The Age 

Ledger Enquirer 

Thanks to Twitter, 55-year-old comedian Bill Engvall discovered Zac Hanson, part of the trio responsible for “MMMbop,” was a fan.Engvall often tweets before or after shows, saying things about the city, the venue, staff and people.”I didn’t know this, but the Hanson Brothers are fans of mine. Zac was at the show. I was tweeting and I get this tweet”

Read more here: http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/2012/09/13/2199899/laugh-with-bill-engvall-friday.html#storylink=cpy

The AU Review

Things you might not know about Hanson…

– MMMBop was released 15 years ago.
– Each band member is now a father.
– The band has released a total of eight studio albums.
– Youngest member Zac was the youngest person to ever be nominated for songwriting Grammy at age 12.
– They lead a charity called ‘Take the Walk’ that campaigns against AIDS/HIV and poverty in Africa.
– May 6 is officially recognised as Hanson Day in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
– They are about to tour Australia.

Amelia Barnes chatted to the band’s middle member Taylor Hanson to find out their songwriting inspirations, being a father, and their struggles with major labels.

You guys have a tour coming up, what brings you to Australia?

Well to keep it simple, the tour brings us to Australia! We travelled all around the world with this new record Shout It Out and it’s kind of the end of the album cycle for us. We’re excited we’re finally bringing the record to Australia and that response has been so great from the fans.

Have you guys been here before?

We’ve been to Australia several times. The first time we came was in 1997 and the last time was six or seven year ago in 2005; but it’s been too long.

We’ve been having quite a resurgence of ‘90s bands touring here in Australia, but some people might not know you have been continually releasing albums since your debut. Have your musical inspirations changed much over the years?

I mean like anything we continue to be inspired by new things…But I mean our deeper inspirations always come from great songwriters and from R&B; classic R&B, music that is sort of rigid but with good rhythm and great pop melodies.

You were signed with the label Island Def Jam Music Group for a while but decided to leave. What happened to prompt your leaving?

Well like pretty much every band in the past 10 or 15 years, we’ve lost some companies who have merged to together and we’ve been apart of those mergers. In some cases in lead to consequences of big labels hiring and firing people…And honestly, the decision to leave on our third record was really just to just trying to stay to the course we had set; which was to focus on the long term, and to work with artists who understood and knew what we were saying.

It really wasn’t about us casting off the major label system as much as it was figuring out what we trust and making sure we can keep a really direct relationship with our fans. So many bands in situations like we were in where a big label will buy another label and then everyone that you know at the company is fired and replaced by somebody else have ended up making records they’re not proud of, or breaking up because of the pressure. In our case, we were thankfully able to remove ourselves and start our own company. It certainly hasn’t been easy but I’m glad we did it.

So you’ve got your own record label now. Do you have any plans to sign other artists to the label?

You know being a record company is kind of dynamic because in a lot of ways I think the way record companies operate doesn’t particularly work. So what we’ve spent the last ten years doing is really learning what we think does work which we think is about having a strong connection to the fans, lots of great products and developing your touring.

We have really strong fan club and fans on the inner circle…We also kind of feel like we’re sort of the future of where music is headed, and we haven’t signed any other bands because of that reason. We feel like the future is really sort of a partnering with artists and providing sort of a tool for them to succeed instead of signing other artists and owning their world and offering distribution and things which labels have done in the past. Right now the label is sort of all that we can do and provides the backdrop for the rest of our music and I’m sure we’ll be working with other artists in a different capacity in the future.

Everybody remembers “MMMBop” for being ridiculously catchy. Even as teenagers you guys knew how to write a hit song. Does that come naturally to you?

I think with anything that’s artistic there’s a mix between what comes naturally and then conviction and focus on developing your craft. There’s definitely music in our family and there was always a creative atmosphere when we grew up but you don’t become a great songwriter by accident. You have to work and learn and really study great songwriters and that’s what we’ve done as we’ve advanced. Everybody from Billy Joel to Chuck Berry, Burt Bacharach, Neil Diamond and Elton John; really anyone who’s ever been a really great songwriter, you sort of become a student of those people. You learn a lot about what it takes to make a lasting pop song stand out.

