On the eve of their first full-fledged American tour, Zac and Taylor Hanson reflect on their remarkable success and recall carefree days running naked in the streets of South America.

HERE'S something to titillate the teenyboppers: nude Hanson photos. That's right -- Isaac, Taylor, and Zac in the buff. Of course, if they exist, they were taken a decade ago, back when the Hanson family was living in South America and the three blond brothers were mere squirts, doing what all kids do on a sweltering hot day in the tropics. "Rarely," Taylor says when asked how often he and his siblings would hit the streets à la little jaybirds. "But sometimes we'd do that, run out of the hotel naked, just to kind of refresh [ourselves]."

Who knew such an innocent action would be an omen of far greater public exposure in Hanson's future? During the past year and half, the trio has sold 15 million copies of its three albums: The Middle of Nowhere, which features the ubiquitous No. 1 hit "MMMBop"; the holiday album Snowed In; and the new Three Car Garage, the rerelease of some independent recordings circa 1995-'96. The Hanson brothers (17-year-old guitarist Isaac, 15-year-old keyboardist Taylor, and 12-year-old drummer Zac) have popped up almost everywhere, from MTV and VH1 to Oprah and The Rosie O’Donnell Show. In doing so, they've helped lead a new pop revolution that also includes the Spice Girls and the Backstreet Boys -- all playing frothy, upbeat songs and currying the favor of the 16 and Tiger Beat magazine sets.

But Hanson is undeniably hipper, chiefly because, unlike their manufactured counterparts, the brothers actually play instruments, write or co-write their songs, and came together as a group naturally. The trio learned to harmonize in the garage of their Tulsa, Okla., home (where they are also home-schooled and raised as evangelical Christians). Since that somewhat humble beginning, they've enjoyed the company of some top-notch collaborators, including the Dust Brothers, the production team behind Beck’s Odelay. With Three Car Garage, the lads prove that they had the goods even before the won a major-label deal. And now, after a series of shopping-mall parking lot performances for screaming crowds of 30,000 or more, the trio is embarking on its first proper concert tour in arenas across North America.

Those are the facts and, ultimately, nobody wants to have the trio's cultural impact analyzed -- a least not when Taylor and Zac are sitting in a Montreal hotel room, ready to shed a little light on all things Hanson.

You've been waiting a long time to do a full-scale concert tour. How does it feel?
Taylor: It's awesome to finally be able to get on the road and play some shows. That's really what our goal has been. Over the last year, it's been so awesome; we definitely don't want to underrate that. But it's been like, do a short show in Australia, play to 25,000 people for three songs. In Kansas City, there were 30,000 people for three songs. That makes you feel like, "Aw, man, we're kind of gypping these people," and we really want to get out and play. So this is kind of to say to the fans: "Here's a real show. Here's a full, 100-percent thing."

Do you have enough stuff to play that long?
Taylor: Sure. It's all The Middle of Nowhere. It's Three Car Garage. We're playing some of those songs and also some covers,’50s and ‘60s rock and roll cover songs that we're into. There's not huge screens or pyrotechnics; it's just a real solid show.

Was Three Car Garage a bid to be taken seriously, to put it in people's faces that "Look, we sounded like this before you ever heard of us"?
Taylor: I guess in a way that's one thing that's cool about getting to play shows. A lot of people have been kind of surprised, because they didn't know what to expect -- which is very understandable because, of course, we're young, and it's been hard to say, 'We do play our instruments. We're a band, we're a band, we're a band.' But Three Car Garage, that was really just the fans requesting it. It's the second independent record we did ourselves. We were talking about it [in interviews], so we kind of set ourselves up because we kept bringing it up. But we're not necessarily trying to prove something. We're just anxious to play, mostly.

