- Title: FJ-HRN-2415
- Summary: Hanson Interview:
- Description:01:00:30 - Sound Bite: Hanson Taylor: Weve done a lot of events in L.A. this tour is probably actually going to launch, it will launch in the North West and be going across the country, the next coming tour. 01:00:46 - Sound Bite: Hanson Taylor: Isaac is actually at home with his wife, shes expecting a new baby any moment now, so we made the trip on our own, he had to take care of personal matters. 01:01:11 - Sound Bite: Hanson Taylor: Well, yeah, I mean, he uhm, weve got growing families, Zack just had a baby, Ive got 3 kids, Isaac is expecting his second baby, and so they, you know, hes at home and were getting ready to announce a fall run of shows a late summer fall tour and excited about it. 01:02:11 - Sound Bite: Hanson Taylor: Well first of all we have really good nip and tuck, and it keeps all the hours start kind of pulling down the skin and you get a little tired. Um, you know, you just do what your passionate about, I think everything weve done around the music, whether its, honestly even the philanthropic stuff with being involved with the issues in Africa, building our record company, um, I think its all built around love of what we do as Artists, um, I think it all comes out of that, um, you know, you want to use your platform to reach people in different ways, I mean, starting a record company was a necessity in a changing music business, we started the record company 5 years ago, because we felt like that was the best way we could facilitate our music and so I think. Zack: We have been involved in record company merger, it was one of the largest music mergers in history at the time, you had on our label alone you had 200 bands dropped and we were part of I think they were 12 bands, that survived the merger there and all of a sudden there like, Well, well put you on this label, Island Def Jam, Island Def Jam that doesnt sound like a good match, thats a rap label, its run by, you realize how confused the music business is, you realize your are going to have to do something somewhat drastic to put yourself in a position to be able to succeed, to be able to have a career, to be able to continue to putting out records to your fans and so that was the decision to be a label. Taylor: I think all of the above as far as just the hours in the day; I mean there is never enough hours in the day it seems like but we just love what we do, so I think all of the extra curricula things they come off of that. 01:04:38 - Sound Bite: Hanson Zack:: Well we were lucky early on, our fan base really grasped on to the internet, ten years ago we had a huge internet following and weve just kind of realized the power that we have as a band, and artists in general to really worry less about an album, or a single or a project and say what we really are is that we represent something about people when someone says their a Hanson fan that means something about who they are, and so with everything we do, we want to be kind of, I guess, representing a level of quality and a level of culture that youre saying, Im, this is what Hanson is, whether its issues with Africa and supporting Aids/HIV research, fighting poverty, or whether it was the documentary that we made about leaving a major label and creating our own label, or, its just, everything we do, its more of a bigger package, um, its more of, I guess its more of a little sub culture. Taylor: Well, I think also, we just realized, that there are 2 main things about business now, one of them is good content, and people just want to have access to more stuff, and so our focus has been, what ever we can do, whether choosing pod cast, using our web site, using direct downloads, I mean, our goal as an artist is to fuel our fans and I think thats where the music business has gone, thats where weve said, whatever we can do to infuse them with fresh content, with songs, with live recordings, with you know blogs, with pod-casts, I mean these are things that I think today therere a lot of distractions and we want to have a connection with our fans, so our focus has really been to develop ways to have a direct connection with them, thats really where the music business is going more and more, if you can get a person to be excited about your record then you want to keep that fan, you want them to feel like there a part of something, so, you know, content is king, you giving people stuff that makes them excited. 