I’ve read that when you perform “MMMBop” live now you have to sing it in a different key. Is that true?

Well naturally because of the fact that I’m 29 and then I was 14 the key has dropped down a bit, but not as much as you’d think. As far as our voices, I’ve always had a higher range and really all of us have higher ranges in the sense of the pitch that you sing a particular song in. We’ve never had a hard time finding a key that’s true to the original, but it’s definitely a little bit lower than it was back in the day.

The song shot to number one I think in about 16 countries or something crazy. Has it been hard to follow up from that kind of success?

You know you’re definitely conscious of it, and I’d say we’re always looking to sort of support ourselves to reach whatever’s possible and excite people with your music. But we’ve never sat around and thought ‘Okay it has to match this and we’re up against that particular event’. You’re really proud of where you’ve come from and you make records that you really love and hope people like it as well.

As brothers, do you find working together to be a blessing or a curse?

Well it’s a mixed bag. You have to embrace the idea that there are benefits and there’s also going to be moments that you have to get through together. I think in the end it’s probably more of a blessing than a curse because we share so many interests and common values as men. We have things that we all kind of agree on and go into your band. But hey, it’s not always sunny and you just have to try and work through it.

How does your latest album differ from your latest work?

Probably the biggest thing about this album versus the previous one is the sonics of it; it really sounds more cohesive from top to bottom and it feels like a body of work. Part of that is because we really recorded it in a way that captures the sound…We wrote a lot of it as a group in one sort of sitting…We know where we come from; we make pop songs, pop melodies and that’s still what we aspire to. I think you’ll see that in a big way.

Have you ever wanted to break away from the band and do any solo work?

I’ve never really thought of it as a number one goal…You do so many things that are interesting and creative and I can imagine doing things on my own but I guess it’s never been something that I want to put the band aside to do. Like for example, I was in a side project called Tinted Windows, which was a power pop band. It was much more straight ahead, not particularly influenced by soul music or anything of that nature; it’s a lot of guitars and melodies. That’s a great thing to do, but it’s also cool to have it as a part of the things we’ve pursued in our career.

I hear Tulsa where you guys formed as a band celebrates Hanson Day, does that still happen?

Years ago the governor took that particular day and made it a day in our honour called Hanson Day. For a long time we didn’t really make a point of it ourselves, but a lot of fans decided to celebrate it. But in the last few years we decided to sort of embrace that day was proclaimed and fans come into Tulsa…So yes there is a Hanson Day and we try and celebrate it with fans.

You guys toured with Carly Rae Jepsen earlier in the year, which must have been a tour of insane catchy music. Do you find that audiences respond well to your new material?

Well first of all, Carly is awesome and she was a lot of fun to have on tour and yes she knows how to right great catchy music. That’s been proven by “Call Me Maybe”, which is not the biggest song of the year but is definitely one of.
As far as our music and how it’s received, yes fans who come to our shows are obviously already interested and the new record has been very well received.

You all have children now. Has that impacted on the band at all?

It hasn’t changed the course of the band or the mission behind the music, but it definitely influences it. I mean it’s something huge in our lives and changes what you think and spend your time doing so I think in that regard yeah it’s affected the music. I think most people when they have kids agree one of the greatest things you can do is to have a family and they’re crazy but it’s also a lot of fun so it affects everything you do.

Were you partners all big Hanson fans when they met you?

They were all fans in one form or another, I think to different degrees. If you think about the time that we were popular and obviously are spouses being of similar age saw the music on TV and the radio. So how much of a fan they were was kind of a non-issue. They were aware enough of the band to follow it and like a lot of people their age they were aware of what we were doing.

You are also passionate campaigners against poverty and AIDS in Africa. Can you tell me a little bit about the work you do there?

