EMC Ottawa West

EMC Editorial – By the time you read this, I’ll be finishing up the last of my packing, on my way to another adventure with the band Hanson.

It’s finally time for the New York, NY event, the special five-night stand at the Gramercy Theater featuring each of the band’s four major albums as well as the debut of the upcoming June release.

And I couldn’t be more excited. Trying to contain my excitement is tough, as I imagine what’s to come.

Since the release of the band’s new video, for the single Thinking ‘Bout Somethin’, Hanson hysteria has been ongoing. The video shot to the number one spot on the social media site, Myspace, and over a period of four days garnered more than 500,000 hits. And yes, even after the final cuts of the clip, yours truly can be seen dancing in the crowd. Amazing!

Beginning on Monday, the craze will multiply. Just hours after arriving in the city, I will be joining a crowd of fans outside NBC studios to dance to the new song following the band’s interview on the Today Show. It will be a flash mob type of event, something that’s become popular with my age group for grabbing attention and support for a cause, event or issue.

Once the dance is complete, we’ll be holding a listening party while taking the band’s trademark one-mile barefoot walk, designed to raise awareness that small actions can make a difference around the world. For each person walking, the band will donate $1 to various charitable causes in South Africa. By taking off our shoes and walking with our idols, we’ll be helping to build water-wells, schools or provide medication to prevent the spread of AIDS.

And that’s just the beginning! The rest of the week will include once-in-a-lifetime concert events, where the band will play each album in entirety.

I’m thrilled with the attention these talented brothers are getting lately. Gossip Web sites and entertainment news agencies are spreading the word that the boys of Mmmbop have released another catchy, more grown up tune. It’s catchy, upbeat and fun, and just the kind of song I can imagine blasting through the streets over the upcoming summer months.

It’s a rewarding feeling as a fan, to see other finally noticing the talent of this band. The nay-sayers are changing their tune, and giving them another chance.

As a fan, I’ve stood beside this band for 14 years, knowing their level of talent and passion is not something commonplace in the music industry today. I’ve supported them, promoted them, and spent many days and weeks travelling to see them.

This event, I imagine, will be a celebration for fans new and old. It will be a time to shout out our support and encouragement, a time to celebrate their success and currently gaining momentum.

Not only will it be a celebration, but this week in NYC will mark a high point in 14 years of fandom, There’s never been an event like this, and it’s likely anything similar would be few and far between.

It’s time to shout it out, time to dance it out. It’s time to go to New York city!

Washington Post Blog

By Ally Schweitzer

– Metallica is plowing through obstacles– both natural and emotional– to continue their European tour. With flights still hard to come by in the aftermath of the Icelandic volcano eruption, the band has been traveling via boat and bus to get to concert arenas. According to lead guitarist Kirk Hammett, Metallica hasn’t toured in a bus since bassist Cliff Burton was killed in a bus crash during the band’s 1986 European tour. “When we boarded the bus again this week and had to travel overnight,” Hammett told reporters, “I realized that those bad memories are still here. I still haven’t overcome the fear of buses. But the show must go on.”

– In recordings: M.I.A.’s latest comes out June 29th; MMMbop-ers Hanson will team up with Motown bassist Bob Babbitt and horns arranger Jerry Hey for their third album coming out June 8; Outkast’s Big Boi swears his long-delayed solo album will be released July 6; Kylie Minogue has a new single and an album this summer; Paul McCartney announced that he will release his entire post-Beatles discography through independent music group Concord instead of his former label, the struggling EMI.

Billboard

After dealing with “heavy” topics on 2007’s “The Walk” and “challenging” recording sessions for that album and 2004’s “Underneath,” the sibling trio Hanson “just wanted to have some fun” on its latest outing, “Shout It Out,” which releases June 8.

“We wanted to make an upbeat record,” oldest brother Isaac Hanson tells Billboard.com. “I think we were just ready to move forward with a really upbeat kind of attitude — this is probably the most upbeat record we’ve done, period. I think we’re saying that you can have a heart and compassion for others and do good things in your life, and at the same time dance in the street.”

Youngest Hanson Zac adds that “it’s a record where we said, ‘Yeah, let’s just play really loud cowbell and horns…As long as that’s what makes you feel motivated and excited and gives you a sense of joy when you hear this music, that’s what we need to do.'”

