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A NEW HANSON << back l page 2
“Well I think we’re always going to be, ah, a pop band,” says Isaac, when asked how he thinks the band’s sound has remained the same compared to their previous album, This Time Around. “We love writing pop songs! Um, we’re always looking for that chorus that will fix in your head, and um, and that maintains to be true. Ah, we’re always looking for the good pop songs.” As for how their sound has evolved, Isaac muses, “Um, but there’s also a lot of very intimate, um, mellow moments in the album also which I think shows a new side of who we are, so it shows a more mellow side of who we are – this record does. But songs like ‘Lost Without each other’ and ‘Get Up and Go,’ and ‘Deeper’ and ‘Penny and Me’ are examples of songs that are very, very much straight up rock and roll-pop songs and that I think, uh, I think, everyone will be, ah, familiar with the similarities between these songs and the previous record,” explains the trio’s guitarist.
Delivering a potent mix of mature lyricism, feel-good rhythms, and the kind of glorious three-part harmonies that only sibling groups can pull off, Underneath not only reveals Hanson to be an increasingly formidable band, it also showcases how the they have mastered their instruments -- from Isaac’s fine guitar playing, to Taylor's outstanding piano work and to Zachary's remarkable drumming – and matured in their songwriting, with their amazing lyrics coupled with their impressively layered and lush melodies that result to an album can be best described as soulful, fun, and rockin’.
Ask Isaac Hanson what took place during the album’s songwriting process, and he could go on all day. “Well song writing is always an interesting thing because it’s always changing,” he starts. “You never know when a song is gonna come, when you’re gonna be inspired. A lot of the music on this record was written during um, during 2001 or 2002. There was a lot of songwriting that happened during those couple of years, and so, um, there’re a lot of different ways the music got written,” he says before launching animatedly into how one of their more popular songs came about. “The song, ‘Misery.’ Ah… the verse of that song, Zac had written. Um, he had a melody and lyric idea, which we ah, really liked, and then Taylor had a, um, a chorus idea, but the chorus lyric was totally different. And Zac said, ‘Taylor,’ he said, ‘That—that lyric sucks. That lyric’s horrible. I mean, we need to change that.’ So we changed the lyric, and then, ah, as we continued to write the song, the main riff and the chorus is a piano riff that goes ‘da-da-da-da-da,.’ (Yes, he sang that part), and ah, that riff was something that happened while we were writing the song. I said, ‘That the piano was sort of playing’ and, ah, came up with that. So it’s just, ah, you never know how a song is gonna come about, and that song is a good example of collaboration,” he finishes off.
And song-writing between the Hanson siblings wasn’t the only collaboration that took place for Underneath. They also got to work with some of the big names in the music industry including Ed Robertson of Barenaked Ladies, Gregg Alexander of New Radicals, power-pop icon Matthew Sweet and Carole King, which Isaac was just more than happy to talk about.
“It was very cool!” Isaac says enthusiastically of the brothers’ chance to work with the mentioned musicians. “We’ve always enjoyed collaborations and working with people on all kinds of levels. And song writing is something that we all love to do. It’s something that we do a lot of. Ah, and so getting the chance to write with people like, ah, Ed Robertson, and ah, Greg Alexander, and Matthew Sweet – whom we wrote the song “Underneath” with – it was a very exciting thing. It’s very cool when you stumble across good songs, because there’s nothing quite like it,” he continues. “It’s a very, kind of, disarming recording thing, because you don’t always come up with good songs. But when you do come up with a good one, everybody kind of looks at each other and goes, ‘Wow! That’s really cool!’ So it was a very good experience and we felt really happy that we had the chance to work with people that we did.”
“One of my favorites, I realized,” shares Isaac, “one of my favorite collaborations on this record was working with the producer Danny Kortchmar,” he says, referring to the famed producer who co-produced the first single, "Penny and Me," “because he worked on a lot on my favorite albums in the last ten years, one of which is, a Billy Joel album called, The River of Dreams, which I really, really love, and so it was really exciting to get the chance to work with him, because that record was a very inspirational record for me, and we spent a lot of the time when we were in the studio, talking about him making that record with Billy Joel, because I’m such a Billy Joel fan.”
“It is very cool,” he gushes like any other fan, where momentarily, you forget that it’s Isaac Hanson you’re talking to. “Billy Joel in particular is one of my musical idols. Somebody that I look up to, as a songwriter, so it was very nice to get the chance to talk to someone who knew Billy Joel as well as Danny did.”