…So often you see artists who tend to kind of preach and we never wanted to be seen pushing causes on people, but we had a really strong personal experience in visiting Africa in 2006. Being in a part of the world where you see HIV/AIDS and extreme poverty connected and affecting so many young people it really just became clear the solutions that can be implemented by people all over the world to combat the crippling situation that’s happening in that part of the world. So we began something that is continued to this day which is called Take The Walk Campaign and it’s basically a gathering point where people can organise one-mile barefoot walks wherever they are in the world and they can connect with one another.

We make it easy for people to donate to specific causes that help combat HIV/AIDS and poverty by giving small donations and also we can support the ongoing effort by continuing to support people who take walks and we donate a dollar for each person who joins the walk event. Kind of the idea is our support of that campaign is kind of endorsing [others] to take action. Then we encourage people to start more walks and we tell thousands of people all over the world…It’s been an amazing journey and one that will probably be going for our whole lifetime.

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Hanson’s ‘Shout It Out’ Australian tour dates:
Thursday 13th September – HQ, Adelaide
Friday 14th September – Palace Theatre, Melbourne
Saturday 15th September – HiFi, Sydney
Thursday 20th September – HiFi, Brisbane
Friday 21st September – Coolangatta Hotel, Gold Coast
Saturday 22nd September – Metropolis, Fremantle

May The Rock Be With You

“To me Rock and Roll is where it starts, and it’s being able to think what is good and not sitting around asking what everyone else approves of, so I guess hopefully more people that don’t necessarily get what Hanson’s about get a chance to dig in a little.”

Twenty years as a band and fifteen years since the song they’re renowned for, Hanson in case you didn’t know are still going strong and producing great pop rock albums, in fact there’s been seven albums since 1997’s ‘Middle Of Nowhere’ which produced ‘MMMBop’ yeah that one… but take a step back, and before you dismiss Hanson, why not have a listen to what they’re doing now.  Albums like ‘This Time Around’, ‘Underneath’, ‘The Walk’ and their most recent ‘Shout It Out’ have some of the best pop rock you’ll hear around.  Essentially, they’re not kids anymore…

Ahead of their pretty much sold out Australian tour, we had the opportunity to speak to Taylor Hanson for a great chat about the band and to get across to people the fact that they’re still making music, their upcoming Australian shows as well as looking back at a couple of albums and moments throughout their career including the creation of their own record label, plus a sneaky question about Tinted Windows…

Thanks for taking the time to talk to us Taylor and it’s great to talk to you.
And to you.

I wanted to start by saying of course people will always associate you with ‘MMMBop’, how hard is it for a band like Hanson to get past that stigma and to make people realise you’ve now released 8 albums and that you are more than that one song?
Ha ha ha that’s a little bit of a loaded question, but it’s a good one.  We’ve never been about getting past ‘MMMBop’ we’ve always been about adding new things to it, and so I think our philosophy on how to do it or how to increase that list is what we’re doing right now.  To some degree you don’t know who’s going to be lasting and what songs are going to be quote unquote ‘timeless’ until you spend some time, and we’re here fifteen years later with touring all over the world and running our own label and with lots of people that follow what it is that we do and we still like it ha ha.  We’re doing as a band what we chose to do, we’ve been independent on our own label for almost ten years now and those choices have always just been about the forward movement, the turtle wins the race… the continual just putting out great stuff and sticking to what you do well, that’s what we do. I will say that there’s definitely been some degree of critical mass as we’ve come with this album and getting back to a lot of places like being able to be doing an extensive tour in Australia and we’re focusing on getting to a lot of places we haven’t been for some time and really uniting a lot of fans that have stuck with us through the years and trying to make sure to really feel them and get everybody on the same timeline so to speak, fans all over the world, that’s something that has been a great moment to reach here, we’re at twenty years as a band and so it’s great to be rekindling fire in places where we haven’t been at this point.

