Still think of Hanson as the three baby faced brothers who sang "MMMBop" back in 1996? Get with it, honey! It's been seven years since Isaac, Taylor, and Zac have been pre-pubescent and perky, and with their new album, Underneath, they unveil a new, grown-up version of themselves -- both musically and physically. We chatted with the youngest of the trio, 17-year-old Zac, on a super-busy day of press interviews galore. He was sweet enough to tell us all about their new sound, growing up, and living in New York.



Pretty busy day, eh, Zac?
Yeah, but I'm enjoying it. It all stems from a desire to touch and affect people with what we do.

Gotcha. So we'll get right to it! What makes this album different from your past albums?
It shows a new side of the band. It's the most intimate record we've put out -- maybe even the most vulnerable. We're just three singer-songwriters who like making music. Also, we produced most of this record ourselves, just the three of us.

Impressive. Why did you decide to name the album Underneath?
We had written a lot of songs ourselves, and because we love making music, we decided to write with some friends of ours. We got together with Matthew Sweet, who's a great artist, to write it. It was just really inspired songwriting, which took us an hour to finish. But [we felt] so confident, not second-guessing the music. It was a pillar for the album and represents the record in a great way. Also, the record [as a whole] shows what's underneath.

Since being out of the spotlight for the past few years, who do you think has changed the most?
I think we've all changed in our own ways. I don't know if there's one guy who's changed more. Obviously, Tay's gotten married and has a baby, and we're pretty used to being uncles now. It's really the music [that's changed]. Hopefully we've just gotten better and become stronger musicians.

Is there something surprising about you that even your most loyal fans don't know?
Like my third leg? (Laughs.) Ya know, most of those things, we don't want people to know. But, I think Isaac's allergic to eggs.

Eeek. No omlettes for him, huh? So, you recently moved to New York. How's the big city treatin' ya?
It's treating us fine. We've always spent a lot of time here. It's not like, "Oh, I'm coming to New York. Let's go see the Empire State Building." We're not living in the dark ages coming from Oklahoma. We love this city. You can go get a piece of pizza at four in the morning.

Yeah. That does rock, doesn't it? So, what would you be doing for a job if you weren't a successful musician?
Honestly, I have no idea, because music is such a part of who I am. I would be someone entirely different. Maybe I'd be a fireman or an astronaut, ya know? I was six when we started performing professionally. Even if I was doing something else, I'm sure I'd still be doing music on the side!

Whew! 'Cause we sure do enjoy it!


If you haven't already, check out Hanson's new tunes at Hanson.net!