Hanson Mmmbops to a New Tune

A decade after 'MmmBop' hit the pop stratosphere, the trio of Hanson brothers has grown up considerably. They are no longer a pre-teen sensation. They no longer wear their blonde hair super long. In fact all three are in they're twenties and married. Two even have children. It's a far cry from a life filled by the legions of teen girls who used to cry for them at a drop of their name.

Calling from a rehearsal, Issac (26, guitar), Zac (21, drums), and Taylor (24, keyboard), are reserved. They seem completely unscathed by child stardom and are extremely mature. They don't act like most guys in they're twenties. It's striking to hear how serious they are about their lives and how completely settled they are with the path they've chosen for themselves.'The thing that's kept us together is that we love making music,' Taylor added, 'We are completely committed to what we're doing. We would be doing this no matter what. We're extremely invested in this career.'

The other two boys chime in similarly. They are a family who knows that if you have the same motto you're going to make it work even in an industry as crazy and hectic as the music industry. 'We were recently in Japan and talked with journalists we interviewed with ten years ago. They asked us in ten years what do you see yourself doing and we said music. And here we are ten years later making music. In tens years from now we'll still be making music. I'll bet my first child on that,' Zac said.

Arguably, Hanson didn't have a normal childhood. They spent their preteen and teen years on the road pleasing prepubescent female ears all around the world. There were no proms or homecoming dances for these guys. But, there are no regrets about missing out on 'normal teenage life' either.'No one has the same life. My teen years are just different than a lot of people's. I was never interested in the typical things in the high school movies. We were doing our version of that. My high school friends were other musicians,' said Taylor.Issac adds, 'It's sort of like you get to be a teenager for a long time. Music keeps you going and I'm lucky enough to have my career. We've lived our lives the way we want to and pursued our dreams.'

Their new album, The Walk (out now on their record label 3CG Records), isn't about selling albums. It's just about the pure joy they get from making music and getting it out there for people to hear. Issac said, 'We want to have a good show of success, but really it's about being patient. We want to sell records at a consistent pace and we want to build the record up. Of course, the fans help promote it.' He added, 'We're songwriters first. The goal was to write a good song. We put up our own expectations. We tried to collect our influences over that last few records and sum it up.'

Now on the road to promote the album it's all about putting it out there and seeing what sticks. Taylor concluded, 'Basically we're touring and hoping to make that connection. We're looking to be doing this for a substantially long time.'

By Jocelyn Vena