AAA Backstage

Hanson are all grown up and ready to rock and/or roll. The brothers will be making their way to our shores in August to play some sold out shows and baby brother Zac Hanson talked to Velvet Winter about touring with family, the new album and possibly the greatest craft beer ever.

You and your brothers are heading back our way in August, what are you most excited about to do in Australia this time round?

Is it terrible that I’m excited to play concerts, I mean; I should say something else like hold a koala or go surfing or something. We love making music and that’s why we do it, we’ve been lucky to be a band for 22 years and the thing that keeps you going is enjoying what you actually do. There’s awesome experiences that you get to have and things that surround that rejuvenate you but in the end you do it because you love making music and we really feel like for years we’ve said “If you haven’t seen Hanson play live then you’re only getting half of the picture” because that’s only half of who we are and who we want to be. It’s going to be good to come back and play shows, it’s going to be good to be back to relatively quick.

You’re on the Anthem world tour, what does this show have in store for Australia?

Lots of music from Anthem, which is our new album, and this is a really fun record to play live. It was written really thinking about the live shows. We almost wrote in fan parts for some of these songs it just felt right for these songs. It’s a really fun record to play but we don’t shy away from playing old stuff too. You know, all the way back to Mmmbop we really feel like it’s important to be great custodians of fan experience and thinking about being a fan. If I was going to see my favourite band what songs would I want to hear? And it’s usually songs from all over you’re career and so we don’t shy away from old songs we feel like it’s a better tapestry when you play a bit of both.

It’s an inevitable question so here it goes. Some bands have that song that got that they are so infamously known for that they start to resent it. You know, Radiohead have Creep, Oasis has Wonderwall. Is this how you feel about Mmmbop?

I think bands get sick of their songs because they let it define them. Mmmbop doesn’t define who we are; it defines a certain portion of our career, a moment in who we are as a band. The truth is I think Mmmbop is the perfect song to be a song that lives with us for a long time because of what that song talks about. If you read that lyrics for Mmmbop the first verse says “You have so many relationships in your life, if only one or two will last. You go through all the pain and strife, then you turn your back and they’re gone so fast” and when we play that song year after year, the people that come back to your shows their choosing to have that relationship with you and that song has changing in its meaning with time and so I think any band anyone would get tired of just the same thing every night but we don’t. We play a little bit of everything, we change the set list every night, and we play covers. Also you make new records and you make new music, you don’t let it become stagnant. I think you’re able to look at it with perspective and say well this song doesn’t represent exactly who I am now but it represents me from 5 years ago, 10 years ago, 15 years ago. It’s you and you just find a way to reinvent yourself every time.

In the past you’ve had trouble with labels, what it like being in charge of your own music through your label 3CG?

Gosh it’s been 10 years of 3CG and it’s been kind of crazy. We came out at such an interesting time as a band because we saw the last breathe of the really healthy music business that was analogue. That sort of old school pre internet stuff transitioned from a period in ‘96 to now of the time of the digital revolution of music. I was in the airport and I saw a family and the kids must have been 8 and 10 and the little one just turns to her dad and says “Daddy, What’s a record?” I was just laughing to myself, like it’s so wild the period that we’ve gotten to be a part of and the change in the way people consume music. I think for us all the choices we’ve made, all the choices other bands make to sign to a record label it’s all for the same purpose. We want to be successful in making music so we can make more music. So when the industry changes and the players change and the way you can distribute music changes your approach should change as much as ideas are the feel for great invention. I think we just see our desire to be making hopefully great songs should just follow the greatest idea and so 10 years ago being independent seemed like the right thing to do and it’s paid off for us. It hasn’t really changed the music as much as it’s changed the opportunities and the relationships. I think we just want to be able to build lasting relationships around great content and great experiences rather than fighting to get marketing dollars from a recording label.

What was the process of recording Anthem like? Was it different from your other records?

