Well that’s now a distant memory as brothers Isaac, Taylor and Zac are fully formed men and are celebrating more than 20 years together with the release of their new album ‘Anthem,’ which features their latest single ‘Get the Girl Back.’<\/p>\n EntertainmentWise <\/em>caught up with Zac Hanson to discuss how their sound has evolved over the years, sibling rivalry and their advice for younger stars like Justin Bieber and One Direction…<\/p>\n Hi Hanson!\u00a0You guys are in the UK touring with your new album ‘Anthem,’ which came out in June. How do you like Britain and is there anything you miss from home? <\/strong><\/p>\n We\u2019ve been coming back for years now\u2026 we love the curry. There are always things you miss from home but you have to focus on what you like, and I think that there has always been a great link musically between American and British culture. We enjoy it!<\/p>\n Awesome! So you guys have been playing together for more than 20 years, how do you think your sound has changed over this time?<\/strong><\/p>\n It\u2019s changed a lot; I think that we\u2019re always trying to be fresh and yourself. And I think that hopefully we just get better and better, we become better musicians and better producers. One of the interesting things about being a band for so long is that you definitely have people who are fans of your band who come in and out of your career.<\/p>\n You catch them for one album and then the next and then they catch you for the next one and then the next. I think that this album is influenced by the song writing and melody and harmony of a classic MoTown music. But there\u2019s a raw side, and a little harder edge to it. I think it\u2019s hard to define it. It\u2019s different.\u00a0It\u2019s still pop, but there\u2019s a rawness to this record, and a side to it that\u2019s just unique.<\/p>\n So What makes ‘Anthem’ different to the rest of your albums?<\/strong><\/p>\n Like I said, I think there\u2019s a harder edge to it. You\u2019re always trying to push yourself. You always feel like whatever you\u2019ve just done is your best work, or you should! I think there\u2019s a good perspective in this record. With our music, there\u2019s always a resolve, whether it\u2019s a sad song or a happy song. I think this record particularly has that. There\u2019s a lot of talk about fighting and I think that\u2019s a reflection of us fighting together as a band! We make music that hopefully will last and matter. You have to fight for it every day, it\u2019s not something that happens passively.<\/p>\n So, all three of you are involved in your song writing process. What do you think of artists who are clearly manufactured and just churn out pop songs that are written by other people? \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Well, I think historically that some of the most amazing artists didn\u2019t write their own songs, like Elvis and Aretha Franklin. I think the key difference in what you\u2019re referencing in those artists is that they clearly had the vision for what they are doing. They were clearly driving the process. They had enough assertion to say \u2018you know what, I\u2019m not a great song writer, I\u2019m a great performer\u2019. It\u2019s sad when those who don\u2019t have the vision go astray. It\u2019s a hard business, you have to really know what you want out of it or you\u2019ll get churned up and spat out.<\/p>\n One thing about Hanson\u00a0is that we\u2019ve never been in it for fame or in it because we wanted to be successful. We are in it because we want to make a lasting impression on people. Hopefully people grasp what you\u2019re doing and turn it into their own, their own story, their own vision. We\u2019ve written songs that are intended for other people. Just last week we were writing songs for a pop artist. I don\u2019t think there\u2019s anything wrong with not writing your own music, as long as you\u2019re still actually the driving force behind the selection and the vision of the music.<\/p>\n Could you tell us who you were writing for this week? \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019m gonna keep that with me. We don\u2019t actually know where it will end up, sometimes you write a song for\u2026 I don\u2019t know\u2026 just to name some random artist, Kelly Clarkson, and it gets done by Keith Urban. You never know where these things will end up.<\/p>\n So your latest single \u2018Get the Girl Back\u2019 shows how your music has evolved over the years and draws on Motown and pop influences. Do you ever feel nervous to try new things? \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n From the beginning, I think our band has been one out of its time. We\u2019ve never really fit with what\u2019s popular. When we first came out, particularly I think within music in America, we were a garage band influenced by 50\u2019s and 60\u2019s music, our records were combination of tracking and loops and harmony, while what was popular at the time was Hootie the Blowfish and Nirvana, very much grunge music.<\/p>\n Then right after us came The Spice Girls and Britney Spears and The Backstreet Boys, and we don\u2019t really fit well musically within either of those groups. I think that\u2019s remained to be true, we\u2019ve kind of always been on our own path. And that\u2019s been a blessing because we\u2019ve never fit in a \u2018box\u2019 within music, and that\u2019s allowed us more evolution and creativity. We don\u2019t have\u00a0 to worry about being trendy, we worry about making music that we enjoy.<\/p>\n The new music video for \u2018Get the Girl Back\u2019 features an array of celebrity faces including Kat Dennings and Nikki Reed. How did the idea for the video come about, and how did you get so many celebs involved?<\/strong><\/p>\n Kat and Nikki were both friends that we had met through mutual admiration of each other! We were fans of them, and they were fans of our music and basically we just said \u2018Hey! You guys wanna do a music video?\u2019 and they both wanted to do it. And really, the direction of celebrities was really just a very natural group of friends that came together.<\/p>\n What we wanted to create in the feeling of the video, was not just telling the story of the song, you know, \u2018Get the Girl Back,’ but to create that sense of that cool show that everybody\u2019s been to, or everybody waited outside of to try and get in to. The dance break that everybody wishes would happen at the show they\u2019re at, but we wanted it to be something cinematic, like a movie, not something that\u2019s just gone. It\u2019s something that could continue.<\/p>\n The three of you must have spent a huge amount of time together on the road over the last two decades. Do sibling rivalries ever come into play while you\u2019re touring?<\/strong><\/p>\n We\u2019ve been doing this for a long time. You have your moments, good and bad. I rarely think of our interaction as siblings, it\u2019s an underlying thing. It\u2019s not on the surface.<\/p>\n What do you think about artists like One Direction and Justin Bieber and their incredible global success? You started out very young like them, but things are very different these days with social networking and new technology, do you think the pressures of fame will get too much for them?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Well I\u2019m sure that some of these artists are very talented; the main thing really is really knowing what you want out of the process. If you\u2019re in it for fame, if you\u2019re in it for money, I think it\u2019s a lot harder for you to deal with success. Especially if it\u2019s not your music, if it\u2019s not your creative vision. I think you often find that young artists will say years later things like \u2018This is the real me!\u2019 and it alienates the people who loved them in the beginning as well as people who are fans of them now, because it\u2019s like \u2018Are you going to change again, if this is the music you\u2019re doing now? What are you going to be doing later?\u2019<\/p>\n So I think it\u2019s hard, no matter what age you are, to deal with success. Social media and every person having a camera to capture your one bad moment blasted across every tabloid doesn\u2019t help! But I don\u2019t really know any of those artists, One Direction or Justin Bieber, but I think the main thing is to surround yourself with peers. You don\u2019t need to be the most important person in the room all the time. That gets you a false perspective and you don\u2019t ever get people telling you how it is, or how crappy your behaviour is.<\/p>\n When you\u2019re the coolest, most important person in the room all the time and everyone around you is part of your \u2018crew,’ then you\u2019re just going to do what ever you want! And they\u2019re going to encourage you, no matter how stupid your idea is. You need to be around people who will give you respect, and who will respect you enough to tell you what\u2019s good for you.<\/p>\n![\"EntertainmentWise](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.mmmboptastic.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/hanson_7.jpg?resize=480%2C513&ssl=1\")