Over your career, which is now twenty years as you said, in that time, how have you specifically seen the band grow as artists?
Well we’re just better at what we do, we’ve always been students of great song writing and musicians and we are fans, we geek out about a lot of classic American soul music and rock and roll, but really musicians that come from every walk.  We’re geeks about music and song writing, so I think as an artist, we’re all much better at taking an idea that’s sitting in your brain and fully realising it.  So, one of the comparisons to that, like I said, always talking about Soul Music and the American brand of Gospel and Roots and the way it all comes together in to Rock and Roll. On this record ‘Shout It Out’ it really sonically sounds and matches the actual song writing and the influences more than any other record, when you hear it you actually hear the sound of the album itself, I think is the most cohesive in the way it connects with the song writing, it feels classic, it feels more like a little bit of a throwback and so I think each time as an artist you’re trying to get closer and closer to that version of what you’ve got going on in your head.

Besides ‘MMMBop’ as that’s too easy and I won’t mention it again, but is there one song throughout your career that you feel defines you as a band?
Well that’s kind of a tough thing to pick one song, the short answer is no, there isn’t one song, there isn’t… it’s sort of like asking an author or an actor, ‘what’s the one book?’ or ‘what’s the one movie?’ for one defining thing.  You really don’t know what it is until you step back and you look at all of it, I would say, the way to know this band is, pick any record, really listen through any one album and then go see a show.  It really doesn’t matter which album you hear, we’ve always been coming from a point of view where we haven’t left behind our point of view, we’ve evolved, we’ve had different interests on different albums but we’re coming from the same place I think with what we’re trying to say to the world.  Then go see a show and if you paired one record and a show you really will get the sense of what we are, what we try and communicate to fans.

You are finally heading back to Australia, so at the shows what can people expect from the shows when you’re here in September?
It’ll be a mix, we’ll definitely play old stuff and we’re gonna feature the new record.  One thing about our show is that for fans that have kind of followed what we do, our show is changed nightly, it’s really all about catering to the fans that are following the band and are devout and there are definitely fans as it’s been some time, that are seeing more than one show on this tour I know, so we’re excited about mixing it up every night.  The main thing we’re trying to do on this tour is really just celebrate that we’ve been doing this for fifteen years for the most time that people knew us, we want to touch on the songs that people know and love and introduce them to sort of the defining songs from the new album and kind of share it with them.

Are you surprised at the response you’ve received here in Australia regarding the tour?
Our operating procedure here is high hopes and low expectations, so we didn’t have any expectations about the tour but we were definitely hoping for a great response.  So, we’ve been really pleasantly surprised and pleased with how much excitement there seems to be.

You talked about ‘Shout It Out’ being your newest album, but it has been out for almost two years now, are you already working on material for a new album?
Yeah ha ha, we are yeah, we’re working on a new record and we talked to a lot of our fans, not that we’re not making an album, but we’re really excited about approaching the release of music differently, and you can tell part of the way we’re approaching things, even when you go to the website and see there’s an EP just recorded for fan club and we do a whole lot of live streaming events.  So I guess the whole thing about the next album and where we’re headed, is as much as possible continually putting out content and music that people can get in touch with.  Having more of a constant flow of material, so yes we’re working on new music, and you know we may be test driving some songs from a newer album by the time we’re on tour in Australia.

I wanted to ask specifically about your album ‘The Walk’ which was a killer release, and how the concept for that album and the charity work surrounding it came about?
First of all, thanks, that record was definitely a moment and it was a series of choices to make the way that record sounded and just the whole mission behind it.  Ultimately we had a really personal experience, we kind of felt getting call to go to Africa and we were in the middle of making that album when we actually went, we’d already started working on that record and it was as if we needed to make that trip to really figure out what that album was going to be about and what really struck us about the whole trip and the whole mission that ensued afterwards, was particularly now in the world you’ve got this global connection and this global way to communicate with one another, especially our generation and younger. We’ve all grown up with it to go directly to a problem, to not put it in to a government fund, or having trickle down, but to really say ‘I want to give shoes, I want to give clean water’ and HIV Aids and poverty especially in certain areas of Africa are this toxic combination that can be combatted by a lot of tangible, direct giving, and so that really just, it was like we couldn’t let go of that realisation.  We wouldn’t have taken it on if we didn’t feel like we could honestly talk about it, we wouldn’t want to preach about something from a red carpet as a celebrity walking down and giving money to a cause, but we really wanted to be able to do it ourselves.  So I guess the inspiration was seeing a problem and realising that there was some solutions we could be a part of, it inspired a simple idea.  The barefoot one mile walks was a way for us to not just preach something to people but to say ‘Hey we’re going to do this’ and not be afraid to talk about poverty and not be afraid to talk about HIV Aids, and we’re going to ask you to be a part of it and it’s been amazing because we’ve seen there’s a lot of inspiration that can come from that and a lot of good that can be done.  We’ve done in the big scheme of things very little, but when you can drill clean water wells and you can give thousands of shoes and you can buy HIV anti-viral drugs and you can see people all over the world get involved and self-initiate and do walks, it’s hard to not feel good about.