01:07:32 - Sound Bite: Hanson Taylor: We, um, a couple of other things have happened over the last 5 years, one of them was making a documentary, it was called, Strong enough to Break and the film really came out of being focused on content, we trying to film a story of what we do when we make a record and it came. Zack: It was never intended about labels, it was never intended to be about business, it was all going to be, lets film songwriting, lets film recording in the studio, lets give people and inside view that theyve had before, of what it takes to make a record. Taylor: But the film actually became um, a story about how we in todays music business, how when we were still signed to a major label, how todays music business is so convoluted, its become so corporate, that it becomes really difficult to make records as an artist, to put them out and keep a career going, so that documentary showed a decision that we made to start our own record company, we started with our record company in 2003 and its called 3CG Records, it stands for 3 Car Garage, and um, I think the idea for us with 3GC was, um, theres 3 of us, thats where the 3 comes from, but, you know, in a garage, I mean a garage band, thats how we started out, thats how so many people have started out, a basement, a garage, you know, somebodys you know garage apartment. And um, any band, any music that you put out, should be able to deliver, if you walk in to the room and make it happen, and Zack: It shouldnt mean production value, it shouldnt need something, you know, the light show or a this or a thats. You should be able to work in there with a boom box, or a guitar, or whatever it is, and do your thing and resonate with people. Taylor: I think our goal with starting the record company and making the documentary about the process of deciding to start the record company, um, was to continue to stay on the path that weve been in on, with our music, with making records that were passionate about and speaking directly to our fans and not waking up years later and wondering how we ended up sitting around, waiting on a big corporation, to give us Zack: to give us the green light. Taylor: the green light. Whats interesting thing about the music business today, is that it doesnt matter if you are Aerosmith or this band that just got signed, you know there are huge corporations that are bought and sold everyday, and youve got to figure out, who are the people that are passionate, who are going to support you and tomorrow it can be a whole different company, so we just said, its hard enough to write great songs, get out there and tour, be compassionate about what you do, let alone, wonder whether the entire infrastructure around you is going to one day wake up and be a country label, or a rap label, or a metal label. Zack: Or just an entirely different staff. 01:10:37 - Sound Bite: Hanson Taylor: I think we, our vision for 3CG records has been, weve spent the last 5 years learning, I mean we spent the last 5 years learning what labels should be today, and, um, we definitely wanting to sign bands but I think we see ourselves, mostly as trying to foster great content and I think really starting from, you know, if the artists that we sign will be ones that we feel like were helping to really realize their best possible records, their best possible product, they can make and then you know give them the freedom to say this is how I want to release it, this is how I want to reach my fans, I mean, I think one thing that weve seen is that, you got to built a direct connection with the fan base, the artist and the music that youre going to put out, so, were not rushing to sign a host of artists, we really, we want to develop to learn what the future of the business is going to be so were not just hey, lets get all excited about how we can sign all these bands, lets really give them a service that never been offered, so thats really the reason why we havent, you know, signed, you know a bunch of artist, since we started the label, weve been the sort of guinea pigs. Zack: I would say like he was saying, for us when we do reach that point of feeling when were ready to sign bands, its also about empowering and educating artists, so often, you find these bands, and these musicians that they dont know what is going on, they dont know how the system works, oh well my manager does it and they just tell me when to get on the tour bus, and for us we really think that its important that musicians and the bands you work with are fully educated and understanding the process and are making the decisions with you, because so often, its their money thats being spent, its their music, its their career thats getting lost or made and they need to be fluent in what it takes to be successful, so that when they decide to go with some other label or something this or that happens, there still able to maintain a career and a fan base. 01:13:10 - Sound Bite: Hanson Taylor: Honestly signing artist, its really more about the individual artist, you can one thing that we are, were fans, music fans, we obliviously have more of an expertise in our field sort of speak with pop rock and understanding how to best maximize that , but honestly when we look at the artists that we love go all the way from a really good young rapper to a rock band to a singer songwriter, and I think that comes from is that music has code, theres a code, that everybody shares as a musician, theres a certain attitude and it doesnt matter what kind of music that you make, those artist that goes, this person has it, theyve got that magnetic passion and that sense of themselves, I think thats what wed be looking for, with music now artist are even called to raise the standards you can filter the music thats out there and you can decide not to buy it, decide not to go to the show, and I think the great democratization of music and content thats out there is pushing band to actually be better, thats the thing were looking for the better, theres a lot of bands out there and then theres the ones that are actually ready to get out there and make records consistently. 