This record we recorded a lot of it live off the floor, more and more we wanted to capture the way we play as a unit. I think it’s important to have that sound the way the three of us sound together. This record was written lot thinking about the live show, what the audience would think. The main difference with the way that this album was recorded was the scope of all the sounds and finding the simplicity and just not being afraid of anything. Songs like You Can’t Stop Us we put 75 vocals on that song or a song like Save Me From Myself which is basically just a piano, a vocal and an accordion. It’s just like really recording not from the perspective of “I have a sound that I want to replicate” but really saying “what does this song need?” and just making the best version of it. Then we found the record in the process.

So you’re selling out these Australian shows and having extra shows announced, how does it feel to have such loyal fans so far away?

As amazing as it is it’s sort of a blessing and a curse having fans from all over the world. I can be hard to get everywhere.  It can be hard to get places like Australia but I’m happy that this is our second time in about two years to come to Australia and it feels really good to come back that fast. Whenever you see this kind of response you just feel excited to live up to the passion that people are showing. Hopefully it makes you step up your game.

You mentioned it hard getting around the world; with you are your brothers all having young families are they going to come on tour with you or do you have to leave them at home?

It just depends, tour can be gruelling you know you’re going from city to city, up in the morning doing press, out late in the evening playing shows and meeting fans. So it’s not always a great place to share experiences with little kids because it’s just nonstop. As much as possible you make time for that and for this tour I think my family will come down for some of it, it’s just about picking the right moment.

Ok, so I couldn’t go past this. In 2012 you and your brothers release your own beer and called it Mmmhops. First of all congratulations on the best name for a beer ever, second could you ever see something like this taking you away from music?

I think being a musician is about being a creator so whether its visual art or music or being a custodian of great flavours they all connect with a love of creating things. We see the beer as such an awesome companion for music. What do you want to do when you go to a concert? You want to have a beer in your hand and you want to sing along and you want to have a great time. So the beer really fits into what we do as a band. I don’t think it’s going to take us away from what we are its more a part of us. Craft beer just has such a kinship with independent music. It’s just another creative endeavour.

One last question, if you could go back and tell that kid in the Mmmbop video one thing what would it be?

Invest in Starbucks!

Hanson’s Anthem Tour, Australia & New Zealand 2014

Tuesday, 5th August 2014

The Tivoli, Brisbane (18+ show)

Tix: Via Ticketmaster

Wednesday, 6th August 2014

Coolangatta Hotel, Gold Coast (18+ show)

Tix: Via Oztix

Friday, 8th August 2014

Enmore Theatre, Sydney (All ages)

Tix: Via Ticketek

Saturday, 9th August 2014 – SOLD OUT

Palais Theatre, Melbourne (All ages)

Tix: Via Ticketmaster

Sunday, 10th August 2014 – NEW SHOW

The Hi-Fi, Melbourne (18+ show)

Tix: The Hi-Fi

Tuesday, 12th August 2014

HQ, Adelaide (18+ show)

Tix: Via Oztix

Wednesday, 13th August – NEW SHOW

The Hi-Fi, Sydney (18+ show)

Tix: The Hi-Fi

Friday, 15th August 2014

Metropolis, Fremantle (18+ show)

Tix: Via Oztix

AMH Network

AMH writer Lisa Robinson was lucky enough to catch up with Zac Hanson to talk about his bands new album, Anthem and their upcoming Australian tour.

I just have to say that I’m obsessed with Anthem, the new sound you guys have is really something special!

Thank you very much!

The album as a whole is super funky and seems more intense than what Hanson has previously released. What were the influences and thought processes that went in to creating it?

Well, you know, there’s always a balance between innovating and continuing the sounds that people know you for. I think that with every record you just have to walk the tight rope between the things you know and love and pushing yourself to do new things. With this record, when we were writing it we were thing about the larger picture. We were thinking about the parts the fans could sing and you hear that through a lot of the record, it had a big influence on us. It’s part of the reason why the record is called Anthem, just because when you have that mind set you’ve got to recognize what that word means to everyone. That was one of the main things, but we always go back to 50′s and 60′s rock and roll and Motown records, but when you start pulling in more guitar you can’t help but listen to bands like AC DC and Queen and try to get those classic great big blues riffs with rocking drums.

