Q&A: Hanson
By: Jessica Grose

November 8, 2005

Hanson goes indie -- both on record and on film -- without leaving their MMMBop-ping past in the dust

At a recent New York University screening of Hanson's documentary, Strong Enough to Break, girls sat with rapt attention and adoring faces. They were about ten years old when Hanson hit the scene with the multi-platinum debut, Middle of Nowhere, and its ubiquitous single, "MMMBop." Back then, the Hanson brothers were cherubic, corn-fed tweens banging cheerfully on their instruments, singing up-tempo pop songs. But this new documentary doesn't showcase those apple-cheeked boys of the late-'90s; it chronicles the artistic and professional struggles of a mature (but still apple-cheeked) rock band in this decade.

Strong Enough depicts the drama behind the brotherly trio's recording of 2004's Underneath, their third full-length album. Over the four years it took to produce the record, Hanson left their major label home, Island/Def Jam, and started their own independent imprint, 3CG. They sought out grown-up collaborators like pop legends Carole King, producer Glen Ballard, and Matthew Sweet, and acquired counsel from been-there-done-that luminaries, particularly Ric Ocasek, whose intense speakerphone call with the band is a cornerstone of the film.

At NYU, the smell of maple syrup pervaded the auditorium, and while later it would become clear that the scent was not emanating from Hanson (but from some as-yet-unexplained NYC phenomenon), it fit with the band's wholesome but polished presence. Zac, 18, Taylor (affectionately called "Tay"), 22, and Isaac, 24, wore delicately woven crosses and had rosy, clear complexions, the kind of faces that grace print ads for cotton. Though each brother took turns answering questions, Taylor ended up helming the discussion. A lone male in an audience full of nubile women asked Hanson if they felt that the massive success of such a saccharine pop song like "MMMBop," the brothers' biggest hit to date, was a stigma. "We're still proud of everything we've ever done," Taylor told the audience. But he added, "If you don't evolve, you might as well be dead."

From the mob that swarmed the boys post-Q&A, it's clear that these Hanson fans have not lost their passion in the intervening years, despite the band's evolution.

SPIN.com whisked away the trio after the screening to talk about the business of music, the price of young fame, and the business of making babies.

SPIN.com: You're traveling around, showing Strong Enough to Break at several universities. The reception at NYU was really positive. How was the reception at the other colleges you've visited?
Isaac Hanson: The reception has been really positive, surprisingly so in some cases. You'll go to University of Central Florida, a really large school, and the response there was huge. We had to turn away a lot of people. But we felt really lucky because we got a lot of people who are not music industry people. They're business majors or they're just curious music fans.
Taylor Hanson:Our goal is to reach people who are interested in the music business, people who are interested in going into small business for themselves, people who are interested in film. You want to reach people in more than a theoretical way. You want to reach them in a personal way.

Strong Enough to Break is a lot about the business aspects of the major labels in the music industry, which is a situation that is bemoaned by many these days. You touched on this a little, but how do you think the Internet has changed the playing field for you in the music industry?
Zac Hanson: Things that used to have a huge effect on record sales -- being on this TV show, being in this magazine -- don't anymore. You don't see the immediate correlation between being on the cover of Rolling Stone corresponding with huge record sales.
Taylor: It's done two things that sound opposite but are not. It's made the industry bigger because it's instant and international. But it gives you the ability to work within communities and to find a trusted community. Part of doing that is working with smaller communities where people trust one another, like the MySpaces of the world. You've got to make sure that your fans know to trust you because you're going to give them quality.
Isaac: The other thing that's crucial is that new music is no longer about a CD. It truly is coming down to being about an experience, about a relationship. You need to empower the music with passion because it's that much more about the relationship. You have to get them to want it. To trust it.
Taylor: It's bigger than the song. You have to want to be part of it.
Isaac: You have to want to be part of the band!

In terms of your lives outside the band, do you live near each other? How much time do you spend with one another?
Taylor: What lives? [laughs] Yes, we are close. But we are very different. We've always lived close. We were all living in New York; now we're back in [our home state of] Oklahoma. Being an indie label in Tulsa is good because it's more inexpensive and we can launch tours more easily.
Isaac: It's very central to the country. Tulsa is very cool because there's a lot of cool past culture and there's a bubbling little thing that's starting to happen.

Hearing you talk about Tulsa, it reminds me of Omaha, Nebraska, and the music scene that grew up there with Saddle Creek. With 3CG, is that what you aspire to, making a local scene in that way?


Zac: We look at it in the same way as we look at the long-term of music. We have a long-term investment in [Tulsa] just as we have a long-term investment in music. Tulsa is a city where we obviously have roots. New York and L.A. we can't get away from.
Taylor: Technology offers more freedom because you're less tied to where you have to be geographically.

How do you feel about the label "indie"? What does it mean to you?
Isaac: We're independent, but we're not necessarily indie rock.
Zac: The word "indie" is kind of like the word "Jewish." There's Jewish people and then there's Jewish people.
Taylor: That's one of the things we've kind of been realizing. Independent has to be redefined because it doesn't mean what it used to mean. It can't because the big labels -- their identity has been diluted. They've closed down the list of artists that they're working on and they've left this huge gap. So indies have this awesome opportunity to grow and sort of give people more choice.
Zac: The idea of indie meaning niche is more based in a time when the music industry was healthier, when the major labels were healthier in what they were doing, in the way they were selling records. And now they're at not as healthy a place and they're not breeding as much quality as they used to.
Taylor: Even employees. People who were fired by majors or left are starting their own companies. It's a really good thing. We're an example. We left our label and we're a mainstream band. We don't have experience just being super niche, so we must be a sign of change.

On the surface, your film is a lot like Wilco's film I Am Trying to Break Your Heart, about their struggle to make the album Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.
Isaac: The Wilco film came out while we were making our film.
Taylor: We feel like that film affirms what we were talking about. You don't have a Fiona Apple story, a Wilco story, and a Hanson story -- all totally different artists but similar stories -- if it's not a problem, or something that's going on consistently.
Isaac: It's an epidemic.
Taylor: It's people doing creative jobs that they shouldn't be doing.

How do people manage to stay with their major labels the way the business is now?
Taylor: It's out of fear.
Isaac: Coldplay was able to do it right.
Taylor: But Coldplay is at the top of their game. If you're at the top of your game, you're always able to leverage. They're the biggest band in the world right now. Anybody who isn't at the abso