The 12 tracks on “Shout It Out,” including the lead-off single “Thinkin’ ‘Bout Somethin’,” represent some of the most soulful work Hanson has committed to record as well. Seven of the songs feature horn charts by Jerry Hey (Michael Jackson, Earth, Wind & Fire), while one of Motown’s Funk Brothers, bassist Bob Babbitt, guests on the album, which was produced by the three Hansons and recorded in El Paso, Texas, Tulsa, Okla., and Los Angeles.

“Y’know, we grew up listening to a lot of that early R&B stuff, especially ’60s and ’70s R&B,” notes Isaac. “Otis (Redding) and countless others, and Motown…you forget how much horns played a part in a lot of really iconic kind of American R&B sound. And that also translated into more pop and singer-songwriter stuff we used to listen to, like Billy Joel’s ‘An Innocent Man,’ which is one of his biggest records, there’s horns all over the placed on that record. That was the stuff we grew up listening to and…really worked its way onto this record.”

Hanson performs “Thinkin’ ‘Bout You,” a song that first surfaced on the group’s “Taking the Walk” studio podcasts from its last album, Friday on CBS’ “The Late Show with David Letterman” and April 26 on NBC’s “Today” show. The group will perform at Bamboozle New Jersey on May 1 and then play eight dates on the Bamboozle Road Show in May. Meanwhile, the trio is currently gearing up for a five-show run at New York’s Gramercy Theatre from April 26-30, each of which will feature a different one of Hanson’s last five albums played from start to finish.

“We’ve been a band for a long time, and (‘Shout It Out’) is kind of a special record,” Zac says, “so I think we just wanted to take a moment and reflect on where we’ve come from and sit down and say, ‘OK, what is this band? What has it been?’ and play these records back to back before we blaze into the future.”

Isaac says he’s “nervous and excited” about the shows, noting that “it’s a little bit of a blur, ’cause when you’re working up 65 tunes, that’s a lot. But I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how consistent the material feels.” He says the group plans to film and record the shows for subsequent release, though no details have been determined. Live streams of the concerts are also being considered, he says.

Salon.com

The brothers’s video for “Thinkin’ ‘Bout Somethin'” will have you mmmbopping in the streets

What do you get when you mix Hanson, Weird Al, Blues Brothers-inspired dance moves, and more cowbell than a Blue Oyster Cult “Behind the Music” marathon? You get awesome, is what you get.

Though Isaac, Taylor and Zac Hanson are largely known mostly for their mid-90s earworm “MMMBop,” they’ve been steadily cranking out lively, accomplished pop music both as a group and individually ever since. (Check out Taylor’s efforts with the world’s most unlikely supergroup, Tinted Windows.)

But “Thinking ‘Bout Somethin'” — the most unstoppably exuberant bitter breakup ditty ever to make you feel like cartwheeling — may be their finest moment yet. Shot last month on the streets of the brothers’ native Tulsa, the video is at once a splashy ode to old-fashioned musicals and a joyful homage to flash mobs. It sure looks like they had a hell of a lot of fun making it — which is a huge part of its irresistible charm. And keep your eye on the guy with the tambourine. That kid’s going places.

Chicago Sun Times

The members of Hanson are good Christian lads, but last week they officially started on a mission from God.

On Thursday, the fraternal trio debuted a video for its new single, “Thinking ’Bout Somethin’,” that pays loving tribute to the Ray Charles scene in one of Chicago’s landmark movies, “The Blues Brothers.”

The video — which re-creates the interior of Ray’s Music Exchange and features more than 300 people dancing in the street — was filmed not on location in Chicago but in Hanson’s hometown of Tulsa, Okla.

And, eldest brother Isaac Hanson is eager to impart, this is not tongue-in-cheek.

“We want people to know that we’re not making fun of this movie,” he said Friday during a telephone chat from Hanson HQ in Tulsa. “This is not a parody. This is not us using some iconic film as a way to make us look hip. You’ve gotta understand, we love this movie. This all comes from the fact that this movie made us want to dance.”

That makes sense given that even their first breakout hit “MMMBop” was steeped in the same ’60s pop grooves that have fueled each album in the 13 years since. In concert, they frequently cover Charles, the Spencer Davis Group and many chestnuts in between. Their first tour featured several songs from “The Blues Brothers.”

The idea for the video, Isaac explained, came almost on a whim early this year while trying to wrap production on the band’s new album, “Shout It Out,” due for release on June 8.