I recently watched ‘Strong Enough To Break’ which was an amazing documentary on the band and the making of my favourite Hanson album ‘Underneath.’ In making it, when it began did you ever think it would end up the way it did?
No, we certainly didn’t when we started.  The way the film started out was we were on our third record and we had a young guy and we put him through film school and he had toured the world doing videography stuff and he wanted be a film maker and he’s gone on to do that.  At the time, he was like ‘let’s do a real music making documentary, let’s show people how you guys write songs and let’s just do an in depth story.’  We were like this is great, we were instantly open and it never mattered what we filmed as it was safe to turn on the camera and just capture everything.  As a result it really became, this is how hard it is to actually get a record made instead of let’s make a record, and again it’s another one of those things where you wouldn’t want to go through that period again but I’m so glad that it exists because it makes a point about a moment in time, I think in ten years from now, especially when you look back, people are going to talk about that era as record labels were losing the site of themselves and the digital thing was all beginning and this really bad model of big labels that have no creative people and spend too much money on the front end and don’t know how to work with their bands ha ha.  It’s how it all crashed and burned and our story is just one example of how to kind of get out of it in one piece, I’m really proud that we were able to make it and it’s been really cool because like last night we were at a show with a couple of different bands, Neon Trees and Awolnation who were playing in our hometown in Oklahoma, and we’re friends with the Awolnation guys and we were sitting there talking about kinda what we’d done and our story and stuff and then Neon Trees bass player comes up to Isaac and talks about how he watched the documentary and how he had seen that story.  To me what’s cool about the film is for whatever reason, it’s had its own second life, it’s been discovered by people which I think that’s the way it should be it’s a story that’s kind of every band’s story.
I literally cheered at the end of it too; I thought it was so cool.
Ha ha ha ha

As a result of the doco you now record and release music under your own record label 3CG Records, how does having the freedom to do this help the band?
Well it’s made some things absolutely liberated, but it also makes everybody’s life, daily life, very challenging because you’re taking on all of it, we’ve actually continued our operation is more and more in house.  We’re the label, we’re the merchandiser, all our web stuff, our fan club community, we’re very much this top to bottom deal and that influences the culture around you.  Has it changed us as a band?  No.  Our music is as open and as liberated as it could be, but it’s never been about changing course it’s really been about, hey we’re not gonna get messed up and start become something else, we’re wanna stay the course, I think in general it’s just allowed us to set out to do what we wanted to do.

Are you at the point yet of signing other artists to the label?
We’re close.  The dilemma that we have since we started the label is that we’ve had bad record companies ourselves and the worst thing we could do, and we’ve joked about this is, we don’t want to become the devil that we all know, and really the only way to avoid that is to know that you’re really prepared to give something that is really valuable to an artist and really be dedicated to them.  So we are probably now, at almost ten years as a label, we have an operation where we feel we can really bring something to the table for an artist, we can really do something that isn’t just ‘hey we’re a record company, we can get your record distributed’ we want to actually want to be a partner.  Short answer is, we’re close.

