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Mark & Brian
(Dec 11th, 2001)
*Typed up by VALERIE*
Audio from Hanson's visit in the Music Room

There’s a frantic knock on the door and you hear Preva whisper "Hanson! They’re here!"

Brad: Y-you really do need to do that-
Brian: That scared me to death!
Mark: Ya - Preva, on the air!
Brian: Preva just runs in and goes
Mark: Alright -
Brian: [whispering] "They’re here they’re here!"
Mark: - turn their microphone back up in the back room. Hey girls?!
Brian: Oh jeez.
Mark: Hanson is here!
Sierra: [Screeching] OH MY GOD! Oh my God!
Isaac: Hello. [Sierra lets out a horrendous screeching cry]
Brian: That’s Isaac.
Isaac: Hey. [Another piercing screech and Kelli laughs at her. This next is lots of people talking at once as they all came in and I’m not too sure who was saying what and I couldn’t understand it all.]
Mark: Hi Isaac.
Taylor: [Sounding like a Beatle] Morning.
Frankie: Good morning.
Brian: Hi Taylor how are you?
Mark: How are you, come on in.
Brian: Zac. What’s sup?
Frankie: What’s goin’ on man?
Mark: Uh, Brad we’ll come back to you. [Sierra is still crying and screaming and Kelli still chuckling.]
Brian: Did you see the ga- were the girls still out there in front when you guys pulled in - they were?
Taylor: Yes they were [Mark laughs at the girls]. They brought us Christmas presents.
Brian: Yes they’re very-
Taylor: [Mimicking] We have your Christmas presents!
Brian: They’re very angry, because those two girls called the show yesterday, we couldn’t invite everybody in so we just said okay, you two can come. They were the first to call so they’re- they’re over there and- going nuts, turn up the mike - again back there so we can-
Taylor: They just don’t realize it’s a very small studio - they can’t all be here. [More talking in the background that can’t be made out - I think Zac was yawning!]
Brian: Ya.
Mark: We also have some very special friends, they’re in the back studio, we’ve kept them . . .

The girls don’t realize they’re mike is on. Sierra is moaning saying "My God" something, Arwen says something about "Look he’s waving" or something and Sierra scream/cries again (you really had to hear this, she was hysterical - figuratively and literally) - "Oh My God! Oh My God! Ohhuh, Ohhuh!" - absolutely moaning. Mark snorts:

Mark: I guess you’re used to this.
Taylor: Wow, do you guys get this every morning? Man! [Mark laughs heartily] No wonder you can get up this early.
Brian: I- i-it pays to be a radio deejay.
Taylor: I always think -
Brian: It really does.
Zac: Isn’t it illegal for people of your age to have um-
Taylor: Y- this is-
Zac: - young women in the studio like that?
Taylor: Get the cops in here right now.
Brian: It’s kinda sick idn’ it?
Taylor: Under age girls-
[Mark’s laughing and there’s lots of talking over each other.]
Taylor: It’s a new scandal - Mark & Bria- [trails off laughing and Mark is laughing again].
Brian: The fourteen year old’s my wife, so calm. [Mark can’t stop laughing] Calm down. You guys oughta be sponsored by an aspirin company. I mean [yells unintelligibly].
Mark: [Laughing] That’s very funny.
Brian: Ya, they should be-
Taylor: For us to take aspirin
Brian: No-
Taylor: or for the people around us?
Brian: Fer-fer, all of us, I mean these girls, my God!
Mark: Alright well first and foremost fellas - [You can hear Isaac talking to someone in the background but not what he’s saying]. Congratulations on This Time Around, that was a-
Taylor: Oh thank you.
Mark: - that is a great record and it’s still out there and you- I think the reason you’re here in Southern California right now is you’re making the next record?
Isaac: Yes we are.
Taylor: Yes we are.
Zac: We are.
Isaac: Ya.
Mark: How’s it goin’?
Isaac: It is going, pretty well actually.
Taylor: Really well- ya. We’ve been- it’s we’ve been workin’ on it actually for a long time but- we’re really really psyched about it.
