SFExaminer

Taylor Hanson had overnight success as a teen chirping “MMMBop,” his family band Hanson’s Grammy-nominated smash hit in 1997. But on the Tulsa, Okla., group’s latest, “Shout It Out” — released via their own 3CG imprint — he snaps and snarls like a whiskey-seasoned R&B vet. “Just like with anything, if you’re singing long enough, you find your comfort zone,” says the keyboardist, who recently wrapped up a tour with his power-pop side combo Tinted Windows. “So it’s nice to have a few more years under the belt!” Hanson plays two San Francisco shows next week.

How difficult was it to start your own label, 3CG?
Well, I’ve got a couple of extra lines under my eyes now from the last few years. But I won’t say it’s any harder than a lot of people’s day jobs. But there’s an old adage that essentially says, “All entrepreneurs never stop working, since they own their own business.” And it’s true — you just never stop. And add that to your being a musician, and we’re the product. So it’s a constant thing.

Do you fall asleep dreaming about your company?
Yes. And then you use that dream to try and inspire a song. Don’t ever let any dream go to waste! But at the core of it for me, there’s a different kind of satisfaction that comes from doing the business stuff — building the marketing plans and having a team of people that you bring together who are talented in different ways, to help you reach the world with your music. There’s something very gratifying about that. But who knows? Maybe we’re just gluttons for punishment.

You made a film about forming 3CG, “Strong Enough to Break.”
It’s a 90-minute movie, available on DVD. And it’s really the story of the music industry, and how the business in the last 15 years took that swing to being so corporate and so far removed from developing artists. And we were one of many bands that was caught up in a merger. After our first record! And our second album was a casualty of that battle. So what started out as a film about making music became a story about how just getting to the point of making music in this modern process is really the hardest part.

What does 3CG stand for, by the way?
It’s three-car garage. The three is us, and we’re basically a garage band. And that’s the credo of the band and the label: If you can’t make it happen on a garage floor, hey, don’t quit your day job.

IF YOU GO
Hanson

Where: Great American Music Hall, 859 O’Farrell St., San Francisco

When: 7:30 p.m. Monday-Tuesday

Tickets: $35; $61 for two-day pass

Contact: (415) 885-0750, www.gamhtickets.com

Read more at the San Francisco Examiner: http://www.sfexaminer.com/lifestyle/Hanson-toils-on-with-Shout-It-Out-102996874.html#ixzz0ziCp2LVa

The Adam Carolla Show

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Adam opens with practical advice on how strippers can utilize one of our sponsors. He also talks about finally finishing his ‘book-on-tape’ recording, and says it’s very difficult to just sit and read aloud while people in the next room are judging. Teresa says she loves audiobooks, especially when they’re read by the author.

Jumping into the news, Teresa talks about the midterm elections, more specifically Republican candidate Christine O’Donnell who recently won the Senate nomination for Delaware. They listen to a clip from an interview with Karl Rove, and Adam laughs about people who stall while they try to think of things to say. They also play an old MTV clip where O’Donnell states that she’s against masturbation.

Talking more about sexual sensitivity, Teresa brings up Ines Sainz, who claims she was verbally harassed by the Jets. Adam complains that she needs to dress more conservatively if she doesn’t want that type of reaction. Other news stories involve a woman who got stabbed for eating pigs’ feet, and a guy who got his arm bitten off by an alligator.

Isaac, Taylor, and Zach are brought in studio; also known as Hanson. They talk about the transition from being a teen sensation to becoming a working, touring band. Adam compliments them on their original hit single ‘Mmmbop’, and they talk about touring the world because of it. They also talk about their current approach the music, and the importance of connecting with the fans. Adam spends a bit more time hearing about their experience growing up, and the guys also talk about the families they’re currently raising.

After performing the single off their new album, Adam asks them if they’ve ever met the Jonas Brothers. Throughout the show they listen to a bunch of classic rock, and Teresa transitions back into the news with Aretha Franklin’s dream cast for her upcoming biopic. They also talk about the new American Idol audition process, and get into a long discussion about the controversy surrounding circumcision. To wrap up the show, Adam and Teresa talk about the recent Ashton Kutcher rumor, and the Hanson Brothers talk about their Twitter followers.

