About Hanson
Bono called their music ‘genius’. Hip producers like the Dust Brothers and Stephen Lironi worked with them early on, even before millions of fans screamed their names and critics applauded them. But for Isaac, Taylor and Zac Hanson, it's always been about the music, and there's always been a message in the music for those who were really listening.
On HANSON's fourth studio album, The Walk, the messages are more direct. “It's the first record in a decade that we made completely from scratch as an indie”, Taylor says. “We've stepped it up a notch creatively, writing songs that connect to really personal experiences and recording them live ‘from the floor’” (playing together in the studio as they would in front of an audience). It’s a further exploration of the sound that prompted New York's ‘Village Voice’ to proclaim Hanson as simply “the best straight-up rock band in America, now sowing sonic oats as independents”. And it’s the independence in the approach to both recording and releasing their music that fans and critics alike will appreciate about The Walk.
Recorded at their Tulsa studio and released on their own 3CG Records, The Walk builds on the success of HANSON's last album, “Underneath”, which debuted on the Billboard Independent Chart at #1 and on Billboard's Top 200 at #25, making it one of the most successful self-released albums in history. Taking the reins both artistically and as entrepreneurs, the band came up with an innovative approach to rolling out their new CD. Each week leading up to the album's release date, HANSON will podcast an episode of a docu-series they've titled “Taking The Walk”. Fans will be treated to an inside look at the making of the album and the building of an independent label. “The docu-series lets people inside the process of writing, producing and releasing music in a way that has never been possible in the past. Now we can give people more than just a music video, this is TV for the ipod generation”, Taylor says.
To kick off the series, the band released their documentary “Strong Enough To Break” on iTunes -- for free. The critically acclaimed film chronicles their departure from a major label and the founding of 3CG. “We wanted to give everyone a chance to watch the documentary and see where we’ve been, before we show them where we’re going with ‘Taking The Walk,’” Taylor says.
For a band that's always written, sung and played nearly everything themselves, the freedom of having no major label ties was a tremendous creative boon, particularly for Zac, the youngest HANSON brother. For the first time, Zac takes the lead vocals on two of the album’s lead singles, the moving ballad “Go” and the ebullient “Running Man”, with its party chatter intro and handclaps. “I've hit more of my stride as a writer and have been able to bring more to the table because of that”, he says. “I pushed myself beyond the plateau. You have to do that as an instrumentalist to find progressions that are going to be unique, and to dig deeper into your emotions as a lyricist”.
The Walk expands upon the more introspective songwriting that the band began to delve into on Underneath. And for HANSON, looking inward means looking outward as well, at the state of the music industry and at their community. “The Walk is the walk of life”, Zac says. “People make decisions to go for dreams, to do something difficult, or they decide to be part of the crowd that watches. You have to make those decisions by yourself.”
Nowhere is that more evident than on the download-only release of “Great Divide”. Released in November in honor of World AIDS Day, the song opens with Isaac's funky guitar riffing and the poignant sound of an African children's choir, recorded during a trip the band took to Mozambique and South Africa.
“The watershed moment that sparked our journey to Africa came when friends of ours from a Tulsa medical firm were donating technology to a South African hospital to help fight the spread of HIV/AIDS”, Isaac says. “We were so moved by their example that we were compelled to take action.”
Co-produced with the legendary Danny Kortchmar (Billy Joel, James Taylor, The Eagles), the pace of making The Walk was quicker and the process unfolded more naturally. Rather than doing what is more common with many artists today, building up tracks by overdubbing individual instruments, the group chose to record many of the songs ‘live’ off the floor. It's an old-school approach that serves the new songs well, just as it did some of the early rock ‘n’ roll records that first interested the band when they began to play together.
Even a great message, though, is lost without great songs, and writing great songs, as you'll hear on The Walk, is what HANSON does best. Each brother brings his own artistic inclinations into the studio, but their collective vision and extraordinary talent result in a band that's in it for the long haul.
Hanson's Blog
Hanson/TOMS Walk in Hollywood, CA
Posted by Hanson on October 29, 2007
The City of West Hollywood, HANSON and TOMS Shoes will join together to help fight poverty and HIV/AIDS in Africa. The partnership is a component of the City’s “Global AIDS Initiative” which was created with the goal of advocating for and supporting education, outreach and funding efforts to combat the AIDS pandemic in Africa. The goal is to raise awareness about the correlation between poverty and HIV/AIDS in Africa and to inspire people to look for simple ways to make a difference in their community and the world.
A news conference to discuss the unique partnership will be held on Tuesday, October 30, 2007 at 10 a.m. at West Hollywood City Hall located at 8300 Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood. After the news conference, a one-mile walk to the iconic Sunset Boulevard and a performance by HANSON will take place.