Isaac: [Talking over the end of Taylor] Been writing songs I mean we prolly- I we- well we been writing songs ever since the last tour, so it’s kinda of, it’s kind of one of those weird things. You never know how long a record’s gonna take - and it’s kinda like you k- you just keep writing and writing and writing until it ta, until, you feel like you . . .
Brian: It falls together.
Taylor: Basically until you’re just really happy, you know.
Isaac: Ya.
Brian: Do you guys like to do it in the studio though I mean kind of experiment when you’re there or do ya walk in with all the i- ready to go?
Taylor: Well there’s a- I mean there’s a couple of different things. There’s writing- I mean- in writing a song - you for instance on the last record, uh This Time Around,
Brian: Mm hm.
Taylor: and um, another song called Save Me - they didn’t get written until after we were already recording.
Brian: Well, ya.
Taylor: Um, so that’s- that’s the kind of thing where we were working, and then we were taking a break, and- somebody sat down at the piano and before we knew it we were, you know we had another song so, that -
Isaac: Ya.
Taylor: That’s true, that can happen while you’re working but- you gotta come up with-
Isaac: [Talking over Taylor again] And actually both songs ended up kind of, singles -
Taylor: So-
Isaac: We made a video for Save Me, we made a- you know This Time Around of course was the
Taylor: [Said over Isaac] The first single and title track.
Isaac: title track an- you know so it’s . . .
Mark: Uh Frankie would you turn the girls up in the back studio for just a second? [Somebody laughs, I have no idea who.]
Taylor: [In a Beatles accent] Turn the gurls up, hello gurls!
Sierra: Oh, my God.
Mark: Alright, we’re gonna introduce, uh first and foremost here- [Brian exhales like "Oh boy" and Sierra screams.]
Arwen: Go to the thing.
Sierra: [Screaming] Ohhh my God.
Isaac: You know guys-guys-guys! You’re not-
Taylor: It’s okay!
Isaac: Uh I’m not sure how many points you’re winning with Mark & Brian with the screaming thing.
Sierra: Dude dude dude Taylor I love you! Oh my God! You don’t understand oh my gosh! Hey you don’t understand [starting to cry now] oh my God!
Taylor: Hey a- what- what’s your name?
Sierra: Sierra. Oh my God.
Taylor: Sierra.
Sierra: [Panting] He said my name!
Mark: He said your name.
Sierra: Oh my Go-ah-od! [Isaac and Mark laugh.]
Taylor: Hey it’s okay I’m- thank you very much. That’s a big compliment.
Mark: [Talking over Taylor] Hey you know who’s gettin’ the biggest kick out of this?
Brian: Uh ah.
Mark: Zac is cracking up in all of this. [Brian laughs] Ya.
Arwen: Hi Zac. Hi Ike.
Isaac: Hello.
Zac: Ola.
Arwen: Hi Taylor.
Sierra: Oh my God I love you, you guys just don’t understand!
Mark: Oh well obviously.
Arwen: My name is Arwen.
Mark: Uh we have-
Taylor: Nice to meet you Arwen.
Isaac: Hello.
Mark: We have Hanson here. Zac, say good morning.
Zac: Uh Good morning.
Mark: Uh, then Taylor.
Taylor: Good morning.
Mark: And Isaac.
Isaac: Good morning.
Mark: Uhm, now you guys uh, y-you- you brought your guitar so at some point after we get all set up we’re gonna have you do whatever it is you choose to do.
Isaac: Ya.
Mark: Uh-
Brian: Did you guys- w-w- when you guys became like the- the number one essential- er ah a essential album of the decade, voted bya, Rollingstone magazine I mean- well that must have been cool!
Taylor: Well, that stuff’s, some of the coolest stuff.
Brian: Ya.
Isaac: Ya I mean when you-
Taylor: When somebody when, Rollingstone or
Brian: Ya.
Taylor: somebody like that actually goes okay, like gonna give you props for your record as opposed to- just going oh ya this was a successful album they go okay now this was like, a good album you- you know, go out
Isaac: [Said while Taylor is still talking] Totally.
Taylor: and get it- listen to it, it’s really . . .
Brian: That’s Rollingstone magazine.
Taylor: Ya it’s great.