Looking back over your career is there anything you would’ve done differently?
There are some shirts I wouldn’t have worn, and there’s probably some outfits, some clothes.  The hard thing about really sitting back and saying oh I never would’ve done that is, it’s life is strange, you do one thing and it makes you decide to do another, you’re glad you did.  Sometimes bad decisions lead to good ones, so I don’t know, I’ve never been into going backwards and editing the past, I just have a hard time doing it.

What does the remainder of 2012 have in store for Hanson?
For one, really working hard on the next album, music, all the things are coming. We’re actually kind of plotting a proper world tour hopefully that will happen next year, getting back to places that we’ve been able to touch on, maybe who knows, maybe looking ahead at coming back to Australia instead of knowing it’s going to be six or seven years, we don’t really want that to be the case.  A lot of planning and a lot of working on a new record and honestly for us at this point, in all seriousness we’re really excited about coming back for the Australian tour.

I have to ask, just because I loved the album, but what’s the status of Tinted Windows?
Adam and James and I are kind of throwing ideas back and forth as we speak, the thing with Tinted Windows is that it’s fun and its great and it’s not anybody’s like bread and butter and so the way we try to approach it is, as time allows, you get together and you write a song or you record something, so I think there will probably be another Tinted Windows record at some point, but I wouldn’t sit around holding your breath for it because you’ll be holding your breath for a while.

Do you have you got a message for your Australian fans?
It’s hard to put one message in there, I mean the big message just has to be thank you.  The people that are actually fans, especially, thanks for your patience and I hope we’re visiting enough cities that where ever you are that you get to come and actually catch a show.

Thanks for doing this Taylor, we’ve copped a little flack for putting up Hanson before but with our site we cover every form of rock and we wanted to hopefully get some people to read this and realise that you are more than that one song, as I mentioned before, so we’re hoping we can get your music out there to some people who may not have had a listen before.
Yeah, first of all, thanks, I’m glad you’ve followed what we do, you know Rock music is about, to me Rock and Roll is where it starts, and it’s being able to think what is good and not sitting around asking what everyone else approves of, so I guess hopefully more people that don’t necessarily get what Hanson’s about get a chance to dig in a little.
For the one or two that don’t, there’s another five that do…
Ha ha yeah, exactly, we’re not worried about it.

Essential Information

From: Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA

Band members: Isaac – Guitar, Bass, Piano, Vocals, Taylor – Piano, Guitar, Drums, Vocals, Zac – Drums, Piano, Guitar, Vocals

Website: http://www.hanson.net

Latest release:  Shout It Out (2010 – and now digitally in Australia, September 7 2012)

Catch Hanson on their Shout It Out Australian Tour 2012

Tuesday 11 September Hifi, Brisbane (Final tickets still available!)
with special guest Matt Wertz
www.moshtix.com.au

Thursday 13 September HQ, Adelaide (Sold Out!!!)
with special guest Matt Wertz

Friday 14 September Palace Theatre, Melbourne (Sold Out!!!)
with special guest Matt Wertz

Saturday 15 September HiFi, Sydney (Sold Out!!!)
with special guest Matt Wertz

Sunday 16 September Enmore (All Ages Show) Sydney (Final tickets still available!)
with special guest Matt Wertz
www.enmoretheatre.com.au / www.ticketek.com.au

Tuesday 18 September Palace Theatre, Melbourne (Sold Out!!!)
with special guest Matt Wertz

Thursday 20 September HiFi, Brisbane (Sold Out !!!)
with special guest Matt Wertz

Friday 21 September Coolangatta Hotel, Gold Coast (Sold Out!!!)
with special guest Matt Wertz

Saturday  22 September Metropolis, Fremantle (Sold Out!!!)
with special guest Matt Wertz

Take 40

Original boy band Hanson have arrived in Sydney this week to kick off their long awaited Aussie tour!

The three brother band featuring Zac, Isaac and Taylor arrived on our shores two days ago, and they’ve definitely still got it, cos they’ve been followed by screaming girls everywhere!

One Direction on The X Factor Au — better than Hanson?

