The Hop Jam beer tasting and concert will be here before you know it. The event, slated for May 22 in the Brady Arts District, will be an extravaganza of local, regional and international beers, with some great music to top it off. This year’s event will be twice the size of last year’s, with more than 60 breweries participating.
To get us in the mood, the Hop Jam team, or should I say Taylor and Zac Hanson, led a pub crawl Monday night from McNellie’s Public House to Dust Bowl and then to Fassler Hall.
Each of the venues gave out special-release pint glasses. McNellie’s featured local brews from Dead Armadillo, Dust Bowl featured beers from Marshall Brewing Co. and Stillwater’s Iron Monk Brewing Co. was served at Fassler Hall.
“This is really just a wind up for the festival. We are only a couple weeks away from the big day. We got a ton of craft beer fans out. It’s a great night to pump up the excitement for the opening band contest. We’re trying to encourage the bands to come out and get their fans voting,” said Taylor Hanson, one of the owners of the Hanson Brothers Beer Company.
The Hop Jam has an emphasis on local businesses and groups. It helps with local charities, musicians and brewers, but it also draws attention to Tulsa with visitors from all over the world.
Headlining the 2016 Hop Jam will be indie-folk band Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros. The lineup will also feature The Strokes guitarist Albert Hammond Jr., alt-rock band X Ambassadors and Tulsa singer-songwriter John Moreland.
The concert is free. To purchase tickets to the beer tasting or to vote for your favorite band in The Hop Jam Opening Band Contest, go to thehopjam.com. Voting ends at midnight Friday.
Local breweries scheduled to be at Hop Jam include:
405 Brewing
Anthem Brewing
Black Mesa Brewing
Choc Beer
COOP Ale Works
Dead Armadillo Brewing
Elk Valley Brewing
Hanson Brother Beer
Iron Monk Brewing
Kolibri Ale Works
Marshall Brewing
Mustang Brewing
Nothings Left Brewing
Prairie Artisan Ales
Roughtail Brewing
The Willows Family Ales
Tuesday Trivia
The animals that Isaac, Taylor and Zac were replaced by in the Australia Zoo graphic was a koala, giraffe and a parrot.
What 2000 tour cover song did the guys say was challenging to perform?
The Hop Jam Pub Crawl Tonight!
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HNET Newsletter Apr 29, 2016
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Tuesday Trivia
Taylor forgot the lyrics to “Roller Coaster Love” during the 2015 MOE.
In the Australia Zoo clips on Hanson.net, what animals were Isaac, Taylor and Zac replaced by in the graphic?
20 YEARS OF ‘MMMBOP’: TAYLOR HANSON REFLECTS ON THE GIGANTIC HIT
With the smash single is now two decades old, the middle Hanson discusses growing up in the spotlight, what he’d be doing without it and whether “MMMBop” ever annoys him
Dave Hogan/Getty Images
It’s hard to believe that Taylor, Isaac and Zac Hanson started playing music over 20 years ago. What’s even harder to believe is how Hanson’s hit song “MMMBop” has stood the test of time throughout the last two decades. While the Hanson brothers have pursued music since their 1996 demo album MMMBop, they’ve been able to capitalize on the success of their first hit constantly throughout the past 20 years. They even created a beer called Mmmhops based off of their iconic track.
In honor of the 20th anniversary of the band’s demo album and hit song, we spoke with Taylor Hanson—now 33, and having spent well over half of his life living with a certain smash—about the meaning of “MMMBop,” navigating the group’s career and how the song shaped their entrepreneurial spirits.
FUSE: It’s 20 years since “MMMBop” came out. Can you believe it’s been that long?
HANSON: Time is a strange thing—it definitely catches you off-guard when you realize that time can pass like that. We still love what we do—we’ve been able to play music for more than two decades.
The one interesting thing is the anniversary this year is 20 years since we made the MMMBop independent record. It was made for local fans here in Oklahoma. No one knew it existed outside of that little group. A summer later, we were introducing ourselves to the world. I think it’s a cool time to reflect on where we were at 20 years ago—thinking about being 13 at the time and making a record in a garage, crafting songs, dreaming of impacting the world with your ideas and believing in something. To be 20 years after that and to have lived such a challenging, but really rewarding, life as a musician is pretty incredible.
When I was a kid, “MMMBop” didn’t really have a meaning to me. To you guys, what did it mean then, and what does it mean now?
