Hanson

After years in the wilderness, Hanson return With a new album and a whole new attitude. Zac Hanson talks shop....

The pressure to follow up Hanson's international smash 'MMMBop' could have cracked the toughest songwriter, never mind a drummer who was just 11 years old when thrust into the limelight. In 2000, after releasing the album This Time Around, Zac (drums), Isaac (guitar) and Taylor (keyboards) dropped off the radar. Now, after years in the record industry wilderness, Hanson have returned with a new record, Underneath, and a live DVD. The brothers from Tulsa are running their own label, 3CG Records, and enjoying full creative control.

Zac explains the cause of their prolonged hiatus: "We originally signed to a company called Mercury who dissolved, so we were put on a label called Island Def Jam, which is mostly r'n'b and rap. It wasn't a good home for Hanson. As we went into recording this album, we spent a long time trying to work with them. Finally, we just said, 'Look guys, you don't understand us. You don't know what we're doing'."

After a long gestation, Zac is particularly proud of the record, "I hope we've gotten better at writing songs and producing albums. This record is more of an acoustic sound. It has a little more intimacy."

The live DVD highlights this intimate side. "Doing an acoustic tour was about bringing people back into the music," explains Zac, "we were saying, 'This is really how we write songs, how we work together as a band'."

Going unplugged allowed Zac to express the full range of his talents. "There are songs where I play guitar, or piano. I play a broken-down drum set -- it's a three-piece, just a tom, kick drum, snare, hi-hat and a cymbal or two. I play a lot of hand drum, djembe and percussion. It's not necessarily as fun a show to play as a drummer, but it's a fun show as a vocalist because you add all these parts that aren't on records."

The multi-layered vocal harmonies of Hanson betray their influences from the late '50s and '60s. The DVD includes a version of Crosby, Stills and Nash's classic 'Teach Your Children', with Zac on 12-string guitar. The brothers often vary instruments, and the track 'Crazy Beautiful' features Zac and Taylor double-drumming to lay down a syncopated groove. For Zac, the song comes first. "Listening to drummers play songs, not drums, is how I always thought you should play and how I want to be perceived as a drummer." His heroes include Larry Mullen, Abe Laboriel Jnr and Cindy Blackman. "Feel is what's most important to me. I've played with a click for eight years now, so learning to play with an exact tempo, but play where it doesn't sound like you're playing that way is something that's really important."

Hanson are now travelling the globe promoting Underneath. Zac thinks more artists will leave the major record labels behind. "I think you're seeing a trend in independent labels and people starting their own, because it is hard to find a place, a home. You've got A&R guys changing and presidents of labels -- they practically write the names on people's offices in chalk now so they can wipe it off!" David West

Hanson's new album, Underneath, and live DVD, Underneath Acoustic Live, are out now. The EP, 'Underneath Acoustic', is available exclusively on the Hanson website.

KIT LIST

Drums: Drum Workshop - 12"x8" rack tom, 16"x16" floor tom, 22"x16" kick and 14"x5" Collector's Series brass snare.

Cymbals: Zildjian Z series -- 16" crash, 18" crash and 20" ride. 14" K series hi-hats.

Plus... DW 9000 Series hardware and pedals, Remo Coated Emperor heads (Powerstroke 3 on kick drum) and Vic Firth 2B drum sticks.