Isaac: Oh I know I know. It- it’s actually, the irony of all that is you know, you always say, you always say well you know, it doesn’t really matter what the critics think, and you know, screw the critics because you know they- they’re not really -
Taylor: Hopefully not because . . . [Brian laughs]
Isaac: It’s really it’s like- you know it’s the fans that matter it’s the fans matter! But y- and-and-
Taylor: It is fun to have that happen.
Isaac: But it is- very nice and- to, you know get the- props from you know, fellow musicians, from,
Brian: Sure.
Isaac: you know music magazines such as Rollingstone, Spin, things like that. You know we’ve gotten, we've been uhh, we’ve had very good luck with that kind of thing.
Brian: Well we had this idea, it says in your bio tha- you were turned down by five record labels before getting signing with Mercury? I was thinkin’ if-
Taylor: I-I think it was more like thirteen-
Isaac: [Simultaneously with Taylor] Fourteen or fifteen.
Taylor: - thirteen or fourteen.
Isaac: Ya, it was all [can’t understand the rest and Mark is laughing].
Brian: Well, why don't you just write down three of them and let’s call ‘em?
Taylor: Ya, right now!
Brian: [In a "neener" voice] Ha ha!
Mark: [Same] Ha ha!
Taylor: But you know though, those kind of- you know, what's funny about it is - as- as you become successful and as you stay in the industry you end up meeting those people and seeing them along the way and establishing new relationshi-shi- relationships with them.
Brian: Uh huh.
Taylor: [Said quickly] I can't talk it's too early. Um, and it's really- it’s really interesting, because you're like "Hey, how's it going?" and they kind of look at you now like [mumbling] "Oh you know."
Brian: Ya [Mark snorts].
Taylor: [Trailing off, not sure what he said] I don’t know . . .
Brian: Well wh-when they turned you down I me- were you- were you, demoing Mmmbop for them?
Taylor: Um well- it depends on how far back you go.
Brian: Okay.
Taylor: Eventually we were, ya. Th- our second independent record had Mmmbop on it and it was called Mmmbop.
Brian: Mm hm.
Taylor: Um it had two- three songs on that record were actually on our first record, um . . .
Brian: But, I-I know you guys wanna move along with-with uh- your music uh-
Taylor: Sure.
Brian: - uh-uh-
Isaac: Ya, oh . . .
Brian: evolution, but you gotta sa- you gotta say Mmmbop is just this great song!
Isaac: Oh ya.
Taylor: Oh dude I'm- totally proud of everything we’ve released.
Brian: Okay good-
Taylor: That’s-
Brian: good, that’s-
Taylor: That's what everybody says, they always go "Oh are you sick of this, are you sick of that?" I’m mean I’m- I don't sit there and listen to it all day
Brian: Right.
Taylor: but I'm not sick of it. I mean I'm really proud of everything we’ve released.
Brian: Th-that's my question though. Y-you went into some record company played Mmmbop for ‘em and they went
Taylor: And they said-
Brian: "Mm- I don't think so"?
Isaac: Well you know
Brian: Ha!
Isaac: i-it's really to the credit of our- of our manager uh, Christopher Sabec and also Stirling because they just- uh they- those guys, they worked their butts off for the- to get us signed. I mean they- they believed in us.
Taylor: [Talking over Isaac] Basically they said "We're gonna get it signed" ‘cause they believed in us.
Isaac: You know- I mean, Christopher he moved out to L.A. uh, to get us signed. You know he spent years -
Taylor: Left his job as an attorney.
Mark: Wow.
Brian: Wow.
Isaac: Ya he- he spent years, you know kind of - shoppin’ the record around and all that kind of thing. An- and, you know they- in fact [laughing] we got turned down by Mercury who ended up signing us. Um
Mark: [Quietly] Oh really?
Isaac: I think three times?
Brian: Ya.
Zac: PERSISTENCE! [Everyone is talking at once, couldn’t make it all out.]
Isaac: It was either
Taylor: Persistence persistence persistence!
Isaac: two or- two or- it was two or three times -
Taylor: They eventua- they-
Isaac: and it was the same people! You know it was really funny.