The lads stopped by Sunrise to perform their classic hit ‘MmmBop’ and there were hundreds of girls (and quite a few older women) waiting to see them!

All three brothers are now married with kids, but it’s clear they still have a strong fan base down under.

Stay tuned to Take 40 to hear more from the boys while they’re here – and while you wait, watch their awesome music video for ‘MMMBop’ below!

Why Music Matters 

Taylor Hanson is a singer, song writer, multi-instrumentalist, producer and co-owner of 3CG Records. His band Hanson celebrates their 20 year anniversary this year. We spoke to Taylor to find out what music means to him.

Q: This year marks the 20th anniversary of Hanson. There have been some well-documented high points and low points throughout the past two decades for the band, but what are you looking forward to in the year ahead?

Taylor: So many things, I mean one, the music, the next record, we’re working on new songs, we’re already thinking ahead in a big way. I think also just as a band reaching 20 years…maybe we’ll be 40 or 60 years, but it’s sort of a midlife mark, call it the midlife crisis! There’s definitely some re-evaluating going on, you’re going “What are the next things we want to accomplish, what are the things that we want to do?” and so I think I’m excited about adding new things to the Hanson resume.

Q: Celebrating 20 years, I’m sure there’s been some reflection on all the experiences you’ve had over the twenty years since you really began. Can you pick a career highlight?

Taylor: You definitely reminisce a little bit, when you try and step back from things, you’re reminded of the first time you did this, or the first time you did that. I think our first major tour that we went out and played – shows that were not promotional events, not like a random acoustic show, but the (1998) US tour that we called the Albertane Tour. There are a lot of moments from that summer that I think of as being highlights just because it was beginning to do what we’d always set out to do. It’s one thing to record a record and have success but then to really begin to have your whole crew and band and everybody out there, and playing to your fans every night, and being at a level that you dream of being at, being able to look out at thousands of fans – that’s a highlight, that’s a peak where you go “It doesn’t get better than that” and I think in the sense of our label (3CG Records) the day that we realised, back in 2003, recognising the fact that we’ve come through the fog of a lot of label turmoil and that we were on track to survive with this new situation – owning your own label, marketing your own stuff and building a team. You know, really that year, 2003, going in to the release of our third record there was a period there where I just remember going “This is stage two, we’ve made it, we’ve got into the next chapter and I feel like we’re going to come out of this okay.”

Q: A great song can be timeless, and resonate with people all over the world, regardless of their gender, lifestyle or age. What do you think makes your music connect so powerfully with your fans?

Taylor: That’s a really good question. What makes it connect…I guess for us making music, you have to start by genuinely having passion for it, so I guess I would hope that the first part of it is that there’s an honesty, and a sort of truth in it. The classic description of rock and roll is “three chords and the truth.” So I think in writing a great song you have to tell the truth…I mean it has to resonate, it has to actually be authentic. I think that authenticity and honesty that is in writing a great song, is something that makes it last. You know, literally, (1997 single) MMMBop was basically three chords turned around, back and forth – there’s just three chords. That’s all you need if you have ‘the truth’ as well and then a lot of understanding of music I guess. The other thing I would say is that we admire great songwriting, we admire great craftsmen, people who have made timeless records already, so we’ve always been students of other great songwriters and other great musicians. So I think we’ve always tried to, not imitate, but honour other great people and put as much of that into what we do, as possible, and really just learn from it. And a great melody, and a great rhythm – it IS timeless. You know, that can be redone and reshaped a million times over, so that I think just being able to just create something that is honest and create something that is driven by your own passion – I think those are the only rules.

Q: And a question that is maybe as simple as it is complicated – what does music means to you?

Taylor: What music means to me…well, I don’t think I’d go through life without having music and so I guess it’s everything! It’s a necessity to this crazy condition of life, and I think music is really about connection, it’s really about the connection with reminding you of who you are and reminding you of connecting with others. Maybe that’s a better definition, music means connection, it brings life into the situation, whatever it is, and it’s a language that everybody seems to understand.