Remember the teenybop trio of brothers who became quite popular with kids in 1997? Most kids that time could hum their hit tune “MmmBop.”

How about them coming over for a show? Well, they are really coming for their first major concert—The Hanson Manila Tour 2004—to be held at the Aliw Theater, CCP Complex, Manila on Nov. 30. Their special guest is teen singer/actress and Myx VJ Iya Villania.

Hansonites who think of the three as pubescent youngsters are in for a surprise. Isaac, Taylor, and Zach Hanson are now all grown up and so is their music. So, don’t expect them dishing out all those bubblegummy pop tunes with saccharine melodic hooks and fills.

For their Manila concert, the brothers will be playing their hits such as “MmmBop,” “This Time Around,” “You Never Know,” “If Only,” “Runaway Run,” “Sure About It,” as well as new material from their latest album.

Even when their pictures graced every teen magazine a few years ago, Hanson seemed older than their years, eager to talk about such musical influences as Chuck Berry and Johnnie Taylor. Unlike the teen stars that followed in Hanson’s wake and pretty much swamped them, such as ‘N Sync, Backstreet Boys, and Britney Spears, Hanson wrote and played their own songs.

They’ve toured without the aid of backing tracks, dancers, and fireworks, and that formula isn’t about to change. The catalyst? Underneath, their first album after a three-year long hiatus and released locally by Sony Music Philippines, is now out in the market. It somehow represented a radical departure from their formulaic pop staples.

After the lukewarm reviews of the follow-up album, This Time Around, the trio wrote and produced most of the material in Underneath themselves and also collaborated on some tracks with a diverse range of writers and producers.

The title track dates from the start of the sessions nearly three years ago, when they worked with Greg Wells, who previously produced material for singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright. Hanson also worked with hard-rock producer Bob Marlette (Marilyn Manson) and with Los Angeles session veteran Danny Kortchmar (Carole King, James Taylor).

“Pure simplicity” is how Taylor Hanson sums up the sound of “Underneath,” which was released independently as a result of the group’s split with Island Records two years ago.

“When we started this record, we started writing a bunch of songs that had a mellower sound to them,” Taylor explains. “Songs that were all about the textures, all about the sweeping guitar, or the one melodic vocal hook.”

“Pretty much whoever you are,” he continues, “no matter what band you’re in, you’re either too young, too old, too hip, or too artistic. You’re always gonna have some box.”

It was that same box that Hanson struggled to get out of when “This Time Around’s” earthy elements contrasted sharply with the unabashed pop of the blatantly pop breakthrough debut, “Middle of Nowhere,” which spawned the all-familiar teen anthem “MmmBop.”