Taylor: They’re like- [said really fast] "Okay fine- fourth’s- fourth’s a charm."
Zac: Or y-
Brian: What were you gonna say Zac?
Zac: Uh I was just gonna say, eventually they’re gonna give in.
Taylor: They’re gonna give in! [Mark & Brian laugh and someone says something simultaneously that I can’t make out] That’s what Zac realizes -
Zac: It's like women, [they laugh again] okay, you ask them enough times,
Taylor: [Talking over Zac] Just keep on comin’!
Zac: they're gonna give you one of those courtesy dates. [Mark is still laughing.]
Brian: Ya I wonder how many
Taylor: And then-
Brian: times it would take to ask these two! You know-
Taylor: I don't know -
Brian: [Valley girl voice] Uhkay!
Taylor: probably three, I would guess.
Mark: Well now-
Taylor: I would say about three times. To ask ‘em for a date -
Isaac: Uh I don- [laughing] ha I don’t even want to go there! [Brian laughs.]
Mark: Now with
Isaac: [Talking over Mark] Uh I’m worried.
Mark: the first record uh, it was a- critically well received and the fans loved it but the second record was, umm arguably more of a rock and roll and almost a statement. Was it a conscious de- ‘cause you guys brought in John Popper and Jonny Lang and -
Isaac: Ya.
Mark: Was it a conscious decision that you were going try to leave a little bit of the pop thing, and introduce yourselves into another world?
Taylor: Well you know, I think- any first record that you make is uhm . . . any band’ll tell you and it's y- it’s your first record. So there's a certain amount of, you're just kinda gettin’ your feet wet as far a- I mean we've made- four records already but that was our first major release. So you're in there with people- you know you’re in there with the record company, you’re in there with all the sudden money. So I think, there’s a little more of- okay well, I’m gonna give and take a little bit here. Because you're just you know steppin' into it. Not to mention we were- you know eleven, thir- fourteen and sixteen.
Mark: [Chuckling] Wow.
Brian: Ya, ya.
Taylor: So we said, you know, you kinda give a little bit more. So in that- in that sense I think on the second record, we just had more of an ability to have a sense of ourselves. But- um, I think it was just really the evolution of the music. I think we just- got there . . . by- writing songs.
Mark: You’re not kidding me.
Taylor: And those songs just kind of came together.
Brian: Know you’ve told this story a million times, but whe- how did it start? Uh- just, you guys like playing- all y- did y- did you play drums Zac, before this whole thing started?
Isaac: Oh ya.
Zac: N- well, before this whole thing started, um, I was about six. [All the guys laugh.]
Taylor: Before- before this whole thing started he was an embryo!
Zac: So um, no, no.
Isaac: Uh I- I think-
Taylor: Actually, it actually started singing accapella, it was just voices. Um and we, we started to write s- we always wrote songs on the piano. Uh specifically Ike and I. Zac didn't pick up the piano until a few years later but - we would just write songs and then we would go sing. Um and then eventually-
Brian: Who were you singing to?
Taylor: Well you know relatives, family, you know at first, the very first things. And they go [high voice like a mother] "Oh my God" you know so you're so
Isaac: [Talking over Taylor] Our first- our- our-
Taylor: cute, you know ‘cause sing. [Brian laughs] And then -
Isaac: Our first official show was in- was in May of '91 as you know our c- in our current, you know-
Brian: Where was that?
Taylor: That was-
Isaac: That was actually, at a- at a local music festival called May Fest.
Brian: Uh huh.
Isaac: And, you know it just happens every year. An eh we actually played that what - f-three or four year- years in a row?
Taylor: We ju- we would just do that every year.
Isaac: Ya.
Taylor: So that was our first show and then every year after that we would always go back and play.
Brian: What was the drive? I mean uh- you wanted to be stars, you wanted to be in the music business, or it was just fun?
Taylor: We just knew we were gonna do music. I mean it was just clear.
Brian: Okay.
Taylor: It was like - wow! There’s three guys that are - at that point we were six, nine, and eleven.
Brian: Alright.
Isaac: Ya.
