Second Cup Cafe: Hanson

The Sibling Trio Has Come A Long Way Since "Mmmbop"

(CBS)  Ten years after their breakthrough pop smash "Mmmbop," sibling trio Hanson are still making music together. The former teen heartthrobs are all grown up now - all are married and two have children of their own - and they've recently released a new studio album, "The Walk."

They visited Second Cup Cafe to play songs from the new album.

Isaac, Taylor and Zac Hanson formed their band in 1992 when they were all under the age of 12. They released two independent records before being discovered at the South by Southwest Festival in Austin, Texas.

Their first major label album, "Middle of Nowhere," was released in May of 1997. The album's cheerful - some might say relentlessly catchy - song "Mmmbop" reached No. 1 in the U.S., U.K. and Australia.

Their meteoric rise to fame continued with "Mmmbop" landing on numerous year-end critics' lists, and the group earning three Grammy nominations.

"Middle of Nowhere" reached quadruple platinum in the U.S., and their record label quickly issued the Christmas album "Snowed In," which went platinum.

The band released their sophomore album "This Time Around" in 2000. But, although it did reach gold status, the album was considered a sophomore slump in comparison to their highly-successful debut. After disagreements with their record label, Hanson decided to go independent and form their own company, 3CG records.

Their first album for the label, 2004's "Underneath," debuted at No. 1 on Billboard's Top Independent Albums chart.

The 2006 documentary, "Strong Enough To Break," chronicled the group's trials and tribulations establishing their record label and trying to make it as independent artists.

The band screened the documentary at colleges around the country to open discussion about the state of the record business. "The film is important, not because it's about Hanson - because who cares, we're just one more band," Zac Hanson told Billboard.com, "but because there are so many similar stories, like what happened to Fiona Apple and Wilco. It's sort of the norm."

Their latest album, "The Walk," is also accompanied by documentary footage. The album was inspired, in part, by the band's trip to South Africa and Mozambique, where they recruited children from a local orphanage to form a choir. The children are featured on two songs on the album.

Hanson will embark on a tour to support "The Walk" beginning Sept. 10 in Nashville, Tenn.

[ecuadoriana]

I checked out Hanson when my, then, prepubescent daughter brought home their first CD. (Unlike most modern parents, I actually went to the effort to find out exactly what she was listening to & watching.) They appealed to her the same way that the Jackson 5 had appealed to me in the 60''s- same age bracket & innocent, yet honest, lyrics.

When I see all the fame of all these so called "musician/singers"- Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, et al, my stomach churns for the injustice of it all. Real, simple, honest talent like these young men possess is passed over in favour of warmed over cr@p that passes for music today.

At my pushing 50 age I am not ashamed to admit- proud, actually- that I own all the Hanson CDs, as well as those of another young, true musician- Jonny Lang.



The threat of death wouldn''t make me purchase a Britney Spears CD.

[jsilver2th]

Taylor Hanson has been seroiusly under-rated as a musician for some time. I haven''t heard the new cuts but I intend to get them. I saw they in Portland a few years go and they rocked- especially Taylor on the piano. It had to be pretty hip as Gus Van Sant was there and actually played a Woodie Guthrie song with the band.

[keithle1]

Married with children? Wow.

"Mmmbop"! Love that.

The singer almost has a Kurt Cobain-look going on.