and there's so much out there for people to listen to and watch and the thing that is important is do we have a lasting relationship with people that they go, "I want to go get the new Hanson record. I haven't even heard it yet but I'm sure it's good. Oh, they're coming to play a show, I want to go see it!" Because every time you step up with a record or with a song or with a show, you're giving people something that they're going to leave with and remember.

DJ: What kind of people are coming to your shows? Because after "MMMBop" there was not a big single over here, big hit, so I think lots of kids will come to the show, is that right?

TAYLOR: Well, kids-the kids--

DJ: I don't want to put a stamp...

TAYLOR: Well of course, but remember when we came out 7, almost 8 years ago, you obviously appeal to a lot of your peers no matter what.

DJ: Cos you were young then.

TAYLOR: I was 14.

ISAAC: There were a lot of 14 year old fans.

TAYLOR: So now what we've been able to do is take a lot of those people that were our peers then and have them still be there. Our peers now are in college or they're out of college or they're at the end of high school and you know, Isaac's 24, I'm 21, Zac's 19. Those fans have gone forward and obviously there's a lot of people which we'll be able to reintroduce the music to across Holland and across Europe, but the fans that have been there from the beginning have moved forward with us and have grown up with us. So you see a lot of people of college age, a lot of people that have changed a lot in the same way we have. And of course those are just the true, hard core fans. I mean, we're just beginning again here.

DJ: Plus you're making more mature music so older people can…

TAYLOR: I think the biggest thing that's different is… we've always written about deep things, we've always written about meaningful things, but obviously being older it's easier to sort of take the music for what it is, which is hopefully just music about life.

ISAAC: I think we've always written about life; we've always written about the experiences that we go through and always tried to tell stories that were not only just about ourselves but also relevant to other people, and I think, like Taylor said, I think most of what has changed, less so who we are as people and more so how people see us. And I think that's the biggest thing, is that I think people are now able to realize the true passion that we've always had for the music that we've made. And I think whether it's "MMMBop," "Where's The Love," "I Will Come To You," "Weird" from our first album. Whether it's "This Time Around" from our second album or whether it's "Penny & Me" from Underneath, they're all songs that we have always been and still are passionate about. And it's music that we've always written and so for us it's very much a seamless connection between albums, and I think when people come to a concert they'll really understand in every way what this band is really about.

TAYLOR: Sometimes we'll play-in our live shows we play everything. We never play the same show. Because it's an experience for us, we're having a good time.

DJ: Do you rehearse every song that you have?

TAYLOR: As much as we can. As much as we can. But in our show we'll play old, new, things that we're just writing and I've had people walk up and be like, "wow! That song! I loved it!" And I'll go, "oh, that was from the first album!" And that's really what it's all about.

ISAAC: One of my favorite references to that was actually a guy that was just a little bit younger than me, he was 22 years old and he walked up to me and he said, "man, I really love that song 'Speechless,' that's just so rock & roll, it really rocks, it grooves," and I was like, "yeah, that's off the first album!" And he thought it was this new song that he'd never heard before and I said, "well, that is a new song that you've never heard before, it's just really old!" And so what's cool is I think people get the chance to rediscover the first album also, because I think there's a lot more to Middle of Nowhere than "MMMBop" and there's a lot more to Underneath than "Penny & Me." And so I think it's important for people to get the chance to be exposed to all that music.

DJ: Okay, about the single "Penny & Me" because I don't know nothing about it yet but who writes the lyrics for this whole album? Is it you all?

TAYLOR: Well, it's a collaboration. I mean, there's personal things in there for each of us.

DJ: In "Penny & Me?"

TAYLOR: Well "Penny & Me," it's really all about what makes you who you are. Penny sort of represents the experiences, the songs you listen to, the moments, the girlfriends, the friends, all those things that you carry around with you. We say everybody has a Penny. Cos everybody sort of like… whatever you do, wherever you're going, you're carrying that around with you. And that's what the song is all about. It's all about the things that you can't get away from, the things that'll always be there. Your Penny.

DJ: Your memory.

TAYLOR: Yeah, your memory, and the things that kind of make you who you are. And Penny Lane obviously-well not obviously, but that was the inspiration for the name. It's a great-there's a lot of music references, some references to Dave Mason and Traffic and to Nick Drake and there's little song references throughout that song that are basically saying these are the things that make us who we are. That's our Penny, that's our story.

ISAAC: And you know what's also cool too is there's this sort of this interesting metaphor about that, which is Penny is both a girl and a song. You know, it can just be a love song or it can be more than that. It's whatever the audience member really wants, really finds it to be for them because everybody has different experiences and sometimes music can mean completely different things for each individual person and so that's… I always feel that that's what makes a song important and valuable in the long run when 10 years when you go, "oh, what songs made a difference to me?" there's all sorts of different songs that have related to different experiences in your life and I think Penny kind of represents a lot of different emotions and I like that.

DJ: When I look at the cover I see a lot of titles which have something in common with love. Is that right?

ISAAC: Well I mean, I think it's very common in rock & roll no matter who you are, whether you're The Strokes… (DJ asks something about "Broken Angel") Well, "Broken Angel" is actually definitely not a love song. "Broken Angel" is definitely not a love song. "When You're Gone" is definitely not. There's actually a lot less…

TAYLOR: There's a lot less love songs on this one. You know what the biggest theme of this record is songs like "Misery" or "When You're Gone" or "Believe."

