In today's fickle music business ("Here today, gone today," as Chris Rock once famous declared), four years is an absolute eternity. That's how long it's been since Isaac, Taylor, and Zac Hanson--those lovable flaxen-haired scamps who first mmmbopped their way into our hearts back in 1997--released their last album, and during that time, the boys have done a lot of growing up: Taylor got married and became a father; the whole band relocated from their homebase of Tulsa, Oklahoma to New York City; they split from their former major label and founded their own independent record company, 3CG; and they recorded their third proper studio album, Underneath, producing most of it themselves and working with esteemed songwriters like Matthew Sweet and the New Radicals' Gregg Alexander. Clearly, these talented brothers aren't falling victim to the Child Star Syndrome that has plagued countless other artists who found fame and success so early in life. Instead, they are thriving, and so is their fanbase, which remains passionate and loyal despite having to suffer through four years without any new Hanson music.

Tay, Ike, and Zac recently dropped by LAUNCH's studios to perform a gorgeous acoustic version of their Underneath hit "Penny & Me," after which they sat down with LAUNCH editor Lyndsey Parker to chat about their new indie-label venture, the current state of the music industry, the Internet's effects on music, and their aforementioned steadfast-and-true fans. Here's what these fine young men had to say:

LAUNCH: Tell me about your new label, 3CG Records, and why you chose to go this route. What in the last four years led you to this point?

ZAC: The reason we chose to release our new album on our own independent label...well, we can't go forward without saying that you wouldn't leave your label if you were completely happy, so there is that. But I think we wanted to do something that was exciting and something that we were passionate about--taking on completely the business side of the music business. Something that we were excited about challenging.

TAYLOR: And I think, in general, we just were excited to do something different, and we were excited to really set ourselves up for the future in a way that was different than just being creative and just being artists. Also, we really want to be able to help other artists. We really want to be able to bring other music forward to new audiences, and really be involved in that way. I mean, we're not just interested in just being "Hanson." We want to write and produce for people. We want to score movies. We want to do things that are outside of just the confines of being in this band. And creating the record company, it gives you a lot of great opportunities. It gives you an avenue to express yourself in different ways. Most importantly, starting this record company was an opportunity to really get closer to our fans, and really build better a relationship with our fans.

LAUNCH: How has your fanbase changed? Most of your fans were children in the beginning. Have they grown up with you?

ZAC: Well, since our second record, This Time Around, four years have passed. So when you look at the fans now, the fans are four years older! That's one of my favorite things, is to look at the people who have come forward from Middle Of Nowhere and then to This Time Around and now to Underneath, which has just come out. Just to see the fans grow and change with Hanson, and with the music that we make.

TAYLOR: Yeah, I mean, you can be 40 years old or you can be 10 years old and be a fan--and we've seen it all--but definitely our peers are the most devoted. They're the hardcore fans.

ISAAC: And they're the majority of the fanbase.

TAYLOR: Yeah, with the majority of the fans that are traveling and coming to shows all over the country, it's amazing people to see people that are college age--you know, finding their life, deciding what they want to do with their life. And that are really still passionate about this music during a really important time in their life. I think it's a really exciting time to be in this band because we really feel like we can touch those people and really be involved in their lives at a time when they're going to make a lot of really important decisions.

LAUNCH: Do you feel, in a way, that you sort of have a clean slate, since there are people who may have been too young when you first came out, so for them, Hanson's a brand-new band?

ISAAC: Sure, sure. I think, hopefully, every record that you release is a new interpretation of you.

TAYLOR: That's kind of your job, in a way.

ISAAC: It's another chapter, a new slate. You're reinventing yourself every time. Obviously you're not going to go from doing pop-rock to doing hardcore rap, or something like that. Obviously that's not going to happen...

TAYLOR: Why not, why not?

ISAAC: I don't know...um, I just thought that maybe we shouldn't...

TAYLOR: Just as a band, you're always growing. And I think we've taken this to a different place, producing most of it on our own. We've always produced--since I was, like, 12, we've produced our own albums--but we took on production in a more robust way on this album. We had a lot of amazing collaborations. With every album, we're just taking it forward, and what's amazing about the position we're in now is we really have the opportunity to bring forward more and more who Hanson is in a more clear way, 'cause we're really building a team of people who are working with us and for this record company, 3CG Records. Some people ask us, "Do you guys ever worry about misconceptions about your band or this and that"? And I think the only way you can dispel misconceptions, whether you're Aerosmith or whether you're Paul McCartney, is to just be who you are, and let that come out. And that's really the job of 3CG Records, and the job of our band, is to just keep making music.

ZAC: 3CG Records is us.

LAUNCH: What are the misconceptions you're talking about?

ZAC: You know, there was just an article written that said we were from Australia! That's a misconception. Whether it's that, or whether it's people not knowing what our music is.

TAYLOR: Like, "Aren't you guys from Sweden? Aren't you from Australia?" It's just about educating people on who we are musically.

LAUNCH: So who are you musically these days? What's the biggest difference about this album and the last two?

ISAAC: I think the biggest thing that is very clear about this record is kind of the intimate elements, the full breadth of the music. There's some more space...it's more articulate, more easily accessible. Underneath articulates the wide array of music that we make, I think, in a more accurate way than any other record of ours in the past, because it really goes from extremely mellow to just full-on pop/rock, just, you know, letting your hair down, just banging on the guitar. I'm really excited about the record for all those reasons. I think it really does show a large part of who we are in a much more clear way.

TAYLOR: It's always just about taking it forward. I mean, you can't stand still. You can't sit around and ask people to be interested every time if you're just kind of cookie-cutting it every time.

ZAC: You can't ask people who you are. You have to show them.

TAYLOR: You have to lead people to get excited and be passionate and be activated by what you do.

LAUNCH: Is it true this album took three years to make?

ISAAC: Between two and a half and three, yeah.

ZAC: Most of last year was spent touring acoustically. We made an acoustic EP in a studio with about 150 fans around us, and then we went out and we did acoustic shows all across the country in intimate venues and clubs, all the way from Trees in Dallas to Carnegie Hall. We ended the tour in Carnegie Hall, and that's such a pinnacle venue for your musical career. But also to end an acoustic tour that way, it's built so