Purchase Hanson’s new album, Shout It Out, available on Amazon. Also check out their current tour dates at www.hanson.net

In today’s Stitcher Extra Content, check out another live performance from Hanson.

http://landing.stitcher.com/?srcid=428

Executive Producer: Donny Misraje
Producers: Mike Dawson & Mike Lynch
Audio: Mike Dawson
Writer: Mike Lynch
Production Engineer: Katie Levine
Search: Chris Laxamana
Build and Edit: Katie Levine
Phones: Brian Meyer
Show Summary: Matt Fondiler

Los Angeles Times

Members of the former teeny-bopper band are married with children, and now seem to embody the antithesis of all things pop.

Whenever the band Hanson is introduced, there’s always one word that’s included in the primer, so let’s get it out of the way: “Mmmbop.”

“Hanson burst onto the scene about 13 years ago with their 1997 Grammy-nominated song ‘Mmmbop,’ ” Today Show host Ann Curry said earlier this summer, before the band played a set on the morning program.

That the band — comprised of Hanson brothers Isaac, 29, Taylor, 27 and Zac, 24 — has never stopped playing music after ‘Mmmbop,’ and in June released its fifth studio record, “Shout It Out,” is something most aren’t even aware of.

Perhaps more surprisingly, the band — which will play the House of Blues on Friday— insists that the repeated point of reference doesn’t bother it.

“I guess you decide at some point in your career whether you’re going to run from it or embrace it, and we’ve embraced it,” said Zac, sitting around a table recently at the Palihouse, the “urban lodge” where he and his brothers are staying while they’re in town. “So many people who know nothing about this band still know ‘Mmmbop,’ so it’s like this incredible tool to open the door to so many people. That song was No. 1 in 27 countries at the same time. That doesn’t happen almost ever.”

Indeed, Hanson has yet to replicate the commercial success it had when its members were barely teenagers. In the ’90s, the three boys from Tulsa, Okla., with long blond hair and high-pitched voices provoked a reaction not unlike the one teen star Justin Bieber incites these days.

Now, they seem to embody the antithesis of all things pop. They’ve shortened their golden locks. They dress like hipsters, sporting suspenders, fitted blazers and skinny ties. And they release their music via their own record label, 3CG, which they founded in 2003 after severing ties with Island Def Jam.

“The main issue was the lack of creative direction,” said Zac of departing the major label. “We were just sitting there, trying to follow the latest trend or sound the most neutral so that everybody kind of feels like it’s something they’ve heard before. And no one will succeed doing that. You will just be throwing darts and hoping you get that bull’s-eye. We wanted it to be driven by passion and commitment.”

Having their own imprint has allowed them the creative control to try new things. For one, they create a lot of their merchandise. With the release of “Shout It Out,” those who purchased pricier packages received a unique painting the band made itself. They recently purchased a device that enables them to live-stream a video feed from wherever they are so that they can stay in touch with their cult-like fan base. For the music video of their latest single, “Thinkin’ ‘Bout Somethin’,” a choreographer created simple dance moves to post on their website, so fans could partake in Twitter-fueled dance party flashmobs with the group.

Such connectivity has inspired a loyalty from their fanbase that many bands can’t rival.

“Hanson doesn’t shy away from their fans. They’re always posting personal messages and pictures and staying connected,” said Sara Hull, 26, who has been a fan of the group since 1997. “I think a lot of people, when you say ‘Hanson,’ they’re just so stuck on the idea of ‘Mmmbop’ and little boys with long blond hair that it’s been a struggle for them to break through into the mainstream again. But their core fan base has stuck with them — they can’t fill places like the Staples Center anymore, but they can fill the House of Blues.”

Other things have changed for Hanson, as well. All three men are now married with children: Isaac has two kids, Taylor has four, and Zac has one and another on the way. Themselves a product of a big, religious family — they have four other siblings — the band members say they’ve been perplexed over criticism that they married too young. (“Married at 20 years old? I would have smacked you right in the head,” Howard Stern chastised Zac during a 2007 interview with the band on his radio show.)

“I actually don’t think that we’re off the majority of this country’s standards. I think it’s mostly a coastal thing,” Isaac said.

“I’m the one that throws everything off,” said Taylor, laughing. “I’ve got four kids and got married at 19.”

“But he has also beat the national divorce average,” Isaac said.