Musically, the song started as a background part. The chorus was meant to be a background part, but the part was too catchy to be a background part. The story of the verses and the song is really about how we were seeing relationships with each other and our friends be challenged by the fact that we were choosing to dedicate ourselves to this music thing as kids. The song talks about how relationships come and go and few things last.
The chorus is like C’est La Vie: You can’t change these things. You have to celebrate what you can control. What you do control is finding the things that matter and making them important. It’s a pretty serious subject. In a way, that song is a great metaphor for how we’ve done things and how we write. We’re always optimistic, but if you look within the songs there’s a challenge or a real issue, but we’re looking for a way through it. Music is a great mechanism to pull through.
Twenty years later, do you get annoyed talking about the song?
As a lifelong entrepreneur, you always want people to get interested in new things, but we’re really proud of “MMMBop” and its story. We’re always striving for introducing people to new music. I would say, it’s not about not wanting to talk about “MMMBop,” but you want to talk about where you’re going.
Do you think the success of “MMMBop” made you guys grow up faster than you would have?
Well, we were choosing to grow up—otherwise you wouldn’t have heard our songs. So, yes, choosing music as a career as kids makes you grow up faster, but we chose it because it’s who we are. The idea of not working towards that at that time would have been more toxic and more destructive than anything. I think we’ve been blessed and lucky that we’ve been able to take that chance and have some success with it. Whatever path you take has its pluses and minuses. It’s really been a hell of a ride.
Do you guys listen to “MMMBop” while drinking your beer, Mmmhops? If so, did the beer taste better with the song?
Actually, we have. Everything is a little bit better with an Mmmhops in your hand—as long as you’re of age.
Personally, if you didn’t see the success of “MMMBop,” what do you think you would have been doing?
Well, music and creativity is in the blood, so if we didn’t have that breakout success as a band, I can’t imagine that we wouldn’t be doing music or other creative endeavors. I love design and music. There would be some creative expression out there, but it might look a little different.
HNET Newsletter Apr 22, 2016
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Tuesday Trivia
Isaac was imitating Michael McDonald during the recording of Remember the Time
During the 2015 MOE concert, which song did Taylor forget the lyrics to?
HNET Newsletter Apr 15, 2016
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Sharing Life: An Arkansas girl reflects on Hanson as ‘Mmmbop’ turns 20
There were songs, and there were songs. There were the ones that shaped the way we thought, or the way we interpreted the quirks and bumps of adolescence. There were the ones that would get stuck in our heads for days at a time. There were the ones that would make us forever fans of the musicians who wrote it. These are the ones that are remembered. For me, as a 30-year-old woman unashamed of her love of music, no matter the band, there’s Hanson’s “Mmmbop.”
The first time I heard the song, which in its original form turns 20 years old this week, I was a fifth grader. A fifth-grader who hadn’t had many crushes on boys yet (unless you count JTT on Home Improvement), a fifth-grader who really only listened to the music her brother or parents listened to.
“Mmmbop” appeared on MTV’s Total Request Live one afternoon and when my older and way cooler teenage brother and I heard the song begin, we both just stared at the tube TV in our living room. We listened to the entire song and I was hooked.
With a few pokes and prods (read: years of teasing) from my brother about my sudden and unashamed obsession over these three brothers, the CD was mine as soon as I could make it so, and posters and cutouts from Teen Beat magazines laced every inch of my bedroom walls.
For me, working my way into teenage-hood, there was something more than just a catchy chorus that drove most adults insane.
It was hope. Hope for me, as a creative, quiet kid who dreamed of being known for something at a young age. Three kids under the age of 16 were following their dreams, and doing a really good job at it.
I didn’t stop at Hanson’s first album; I’ve followed them ever since, and have even met them a few times. It was an admitted obsession as a child that turned into just simply being a fan.
With nine studio albums under their belts, three live albums, six documentaries and live performance films, these guys seem to really know what they’re doing. They skirted out of the incredibly bright limelight around 2000 when they began releasing music on their own label and snagging positions on the independent charts.
The entrepreneurs brew their own beer (Which, by the way, my now-husband drove to the brothers’ hometown of Tulsa to pick up for me one birthday a few years back, just so I could have the bottles), and even host a yearly event called “Hop Jam,” set for next weekend. This year’s headliner is Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeroes.
They’re advocates of the fight against in HIV/AIDS and poverty in Africa, and host one-mile walks to support the cause in every city they tour. …I’ve been on a couple; they’re really quite fun!
To learn more about what Hanson is up to, click here.
If you haven’t heard their recent music, I think it’s worth a listen. I put together this playlist for anyone who is curious what Hanson’s like these days.