Young and Hanson

by Patrick MacDonald
Seattle Times staff critic

Concert preview: Hanson and Admiral Twin, 8 p.m. Tuesday,
Key Arena, Seattle; sold out.

Oh, the pressures of stardom!

Hanson is in the green room of "The Tonight Show," waiting to tape their appearance last Tuesday night, and their press agent has allotted 15 minutes to do a phone interview.

It turns out to last about 12 minutes, with each of the Hanson boys - Isaac, 17, Zac, 12, and Taylor, 15 - taking turns. That averages out to four minutes apiece, with Isaac and Taylor delivering nice but pat answers and Zac mostly talking nonsense. Taylor is the swiftest, replying to just a couple of questions before saying "I'm gonna have to get off the phone now" and hanging up.

But even in a quickie phone interview it seems apparent that the three young men who make up the enormously successful pop group are unusually mature and professional for their ages (even Zac). They seem unfazed by their immense stardom - their debut "Middle of Nowhere" album has sold 9 million copies worldwide - and quite settled in to their roles as pop stars.

First up was Isaac, who said the band likes to do "The Tonight Show" (it was their third time) because Jay Leno is "incredibly nice."

He doesn't get nervous doing national TV, he said, just excited.

"You watch the show on TV for so long and you go, wouldn't it be awesome to be on `The Tonight Show' or `Late Night With David Letterman' or whatever; and then you're there."

Isaac is aware that Pearl Jam will be playing the same night as Hanson, also at Seattle Center. "I definitely would like to see their show," he says. He allows that Seattle is "a very cool town, so an opportunity to be there is gonna be great."

He passes the phone to Zac, who comes on with an elongated "Hellloooooo." When I remark that it sounds like there's a gang of people in the room, he answers with a mocking, "We are in the Mafia! We've been laundering money!" He explains that his whole family is there, including parents Walker and Diana, and siblings Jessica, 9, Avery, 6, Mackenzie, 4, and baby Zoe.

His role in creating Hanson's songs is, he says, "just being Zac. We all do different things. There is no specific role." As for who writes the lyrics, he says, "Anybody can write the lyrics. Except for you."

Zac's a self-taught drummer but "definitely still learning." He says he and his brothers have similar tastes in music "because it's not like there's three stereos in the room. We all listen to the same one."

Asked what he's most looking forward to, he goes into a squeaky voice and replies, "I'm gonna get a big bowl of cheese on my birthday, three feet tall and two feet wide." Then back to his normal voice, he signs off. "Hey, y'know, I gotta go. Tay's comin' to pick up the phone."

After a pause, Taylor comes on. Seattle is not the last show on the tour, as planned, he says in reply to a question. The tour has been extended.

"We're actually glad it's not the last date because we're looking forward to even more shows. It keeps adding on, and that makes us happy. We're psyched about it."

Obviously the most talented and musical in the group - he does most of the lead vocals and plays keyboards - he says he doesn't ever see himself going solo.

"I think what makes Hanson cool is the fact that there's three different people with three different personalities. I think that's what creates Hanson and without those three ingredients I think we wouldn't be who we are. We all love music. There's really nobody we work better with. If we get lucky, we'll be able to stick together for a long time."

Hanson's songs often have mature themes, like love, betrayal, disillusionment.

"However young you are, everybody has the same thoughts and the same feelings," he explains. "It just gets expressed at different stages in your life. We're just lucky enough to express the things that go through our minds, in music."

He's happy about the fact that Hanson has been well received by critics and certainly fans, but is most gratified by acceptance from other musicians.