This is your sixth studio album, how would you describe Anthem compared with your old ones?

Well obviously when you’re writing and working on a project I think that there’s a real connective tissue, but I think that you also know that there’s going to be a whole lot of people coming in and out. Like, somebody might’ve heard our first album and then not heard anything until this one, or had caught us along the way. Now we’re starting to see new fans who are you know, like, 18 years old and were barely walking when songs like MMMBop came out and they didn’t really know us in that time. So I think what’s different is that side of it, we still love melodies and harmonies. You want to write the kinds of songs that get stuck in people’s heads when they’re in the shower or in the car. I think that comes from growing up listening to 50′s rock and roll as well, those songs were written in that way where you couldn’t wait to get to the chorus and they had a lot of hooks, so I think we’ve found a lot of love in trying to piece that into the music that we write.

Yeah, that’s exactly what I had in my head when I was listening to it. Just a whole bunch of people singing along and dancing around.

Yeah exactly. I think that a lot of bands are afraid to be called ‘pop’ and that’s something we have never been afraid of. I think that pop usually just means good, because it means that it’s good enough that you’ll remember it rather than a lot of music that sounds cool but gives you no sense of being able to repeat it. We love pop music, and especially now that it’s turning into summertime in the US it’s just a great time it. From the beginning we’ve called ourselves a pop rock band and I think that it’s the most true brand we can be given. Lots of people want to call us a boy band and stuff like that, and what that means is just not who we are. I mean, we are boys in a band but we grew up playing in our garage. We were a garage band who loved to sing and happened to have three guys who could sing and so there’s a lot of melody in our record.

The video for ‘Get The Girl Back’ is such a fun concept. How did you get to working with Kat Dennings and Nikki Reed?

It was just a strange combination of events, you meet people and you admire each other’s work and you happen to run into each other at parties and different events. We met Nikki and Kat on completely separate occasions, and when we started thinking about the video we just sort of went “not only would you be perfect for the video and it would be really cool, but you also represent the huge cross section of Hanson fans and the kinds of people we’re talking about in that song”. They were into it and we found out later that they were actually friends with each other (because we met them separately), and it was like oh, of course this works! So it was just cool, it was really fun to have them. There were tons of friends in that video and random cameos and it was just a lot of fun to do.

How excited are you guys to head back to Australia?

It’s going to be great! We love the fact that this is going to be the fastest that we’ve ever turned around and come back because the last tour was sold out and received so well. We do so much as a band with running our label and managing ourselves, so with a small team it can be hard managing the blessing and the curse of having fans all over the world. It’s hard to get everywhere, but we’re really excited to be coming back in such a short term and we’re so lucky that we’ve been received so well any time we’ve played shows Down Under.

So many artists tend to forget about us when they head off on world tours because we’re so far away from the rest of the world. What’s the appeal of it for you guys?

Well the appeal is simple. You play a concert and it’s really fun and people respond well so you want to come back. That’s why we make records and that’s why we make music, it’s that feeling of getting to share a moment with people. Playing live has always been a huge part of what we love to do and the kind of band we want to be, and so more and more we’re getting to share that side of who we are with people all around the world. For years we’ve said if you’ve only heard one Hanson album, then you’ve only heard half of what Hanson is. It’s just not a full picture of what we do as a band, and we want to be able to share that experience. And like I said, it’s just fun!

What’s your current favourite song to play live?

That’s hard! (laughs) A lot of the songs on the new record were definitely written thinking about how the fans would react. One of the songs that actually has the title of the record in it is a song called ‘Scream and Be Free’, and there’s this big “oh oh oh” part that the audience gets in on. That’s particularly fun because it’s so easy to sing along to that, you don’t have to know any lyrics and people really jump in and enjoy it. It’s been really great.

