On the cusp of their new single release we caught up with Isaac from Hanson, direct from New York, to discuss influences, changes in the music industry, and the group’s relationship with the UK.
MTTM: You guys have a new single out called Give a Little, which like much of your work has a really positive, upbeat vibe. Is the sunny disposition of your music a reflection of your attitude, personalities and outlook on life in general?
Hanson: (Laughs) Well, by and large people do perceive us as a positive, upbeat kind of band, and for the most part our music does tend to go in that direction. However our upbeat nature could unfortunately be misconstrued as vapidity, which is probably unfair. For example, with Give a Little, it does have an important message – it is basically encouraging the protagonist of the song to seize the day, to make a move on the girl you like and give it all you’ve got. Within our entire career of making music I don’t think we have ever released a single like it… in fact most of our singles haven’t actually been love songs, and Give a Little is not even an obvious love song.
MTTM: And what about Shout it Out – what would you say the vibe was on your new album?
Hanson: Shout it Out definitely has an upbeat, motivated vibe. Indeed, the title Shout it Out certainly suggests that it is probably a fairly upbeat record. However there are some ballads too; the song Me, Myself and I, for example, which is the last track on the record definitely has some bluesy and gospel inspired moments, with some very broken down instrumentation, just keyboard and vocals – that type of thing. The album does run the gamut a little bit, but is essentially a soulful-pop type of affair.
MTTM: Your most famous track, MMMbop, was nominated for numerous awards, and could certainly be included in a list of the most memorable pop songs of all time. How does it feel to forever have a place in pop music history?
Hanson: MMMbop is the kind of song every band in the world hopes to have – a song that is enormously successful and empowers them to keep going for years to come. It was an enormous advance for Hanson as a group, but it was particularly special for us because we were also very young, and the songwriters too.
MTTM: As a band, over here in England, Hanson have often been labelled as a one hit wonder. Is it frustrating that your new material is often considered to be a comeback, especially when you have been releasing albums and touring pretty consistently in the US for the past 15 years?
Hanson: Unfortunately because we haven’t lived, breathed and toured in the UK every single year like we have in the US, some fans in the UK have not be able to fully appreciate the subtleties of Hanson’s evolution. However, whilst many artists, especially those that started off young like we did could think of it as a weight around their necks we never have. With us being the songwriters first and foremost has allowed us to be 100 percent satisfied, confident and proud with everything that we have done and been able to do. I do not necessarily think that MMMbop is everything Hanson was or is though. If you listen to the album that contained MMMbop, Middle of Nowhere, people would still be really surprised by the diversity, rawness and intensity of a lot of the album. But MMMbop is a part of who we are, much like the new single is a part of who we are. These lead singles might be more upbeat than other tracks on the record, but that does not mean they are not a good way of getting audiences attention.
MTTM: On your website, you guys have stated that we are “standing at the crossroads of the analogue and digital worlds”. Is that past verses future concept quite a good metaphor for Hanson generally – that you are often determined by your earlier work, but also continue to push the band and your music forward?
Hanson: Certainly we are a band who in many ways have found ourselves at a weird crossroads in music. As far as our generation is concerned, our first record was being made on reel-to-reel analogue tape whereas our second record was made entirely on a computer. We have experienced the old school processes of record making right through to new technologies that are now involved. And with the emergence of social networking recently how we market ourselves has changed dramatically – for example many new bands these days do not have destination sites that are as evolved as ours is. Our website is the focal point of our presence online, where as Facebook and Twitter are more vital for new bands. We emerged in a world where you needed to have a website that was good enough for people to surf it and enjoy it and stay there for more than five seconds. We have continued this approach because it is important to interact with our fan base and the website is such a productive way of doing that.
MTTM: What with you guys being from Tulsa, your music has always had a classic Americana sound, but it also has a universal pop edge. What are your influences that have contributed to this sound?
Hanson: We have always found ourselves in an unusual circumstance musically – we were a band that grew up listening to music that belonged to an era that was older even than our parent’s generation. We were listening to a lot of 50s R&B and rock and roll – we have always had the roots of old school pop and old school R&B in what we do. That music was to us the essence of pop music, it was the archetypal two-minute song, and we used to listen to that stuff repeatedly. It was like the perfect lesson in pop music song writing.
MTTM: Finally, who are your favourite current artists? Have your influences changed, and are there any acts from the UK that have caught your eye?
Hanson: One of my personal favourite bands over the last ten years has been Travis, who have displayed absolutely amazing song writing. Their first two records especially were totally amazing. The music industry and pop music in general however is in a very unusual place at the moment, and it has developed into this strange new online space where you are exposed to new artists in obscure, fleeting ways. You think – “I know that artist, but I’m not exactly sure why”. But another particular favourite is Adele. She is absolutely enormous around the world right now – thank god – because she is really great, and I think her latest record is better than the first one. She is making great music and that is a really exciting thing. She is writing some great songs as well, and has a really expressive voice that is not being constantly altered by computers for the sake of an effect. It is nice to hear something fresh and real – there is a lot of artists such as Lady Gaga that are really controlled substances these days. There are songs in there, but a lot of what they are is a very synthesised, non-organic thing. With artists like Adele, and also Mumford and Sons, there is a kind of underground swell that ends up gaining a lot of momentum. Within the modern, social-networking world people can choose for themselves, and they appreciate honesty, which is what more stripped down, less produced artist such as these offer.
Single ‘Give A Little’ is out now and ‘Shout It Out’ is out on 3CG Records on June 6th
http://www.morethanthemusic.co.uk/interviews/hanson/
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