Taylor: An- I mean, you’re like okay, I me- first of all we didn't realize we were that young. It was- it wasn't like - hi, you know I’m 7, can I go buy s- Power Rangers or whatever. [Mark laughs] It was just - we knew what we were doing
Mark: Ya.
Taylor: and knew we wanted to do music
Mark: Sure.
Taylor: and it was pretty clear to anybody around you that, anybody that’s that young that has that much drive to do it - must have a reason.
Isaac: And I-
Mark: Okay.
Isaac: I give lot of credit to our folks for being- for being as uh . . .
Taylor: Willing to support that.
Isaac: . . . willing to support that. Ya I mean they were jus like- they saw that we wanted to do it. They saw that- that kind of- drive and, you know- need to just get out there and do something with- with, our voices shall we say. And uh
Brian: Sure.
Isaac: An- and they recognized that and helped us out with it
Mark: Okay.
Isaac: and that’s- been really cool.
Taylor: [I couldn’t really tell what he said here - I could be totally off] They said cut more lawns.
Mark: Now guys, you're um- incredibly successful with this venture. And fame, is hard for anyone to deal with, especially- ‘cause it's an unknown animal and there it is
Taylor: [While Mark is still talking] You guys would know that.
Mark: and on top of that - you're brothers! [Isaac laughs] Now, has that hindered it, has it saved it, has it helped it? Well ob-obviously it’s a- and you're going through puberty for good G- ah mean!
Zac: Well I-
Isaac: Ya.
Zac: I- wounin’t say that we're going through puberty.
Taylor: We were once upon a time. [Mark & Brian laugh loudly]
Isaac: Ya, we were. Zac-
Taylor: There was a time where we were.
Isaac: Zac-
Zac: [Said something else first that I couldn’t make out] From-
Isaac: Zac definitely ha-
Zac: from personal-
Isaac: Zac in particular, has gone-
Zac: Ya - we’re not going through . . .
Isaac: has gone through it.
Zac: . . . puberty. [Mark & Brian laugh all the harder] Um, but da -
Taylor: Didn’t you guys just hit puberty? Just a few days-
Brian: Eh ya just ta two- twice!
Taylor: Twice [can’t understand the rest. Mark is laughing really loud and there’s several people saying short things at once that I can’t make out].
Isaac: It’s very awkward the second time around.
Brian: Zac was lowering his voice-
Taylor: It’s so awkward!
Brian: Zac was lowering his voice -
Frankie: [Lots of people talking here, couldn’t catch it all, I think it was him in a low voice] "Puberty."
Brian: [Uses a really deep voice while Mark continues to laugh hysterically] "We’re not going through puberty."
Zac: No, no, no.
Taylor: You know what I think, it’s like - those- ya sure those things are- you know they add to the-
Isaac: You know I thin-
Taylor: they add to the . . . the pressure and those kinds of things. That’s the-
Isaac: It really is just a- it really is just an in-individual case. I mean- you know . . . I mean I hate to say this, look at Michael [embarrassed laugh] Jackson.
Mark: Mm [chuckles].
Brian: I-I don’t like-
Isaac: I feel like- you know it’s kind of it’s like- you never know
Taylor: A really incredible talent though.
Isaac: You know -
Zac: W-what are you telling me? That eventually I'm gonna to turn myself into a black man? [Mark laughs heartily.] Instead of shrinking my nose I will enlarge it? [He chuckles.]
Isaac: No it's ok Zac, I don't think you need to enlarge your nose.
Taylor: Ooh, ooh.
Isaac: No ahm-
Taylor: The brotherly sense is coming in. [Brian chuckles.]
Isaac: No I mean I sh- you know I feel- well- Michael Jackson’s really talented. Actually one of the people that we kind of looked up to over the years as far as you know-
Taylor: Absolutely.
Isaac: I mean he’s got an amazing voice, you know really talented guy all that kind of stuff but you never know what - how someone is gonna to turn out. I mean frankly I don't know how I'm going to turn out. I mean
Taylor: Well we already know that chu’re goin’ down hill.
Isaac: turnin’ out that I’ll be a cranky you know, pain in the ass old guy. You know, whatever [Mark is laughing].

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