Article: How to Make Good ’n’ Cheesy Pop

By | April 20, 2009

1. Smashing Pumpkins guitarist James Iha and Fountains of Wayne’s Adam Schlesinger meet in Chicago in the early nineties. A few years later, when FOW’s self-titled debut is released, the now arena- huge Pumpkins (above) take the fledgling band on the road with them. Iha and Schlesinger eventually co-found Scratchie Records.

2. In 1997, Schlesinger meets and befriends the then-14-year-old Taylor Hanson in L.A. while Hanson is writing material for his band’s major-label debut, Middle of Nowhere.

3. In 2006, Schlesinger has an idea for a new project—loud guitars with Taylor singing. Iha likes it. At the 2007 Fools Banquet, the annual songwriters’ retreat hosted by the Hansons in their hometown, Tulsa, Schlesinger and Hanson write what will become Tinted Windows’ first song, “Take Me Back.”

4. The project gets back-burnered until 2008, when the trio meets up at Chelsea’s Stratosphere Sound, the studio co-owned by Iha and Schlesinger, to begin recording. One problem: no drummer. “We kept saying we should get someone like Bun E. Carlos” of Cheap Trick, says Schlesinger.

5. Eventually, it occurs to them that, hey, they could just ask Bun E.! He accepts. They come up with the name Tinted Windows—“an intentionally cheesy-sounding homage” to the power-pop bands that inspired the project, says Schlesinger. “I liked that it sounds like a band that was playing the Jersey shore on a Sunday in the late seventies.”

6. S-Curve Records offers the band a deal, and in February the members meet for rehearsal—their first time all together in one room—then shoot a promo video (below).

7. Schlesinger rejects the idea that the band is a supergroup: “This is about four people who we thought could make good music together.” The supergroup’s self-titled debut comes out April 21. Appearances on Letterman and Jimmy Fallon are scheduled, along with select tour dates.

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Article: Tinted love: The Hanson-Smashing Pumpkins-Fountains of Wayne-Cheap Trick get-together

By | April 20, 2009

Supergroups are predictable.

It’s almost always some bunch of folkies (Crosby, Stills & Nash) or blues cats (Cream) or ’70s burnouts (the Firm, Asia, Bad English) doing exactly what’s expected. The results can be awesome (see “Deja Vu”). Or lame (BadEnglish’s “When I See You Smile,” anyone?). But rarely are they shocking.

Shocking would be a blend of Smashing Pumpkins and “MMMBop.” Or that dude behind “Stacy’s Mom” jamming with Cheap Trick drummer Bun E. Carlos.

Well, prepare to be shocked. Carlos, Hanson’s Taylor Hanson, ex-Pumpkin James Iha and Fountains of Wayne’s Adam Schlesinger have joined forces as Tinted Windows. The team’s self-titled debut hits stores tomorrow.

In search of some explanation about these strange bandfellows, we called up Schlesinger.

Herald: Start at the beginning. How did you and Taylor connect?

Schlesinger: I met Taylor years ago through Steve Greenberg – then an A&R guy at Mercury, now head of S Curve Records – who’s putting the album out. When he signed Hanson, he suggested that I write some songs for the band. Stupidly, I didn’t write anything for their record and it went on to sell one zillion copies. But Taylor and I stayed in touch and always talked about doing something together. The idea behind Tinted Windows really was just to get Talyor’s voice up against some loud guitars.

What about James?

I became friends with James even before Fountains of Wayne. He was very helpful in getting Fountains of Wayne going. Since then, we’ve started an indie label together and run a New York studio called Stratosphere Sound.

And what about Bun E. Carlos?

The three of us knew we wanted a drummer who could play like Bun E. Carlos. Then we thought, “We should just ask him.” So we just kinda cold-called him. He wanted to hear some songs, so we sent what we had over and he said, “OK.”

Are you worried that people will listen with preconceived notions?

We knew people would be a bit confused by (Tinted Windows), so we intentionally didn’t talk about it all until the record was done. We wanted people to be able to immediately hear some music when they heard about us.

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Article: Walk in Ridgefield will help build school in Africa

By | April 20, 2009

Ridgefielders Joanna Vill and Kerryn King are hosting a one-mile charity walk through the village, Saturday April 25, to raise money to build a school in Africa.

The event is sponsored by the Take the Walk organization, which is supported by Ms. Vill’s and Ms. King’s favorite band, Hanson.

Take the Walk donates $1 for every person who participates in walks to benefit needy areas in Africa. Ms. Vill and Ms. King have chosen specifically to support the building of a new school.

Taking the one-mile walk is free — the organizers only ask for participants to sign their names on a roster so the list can be sent to Take the Walk.

Interested walkers can meet at Ballard Park gazebo at 11 a.m and walk down Main Street and on Catoonah Street before heading back to the park. No pre-registration is required. Questions can be e-mailed to the organizers at TaketheWalkRidgefield@yahoo.com.This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it More information about the charity can be found at TaketheWalk.net.

