It's An Awesome Life for the Brother's Hanson

BY LARRY NAGER
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Everything I need to know I learned from Hanson.

1. Travel is educational. "We're really looking forward to coming to Cincinnati and when we get there, we're sure we'll learn much more about the city," says Issac "Ike" Hanson, 17. "We always try to make sure that we see some stuff while we're in each city. Otherwise it's not quite as interesting."

2. A Hanson movie would not be a good idea. "That's a big 'No' with an exclamation mark," says Taylor "Tay" Hanson, 15. "I think we're a band, no I don't think, I'm sure we're a band and that's what it's about, and its just doing music. We're not about doing movies. We love doing music videos, but it's about just making music."

3. There will be no Hanson dolls under the tree this Christmas. "Everyone wants dolls or something," says an exasperated Zachary "Zac" Hanson, 12. "It's like 'No way!''

4. Ike has a secret musical fantasy. "I've never said this, but I'm a huge Aerosmith fan. Who isn't?" Ike says. "And I'd have to say I'd like to be (Aerosmith guiarist) Joe Perry, with the wailing guitar solos and whatnot. I actually have one of his guitars, a 'Joe Perry signature model' guitar, so that's pretty cool."

5. Zac is tired of stupid interview questions. Zac has done as many as 21 interviews in one day, much more than your average 12-year-old. He says the dumbest questions he's ever been asked are "Where did you guys meet?" (Duh, they are brothers) and "How'd you come up with your name?"

6. Hanson fan are most fanatical Down Under. "Our hugest fan base is Australia, for some reason," Tay says. "It's just insane over there."

7. Be here now. "I don't think you can really look 10 years ahead," Tay says. "I think you can look one week ahead or one day ahead. I think you just to kinda take it one day at a time, each show at a time and just enjoy it."

8. The best ways to spend endless days on a tour bus. "Sleeping, watching movies, playing video games or listening to music," Zac says. "On the bus there's two different lounges where you can crank up some music or watch movies," Tay adds. "You read, you draw, you play video games. Just anything to just pass the time and just chill out."

9. Hanson is a universal language. "What's awesome is when you're in a different country and they're singing your songs. That's awesome."

10. Eclectic musical tastes are good. "We listen to Green Day, Pearl Jam…Aretha Franklin, Bobby Darin, things like that. We listen to anything you can think of, from TLC to Aerosmith," Zac says.

11. Fans can make it hard to exercise on tour. "We bring our Roller Blades," Zac says. "Unfortunately, we haven't gotten much of a chance to use them, because, there's fans waiting outside and it's not like your gonna Roller Blade. (He imitates being rushed by fans) 'Oh god, noooo!'"

12. Why girls scream is one of the mysteries of life. "I have no idea," Ike says. "When somebody figures it out, I'd like them to tell me. Hopefully they'll stop and listen to the songs, and a lot of the time they pretty much do. But there's definitely a certain amount of people that just kind of keep screaming." "Every crowd is different," Tay adds. "Everybody knows how to scream loud, though. That's one think that is universal."

13. Why guys don't scream is not a mystery to Tay. "What guys do is they grunt," he explains. "They go (his voice lowers) 'Oh yeah! Oh yeah!' I think it's just guys can't scream. They can scream when they're about 11. And then all of a sudden it ends."