01:15:00 - Sound Bite: Hanson Zack: Our fans, interestingly are the same people I think, there just now, theyve gone with us for ten years now, the fans that were my age when we started 11 are now 22 and so, I think weve been really lucky to be able to continue to grow with our fan base and be relevant with each record Im such if theres a formula for that, I mean, weve just continue to say were going to do music that were passionate about, were not going to worry about what Hanson is supposed to sound like or what people think we are, were just going to do things that excite us. Taylor: I think as a band, were always honest when we started, were honest now, I mean making music is for you and so with your fans, its not like you wake up one morning and your like what are the fans going to think. Because youre going to make a record youre proud of, youre going to do a show that youre proud of and ultimately it is what it is, its coming out of you and so what weve seen is, fans that have stuck with us and fans that have come along for the first time over the last ten years, there connecting with music, they are not connecting with what we did or what we might do, there showing up at a show and there liking it or dont and we really believe in our live show and we believe in making great records and um, I think its definitely different than it was ten years ago, but really at the core its the same attitude, you go out there and do a great show, and if you dont do a great show you should get another job. 01:16:54 - Sound Bite: Hanson Taylor: First of all we take the crap out of people and you dont take yourself so seriously, you know, I heard a thing about Ryan Adams would get heckled for Bryan Adams songs requested at his show, there was a story about him getting pissed off about that, it was just like, Dude. Zack: You should learn a couple of Bryan Adams songs, and then just blow there minds. Taylor: For us Um-Bop, Um-Bop is a song that was nominated for a Grammy, Zack is the youngest Grammy nominated songwriter in history at 11 years old, I mean it was the first song that was number 1 in the UK and the US at the same time, it was number 1 in 27 countries at the same time, I mean, its, its something that were extremely proud of and its something that was inspired by Rock and Roll so for us, you know, its like, theres the guy whos the drunk heckler, who youre like youre an idiot, but most of the time, theres a genuine love for that song and its not isolated to that song as our fans go, you know, its not, theres so many songs and it just happens that, that one is the first, and one that were proud of. Zack: I would say also, for me, that song, is a song a lot of our fans love and its a first song that they knew it was a Hanson song, the same way, you know, the first song I heard by the Counting Crows was Mr. Jones, when I got to see the Counting Crows, Id like to hear them play Mr. Jones, you know, and it doesnt matter how many albums I have. Taylor: It doesnt take nothing a way from them after that, you want to hear that song. 01:19:10 - Sound Bite: Hanson Taylor: One thing about, one thing about when we started, for instance, it was a totally different music business, I mean the record companies were different, the major labels were thriving, I mean now, theyre sort of grappling for a few spots, but its not, the business has become much more bounce with independent labels, with all kind of artists that are doing different things, I think for us, there was never a machine behind us, we had a huge label when we first started, but, it really was, you know they were fueling, you know, what was coming out of an extraordinary time period with that first record and whats amazing is that we had, Zack: I would also say it was, when we first came out that the corporation was actually taking a little bit of a risk, cause we didnt sound like anything. Taylor: Yeah, it was a huge risk, it was not, it was not, nothing was a guarantee, and really, we never had, like a powerful mechicanism that was built in, it was a traditional label that was big, that was helping us to a world wide release, Zack: We didnt have a TV show. Taylor: We didnt have dolls, we didnt have the, we shunned away from a lot of those things. Today its a different industry, were a different band, um, we have a lot of the relationships directly with, whether its publicity, or TV, or you know, releasing our record around the world, its not like were resurrecting anything, we have been doing it consistently for ten years. Zack: Great then Id like a 20 million dollar check to just go (he makes sound) yeah lets buy everything, but I uh, I mean as far as the publicity machine thats still nice for some things, but its definitely a different business, I mean look at how many records are being sold by independent companies, versus major record labels, its pretty much even, the amount of, of bands that are going independent, that are verring away from the majors and the amount of music, that is only being found by the independents and the big labels dont have the wherewithal to figure out what the next cool thing is going to be, its kind of staggering. 