Do you still play MMMBop?

We play a little bit of everything. We will definitely be playing MMMBop at a lot of these shows, I mean we’ve been a band for such a long time so it’s hard to play everything. You go out there every night and you know you’re disappointing someone like, “oh you didn’t play my favourite song!” But with six albums, and then there’s whole albums worth of B sides and demo releases and covers and you know you can’t play everything. We definitely try to hit the high points and play songs like ‘Where is The Love’ and ‘MMMBop’ and ‘Lost Without Each Other’. You try to think of yourself as a fan first when you’re writing the set list and think what would I want to see if I was seeing my favourite band? I mean you know that those songs might not be relevant or exactly what you’re into as a band in that moment, especially after being in a band for 22 years, but it’s such an important moment for the fans and you really want to be able to share that because it’s probably someone’s first time ever hearing the song you’re about to play live.

What’s it like to still be on this journey with your brothers after 20 plus years? 

What’s it not like? (laughs) The thing that’s interesting to me, I think a lot of the time too much credit is given to us being brothers. I think musically it’s probably the most powerful quality because you have this genetic connection that’s undeniable, and the way your vocal chords are constructed are as similar as they could possibly be without being identical. That plays to your benefit in such a cool way when singing. I think that in terms of our personalities, whether you’re band mates or brothers or best friends, in the end to stay together and laugh you basically have to make the choice that you’re going to do that no matter what. As often as possible you’re going to put your ego aside and try to fight for what the other guy cares about, whether that’s during the making of a record, or pulling out the best song or vocal performance out of another guy. Sometimes it’s just doing things that you don’t really care much about, but you do it to try to facilitate them to make a better whole. It’s hard but it’s really cool when you have so many shared experiences over so much time, and you have so many references for what a great moment or a great show or a great song is, your understandings become so similar and you can take from that to fuel your next project.

All three of you are grown up family men now, how do you find a balance between family time and continuing to make music and tour?

It’s kind of crazy, it’s not very balanced (laughs). I was sitting on a plane and talking to a guy who had another crazy job where he travels four or five days a week, every week, year long. It’s kind of like that, we were talking about how he has three kids and so do I, and it’s not normal or balanced but you just really have to define what’s important to you. You have to make the time you spend together with your family really intense and really powerful, you learn to really value time. Being in a band when you’re an artist is your curse, you have this need to create and this desire to invent and it just makes for an interesting personality to live with. My wife probably enjoys sending me off for long periods of time so that she doesn’t have to deal with the craziness (laughs). In the end you just do what you can, and I’m lucky that I’ve found an amazing woman who wanted to be a part of my madness.

And finally, what can Australian fans expect from the Anthem tour?

A whole lot of different music! The thing about playing shows is that we don’t want you to come if you’re going to be standing there with your crossed arms and say “entertain me”. We feel like it’s a shared experience and it’s something that we’re sharing in a moment together. We love it when people sing along and dance along and just enjoy the process. We’ve got music from all different records, lots of different stuff and different set lists every night. We hope it’s going to be a great time. 

Hanson’s Anthem Tour

Tuesday, 5th August 2014 – The Tivoli, Brisbane (18+ show) – Tix: Via Ticketmaster

Wednesday, 6th August 2014 – Coolangatta Hotel, Gold Coast (18+ show) – Tix: Via Oztix

Friday, 8th August 2014 – Enmore Theatre, Sydney (All ages) – Tix: Via Ticketek

Saturday, 9th August 2014 – Palais Theatre, Melbourne (All ages) – Tix: Via Ticketmaster

Tuesday, 12th August 2014 – HQ, Adelaide (18+ show) – Tix: Via Oztix

Friday, 15th August 2014 – Metropolis, Fremantle (18+ show) – Tix: Via Oztix

Now that we know the titles to all 5 songs on the Music Made For Humans EP and Hanson.net members have been able to hear clips of all the songs – which are you most looking forward to hearing?

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