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Vol. CXXVII No. 121 October 29 Issue of the Columbia University Spectator

ANSWERS FROM....
Your Seventh Grade Crush, + 6 Years

For college students, Hanson - along with contemporaries the Backstreet Boys, Pras featuring Mya, and Freaknasty - represents what they consider either the dark days or the glory days of their musical tastes. But Hanson may have been the only boy-band of the late 90s that could actually call itself a band and not just a doe eyed a capella group. The band has been on hiatus for the past three years after their second disc, This Time Around failed to live up to the success of their 1997 debut Middle of Nowhere. This year Hanson has returned to the studio and the road, where they are now on the third leg of a cross-country acoustic tour that will conclude with a performance at Carnegie Hall on November 5. A new album, Underneath, is slated for release in the spring.

Taylor, the middle Hanson - now 20 years old - spoke with Spectator from Atlanta, where he is staying with his wife and child.

Q. [Formalities]

A. We just got back from England, where we were doing a one night show...We got a chance to touch base with a lot of fans and touch base with partners that are gonna be working with us with our new label there...We've been meeting with companies all over the worl. The new record is gonna be released on our new label, 3CG Records. A month ago we did an announcement of the formation of the label. For us, it's the most exciting thing, having the opportunity to release music where we are both the band and the CEO of the entity.

What was the motivation for starting your own label?

Well, when we were at Universal [Records] the point of starting the label was to have creative control. You decide who's gonna be on your team, who's gonna be working on the album. The company in the UK is the same distribution company, but as 3CG we are in charge of press and marketing the album.

How would you say the new record is different?

There are a lot of differences, but this has more intimate moments than past albums. We've changed the sound of prouction, the musicality of the product...As songwriters, you just hope you're continuing to surprise listeners. The idea is to keep threads of what people know [from past albums], what they recognize as a part of that band...I mean, you hate turning on a new record and going "What is this?!" We're trying to keep the excitement of this since it's different while maintaining the old qualities people like about our music. As time goes by, you naturally evolve. We've always allowed for change and we've been excited about whats happening... For this particular album, we knew we wanted to produce a lot of it ourselves, we wanted to capture a special thing, for the dynamics to be there. We wanted it to be an album you could turn up in your car, but still let the songs have texture, so that they can also be mellow and just in the background...This is one of the mellowest albums we've done.

Do you think there's any conscious change in target audience, or do you think that's just a product of time passing and fans getting older?

Without a doubt, the fans are growing up with us. I mean, being as young as we were, they literally grew up with us. If they were 14, they're 20 now...Whatever the age, the core of our fans - our peers - are going forward and changing. One of the coolest things is going to shows where people say, "I've been a fan for six years. You've been a part of my life for six years." That's what music should do. At the same time, you're also hoping that someone who didn't like your band would take another look.

Do you think that it's possible to fall into the trap where all you are is nostalgia for people who grew up with your music? And if so, how do you get out of that trap?

Really, you have to take the connection that people have, that nostalgia, and get them re-excited about why it is they love you now. You have to strive to keep people going. That is, to keep people getting goosebumps and that feeling about your music.

Does it annoy you when people keep referring to the band as "more mature" than before?

Here's the thing, we were so young when we started, that people have a hard time listening to our music separate from the inherent nature of how young we were. We said, think of us as old guys with high voices. The only way to get that is for people to listen to the record as guys in their early 20s. Eventually, people begin to stop saying that.

How did you plan to reconcile the married lifestyle with the rock 'n roll lifestyle?

For us, the rock and roll lifestyle exists in touring, or passion for music and creating and sharing that passion with other artists. It means never knowing where we're gonna be in a week, That's what it means to be a musician. Whether it's a different girl in every city, or drugs on the tour bus - I never believed that's what made a band great. I've got the best in that sense. I mean, now I have a baby who's almost a year ol. And my wife, she knew she was biting into the rock and roll lifestyle, with the touring and the recording and the 24/7 job of being a musician along with all that entails. It really has to do with starting of with the right expectations. There's all kinds of things you can learn from each other, being a husband, being in a band, you're learning every day. She understands where I'm coming from.

What was it like being out of the scene for three years without touring?

For us, going into that three years or so, you just want to get out and play. You have a hankering to get out and rock - its part of your soul, that feeling...[Now] we're clamoring to be out doing what we're doing, which is getting on stage and seeing the fans. When you're in the studio you want to be on the road, and when youre on the road you want to be in the studio. Its a vicious cycle.

I remember years ago seeing an episode of that old MTV show FANatic, with Hanson, and the person they had come in was a 25-year-old guy. I remember being shocked to see it was a dude, Do you think that's the kind of reaction you're trying to prevent now?

Well, as artists, you never go after one demographic, but I guess I would hope that no one would ever be surprised by something like that....[We would hope] they're talking about the band as to why they like the music, that no one would be assuming...the box is built around what they know. I guess I would hope you keep people guessing.

~Interview by Chris Beam