01:21:45 - Sound Bite: Hanson Taylor: Honestly I guess with using technology, using multi-media, I think partly its just instinct, because you know who your fans are and you see it the way people interact with you and its Zack: You look at the way you want to consume. Taylor: Youre trying to pay attention to what is going on around you and you know, and its obvious that CDs and record stores, dont have the same charisma they used to, because there are so many other ways you can get media, I think our head space with this album and with record, for the last 5 years really has been pursuing better ways to get our fans, and better ways to fuel them, and I dont know if there is a secret crystal ball that weve been consult ting with, to come up with ideas, for instance, the documentary, we made a film, that we took to colleges to reach fans about the music business, it was a natural progression to lets do a podcast, lets do basically an online TV show, that continues after the film, lets let people to continue to watch the story, that was a natural progression, to look at the way people are downloading podcasts and downloading media and then with direct downloads on our site, we sell live recordings and its a natural progression because our fans are active music buyers and the love the live show, so I guess for us, our career, whats happening in 2008 and trying to service people with access to content, seems like it goes hand and hand and thats really just been a natural progression of just paying attention and say hey this is the way people are getting access and we should be right on the leading edge. 01:23:52 - Sound Bite: Hanson Taylor: The Walk, is the name of the current record, but The Walk has been literally a journey, a physical walk, we spent a little time in Africa, when we were making this album and it was inspired by guys from our home town in Oklahoma, they developed a technology that was a medical technology, and I think what really struck us was that they were donating this technology to a hospital at the same time they were trying to launch a company, they hadnt made money off it, they were just using it, the core that they had, something they knew they could make a difference to fight Aids and poverty in Africa, and something struck us, we took a trip to Africa, we went there as individuals, but we really took it in as a band and we recorded a couple of songs there with two choirs, we just looked for ways that our music could reflect our trip there. Since our time in Africa, we really learned a lot about whats going on with Aids and extreme poverty and how they go together and our message has really been to our fans, this is about action, you know, awareness, is a huge thing Zack: Theres plenty of awareness. Taylor: You know the issues around the world, people know that poverty in Africa, issues with Aids are out of control, we need to start taking action in simple ways, we launched a campaign, The Walk campaign with the tour, and we started doing this last summer, we do a one mile bare foot walk before every show and we just invite our fans to come with us and we say take your shoes off, walk a mile with us and one of the ways that we inspire, and encourage people to take action was too buy a pair of shoes, you can buy a pair of shoes, theres a company called thoms, which Im wearing this shoes, there a mess, because I really beat them up, but every time you buy a pair a thoms, they donate a second pair to a child in poverty one for one, when we launched The Walk Tour, the goal was to talk to fans about doing simple things, walk a mile in every city, and help Thoms to help them reach there goal of 50 thousand pairs of shoes, um, so last summer we started and it just continued to grow and grow it was weve had thousands of people. Zack: It was 48 miles before we got there. Taylor: After walking 48 miles Thoms has reached its goal of 50 thousand pairs of shoes, which we helped them get to that goal, and we were able to deliver those shoes in Africa last November. The real, the crux that were doing with the walks is about everybody has got something, everybody has tools they can use, start with your bare feet, connect with simple things, connect with simple actions, as a generation were different we have more access to content, more access to tools and talking The Walk is a metaphor to this life, you know, what do you do with your life, what do you with the things youve got and so, The Walks continue now, weve walked close to 70 miles now, we continue