DJ: Broken relationships?

TAYLOR: Well it's not relationships, in some cases, or just pain and search for purpose and "Strong Enough To Break." They're all songs about like overcoming adversity and searching for purpose and kind of getting through. "Believe" is basically a song that talks about absolute, total depression and sort of saying, "why is it that I can't... everything around me propels disbelief. Life is full of people continuing to say they're defeated. Everybody is always defeated." And it's sort of saying, "I wish I could find something else to get me out of this." Because it's "seeing sunny skies, feeling emptiness. Everywhere I turn it's basically there's… all I see is pain, but if only I could find something more." And so that's probably more of a theme on this record than any record we've made because songs like "When You're Gone" or even "Misery," which is more related to a relationship. They're all songs kind of saying, "I'm trying to find my way out of a hole."

ISAAC: And it's actually kind of funny because "MMMBop" actually kind of has a similar theme.

TAYLOR: People don't realize that (laughs).

ISAAC: What I've always found to be ironic is we, in many cases, write songs that have uplifting melodies but very melancholy lyrics. And so, a song like "Runaway Run" off our last album This Time Around is a very kind of like uplifting sounding song but very depressing in the lyrics and it actually-believe it or not-even though it's hard to get your head around this, "MMMBop"'s lyrics are actually not particularly optimistic. They're actually kind of… they're actually kind of… very…

TAYLOR: Cynical…

ISAAC: Cynical, yeah, would be a good way to say it. They're kind of a little bit of a downer. Saying, "look, you're not always going to have friends around and frankly you should expect them to go away but try to find the people that are important cos at the end of the day everything's going to be gone in a flash." That's kind of the whole point of the song. And it's kind of ironic because there are many, many themes like that throughout our albums and I think what's important is that people get the chance to actually read the lyrics and listen to the lyrics cos I think many times you'd be surprised what actually comes through in the lyrics.

DJ: People can think about that. What have you learned from recording this album and the new one you're going to record maybe this year?

ISAAC: Well, I think one of the things that's really, really important as an artist is to always push yourself. I mean, I think the great thing about us as a band is that I feel like if I don't push things I know Zac or Taylor kind of will help to keep me from being too comfortable in one place. We kind of all come from different places artistically but the nice thing is when we're able to kind of work together we all often find a very common theme and a common goal for an album. I think the most valuable thing is spontaneity and honesty about the music and I think we've always kind of maintained that but I think this next album and also Underneath too will always be a very kind of, shall we say bittersweet feeling for me because Underneath, although many of the processes that we went through throughout this album were somewhat painful, the end result was something that we were all just incredibly optimistic about.

TAYLOR: In a lot of ways Underneath kind of survived the last four years of making and creation and that's what makes it what it is.

DJ: It was so difficult to record it then?

TAYLOR: Well no, just more of all of the things we've been talking about. The story around it. Setting up the record company, making that transition, making music in the process, being humans in the process that are feelings and driving this forward. I also got married and had a child during the making of this record and so a lot of personal, life things happening and that plays into the sound of these records. Going into the new music and going forward, we're in a place where we're just being prolific and just creating as much music as we can, wanting to continue to just create a free flow of music for the fans and keep a process of constantly keeping them engaged: "this is what we do. Check out the new music." Not leaving four years of gap and then going, "okay, this is what we've been doing!" and squash it all together but keeping them consistently aware and doing that around the world so that we keep that relationship strong.

ISAAC: I think the one thing that I've learned from this album is that thank God passion never dies. The passion for the music that we do never dies for me and I am so excited about that because I believe that this, in many ways for us, is a new phase in our career, a new phase in this band because what has happened is now we own the record company. There is no question about, you know, whether we are going to be able to get record label support for an album.

DJ: Or release a single or do that thing you don't want to do.

ISAAC: Because it was never a question of "do we have a single?" It was a question of were they going to spend money on it or not? You see what I mean?

TAYLOR: And finding partnerships, finding a small group of passionate people as opposed to a big group of complacent people.

DJ: Who only think about money.

TAYLOR: Yeah, and again, it's not Big Guy vs. Little Guy, one's perfect and one's wrong. It's just how do you get passionate people together to connect on an idea? And that's what you need. You need people that can share a vision and go after it. And whether you're Hanson or whether you're Black Sabbath you want that.

DJ: You have it now.

TAYLOR: We do, yeah.

ISAAC: We do. The cool thing is we've worked with Sony in Southeast Asia and also in Latin America. They are very excited about the record because in those particular areas there are less independent outlets because the commerce industry in those areas is just not as strong. But in places like the United States and Europe and also in Japan, there are a lot of other opportunities for us to work with slightly smaller companies but more importantly companies who really understand who we are as a band and believe in a long term relationship and have the opportunity to invest in a five term goal, not a five month goal. And that's the really important thing, is that it's not about months. It's about years. And it's not about singles. It's about albums. It's about continuing a career business, not a record business and not a singles business.

DJ: That's great to end with, thank you very much guys.

TAYLOR: Yeah, thanks.

DJ: Wish you all the best.

ISAAC: Thanks very much.