Untitled Document

Urban Tulsa

The Sky's The Limit For Hanson
by Jarrod Gollihare

The brothers in the pop trio Hanson are young, very talented, and signed to a major recording contract with Mercury Records. And they're from Tulsa. What? You haven't heard of them? Well, don't worry...you're not alone. Hanson has been one of Tulsa's best-kept little secrets for several years now, but that's about to change in a big, big way. With their major label debut CD, Middle of Nowhere, set for release in May, and their unbelievably catchy single and video "MMMbop," soon to beinjected into the international pop mainstream, you might not be able to get away from these blond wunderkind come summertime. So count yourself forewarned. Hanson is about to happen.

Catching Up With The Boys

The story of Isaac (16), Taylor (13) and Zac (11) Hanson's burgeoning pop career is almost too perfect - too fairy tale-like - to be true. As some of you may (or may not) remember, Urban Tulsa last spoke with the group nearly two years ago, when they were known locally as a kind of "little white boy hip hop trio" that drove all the pre-teen girls mad (and charmed more than a few "older" girls as well.) A brief recap of Hanson history goes like this: Years and years ago, Walker and Diana Hanson taught their three eldest kids how to sing "Amen" in harmony after saying grace at the dinner table. Soon after - somewhat to their parents surprise - the boys began to improvise on their own, working up '50s and '60 rock and soul standards and popular Christian songs with supertight three part harmony and, most impressively of all, penning their own songs. Walker and Diana had always known their sons were bright and talented, but they hadn't expected this...

It wasn't long before Hanson began performing locally, debuting on the community stage at Mayfest, then at parties and festivals all over town. At some point, the multi-talented siblings developed a knack for dancing as well, (picture a white New Edition), and began performing during assemblies at area elementary schools, driving hundreds of pre-teen schoolgirls into mini-frenzies of gleeful Hanson-mania.

Two years ago, the boys had just released their first locally-recorded CD, Boomerang, full of slick Boyz II Men meets Ace of Base-style pop. After years of classical piano training, they were beginning to teach themselves how to play other instruments, with Isaac taking on the guitar, the irrepressible Zac finding the bash and clatter of the drums naturally attractive and Taylor splitting his time between keyboards and drums. The family had begun screening all their telephone calls by that point...the better to avoid yet another earful of screaming and squealing from the young girls who frequently called the family's west Tulsa residence. Walker and Diana were contemplating getting a second phone line...

Skip forward to early March of this year. Scene: The musty-yet-cozy confines of the old Tulsa Little Theater at 15th and Delaware which Mercury Records has rented out for a week in order to give the boys a real stage on which to practice before they head off to perform at an important conference in New York City. I arrive during their dinner break (they've been practicing a good portion of the day) and walk in on them jamming with the studio musicians Mercury has hired to help fill out their live sound. I'm floored immediately.

It's not that the boys are playing anything all that difficult it's only an impromptu jam session after all-but they're performing with a confidence and competency usually reserved for much more experienced musicians. Just two years ago, these boys were rudimentary at best on their instruments, bashing about in their living room like so many other young rock dreamers. To see them holding their own with professional studio cats is a real eye-and-ear-opener, to say the least. "I guess they've been practicing," I comment to myself. "If they sound this good just goofing off..."

Gone are the guys' page boy haircuts and semi-hip-hop clothing of two years ago, replaced now by long, golden "musician-like" tresses (read: just scruffy enough), and decidedly mod (read: just "alternative" enough) clothing. The five months they spent in Los Angeles between July and November writing and recording Middle of Nowhere certainly seems to have influenced the boys' personal styles. Even when they're in dressed-down practice mode they look MTV hip. And comfortably so.

Mercury's enthusiasm for the band runs deep, it turns out. They secured top-notch producers for Middle of Nowhere including The Dust Brothers, who produced Beck's Grammy-winning CD, Odelay, and Steve Lironi, who's worked with British pop bands Space and Black Grape.

Mercury executives were so jazzed by three of the songs on MMMbop, (the title track, "Thinking of You" and "With You In Your Dreams") that they had the boys re-record them for Middle of Nowhere. In addition, they brought in platinum-selling songwriters to co-write 9 of the CDs 13 songs with the guys. Among those songwriters are Mark Hudson (who wrote "Livin' On The Edge" for Aerosmith), Ellen Shipley (Belinda Carlisle's "Heaven is a Place on Earth" and "Circle In the Sand"), Desmond Child (many, many songs for artists such as Bon Jovi and Aerosmith) and the legendary Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil (who penned "You've Lost that Lovin' Feeling" for The Righteous Brothers as well as scores of other hits for artists such as the Animals and The Crystals).

In addition to all that, Mercury also dropped an extra bit of change on a video for "MMMbop" which was shot at the end of February in L.A. with director Tamara Davis, who worked on the Adam Sandler flick Billy Madison as well as directing videos for Sonic Youth, Amp and Luscious Jackson. Earlier that same month, Hanson appeared as musical guests on an episode of MTV's The Jenny McCarthy Show which will be aired sometime in June. They also performed an impromptu in-office set for the staff of Spin Magazine. The promotional gears, it would seem, have definitely kicked into gear.

The evening has grown dark and chilly, and Isaac is informed via a discreetly passed note from his dad that the boys need to get back to the theater to resume practicing. Peter Schwartz, the music director Mercury Records has hired to "crack the whip" and get the boys and their band into top performance shape (he's also worked with the likes of David Bowie, Madonna, Michael Jackson and Toni Braxton) will probably be wondering what happened to them.The evening has grown dark and chilly, and Isaac is informed via a discreetly passed note from his dad that the boys need to get back to the theater to resume practicing. Peter Schwartz, the music director Mercury Records has hired to "crack the whip" and get the boys and their band into top performance shape (he's also worked with the likes of David Bowie, Madonna, Michael Jackson and Toni Braxton) will probably be wondering what happened to them.

Back on stage, Hanson wastes no time launching into a loose performance of "MMMbop" which sounds, quite literally, like a million dollars. Even though the sound man only has a monitor mix up--declining, for some reason, to turn up the huge main speakers dominating either side of the stage--the boys voices easily cut through Isaac's joyfully loud rhythm guitar, Taylor's alternating keyboard grooves and conga pounding, and Zac's impressively solid drumming, to fill the stage with those undeniable harmonies that are still their signature sound.

I watch Schwartz for awhile as he plays along with the band on his own keyboard near the back and side of the stage, behind Taylor. Every once in a while he stops and just listens to the sound of the young pop band before him gleefully dashing through their first major label single as if there's no tomorrow.

He's all smiles.