to support Thoms shoes and Zack: Well walk 50 more this fall. Taylor: Yeah were going to walk 50 more this fall, the goal with The Walks now is, weve seen weve walked thousands of miles now, weve had thousands of people walk us, I mean we had thousands of miles walked because of our fans and, you know, we said, how could we connect with a bigger Goal, and inspire others to set up your walk, set up a walk at your college campus, set up a walk in your town, cause fans have done that around the world. Our hope now is to try to walk enough miles as to go around the world, with other people doing that, one mile at a time, and um, basically just help coordinate and use our Web Site and the Web community, you know, let those people log those miles and feel as if there a part of something bigger, theres a sense that hey, I showed up in Sidney Australia., I showed up in Boise, I showed up in New Jersey, I walked with Hanson, or I walked with my friends we set up a walk, and that, that all can all be part of a bigger picture, and as kind of a push were donating a dollar for every mile that is walked, on behalf of everyone that does a mile with really, what were trying to say, were going to, were going to donate one for you, now your job is what are you going to do next, what are you going to do Zack: Weve helped you start, now. Taylor: Youve showed up now were going to give a dollar, its sort of like a dare, you know, its like, youve got great things you can do and were introducing people to simple actions they can take, to go direct, once youve started, its sort of like, hey where do you go next? 01:29:05 - Sound Bite: Hanson Taylor: We have friction, we have friction. Zack: We definitely have friction, I think like anyone would, its probably, most, are ability to work together well, is probably most due to the fact that we started working together so long ago, that we kind of figure out, if I do this, its gonna cause a fight, so I need to do something other than that. Taylor: Its like a marriage, if you were in since your were nine, which is totally illegal, but it is, the marriage laws in Oklahoma are really laxed. 01:29:47 - Sound Bite: Hanson Taylor: Honestly theres a weird code with us, which I think it just comes back to the creative process and probably goes back to building legos when we were tiny, which is you know, like this collaboration, people have different skills, Isaac, Zack and myself we all have totally different approaches to things and like as a band. Zack: And the way we write songs is totally different. Taylor: As a band I think we work with each other well, I think that is informed a lot of what weve done outside of the band and continuing to do is um, is theres just a back and forth, understanding about what people bring to the table, its not about not fighting, we totally fight, its just that we dont fight so much, as to let it lose the plot, I guess, I guess, we just like what we do. Sound Bite: Hanson Taylor: We want to I think, help foster great bands. Zack: Definitely Taylor: Hopefully, help foster new music out there, connecting with other artists, I think we want to, we want to encourage our fans that with the activism things and the issues socially, that being a fan of Hanson, being actively involved in a fan base is not just, oh I like that CD, but its an attitude and its a culture, its something that, its a part of who you are, I think bands have forgotten that you either connect with people from top to bottom, you know, that is I think an important factor for us we want people to know what were about and feel part of it, and I think from a point of view of 5 or 10 years from now, ultimately we love making music, and we love reaching people with music and, um, I think our hope is to be behind the scenes and on stage. Zack: Id said in so many ways, we were inspired originally to make music, by late 50s and early 60s artists, Chuck Berry, Otis Redding and Aretha Franklin, those were the songs we started listening to, the artists that really inspired us to start playing, and singing and writing, I think, in so many ways the ultimate goal would be to return the favor, we inspire the next group of musicians by really pushing yourself to do something extra ordinary, above average, not just making records that good enough, but really pushing yourself to say, could we make a timeless record, could we challenge ourselves to do that not well succeed, but you know, I dont know that people but high enough standards on themselves often, to really say can we do something thats gonna live past our life time. 01:33:40 - Sound Bite: Hanson Taylor: Its weird, weve never done, media about the songwriting retreat, it sort of speaks for itself, we love making music, we love working with other artists, we love collaborating and producing music so that love created an idea, we do an event called, Fools Banquet basically the whole concept is you have a big studio, you invite 10, 15 artists from every type of music once year to join us in Oklahoma to write and record songs in a period of a few