“I can hear a little bit of married-ness in the record, actually,” Taylor interjected.

Members said the album also harkens back to the type of music they listened to as kids — ’50s and ’60s rock ‘n’ roll, Motown and R&B, like Otis Redding and Aretha Franklin.

“We’re Midwestern guys who grew up listening to soul music,” Isaac said. “I’ve also realized on this record how similar our sound is to when we first started. Our songs all carry the same way. Well, with different keys. Taylor’s no longer a soprano.”

“I don’t think I was ever a soprano, Ike,” Taylor said, scoffing at his brother before adding that much of the lifestyle that the trio led when they were younger remains similar. “OK, there’s something extraordinary about selling millions and millions of albums. But the bus, the tour, the planes, the cities — it’s the same. We just want to be able to write and make music as our business and have a strong enough fan base that allows us to do that. And that’s what success is for us.”

AZ Central

For anyone wondering what kind of crowd might show up at a Hanson show in 2010, especially on a night when the Jonas Brothers are playing across town, the answer is pretty simple: lots of screaming female fans.

When the Oklahoma band of brothers took to the stage of the Mesa Art Center Tuesday night, Sept. 14, they were greeted by the kind of hysterical screaming and manic crowd energy that have followed them throughout their 13-year career. Playing before a nearly full house, the boyish trio proved they can still get a crowd singing along, and even after an hour and a half, keep them screaming for more.

After opening sets by local band You Hang Up, featuring “Malcolm in the Middle” star Frankie Muniz on drums, and Massachusetts pop rockers A Rocket to the Moon, the crowd seemed to be bursting at the seams with anticipation. And once brothers Isaac, Taylor, and Zac Hanson ran on stage, all that energy was released in an overwhelming, collective scream.

Dressed in suspenders, tight jeans and a striped v-neck shirt, Taylor Hanson took charge of the show, pounding his keyboard and wailing out the lead vocals as the band launched into a high energy rendition of “Waiting for This,” a tune from their latest record, this year’s “Shout It Out.”

Backed by a bassist and extra guitarist/pianist, the brothers hit the stage with all the precision and confidence of a band that’s spent a lot of time onstage together. That’s not too surprising, considering that when they released their breakthrough album, 1997’s “Middle of Nowhere,” the oldest brother was 16 years old and the youngest was only 11. Yet, that record spawned their biggest hit, the No. 1 single “MMMBop,” and earned three Grammy nominations.

Hanson never matched that degree of commercial success again, but they managed to steadily earn themselves a devoted fan base with their brand of ultra-catchy, soul-inspired pop rock. “Shout It Out,” their eighth album, debuted at No. 30 on the Billboard charts, and they recently performed a five-night sold out run in New York City.

With Issac breaking into his best shredding guitar solo and Zac pounding away on the drums like Animal from the Muppets, Taylor spent the start of the show helping to loosen up the crowd, which seemed a little stifled by the Arts Center’s assigned seating.

“I don’t want to see any nerves out there tonight,” he said. “No one’s watching you, so dance and have a good time.

That seemed to soften up the somewhat stiff crowd, because by the time the band launched into “Make It Out Alive,” nearly everyone was on their feet. The audience featured a wide mix of fans, including a large percentage of people that looked too young to have gotten into the brothers because of “MMMBop.”

Hanson took songs from throughout their catalog, including the harmonica-driven “If Only,” the Zac-helmed “And I Waited” and “Where’s the Love” from “Middle of Nowhere.” And while most music snobs would certainly turn up their noses at their campy lyrics and innocent pop style, the energy of the show could not be denied.

After blasting out tunes such as “Runaway Run,” “Hey” and “Carry You There,” the band abruptly left the stage. The brothers then returned alone, with Taylor and Issac sitting down with their instruments, and Zac sitting center stage atop a drum box. After joking about the many shouts of “I Love You” issuing from the crowd, they performed “Kiss Me When You Come Home” and “Penny & Me,” two tracks that highlighted their effortless harmonies.

Following “A Song to Sing,” the rest of the band returned and the energy was back in the show as they performed “Been There Before.” By this time, the concert had been going on for over an hour, but neither Hanson nor the crowd showed any sign of slowing down. Audience members continued their screams, while straining against the stage and reaching out their hands whenever one of the brothers came within grabbing distance.

