Hanson

The music and entertainment industry are not known for decades-long careers from rock and pop artists. In fact their legends have codified in the mind of pop culture that few if any artists expect to claim long term success due to the highly competitive landscape and shifting sands of a trend-laden, non-artist friendly business. This makes the story of HANSON’s 32-year long career, more than 20 of it as an independent artist, all the more rare.

Made up of three brothers, Isaac, Taylor and Zac from Tulsa, Oklahoma, the band broke in the late 90’s at the youthful ages of 16,14, and 11 respectively. In contrast with the time’s Alternative rock wave exemplified by Nirvana and Pearl Jam, their breakout sunny soulful organic pop was an anomaly. Lead by their infectious 1997 hit “MMMBop” which went to #1 in 27 countries, their debut multi-million selling album Middle Of Nowhere garnered three Grammy nominations.

HANSON became a household name from Tulsa to Tokyo, and more than 25 years after their breakthrough are still touring the world and selling out concerts from Sydney to Los Angeles. In 2024 the story continues, and this year’s projects are helping the band mark one of the key milestones that has allowed for their longevity - their decision to found their own label and become independent once again starting with their third album in 2004.

In 2004, just 7 years after the band’s debut album had rocketed them to stardom and only 4 years after their acclaimed second album This Time Around, the band faced the fracture of the label that signed them, Mercury, due to the largest music merger in history between parent company Polygram, and Universal, leaving the band in an increasingly corporate environment at their new label Island DefJam. With a global name, an active online community built by the band outside of label control, and a full third album recorded, the band was ready to leave the backdrop of a major record label and establish a brand-new independent company to release their music as a self-funded independent artist.

In the early 2000’s before the birth of smart-phones, Youtube and widespread social media, the concept of a group of artists still barely 20 years old known for their mainstream success establishing their own label was both daunting and unprecedented.

“Everyone thought we were nuts, and they were probably right,” said Isaac, who was 22 at the time.

“Though it was daunting, to us the fact that it was scary and new was not a deterrent because we had seen the best major labels had to offer and it was a mess. We knew there were fans out there and we had a chance to build a company that worked for us, instead of the other way around,” added Taylor who was then 20 years old.

“We chose to bet on the real fans and they showed up,” offered Zac, the band’s drummer.

Marking the 20th anniversary of 2004’s Underneath album and the start of their independent era, the band is launching a special album Underneath: Complete, a reissue of Underneath which includes a number of songs written for the album that were not part of the original release, plus 2 brand new recordings, and the Underneath: Experience Tour bringing the band to major markets in US and Canada for a series of 2-night stands.

The new songs build on the band’s inspiration for the original album, with folk-rock artists and singer-songwriters inspiring the tone, epitomized by the highly regarded Nick Drake’s song “Pink Moon”, which itself was referenced in the original album’s first single “Penny & Me”. Taking it’s cue from their new recording of “Pink Moon”, the band reimagined “Penny & Me” in a new style, influenced by Drake’s haunting acoustic tablature to create a more emotional and intimate interpretation, to create the “Penny And Me (Moonlight Version)”.

“This new recording of Penny and Me really gets to the heart of the song. It’s about freedom and adventure, and how we’re connected to the people and places we love through music. Somehow it feels both nostalgic and brand new,” said Taylor.

2024’s Underneath: Experience Tour‘s 2-night stands frame the Underneath project by featuring both an acoustic and an electric show in each market, to highlight the history of the project which had offered an acoustic and electric tour to support it in the early 2000’s. Bringing further connectivity to the project the band’s special guests also both have a connection to the project. Night one features “Underneath“ co-writer and power-pop legend Matthew Sweet, and night two features Phantom Planet who broke with their initial project in the early 2000’s and helped to define the era with their iconic pop-rock hook laden hit “California”. Phantom Planet’s bass player Sam Farrar, who is also part of Maroon 5, also played bass on Underneath.

The music video for “Penny And Me (Moonlight Version)” adds unique layers of the band’s history and sparks a new chapter, featuring the return of Samaire Armstrong who played the Penny character in the original music video reprising her role, alongside Taylor Hanson’s daughter Penelope Hanson being introduced as Penny of a new generation. The video was directed by actor / writer / director Natalie Morales who cites the band as creative inspiration for her work as a director.

Available to ring in the celebration this fall will be the band’s craft beer brand HANSON BROTHERS BEER, which they launched in 2013. featuring the bands flagship beer MmmHops and a collaboration style Pink Moonlight, a Hazy Peach IPA, inspired by the merger of “Penny & Me” and “Pink Moon” and brewed and developed with brewing partners Destihl. The partnership with Destihl began with a meeting of the minds with acclaimed brewer and Destihl founder Matt Potts, who also shares a love of music, at the Great American Beer Festival in 2013. Fans will be able get the beer at many of the concerts throughout the tour, with more markets opening up in the following months.

A career made up of decades has within it a myriad of accomplishments and challenges, and the band hopes this tour and project release will help to usher in reflection on not only the Underneath era, but so many great projects which have been crafted and released over the last twenty years under their independent banner.

