New York – Zac Hanson from the Grammy-nominated pop-rock group Hanson chatted with Digital Journal about their upcoming shows at the PlayStation Theater, their new Greatest Hits album and Christmas album.
“Get ready!” Zac told their New York fans. “Bring your party hats. We look at this whole tour as an anniversary celebration, like a big birthday party. Come ready to dance and have a good time. We’ll be doing that.”
Hanson released their Middle of Everywhere Greatest Hits album, which garnered a glowing review from Digital Journal. “We wrote ‘MMMBop’ when I was eight, and that was when we started. It doesn’t matter when a song was written. A great song can connect with people. I think about my youngest daughter Lucille, and I played her the song ‘Lucille’ by Little Richard, just for the name connection, and it’s amazing how my one-year-old loves that song, and she responds to the rhythm, its groove and the melodies.”
He added that the song “I Was Born” is about a perspective on life. “It shares some of my favorite connections, and it has allowed us to take risks and see our dreams realized, and the crazy amount of work it takes to have that happen, as well as the ups and the downs,” he said.
The band will also be releasing their Finally It’s Christmas holiday album on October 27. “We are making music we hope that will be relevant to people. We loved making that first Christmas album, and then we decided it was the right time to revisit that. 20 years seemed like it was the right time to do a Christmas album again. We reunited with longtime friend and collaborator Mark Hudson, who produced our first Christmas album with us. That was awesome. It was a family reunion in a Christmas way.”
On November 28 and 29, they will be returning to the PlayStation Theater in New York for their Christmas shows, to promote their holiday album. “The Christmas shows are something we’ve never done before,” he admitted.
Regarding the key to longevity in the music business, Zac said, “We are stubborn.” “For better or worse, we’ve made a lot of choices over the years that have really been about the idea of longevity. We thought early on about everything we did. Now, everything is peer to peer marketing, and everything is about building your brand.”
For aspiring singer-songwriters and bands, Zac offers the following advice: “There’s a tendency for people to write lyrics and melodies that are catchy, but if you don’t go deeper, and express what you are feeling right now, and your perspective on the world into your music, you won’t have that lasting experience, where people come back to your song year after year and discover the meaning.”
Zac listed British songstress Adele as his dream female collaboration choice in music. “There are a lot of amazing artists out there. Adele is amazing. I’ve never met her, but she is super-talented,” he said.
Digital transformation of the music industry
On the impact of technology in the contemporary music scene, Zac said, “There are different perspectives that you have to look it. As a fan, technology is amazing with Spotify and Amazon Music. They allow you to explore is incredible. It’s almost like a drug that you are addicted to. As an artist, I think technology has made it more difficult to make lasting connections. It allows you quickly to become long-term fans, but it can be hard to convert people than it was when we started 25 years ago. You don’t have that same experience of going to the record store, and making the effort to buy the CD, and listen to the full album, and look at the liner notes and the artwork. Technology is a blessing and a curse. We look at it as a challenge, to write music that will grab people. That’s what we are trying to do.”
Zac concluded our interview by furnishing his definition of the word success as “Survival.”
For more information on Hanson, their new music and touring schedule, check out their official homepage.