We're just going to be ourselves, and we're just going to cross our fingers and hope that people like it. Because that's all you can do.
— Isaac Hanson
We're Midwestern guys who grew up listening to soul music.
Most of our shows are about two and a half hours long.
Getting to make the music, and having a good time doing it, is the most important thing to us.
Kids will ask us 'How do you become famous?' It's the wrong question. Focus on the craft, not on the fame.
For better or worse, we have evolved for sure, but we've also maintained a certain core about who we are, which is we were raised on late '50s and early '60s rock n' roll and R&B, and you can always hear that throughout. And that's just always been who we were. As much as we've evolved, that's stayed the same.
Eventually, the bad boy image affects fans' willingness to show up.
Ultimately, our goal was to be a band and be recognized for our songs and making records. And I think that has been the case.
Yes, our band will change and evolve, but we want to establish the reality of what this band truly sounds like.
The only way that you can ever continue to have a career and have success and have hits is if you are honest to yourself in the same way that you were in the beginning.
As much as we were very proud of being a pop band, I know we never felt like we fit into that category.
What's really important is that all we ever were was a band. And all we ever wanted to be was a band.
It is a growing process. You can't just like beer. You have to start somewhere and learn the different flavors.
Texas is a pretty free state.
Our parents were really, really grounded people but also really ambitious people, meaning they saw our ambition and were willing to help us chase it.
I don't get sick of 'MMMBop' in any way shape or form, and I don't know why I would.
Don't misunderstand good manners for passivity.
Our songs all carry the same way.
We pushed our first record, 'Boomerang,' to different labels, but it was hard for them to see though the 'white guys singing R&B' thing.
Everybody has their ups and downs, and that's what makes you tougher.
Everybody has their demons; everyone has their challenges.
A lot of potential scenarios create challenges. It's all about how you grew up, values instilled in you.
We've always been proud of what we've done.
I have a hard time with musicians who act like pricks because it just makes me mad. I just sit there and I go, 'You know what, dude, no matter whether you're in a band just surviving or you're in a bus playing stadiums, one way or another, you're still among the rare breed of people that are actually getting paid to do it.'
When we were younger, we sang at the dinner table. We started doing two part harmony, then three part, and then we added back up tapes and instruments.
There are some seminal things that happened in the '70s for me: Billy Joel and Jackson 5.
I joke that we're not dissimilar to a rock band in the '70s.
When we show up in a city, we ask, 'Where's the best restaurant? What's the best beer?' You start doing that, and you get exposed to a lot of great stuff.
I was totally offended when people said we were like *Nsync. I've got nothing against them. I know those guys. But comparing us was lame. It was apples and oranges.
'MMMBop' took about a year to actually get completed. The chorus idea had really been around for a long time, and then we built the song around it.
I am continually pleasantly surprised by how many people are showing up at shows and are younger than our first record.
Hanson is not the pop band that a lot of people think we are. I think we're a lot more rooted in a lot of music history... we're songwriters, we're singers, we're players first. We're not entertainers, we're not celebrities, and frankly, we don't really want to be.
It's really crazy to be 36 years old and to have been doing something for 25 years.
Everybody feels up sometimes, they feel down sometimes, sometimes they feel sideways, sometimes they feel weird. And the beauty of music is you can express all those different feelings in all the different songs you write. And hopefully, people can identify with those.
There's something extraordinary about selling millions and millions of albums.
There needs to be leadership in the heartland of America.
There are a lot of dynamics and a lot of politics that go into records and getting played on the radio.
I'm a bit of a hothead in certain circumstances, but you've got to temper it because your fans are there, and they've paid good money to see a show.
You can call Hanson a whole lot of things, but hip-hop isn't one of them.
It's hard to complain when you say, 'We're gonna go to the clip where Helen Hunt and Will Ferrell are on 'Saturday Night Live' making fun of your song.'
We can do things that are very, very simple to us that can have a huge impact on others.
We have always adapted ourselves to the songs instead of vice versa.
At some point, you decide to take something you really like and turn it into a business you love.
We felt like, first and foremost, we were songwriters.
In a phrase: I always hope it keeps getting better.
You just have to be yourself and make music you feel from your gut, and hopefully, your audience will respond.
There's no problem with fans and bands. There's a problem with the economics of the outside disruption of the industry.
My parents were never condescending to us. They treated us like adults from a very young age.
I think there are a variety of misconceptions that go along with what 'MMMBop' and our band has been perceived as from the beginning, but I have absolutely no qualms whatsoever about playing 'MMMBop.'
Every book has to start with a first chapter, and I think that 'Middle of Nowhere,' 'Mmmbop' and 'Where Is the Love' are good places to start for us. I don't think it's a bad place.