2007’s The Walk, was a milestone for the band in more ways than just music. It was co-produced with music legend Danny Kortchmar (Billy Joel, Neil Young, Don Henley, Bon Jovi) and engineered by CJ Erikisson (U2, Matchbox Twenty, Jack’s Mannequin, Incubus), producing lyrically potent layered tapestries, which took inspiration from the band’s growing interest in sub-Saharan Africa. Their trips to the continent during the making of The Walk sparked the launch of an ambitious campaign to fight extreme poverty, and inspired the band’s fans to join them in activism through the one-mile barefoot walks they hosted at hundreds of tour stops, which helped raise funds and awareness for causes like TOMS Shoes, drilling clean water wells, providing medicine for expectant mothers with HIV/AIDS, and building schools. The music, anchored by first single “Great Divide”’ raised funds for this effort.

Following Taylor’s stint with his side project, the acclaimed Tinted Windows, in 2009 which featured him in the power-pop super-group alongside the late great Adam Schlesinger (Fountains Of Wayne), James Iha (Smashing Pumpkins), and Bun E Carlos (Cheap Trick), the band returned with their fifth studio album Shout It Out. The collection of songs saw the band leaning in to their R&B and Gospel roots, complete with iconic horn arrangements from Jerry Hey (Tower of Power, Michael Jackson). The band further amplified their soul influences with singles like “Thinking ‘Bout Somethin’”, where they recreated an iconic Blues Brothers film scene for the video, capturing the spirit of soulful pop made famous by Ray Charles. The video also featured previous creative collaborator and pop-culture icon Weird Al Yankovic, and performing live the band shared the stage with original Blues Brothers band members Tom “Bones” Malone, Mr Fabulous and “Blue Lou” Marini. This Album captured a spirit of joy and celebration which is a hallmark of the band’s sound.

In 2013 the group pivoted to a project of further weight musically, with more emphasis on guitar and sonic scope for their album ANTHEM, featuring songs like “Fired Up” and “You Can’t Stop Us”, plus the song which bridged the world of Shout It Out to ANTHEM, the debut single “Get The Girl Back”. This album was an important one, beginning a new era for the band as they further developed their entrepreneurial endeavors in building their already well developed active online fan-club community Hanson.net.

Harkening back to 1997 when the band’s home state Governor named May 6th the honorary HANSON DAY, their fan community had continued the tradition with celebrations online and in person in cities all over the world. Recognizing the importance of community early on and investing in its growth through their active online fan-club Hanson.net, the band invited fans to their hometown for a special series of HANSON Day events. Now a longstanding tradition, fans from over 30 countries converge in Tulsa for a fan festival devoted to amplifying the importance of the HANSON community.

Inspired by a love of great craft beer and food culture, in 2013 they launched their HANSON BROTHERS BEER company with the flagship MmmHops Pale Ale. The tongue-in-cheek name of the beer and the award-winning recipe for the Pale Ale, winning Gold at the World Beer Championship in 2013, the brand rapidly built a fanbase. Focusing on developing quality recipes and relationships with the craft beer community, the brand launched in multiple US states and built a reputation as a quality micro-brewery, forging new beer fans across the country.

In 2014 the group co-founded The Hop Jam Festival featuring craft breweries from around the world alongside a large music festival creating a new iconic beer and music brand in their hometown of Tulsa, Oklahoma. The festival brought together tens of thousands of beer and music fans each year to the city, and featured hundreds of craft brewers.

In 2017 the band marked 25 years since their founding with a world tour and a greatest hits collection Middle Of Everywhere, taking the band to over 25 countries on their sold out tour. The years was capped off with the release of the band’s Christmas album Finally It’s Christmas, their much- awaited follow-up to 1997’s beloved Snowed In.

HANSON’s most musically ambitious musical project to date came in 2018 with String Theory, a new album and tour that featured the band performing with a full orchestra, created in collaboration with acclaimed orchestral arranger and conductor David Campbell. The project was one of the most successful of their career, highlighting their staying power and still strong connection with fans. This project brought the band to sold out nights at renowned venues like The Greek Theater in Los Angeles and Sydney Opera House, in Sydney, Australia.

In recent years HANSON’s projects have been increasingly paired with unique release strategies and creative ideas, such as 2021’s Against The World, featuring seven songs released consecutively each month, reinforcing the bands deep musicality and credibility as writers with so many different styles. The album also included a guest performance from rock legend Rick Nielsen of Cheap Trick.

Their latest full release, RED GREEN BLUE, had the band each helming a third of the album and amplifying their unique individual styles and influences, with songs like Taylor’s earnest and dynamic “Child At Heart”, Isaac’s organic and heartwarming “Write You A Song”, and the rock infused pop of Zac’s “Don’t Let Me Down”, featuring guitar prodigy Zach Myers of Shinedown. The RGB project brought together a team of collaborators, including co-producers, Grammy award winning Producer, Engineer and Mixer Jim Scott (Tom Petty, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Wilco), and Grammy Award winning Artist and Producer David Garza (Fiona Apple, Midland).

Over their 32-year career so far HANSON has been defined by their commitment to sustain and survive many seasons while keeping the focus on their own creative ambition and belief in the power of music to bring people together. Having sold over 16 million albums and millions of concert tickets, the band has long secured a permanent place in music history, but for a band only just crossing the threshold of their 40’s, their greatest achievement may still be ahead of them.