Remember those three adorable Hanson brothers and their hit 1997 hit “MMMBop?” Well, the boys have released eight studio albums since then, and their newest record “Anthem” is set to hit stores on June 18. So what can fans expect with this “maturer” 2013 album? Middle Hanson bro Taylor recent sat down to discuss the new music with Huffington Post‘s #nofilter series, and apparently fans are in for some exciting surprises! Read on for more details, and be sure to check out the full “Anthem” tracklisting and Hanson world tour dates below.
Here’s a little snippet of HuffPost‘s interview with 30-year-old Taylor:
How would you describe the band’s current sound to someone who hasn’t heard any of your music since your “MMMBop” days?
The sound of our music that we’ve written and listened to is not wholly different. We grew up listening to soul music and rock and roll. I think the biggest difference from where we were is, one, of course, on the first record we were kids. You heard those high voices, the production was a little bit more slick, but if you listen to those older records, we were always writing rock and roll songs. We were writing pop, melodic songs inspired by classic rock and roll music, and those are still our greatest influences. What you hear now is that we are really executing those influences, and that sound we hear in our heads, fully… I think if I had to completely describe our music to someone who had no idea about our band, from Adam, I’d just say that [we’re] a rock and roll band. We’re a band that’s a mix of guitars and organic sounds, some rhythm and blues and melody — you know, songs you can sing to.
Do you ever feel like hitting it big so young could be detrimental to you now, or feel like you constantly have to prove your aren’t a teen band anymore?
Well, the interesting thing is that whenever you get introduced to people regardless of being a band, they say first impressions are important and your first impressions are strong. In some cases I think it’s made our journey more complicated to have started so young, but at the same time I wouldn’t trade our past. We worked really hard and continue to build a career, and connect with fans. It’s been 16 years since we made the first record, so we’re still ultimately young, and we’ve had this connection with fans for so long, so to me, you have to just see your history as positive and you can’t go backwards… I will say that the way we’ve always approached building a career is to focus on the music. To make it about the music and that continues to be the mission. You get people in a room, you get them to hear the music, you share your passion and invite people into what you are doing. You just have to be relentless.
The official “Anthem” release date is June 18 – songs featured on the record include:
1. “Fired Up”
2. “I’ve Got Soul”
3. “You Can’t Stop Us Now”
4. “Get The Girl Back”
5. “Juliet”
6. “Already Home”
7. “For Your Love”
8. “Lost Without You”
9. “Cut Right Through Me”
10. “Scream And Be Free”
11. “Tragic Symphony”
12. “Tonight”
13. “(Encore) Save Me From Myself”