“The partnership between the City of West Hollywood, HANSON and TOMS Shoes is an excellent opportunity to shine a spotlight on global poverty and HIV/AIDS,” said West Hollywood Councilmember John Heilman. “It’s unfathomable to most Americans that there are millions of people in the world who don’t have basic necessities like a pair of shoes. I commend HANSON and TOMS Shoes for their humanitarian efforts,” he continued.
Scheduled to participate in the news conference are West Hollywood City Councilmember John Heilman who sponsored the City’s “Global AIDS Initiative”; West Hollywood City Councilmembers; Isaac, Taylor and Zac HANSON who will discuss their mission to fight global poverty and HIV/AIDS; Blake Mycoskie, founder of TOMS Shoes will speak about the importance of taking simple action to fight poverty and HIV/AIDS globally.
At approximately 11 a.m., following the news conference, HANSON will lead a one-mile walk to Sunset Boulevard to raise awareness of global poverty and HIV/AIDS as part of the symbolic trek. The route will start at West Hollywood City Hall and proceed west to Holloway Drive up to the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Horn Avenue to the old Tower Records parking lot in West Hollywood. TOMS Shoes will be sold at the Tower Records parking lot, with the pairs donated being delivered by the team as part of TOMS Shoe drop trip to children in South Africa, set for next month. HANSON will also perform a mini-concert at the Tower Records parking lot of songs from their recent album “The Walk.”
HANSON’s first single, “The Great Divide” from their new album “The Walk,” was recorded in Africa during the group’s visit there in 2006 to learn more about the AIDS crisis and was released on World AIDS Day, with all proceeds going to the Perinatal HIV Unit at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto, South Africa.
During their current tour, HANSON have been partnering with TOMS Shoes, a company that donates a pair of shoes for every pair sold to a needy child. HANSON and TOM’S Shoes have staged walks in every tour city to promote its goal of delivering 50,000 pairs of shoes to needy children in Africa next month. TOMS Shoes was created by Blake Mycoskie after a trip to Argentina in which he realized the poverty and health issues the local people were challenged with. TOMS Shoes are inspired by a traditional Argentine shoe.
A news conference to discuss the unique partnership will be held on Tuesday, October 30, 2007 at 10 a.m. at West Hollywood City Hall located at 8300 Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood. After the news conference, a one-mile walk to the iconic Sunset Boulevard and a performance by HANSON will take place.
“The partnership between the City of West Hollywood, HANSON and TOMS Shoes is an excellent opportunity to shine a spotlight on global poverty and HIV/AIDS,” said West Hollywood Councilmember John Heilman. “It’s unfathomable to most Americans that there are millions of people in the world who don’t have basic necessities like a pair of shoes. I commend HANSON and TOMS Shoes for their humanitarian efforts,” he continued.
Scheduled to participate in the news conference are West Hollywood City Councilmember John Heilman who sponsored the City’s “Global AIDS Initiative”; West Hollywood City Councilmembers; Isaac, Taylor and Zac HANSON who will discuss their mission to fight global poverty and HIV/AIDS; Blake Mycoskie, founder of TOMS Shoes will speak about the importance of taking simple action to fight poverty and HIV/AIDS globally.
At approximately 11 a.m., following the news conference, HANSON will lead a one-mile walk to Sunset Boulevard to raise awareness of global poverty and HIV/AIDS as part of the symbolic trek. The route will start at West Hollywood City Hall and proceed west to Holloway Drive up to the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Horn Avenue to the old Tower Records parking lot in West Hollywood. TOMS Shoes will be sold at the Tower Records parking lot, with the pairs donated being delivered by the team as part of TOMS Shoe drop trip to children in South Africa, set for next month. HANSON will also perform a mini-concert at the Tower Records parking lot of songs from their recent album “The Walk.”
HANSON’s first single, “The Great Divide” from their new album “The Walk,” was recorded in Africa during the group’s visit there in 2006 to learn more about the AIDS crisis and was released on World AIDS Day, with all proceeds going to the Perinatal HIV Unit at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto, South Africa.
During their current tour, HANSON have been partnering with TOMS Shoes, a company that donates a pair of shoes for every pair sold to a needy child. HANSON and TOM’S Shoes have staged walks in every tour city to promote its goal of delivering 50,000 pairs of shoes to needy children in Africa next month. TOMS Shoes was created by Blake Mycoskie after a trip to Argentina in which he realized the poverty and health issues the local people were challenged with. TOMS Shoes are inspired by a traditional Argentine shoe.
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