For their part, the Hanson boys seemed to be having as much fun as anyone, smiling as they delivered songs such as “This Time Around,” “Voice in the Chorus” and “Hand in Hand.”

While the crowd seemed to know the words to every tune, when Issac plucked out the opening guitar riff of “MMMBop,” the reaction was intense. As a room full of fans screamed, the guitarist shook his head and cracked a crooked smirk, as if he expected people to be tired of that silly song by now but was glad that they weren’t.

“Thanks for 13 years everybody,” said Taylor before they closed the night with the funk-inspired “Give a Little” and an encore performance of “Lost Without Each Other.”

“We promise to keep coming to see you, if you promise to keep coming to see us,” he added with a smile as Hanson took a group bow. And judging by the way the crowd pushed closer to grab the hands of Taylor and Issac as they ran offstage, Hanson has plenty of scream-filled shows yet to play.

Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/thingstodo/music/articles/2010/09/15/20100915hanson-mesa-concert-review.html#ixzz0zcywdFjK

FoxNews

Several well-known people have had children before they could have a beer.

Taylor Hanson

The “MMMBop” singer was just 19 when his first child was born.

Now 27, the singer has four kids with wife Natalie: Jordan Ezra, Penelope Anne, River Samuel, and Viggo Moriah.

Mashable

Listen up, bands: Twitter is more than just a place to wax poetic from the tour bus and gripe about broken guitar strings (and/or dreams) — it can also help you promote your music and connect with your fans.

While you don’t have to go all Kanye with your Twitter stream, hooking up to the micro-blogging site can add a whole new dimension to your act.

We talked to a ton of bands — from up-and-comers like The Limousines, to indie darlings like The Thermals, to established artists like Pete Yorn and Ben Folds — about how they use Twitter, and compiled the following list of tips and tricks.

Got some more clever musical uses for Twitter? Be sure to share your pro tips in the comments below.

1. Build a Fan Base
So you’re just about to burst on the scene, showering the populace with your synth-heavy, electropop goodness. How do you go about capturing the attention of those who will make or break you: your future fanbase?

According to Brian Levine, manager and social media consultant for the emerging act Bananas for Mowgli, “Up and coming bands with little to no released music are able to take advantage of Twitter by aligning themselves with artists who share a similar fan base or aesthetic. First thing you should do is start following these people as well as the most relevant taste makers in your genre or ’scene’ if you will. Use Twitter management tools to expand your network and be in the right circles.”

That’s what Levine is doing right now for Bananas for Mowgli, whose debut album drops on October 26.

2. Collaborate
Do you follow some awesome band on Twitter that you would kill to jam with? Why not tweet at them? It can’t hurt. You never know who’s going to be down to hook up with you — especially if you don’t try. Eric Victorino of The Limousines was able to score a kind of collaboration with DJ Samantha Ronson by merely paying attention to mentions of his band on Twitter.

“We keep tabs on who’s talking about [us] and who’s mentioning us,” Victorino says. “Samantha Ronson and Lindsay Lohan were both talking about us once, so we just reached out to them, like, ‘Hey, hi.’ And from that came — I wouldn’t say a friendship — but just sort of an e-mail conversation with her. And whenever Samantha would go DJing, we’d give her a new track.”

3. Trade a Track For a Tweet
Are you a smaller band with a pretty strong fan base? Well, use the hell outta them, we say — but give them something in return. Paul Lamontagne of Bearstronaut used Twitter as both a method of releasing the band’s new single, “Shannon,” [click to download] and gaining more followers.

“We used something called ‘Tweet for a Track,’” he says. “Fans can — for the cost of one tweet — [get the song]. It gets reposted on their Twitter to all their followers, and they get the single. No money changes hands, but we get to reach as many followers as possible.”

4. Get Your Fans to Promote For You
Similar to trading a tweet for a tune, crowdsourcing your fans when it comes to promotions can also be a boon. Brian McClelland of He Whose Ox Is Gored told us, “[Our Twitter following] really did pick up once we started talking with people, and it’s kind of snowballed from there… We’ve been getting some radio play, so we’re going to go on our Twitter and do merch giveaways to people who call up and request a song.” Get He Whose Ox Is Gored’s new single, “Cloven Hoof” here.

