Rock 'n' Roll Stars? TV Hits

Hanson have been around for a while now, so we caught up with them and found out what it's like to be fully fleged members of pop!

So guys are you working on a follow up to your christmas album?
I: We're always writing songs. We haven't formed any ideas for an album yet, but we're definitely writing songs that many turn into something.
T: We're excited about going back to the studio soon. When we did that Christmas album it was really cool to create again. It was a quick idea and we barely had time, but we pulled it off in a month. That doesn't happen in rock 'n' roll much!

We heard a rumour you're going to be making a movie. How on earth will you find the time?
Z: That's just what it is a rumour. And there's nothing else to add to that.
T: The only film we've ever done is our video 'Tulsa Tokyo and the Middle of Nowhere. It's incredible this rumour that we're going to do a movie has spread around like everywhere!
I: Like a lot of rumours, it's been said so much the people now think it's a fact. There's all kinds of weird rumours about us that people think are true, like the one that Taylor carries a beeper wherever he goes..
T: Or the one that Zac died.
I: Yeah, or the one that I have a flashy red sports car. Well I'd be able to deal with that being true!

Is there any truth in the rumor you all have a favorite Spice Girl?
Z: No, I don't want to date any of them.
I: What we have to say about the Spice Girls is that they're a bit older than we are. They've been very successful and all the best to them but I don't think we'd like to date any of them.

Have you taken a shine to any of the girls you've met this year?
Z: No we haven't. Well we're not dating anybody. If we were dating we'd talk about it. We'd tell people.
I: Yeah we tell people we're single too! Especially when we're in Scandinavia because the girls there are the most beautiful. We're actually of Danish descent so I guess that's one reason why we like Scandinavian girls best. We feel at home at Scandinavia.

How much do you enjoy having girls scream your names?
I: It's cool cos when people are excited and enjoying themselves they naturally scream or yell. If I was at a concert and a band I like were playing I'd scream and yell too!
Z: Yeah if we had idols I'm sure we'd put up posters on our walls. But we don't have any at the moment - our bedroom walls are kinda empty!
T: I think having girls screaming at you is awesome. To have that many fans is just really cool. For Hanson, it's all about the fans.

Being in a band is often about sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll.. What do Hanson think of the music scene?
T: For us it's not about sex and drugs but it is about rock 'n' roll. The other stuff is just what happens to bands who get it wrong and start to fall apart.
I: Yeah, the other stuff is a different side to what we do. It has nothing to do with us.

So even though you started really young You don't think you'll get into trouble later?
T: I think we're going to be OK cos we're doing this thing together. We're brothers we know each other really well and that helps a lot! We're really good friends and we support each other all the way. We're getting to do what we love to do all over the world. There are no problems so far and I don't think there will be.

What would happen to the groups if Isaac decided to go to college?
Z: The group would stop for a while….
I: No, the groups wouldn't stop because I wouldn't stop doing music. I'd make sure I had time to do both write music and study. I couldn't give this up cause you can't get a better job than this. And education you can get travelling around the world is better than any education at school even though any kind of education is important.
T: That's why we've always had schooling whether it's at home or on the road it's constant studying.
I: Our old teachers are proud of us and they read everything about us. They love to keep tracks on us!

How has your education changed since you became famous?
Z: Well in the past we used to be taught at home and we'd call it home school. Our parents teach us now and we just bring our books along with us. So we used to call it home school but now it' more like hotel school!
I: When we were younger and we lived overseas we actually went to private schools. Now home school really works for us. It may not work for other people but it has enabled us to pursue what we want! Some people enjoy normal school and home school is what we enjoy. We don't miss having classmates cos we have plenty of friends! We have no shortage of friends!

Have your friends changes since you became pop stars?
T: I think people who aren't proper friends have changed. And you get people coming up to you who you hardly know and they pretend they do. They go, 'Hi how are you?' and you go 'I don't know you…' cos you don't know them!
I: But our real friends have stayed the same. They just think it's odd to see our faces on magazine covers, that's all.

What would your advice be if some of your friends decided to form a band too?
I: I'd say it's a lot of hard work. If you're going to succeed you have to be persistent and keep going.
T: I think there's a lot of luck involved too. There are so many bands who've worked twice as long and twice as hard as us but they just haven't had the chances we've had.

As you grow older, do you think you'll stay true to pop music or branch out?
I: I don't think we're doing just one kind of music. Unless you can say we're making the kind of music we feel. It's great to expand too. I'm sure things change. We'll learn new things and come up with different songs.

Do you remember the first song you ever wrote?
I: Yeah and we remember how it goes - but we don't sing it anymore. It was a song called 'Rain' and it was our first independent record.
T: We're still proud of it. We're proud of all our songs. That's why we make the worst Hanson critics!

How do you decide what you want to write about?
I: You write about life and about what happens to you day to day..
T: A lot of people ask us why we write happy songs cos a song like MMMBOP is a very uptempo song. But we don't set out to write songs that are either happy or sad, or old or young. We just write songs and play music and whoever listens to us is our audience. That's how it works.

Would you ever write about your religious beliefs?
T: Yeah stuff like that is important to us in what we're doing, but we hate to make an issue of it. We don't want that to be our angle so we don't talk about it.
I: Faith is very important to us, it's part of who we are. Without it we don't know know if we'd have got this far….