Hanson 2016 Year In Review
January
Once again Hanson kicked off the new year with their concert event “Back to the Island”, this year they actually did go “back” as the event returned to Jamaica after visiting Cancun, Mexico the year before. The event had the first show that was postponed due to weather. Fans found out that Hanson would be on the cover of the February 2016 edition of Entrepreneur Magazine. Back to the Island 2017 was announced. Taylor published another post on PaperMag’s site.
February
Hanson did a live video chat with Entrepreneur magazine. Twinkle Twinkle Little Rock Star released a compilation of lullaby renditions of some of Hanson’s songs. Live from Red Rocks: Blues Traveler featuring Hanson debuted on AXS TV. Schedule details for Hanson Day 2016 were released.
March
In March, we found out that Hanson was doing a collaboration with Dead Armadillo to create the “Inland Porter” beer. Setlist theme voting for BTTI 2017 began. The lineup for The Hop Jam was released – and Hanson would not be headlining. Taylor turned 33. Hanson’s indie release, MMMBop, turned 20 which garnered a lot of media attention. Loud + Play were announced – while there would be no brand new Hanson album in 2016 we would be getting an albums worth of new music with LOUD being the Members Only EP and PLAY having elements recorded live at Hanson Day in May. Inland Porter had a release party at Fassler Hall in Tulsa and Oklahoma City. Media outlets picked up on Hanson’s comment that no one has been able to cover MMMBop properly.
April
It was announced that Hanson would be teaming up with Bun E Carlos on the song “Him or Me” for his covers album release. Hanson’s name was included on the poster for the Tulsa concert celebrating Bob Dylan.
May
May kicked off with The Hop Jam pub crawl. RVRB was announced as the winner of the opening band contest for The Hop Jam. Hanson sang the National Anthem at a Tulsa Drillers baseball game and once again got lots of media attention over it. Stamford Alive @ Five announced their summer concert lineup, including Hanson. Nick aka “Tall Bald Guy” starts the H-Bomb podcast.
June
Hanson was announced as one of the headlining acts at Brews & BBQs. We celebrated 19 years since MMMBop was on the top of the Official Singles Chart. Hanson’s song with Bun E Carlos “Him or Me”, a cover of the Paul Revere and the Raiders hit was released via Billboard. The schedule for the “Making of Play” streams on Hanson.net were announced. “Choo Choo Trains of Thought”, the song (and T-Shirt it inspired) Zac recorded at Hanson Day becomes available for purchase in the Hanson.net store. Hanson Navy Base shows in Japan were canceled due to a period of mourning. MMMBop was covered in a Doo-Wop Style by Postmodern Jukebox.
July
Hanson headed overseas to entertain members of the US Navy for the 4th of July. Hanson perform on “Greatest Hits” on ABC and perform “MMMBop” as well as a duet of “Thinking Bout Somethin” with Echosmith. Hanson divulge some of their plans for the 20th anniversary of the release of Middle of Nowhere. Dates for Eat to the Beat 2016 were released with Hanson once again performing 3 days at the Food and Wine festival at Disney World’s EPCOT park. Isaac’s podcast “Grace Unknown” debuts as a Hanson.net Members Only exclusive. Despite a thunderstorm, Hanson performs in Stamford, CT as a part of their Alive at Five concert series. As a part of “Christmas in July” Hanson asks fans for their input on Christmas songs and Christmas ornaments. The H-Bomb Show’s summer series began – a quest to create the ultimate Hanson compilation CD/playlist. Hanson asked for Fans Top 25 Studio Songs and Top 15 Members Only songs – we at Hansonstage had a “best of the rest” vote.
August
Zac and his wife Kate welcomed their 4th child, a daughter named Mary Lucille Diana. Ryan Reynold’s tweet about MMMBop goes viral.
September
Hanson performs in Rockford, IL at Brews & BBQs and is joined by Bun E Carlos during the encore to perform “Him or Me”. Gylne Tider meets Hanson on Norwegian television. Hanson was joined in the studio by Mark Hudson as they began work on “Wintry Mix” (working title) their new Christmas album which will be released for the holidays in 2017.
October
Hanson Brothers Beer announced some of their upcoming events via newsletter to fans. Hanson appear in an article in New York Magazine about “How Young Singers Deal with Getting Old”. Zac attended the Great American Beer Festival in Colorado and jumped on stage with a few other musicians to perform a few songs. PLAY was released in digital format via Hanson.net on October 10. The H-Bomb podcast came to their conclusion for the track listing of their ultimate Hanson compilation. Joe Jonas mentioned Hanson in his Reddit AMA. Zac turned 31. Hanson performed at Disney dressed as The Avengers – with Isaac as Captain America, Taylor as Iron Man and Zac as Thor.
November
The month began with Hanson’s beer seminar at EPCOT and their last 3 sets at Disney’s Eat to the Beat concert series. Hanson participated in “Inside the Album” at Cain’s Ballroom with Mark Hudson and C.J. Eiriksson. Isaac turned 36. Taylor performed at a memorial for Leon Russell. Zac’s wife Kate wrote a blog on Nameberry about how they picked the name for their 4th child, Lulu. Andrew Ripp and JD McPherson were announced as the special guests for Back to the Island 2017.
December
December kicked off with the Finally It’s Christmas stream. Hanson Day weekend dates were announced as May 19 & 20, 2017. We found out more details about the Wintry Mix Christmas album being worked on for release for the 2017 holiday season as well as saw some never before seen clips from the recording of Snowed In in 1997. John Fullbright was announced as replacing JD McPherson at Back to the Island. Zac released a Christmas song on Super Digital Pants called “Christmas Ball”. After some tweets from Zac media outlets posted articles saying the new Christmas album was going to be called “Ooh Christmas”. Taylor was involved in the announcement of the OK POP museum finding a home across the street from Cain’s Ballroom in Tulsa.
In 2017 the band turns 25 years old, Middle of Nowhere and Snowed In turn 20 and The Walk turns 10! We can’t wait to see what the guys have in store – it should be a big year!