The brothers — guitarist Isaac, singer-pianist Taylor and drummer Zac — dithered about whether to add horns to the song “Thinking ’Bout Somethin’.” When they re-entered the studio to record two extra songs, they seized the opportunity to bring in a horn section, working with noted arranger Jerry Hey (Michael Jackson, Earth Wind & Fire). The horn players were booked for two songs and wound up playing for seven. And in the middle of this last-minute creative explosion, a crazy idea came to mind.

“The thing that kicked it over the edge was when Taylor came in and dialed up the ‘Blues Brothers’ scene on YouTube,” Isaac said. In the film, Charles performs the jumpy tune “Shake Your Tail Feather” while Jake and Elwood (John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd) dance. “He presses play on our song, then plays the video clip on mute. Everyone’s jaws dropped. It synced up almost perfectly. It totally worked. We looked at each other and said, ‘We have to do this.’ But we also thought, ‘We also have to make it our own.’”

The Ray Charles scene in “The Blues Brothers”

Kelly Kerr, the director of photography for the video, was one of those left with his jaw hanging. “We stood there watching the movie and hearing the song — it was pretty cool,” he said Friday. “The beats-per-minute were almost identical. And I thought, ‘We’re gonna replicate this. … We got real close to the movie but also took some liberties with it, as well. Then you throw in ‘Weird Al,’ and it takes it to another level.”

Indeed, that’s “Weird Al” Yankovic as the tambourine player. (Many moons ago, Yankovic filmed his now cult-classic movie “UHF” in Tulsa.)

So the crew set about getting things as close to the “Blues Brothers” scene as they could without making it shot-for-shot from the 1980 movie, Isaac said. They dressed similarly, not exact copies. They called in set designers to re-create the interior of Ray’s Music Exchange inside the Hanson rehearsal space in Tulsa.

Then they determined that Greenwood Avenue, a historic Tulsa street that was once one of America’s wealthiest African-American business centers, looked roughly like the similarly historic Chicago streets used in the film. They choreographed and filmed a dance sequence there on March 6, shutting down traffic so hundreds of extras and fan club members could shake their tail feathers for Kerr’s cameras.

“We wanted it to be identifiable, but not a cartoon, not a full-on spoof. This is a heartfelt homage,” Isaac said.

“I just hope that if John Landis or Dan Aykroyd see it, or the guys in that band, they’ll instantly be able to see how much we love what they created.”

Isaac said he and his brothers have never seen the original Chicago sites used in the making of “The Blues Brothers.” A developer announced plans in February to demolish the old Dixie Square Mall where a car chase was filmed for the movie.

The video for “Thinking ’Bout Somethin’” is now making the rounds online. The single itself becomes available April 27 via iTunes.

Buzzworthy MTV

A little while back we threw up our hands and said, “Yes, thank you, more please,” to Hanson’s “Thinking ‘Bout Somethin'” — an infectious slice of 60’s soul-pop. But never did we think we’d get the added bonus of a video that at once paid perfect homage to one of the craziest, funniest musical comedies ever made or matched the joyous, summer-ready vibe of the song so perfectly. So without further ado, here are five reasons we adore Hanson’s “Thinking ‘Bout Somethin'” video.

1.) “The Blues Brothers”
Props to Hanson for digging through the crates for this. The classic Dan Aykroyd/John Belushi musical comedy came out the year Isaac Hanson was born. But that doesn’t stop the Hanson brothers from imitating “The Blues Brothers,” borrowing the film’s classic pawn shop scene for the “Thinking ‘Bout Somethin” video.

2.) Taylor Hanson’s Ray Charles Impersonation
Playing the part of Ray Charles in this Blues Brothers homage is middle brother Taylor Hanson, who goes to work on the electric piano with the famed soul singer’s patented shades on, thankfully leaving any Jamie-Foxx-style mimicry on the side.

3.) Isaac Hanson’s Beard
Kudos to Hanson for going the distance in the tribute; Isaac Hanson dons an incredible, long beard in the style of Blues Brothers (and Booker T. & The MG’s) guitarist Steve Cropper.

4.) Weird Al Yankovic Cameo!
Why yes, that is Weird Al Yankovic playing tambourine with the band. My brain just broke.

5.) Group Dancing!
Not only do Hanson perfectly re-create the famed Blues Brothers dance routine, but they even got a whole gang of people to do the group dance scene in front of a graffiti-tagged building. We dare you not to smile through the entire thing.