So are you enjoying everything that's been happening?
Taylor: Yeah, absolutely. There's definitely a lot of work involved -- in carrying your equipment back and forth; driving eight hours to a concert and stuffing into the back of the van and driving home; doing local gigs and all that kind of stuff. We did that for six years before any of this happened. But I think in anything, whatever you do, there's going to be work in it, whether we're working at a hamburger stand or performing for thousands of people.

Zac: It's awesome. The fans are so cool. They send us presents and letters. It's just a really great experience to be able to do what we've gotten to do.

What kind of presents do you get?
Zac: There's been license plates and T-shirts and piñatas, really cool stuff. The bonus track on the album is about an alien, and someone did this [piñata] of a big alien space ship with this little green man holding a yellow walkie-talkie, and the license plate said "MMMBop." It was really cool.

When you were younger, was there ever anything else you wanted to do?
Zac: One thing I've always liked to do is draw, so I thought I might become a cartoonist or something.

Taylor: When you're a little kid, you say you want to be a fireman or whatever. Actually, I don't think I ever did say that. Our parents were both very musical. I guess we always had music in us. That was something we always enjoyed. If we listened to a record, we'd turn it up loud. If we watch TV, it's loud. We've always been very auditory, I guess. When we started hearing '50s and '60s and '70s rock and roll, that kind of hit a string. I think that was when we started being motivated and Ike started writing songs; Zac and I did the same thing and started harmonizing, and it went from there.

Do you remember those first songs Ike was writing and how you and Zac felt as you were watching him do that?
Taylor: When we started, at that point we were living in South America, so they were probably songs about the kids running naked in the street. [Laughs] You don't even think about it. It was so natural, and it still is. It's just what you do. It's as much a part of you as anything, really. Whatever's the most familiar to you, that's what writing songs and singing is like. The songs that you write are always about anything you're thinking, anything that's going on in your life, or things that other people are doing. It just depends on where you are and what the situation is.

What's been the hardest thing to get used to with your success?
Taylor: I guess we weren't prepared for any of it as far as people responding to us, all the letters we've gotten. Now we have three or four storage rooms, like garages, full to the brim of letters we've gotten from all over the world. That kind of takes you aback, when you have that many fans writing and writing, saying, "Thank you for your music." That blows you away, because...you're not special in any way, really. You're just three normal guys and you've been able to have some really awesome opportunities. It blows you away, how lucky you are.

What's been your favorite fan mail?
Taylor: I have to say it, but in many ways, a lot of the letters are fairly similar. A lot of times it's, "I love you, I love you, I love you." In some ways, it's the nature of our fans. On the other hand, you also get a ton of very cool letters, like "I was doing this and that, and I realized when I heard your music I wanted to do this other thing because you guys are doing what you love." That's very cool, to be able to inspire people. But you still can't let that stuff go to your head, because it's so fleeting.

There are more Taylor books, it seems, than any of the other guys in the band, and you've been identified as the heartthrob of the group. How do you, and your brothers, feel about that?
Taylor: That's actually not true, to tell you the truth. Sometimes the press manipulates it in that way. What's cool about Hanson is there's three guys, and the fans kind of connect and relate to the three different members and personalities in the band. I think sometimes the press takes that and twists it a little bit. But the fans get it.

Have you read the books about you?
Taylor: A lot of those books, the unofficial ones, are fairly funny, because they make up things you didn't know about yourself. You're like, "Huh, I didn't know that. And that. And that." It definitely gives you a blow to the head; you laugh at it. There is one book that we actually put out. We thought originally it was so cheesy to put out a book; we've only been around for two years now -- why would we put out a book? But once people started putting out other ones, we thought, "Well, it's time now."

So what's the greatest untruth you've read about Hanson?
Taylor: There was a huge rumor Zac had died. It was very unoriginal; we were all in a car, we were in Paris, we were being chased by paparazzi, and we crashed. Zac died, and Ike and I were in a coma. That was a big deal because it was announced officially on the radio. There's a lot of things, little things, too, like we're all gonna dye our hair blue.