5. Have a Personality
Yeah, your lyrics may be tight and your beats danceable, but that doesn’t mean you’re socially literate. Pick the wittiest member of the band and assign him or her the role of official Twitterer, or “Twitter Czar” as Westin Glass of The Thermals deems himself. If fans can tell you’re having fun via your tweets, they’re much more apt to engage with you (and attend shows, buy records, join a cult in your name, etc.).

“Last May, when we were doing our spring tour, we were posting on our Twitter and we were just going crazy on there,” Glass says. “One of us would be sitting in the front of the van and one of us would be sitting in the back of the van and we’d be just like just posting all kinds of crazy inside jokes, nicknames for all the people in the band. We were just trying to make each other laugh by posting all sorts of weird stuff that probably made no sense to anyone, but people seemed to like it…. I just post jokes and song lyrics from ‘90s epic hit songs, pictures of Axl Rose and, I don’t know, just whatever.”

6. Organize an Aftershow
According to Jon Foreman of Switchfoot, “The best music happens after the show.” Foreman often uses Twitter to organize said aftershows. He merely sends out a time and location, and the crowds come running. Most of the time, they’re totally lo-fi, with just an acoustic guitar — but the audience can number up to 500 fans.

Recently Foreman had a run-in with the cops in Florida after they broke up one of his on-the-fly gigs. What’s more rock ‘n’ roll than that, really? Still, Foreman is now taking greater care to run his Twitter-organized shows by the local authorities before rocking out.

7. Retain Your Independence

“[Twitter] allows you to take out the middle man,” Taylor Hanson tells us. “If we had had Twitter [back when we started], it would have moved us even more rapidly toward the idea that has made it possible for us to continue as a band, which is, in part, that direct connection with your fans…. And with Twitter, it’s really about, ‘how do you make that connection?’ …. It would have been a really key component for us, probably moving faster toward being independent. Because it would have even further empowered and encouraged us by being able to communicate with our fan base, and stay really proactive with them, regardless of changing label structures and corporate mergers.”

8. Share Photos
While we wouldn’t suggest giving followers a flipbook of your life, sometimes a picture can — to be totally cliche — be worth a thousand words. “I enjoy putting up pictures of [my] kids doing things because it humanizes [me] just enough with photographs without getting too much closer,” Ben Folds tells us. “It’s a pretty mean world out there sometimes, it’s kind of nice to make someone a little more human.”

Folds also includes his wife, Fleur, on the action. “[Fleur] feels like she can provide another angle to it,” he says of his wife, who once ran the main newspaper in the Turks and Caicos Islands for five years and was also a photographer for that paper.

“We’re actually going to make a book of TwitPics together — like a coffee table sort of thing,” he says. “So on the left page, if you have Fleur’s photograph of the moment and on the right page you have my photograph of the moment, it actually tells kind of an interesting story that way.”

9. Have a Contest
Everyone loves a good contest — it combines fierce, tooth-and-nail competition with prizes. What could be better than that? If you’re edging up to an album release or a tour, a contest can be a great way to drum up some publicity and to engage your fans by letting them feel like a part of your creative world.

“I wanted to give out commemorative posters to all of the concert-goers at my first two record release party shows,” says Pete Yorn, whose self-titled disc drops on September 28. “So I was like, ‘Make a poster everyone, it will be fun.’ It’s cool that people actually made them; it’s just another way to see the artistry of the fan base and how creative they are. Usually that’s the best stuff. I’m blown away by how talented they are; they come up with really cool stuff.”

10. Keep Up with Tech Trends
OK, so Twitter basically approached Arcade Fire about offering a deal on their new album, The Suburbs, through the @EarlyBird program. Still, the band has been majorly into social media of late — playing a live-streamed show on YouTube and even launching an interactive in-browser video with Google. The band was therefore a natural choice for Twitter when it came time to pick an album to sell via the service.

“We saw that Arcade Fire had a new album coming out, and there was a lot of anticipation around it and the fact that they were doing a live stream on YouTube and taking a Q&A from Twitter,” says a rep for Twitter. “We knew that they were familiar with the platform and open to using it in innovative ways, so we thought it was a great opportunity to get them involved in our @EarlyBird program and also make a pretty compelling story to help with their album sales.”