Coming up with songs that are always fresh, fun, and inspiring, it makes one wonder what it is that fuels their songwriting. “I, uh…sometimes I don’t even know,” Isaac replies while laughing at the same time. “Uh, I remember…I saw James Taylor uh, who obviously is a very famous songwriter. He, ah, he was accepting an award for songwriting, ah, at the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame – he was being inducted into the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame, and I was there,” recalls Isaac, referring to the 31st annual Songwriters Hall Of Fame dinner, in New York where folky crooner James Taylor, was honored along with other composers including head Beach Boy Brian Wilson whose harmonies and orchestrations Hanson performed a medley of at the ceremony as they were included among the artists paying tribute to the inductees. “And he gave this speech, and he talked about music and songwriting and what he said was, ‘I feel weird accepting this award because I don’t really feel like these songs really come from me.’ He’s like, ‘I always feel like when the good songs happen, it’s like, they were there, and you just found them. It was almost as if you didn’t really write them.’ And he said, ah, ‘I feel really lucky to be able to take credit for these songs, um, but I’m just thankful that, um, that I get to be the person who, who channeled that, those songs, and comes up with them. But I don’t even know where they come from.’ And, and so because of what he said about that, that he expressed ah, an emotion that I’ve always felt about song writing which is that, the good songs, the things that stick in your head, the things that you’re most proud of, are almost always the ones that you’re not really sure where they came from,” he says almost breathlessly. “They just, ah, they just happen,” he says, emphasizing the last word.
“But when it comes to the lyrics and certain things,’ he continues. “There are definitely very personal things that are part of songs. There are always certain elements of your life that inspire things, but it always— it always feels like those good songs just kinda come from another place.”
Asked what his favorite songs on the album, are, Isaac initially couldn’t make up his mind. “I have to say I really like them all because y’know, there’s a lot of hard work that went into every single song and I know all the stories behind everything.” He pauses, before deciding on his answer. “Um, but one of my favorite songs is the song “Broken Angel.” I’m just very proud of how it turned out. Ah, it was the very first song that we produced ourselves, the first song that we decided to ah, take complete production credit for. Ah, and it was a really, um, t’was a really exciting moment when the song’s done, because we looked at each other and said, ‘Wow! We did exactly what we wanted to do with the song!’ and now, and it gave us ah, that next level of confidence to, ah, to take on production of the rest of the record, uh, which was something that we were not originally, um, planning on doing, but some– but just something that happened naturally,” he says. “Also, ‘Who Else With Each Other’ I really like because it’s very just, spontaneous, it’s very, ah, lively, it’s got a lot of energy, and also um, that song was, it’s a demo. It’s a song that we recorded at our house. And ah, at our home studio, I should say, and um, that song really came out really, really well, and I’m very, very proud of that one also. So, those are two of my favorites,” says Isaac, obviously very pleased at how things turned out as regards to the band’s decision to gain more creative control of their music and have a more direct relationship with their fans, which they did by releasing Underneath on their newly formed label, 3CG Records. With a name fittingly taken from their 1998 odds and ends release, Three Car Garage: Independent Recordings 1995-1996, an album which contained material from their pre-Mercury Records indie releases, it was a brave move for Hanson brought about by the band’s purely artistic desire to pursue the kind record they originally want to make. Not one to play by the rules nor succumb to major label pressure to release titles that fit the mold of manufactured hit records, the fraternal trio severed major record-label ties with Island/Def Jam, decided to taken matters into their own hands and went back to their independent roots and adapting the do-it-yourself mentality which initially led the group to put out their first own indie release, Boomerang, back in 1995.
With all Hanson has accomplished in their careers, it's hard to remember they're still in their early twenties. After two self-distributed CDs, three studio albums, 3 Grammy nominations, critical and mainstream success, their own record label, numerous songs and hundreds of performances since they started out more than a decade ago, what’s next for the fraternal trio? “Definitely just touring around the world, for this record in the near future,” starts Isaac. “Um, and then, ah…just more albums. We’re—we’re really excited about um, the music that we have for this – for the record after Underneath, also. And I think, um, I think, there’s just a lot more music to come, and ah, we just look forward to playing shows and, and, continuing to make albums for a long time.”
Around the world, huh? Does that mean they’re stopping over here in the Philippines? “I believe we will be, actually,” answers Isaac excitedly.
In an industry where everyone is always looking for the next big thing, it has been proven many times over that chart-busting, one-hit wonders easily fade into the books. Isaac, Taylor and Zac could have easily gone down that road. But they didn’t. Rather, with their playful spirit, patented hook-filled melodies, and rhythmic oomph, Hanson have established themselves as a credible pop-rock band not only capable of reinventing themselves but doing it on their own terms.
© Valerie V. Mayuga, 2005
Read transcribed phone interview with Issac Hanson here.
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