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Article: Can’t Get You Out Of My Head

By | April 17, 2009

Stephen King has worms. Not the kind of worms you’re probably thinking about right this moment though. I’m talking about earworms. And I guarantee you’ve got them too.

Other culprits include Katy Perry’s “I Kissed a Girl,” Sisqó’s “Thong Song,” Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s “Relax,” Rupert Holmes’ “Escape (The Piña Colada Song),” Hanson’s “MMMBop,” and Soft Cell’s “Tainted Love.”

I hear the parents out there grumbling about the special breed of earworm that comes with having children. Don’t worry, you haven’t been left out.

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Design Entry Form

By | April 16, 2009

To download the entry form (pdf) right click and save:
http://www.hansontickets.com/Entry.pdf

-Submissions must be emailed to DesignContest@hansontickets.com no later than Tuesday, June 30, 2009 at 11:59pm EST.
-Submissions must include the designers name and email. (First name last initial is fine if you’d rather not give our your full name)
-No more than 5 submissions per person
-Voting will begin sometime in July – details will be posted once we know how many entries were submitted.

Submissions must be sent electronically (emailed) but can be scans of hand drawn designs or can be computer generated.

Designs must be in some way Hanson related – which is very vague. Also keep in mind that it will be raising money for music education, so incorporate that as well.

No copyrighted images can be used – any designs submitted with copyrighted material will be disqualified.

Please don’t hesitate to enter even if you’re not an artist – the voting will be based on the IDEA of the design and not necessarily the look of it.

Any questions, leave me a comment.

Penny Design Contest

By | April 16, 2009

Most of you are aware that HansonTickets.com sponsored an “I Have Hope” Penny with proceeds from its sales going to HIVSA.

We have decided to do this again, this time for a charity based in the USA. (Charity is still TBD but it will be to benefit music education in schools – leave suggestions in the comments)

We will be holding a design contest so the final product will be designed by a hansontickets.com / hansontickets blog viewer!

Rules: (subject to change)
-No more than 5 entries can be submitted per person
-Entries will be collected until June 30, 2009
-Engraver reserves the right to modify the design in order for it to work better on such a small medium (penny)
-No copyrighted materials can be used
-Design should in some way be Hanson-related
-Winner can be from USA or over seas – everyone is welcome to participate
-A contest entry form will be posted on this site in the upcoming weeks as a .pdf.
-All submissions will need to be emailed (will be posted with the entry form)
Entries can be hand-drawn and then scanned in for a submission or computer generated.

Don’t worry if you’re not that great of an artist. We will be picking a very talented engraver (TBA) who can work with what you submit and polish it up to be a great design.

Winner will receive 5 copies of their design on a penny as well as 1 on a nickel.

The top 5 or 10 designs (depending on overall number of submissions) will be narrowed down by the hansontickets.com staff & other trusted friends. There will be final voting through this blog. Depending on the number of entries, there may be several rounds of voting. Voting will occur in July and possibly into August.

We are looking to have the final product ready for sale in the Fall – hopefully around the time Hanson will be touring.

If you have any questions, please leave a comment so when I answer everyone will see it.

Zac Answering Questions

By | April 16, 2009

Zac

I have been getting a lot of PM’s with questions about the next members only event, when the next tour will be a other things of that nature so I thought I would write some of my answers in a more public place so everyone can know what is going on.

1. When will the Guide to Tulsa be put up on Hanson.net?
A. I am planning on putting it up at the beginning of next month. We will probably put it out when we send out the newsletter on the 1st.

2. When will the details for the promised summer member’s event be released?
A. Our original plan was to do this in conjunction with a summer tour, but our plans have changed a little and now we will not be touring till the fall. It is looking like we will not be doing the next members event tell sometime in September.

3. When will SETB be coming out?
A. SETB is almost ready to go to manufacturing. We are still planning on putting it out in the spring, but it is looking like it will be sometime late May, too early June at this point. One of the reasons it has been pushed back is because we keep adding content to it. We will be announcing the final content DVD/CD content soon.

4. When will the new version of Hanson.net be going live?
A. Soon… Before the new album comes out… Yes I am being vague

2009 Members Kit

By | April 16, 2009

For each year’s membership kit we try to create something special for those of you who have been most passionate about our music, whether we write and record songs specifically for the purpose of the member kit, create in-depth videos about the making of an album, or in this case give you access to exclusive music created during a special songwriting event that we do each year called ‘Fools Banquet’. We are excited to let you inside and give you 5 special songs that have never been released, as well as tell you the stories of how they were created. Songs like Go, Running Man and Watch Over Me have come out of Fools Banquet over the years, and many more will come in the future. We hope you like this selection of songs from the last few years and their stories.

Track List:

1. I Can’t Wait
2. Wait Here For You
3. All I Have to Give
4. Take My Time
5. Devils’ Nachos

Carry You There

By | April 16, 2009

Many of you have heard about the new song we performed at Tin Pan South in Nashville recently called Carry You There. We’ve linked two videos of the song to our YouTube page under Favorites so you can all hear it. Enjoy!

(from hanson.net)