Phoenix News Times

Right now, as I write this sentence, I’m listening to Middle of Nowhere, Hanson’s major label debut from 1997. That record of course contains “MMMBop” but it’s the first verse of “Thinking of You” that I’m spinning — it’s undeniable pop goodness.

I got home from Hanson’s gig in Mesa about an hour ago. Whether there would be any remnants of the good-natured teen mayhem of the band’s early career was my main curiosity. I mean, what does it really mean to attend a Hanson concert in 2010? This was my third time seeing the band, although it’s been about 10 years since my last live Hanson encounter.

​
Now, I’ve arrived at the chorus of “MMMBop.”

I think most people wonder if Hanson still play that song live. They do. As much as it permeated our collective conscience in the late ’90s, it still sounds fresh live. It’s not like listening back on Spice Girls or Backstreet Boys — there’s no kitsch. Just good music. Well-struck chords arranged in a desirable manner and harmonies so dead on that it conjures up thoughts of the Beach Boys’ perfection.

They didn’t play “Weird,” although I was rooting for it to make the set. And as the night went on, I realized they didn’t really need to rely on that first record so much. See, Hanson have been churning out albums since their first big hit, and each one has had at least one or two songs that are top-10 worthy achievements. That’s what brought me and about 500 other fans to Mesa last night.

But, was there mayhem? The trio were consistently mobbed by crowds of shrieking tweens at the height of their fame, as shown in the documentary Tulsa, Tokyo and the Middle of Nowhere. Girls would cry. Girls would draw signs proclaiming their love for the band. Girls would paint t-shirts with Hanson’s logo and whatever else they thought might help them stand out in a sea of youthful insanity.

When I took my seat on the balcony, right away I noticed that the piano was facing me, meaning that I would get an unparalleled view of the one and only Taylor Hanson for the duration of the show. Why hadn’t I made a sign? I didn’t see anyone else with a sign, so I let it go. I didn’t cry, although I’ve never cried at a Hanson concert. However, I did, in a bout of prolonged fervor, eat a whole thing of mints. (I didn’t eat dinner, so it’s hard to say what the actual culprit of the mint eating was.)

There were a couple of ladies who wore homemade Hanson tees that read “Team Hanson” on the front and a jersey-style 97 on the back. Quite a few of people in the crowd chose to change into their purchases before the set accordingly. But, none of that qualified the night as one filled with mayhem. There was screaming, though, and plenty of it. Severely uninhibited dancing, obedient clapping and compulsive singing all followed.

​
I’m just finishing up “Speechless,” and “Where’s The Love” is starting in.

Taylor still flips his hair and furrows his brow, Isaac has amassed quite the impressive pedal board and is always surprisingly great when taking on lead vocals, and Zac continues to be amused by proclamations of undying love and the inability of the most die hard fans to not scream their lungs out, no matter how quiet the song.

“It’s like a bidding war,” Zac said with regard to fans yelling out their love for him. “‘I love you,’ ‘No I love you,’ and ‘I love you 20.'”

Taylor then offered to sell Zac for $5,000.

Wholesome is almost too sweet a word to describe Hanson, but it works. Wholesome and legitimate, musically, which isn’t an easy a thing to come by. Wholesomeness can be manufactured — like the Partridge Family — but Hanson aren’t playing on their being brothers. They’re three married guys with babies. They don’t swear in their music, say anything particularly political, wear costumes or try to mold their sound into whatever single’s caught the public’s ear this week. There’s a kind of honesty. But also a kind of Pavlovian power they hold. Just a few songs in to their set, I might as well have been 13 again.

“Yearbook” and “Look At You” play now. The former creeped me out then, and still manages to be eerie now.

Do I still have a voice? I’m a bit hoarse. Am I wearing the purple shirt I bought at the show that boldly announces “I Love Hanson”? No, but it is sitting next to me and I considered it.

Critic’s Bias: I was convinced for a period of time that Taylor Hanson and I would one day be married.

The Crowd: I’ll take a guess and go with 98% female.

Overheard in the Crowd: Someone requested “Madeline.” It didn’t happen, unfortunately.

Random Notebook Dump: Frankie Muniz’s girlfriend was in front of me in line at will call. How do I know it was her? She was having some sort of guest list issue and said the name Frankie probably five times. Later they sat together while Hanson played.