Hanson, a band of brothers from Tulsa, Oklahoma , rose to fame in the late 1990’s with their hit single “MMMBop” and their multi-platinum-selling debut album, Middle of Nowhere. The band, comprised of Isaac, now 28, Taylor, 25 and Zac, 23, went on to garner three Grammy nominations before eventually splitting with major labels, first Mercury Records, and then Island Def Jam Records after a three-year battle. Subsequently the band formed its own independent label, 3CG (Three Car Garage) Records.

Their first independent release, Underneath, met with overwhelming success, debuting at Number One on Billboard’s Top Independent Albums chart in 2004 and number 25 on the Billboard 200 chart

In 2007, Hanson released their second studio album on 3CG Records, The Walk, and embarked on a world tour in support of the album. A partnership with TOMS Shoes helped the band to bring shoes to needy children in Africa . Hanson still hosts one-mile walks with their fans before their shows to support AIDS care, clean drinking water and medical care for the citizens of Africa . The brothers are currently on tour in the US with The Walk. Starpolish recently sat down with guitarist Isaac Hanson to discuss Hanson’s latest album, the trials and joys of owning and managing their own label, and some helpful advice for aspiring artists just starting out.

STARPOLISH: I know you guys are currently on tour promoting your latest album The Walk with a Walk Around the World tour along with your partnership with TOMS Shoes that has now evolved into other methods of helping people in Africa.

HANSON: The Walk Around the World Tour is basically an initiative to get 24, 902 people to walk with us, and the reason why we’re getting 24,902 is because that’s the number of miles around the world. The way we’re doing that is by [hosting] walks of our own at every single concert across the United States and Canada. We’re also providing an opportunity for people to host their own walks wherever they would like, and we will give a dollar for every person that walks both with us and with those that are hosting walks.

The idea behind all of this is that people kept coming up to us last year as we were walking, people who were motivated to buy TOMS shoes and reach their goal of 50,000 shoes before November of 2007 so they could deliver the shoes to South Africa. People kept walking up to us asking “How can I do more? How can I donate money to the cause?” So this is a way for us to continue to support TOMS Shoes, plus also actively provide ways for people to support the hospitals–through sales of the song Great Divide–and drilling wells and building schools and providing shoes as well . So it’s just a further expansion.

STARPOLISH: You also have a book and LP inspired by The Walk, is that right?

HANSON: That’s correct; the book is called Take the Walk and the music is something that comes with that book. The book came out in November. The music was inspired in part by the walks themselves, being a motivational tool as well as an inspiration. We wrote songs certainly about some of the issues that are going on in Africa but we also felt that the kind of motivation and encouragement that people had given us as we were walking but also that people need as they stick their neck out and start doing things like taking walks. It was important to support them and to support the cause through those types of avenues.

STARPOLISH: That record is released on your record label ,3CG (3 Car Garage) Records, which you started and currently own with your brothers, Taylor and Zac. Speaking of 3CG Records, what are your plans for the future of the label? Do you plan on signing more artists?

HANSON: We’ve had a lot of discussions over the course of the last five years about that exact question and we’ve really struggled with not signing artists, because there were many cases where we had really good relationships with artists that we felt like could really do well. But we still felt like the music business is in such turmoil and we feel like there is a better way to provide services for artists that exist currently, and we’ve been aggressively pursing those avenues. We feel like we’re still at a point where we need to use ourselves as guinea pigs before we subject other artists to our process of being a record company.

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