days, Zack: Actually its a pretty good deal, you get yourself here, well pay for the food and beverage and studio time. Taylor: And just show up, and the whole thing about it is, Artists are ships in the night passing, Zack: Everybodys always on tour, or in the studio, theres never time to collaborate to get together and have a consensus. Taylor: The goal, the thing with the writing retreat is basically, 3 people pair up every day, write a song and record it every day, and we facilitate the studio and instruments and the thing about it is bringing together artists that might not work together, we had everybody from NWK to Dan Hayslen from Jars of Clay to Pay Dreanna from MorningWood to Adam Schelisinger from Hounds of Wayne to Zack: Jason Morass Taylor: Jason Morass was just there, Steven Trask, you know, who wrote Hedwig and the angry inch, you know, among many other things, I mean, so many great artists, close friends, some of which are close acquaintances, but all of it comes from our love of music and just relationships with artists, I think the writing retreat is definitely a great reflection of our love for the passion of creating, in every day you write a song, you record at this event, after 4 days, cause the people are sometimes writing and recording 2 or 3 to 4 songs a day. Zack: This last year we wrote 26 songs in 4 days, the group of us, so thats a lot. 01:35:35 - Sound Bite: Hanson Tyler: Well whats happened with the songs, again this is a private event and people heard about it, cause there has been so many great people that have joined us, um, but whats happened is its created songs that some of which been on our records, some of which other artists that have done the event put on there records, it also made, created songs that have been covered by other records that you might know of leaked out, its become songs that have been placed in movies and whats great about the writing event is that it goes back to our passion for creating and bring artists together, theres relationships that have been created that come out of that, where you have a country guy, and a heavy metal guy and a folk singer that are all writing a song together and there like We would have never even met. But they write a great song and I think the music business is probably suffered most from this isolated island type of attitude Zack: Of genres. Taylor: Isolated youre a Rap artist, youre a, musicians are musicians, were all flakes, we all want to create music, we all want to paint a beautiful picture, were all kind of in our own world and when throw together music and the kind of take off the restrictions people just erupt. Zack: The thing that I like best also about the event is, um, theres no preconceived notions, were going to write a hit, were going to write this kind of song. People go in there to write music not worrying about whether its good enough or not, but what evadible happens is that when you get really talented people together, they cant help it to write hit songs, they cant help it to write, How did you come up with that idea, its a spoken word with this incredible verse and bridge and thats like a hit song, I never heard anything so cool, But if I were to put the pre curser of, go write a hit song, go write something that can be commercially successful, make me money. You never would have written a song that good, it never would have been something that was so cool. 01:39:01 - Sound Bite: Hanson Taylor: Last year, I had a really big scare, we were in the middle of, it was more than a scare, suddenly in the middle of the walk tour and he had a blood clot in his, a coronary embolism in his arm, down to his neck and his arm, its a scary thing for a guy who is 26 years old. Zack: To have blood clots. Taylor: A huge blood clot and probably for the first time ever we stopped a tour, we stopped a tour and incredibly he was really lucky Baylor medical in Dallas, they really saved his life, you know, a blood going in a wrong direction can kill you instantly, and uhm, basically he had to ask himself some serious questions about, you know, it can come from playing guitar, it can come from, you know, just having repetitious motion and uhm amazing is now totally well, cause he had a serious surgery on his top rib to be able to Zack: They removed the rip. Taylor: Not pinch a vein that had been in his arm, so, definitely that was a huge scare and it made everyone sort of stop and, you know, the life style of playing guitar since you were 14 night after night after night, also just, the reality that crazy things can just happen in a an instant and hey that show better be the best show you put on, cause you know, it really is, you dont think about those things when your in your 20s , your not thinking this could be my last, but everybody really had an Zack: An eye opener. Taylor: Eye opener and we had to really step back and really luckily and thankfully hes doing great so.
- Collection: Historic Films
- Producer:Historic Films
- Transmission Date:01/01/2008
- Rights:On request
- Decade: 2000s
- File Name: FJ-HRN-2415