Hanson is proof positive that brilliant records can come from just about anywhere. You never know where you're going to strike oil. So it's fitting that Isaac, Taylor and Zachary Hanson were born and raised in the drilling town of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Since 1992 the brothers have recorded two self-distributed CDs, written more than 100 original songs, and performed in public hundreds of times. But when Hanson played at The Blue Rose Cafe, a hip Tulsa bar, they had to perform outside. That's because Isaac is 17, Taylor is 14 and Zac is 12. They weren't old enough to get in. You wouldn't know it from listening to Middle Of Nowhere, their debut for Mercury Records--an album chock full of jubilant pop, modern rock, 70's soul and even a gospel influence that has crossed over from a teen audience to appeal to listeners twice their own age. If there's never been such a thing as "alternative pop" there is now. Without a trace of grunge artifice, Hanson creates a sweetly nostalgic-for-a-simpler-time feel, without resorting to high-gloss. You won't hear any candy choruses or swelling strings. Instead, producers Steve Lironi (Black Grape, Space) and the Dust Brothers (Beck's Odelay) have paired the brothers' natural harmonies with their love for traditional rock and roll. '
The group's career may well have started when Hanson's father's job took the family to live in Trinadad, Ecuador and Venezuela, during which time the boys developed an obsessive love for the Time/Life compilation records covering the years 1957-1969. "The first music we started listening to was late 50's, early 60's rock and roll," Isaac says. "Chuck Berry, Bobby Darin and the Beach Boys. We also love 60's soul records like Johnnie Taylor's 'Who's Making Love' and anything by Otis Redding or Aretha--The Queen of Soul." That explains the heavy reliance on classic, well-crafted pop songs and harmony, harmony, harmony. It may be Taylor's voice singing lead on many of the tracks, but as Taylor himself stresses, "Part of what Hanson is, is that there's not just one guy who sings. Having three voices is what makes us Hanson." The proof is in how they lift those voices to meet one another's on the buoyant once-heard, never-purged single "MMMBop."
"MMMBop" and three other songs on Middle Of Nowhere are entirely self-penned. For the others, Hanson turned to seasoned songwriting collaborators, including Mark Hudson (Aerosmith), Ellen Shipley (Belinda Carlisle), and the legendary Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil (the Righteous Brothers, the Crystals, the Animals). The boys wrote and recorded Middle Of Nowhere in Los Angeles over a period of five months, to be released in May, 1997. And what does Zac, the youngest Hanson, remember most fondly about that time? "We jumped in the Dust Brothers' pool with our clothes on!" he exclaims. It's Hanson's natural exuberance for life that shines through in their songs. In fact, the way they came to sing and write songs together was a very organic process. All three brothers say that music was unavoidable growing up in their household, with both their parents singing and making up songs constantly. "Singing is in our genes," Isaac says. He would go on to write his first song at the tender age of eight and Taylor began to harmonize with him shortly thereafter. When the boys were asked to do the dishes, their parents would find they had written a song instead, which they would insist on performing. On Middle Of Nowhere, Isaac plays guitar, Taylor plays keyboards and Zac plays drums.
So what does a group of teens write songs about? Friendship, girls, loneliness, girls, family members, girls--and aliens. Aliens? Zac's composition "Man From Milwaukee" was inspired by his sitting by the side of the road in Albuquerque waiting for his family to fix their broken-down van. But "Albuquerque" didn't have quite the right ring to it, so he went with Milwaukee and turned it into a song about aliens. "The songs are inspired by everyday life," Taylor says. "Originally we would write about our brothers and sisters (there are three younger Hanson siblings). Just whatever we are thinking about. An of course, girls."
From the impossibly catchy "Where's The Love," to the slab of Sly-influenced funk on "Look At You," to the gospel-tinged piano ballad "With You In Your Dreams," which was inspired by their late grandmother, Hanson has proven themselves to be diverse and creative songwriters. They may not be old enough to play in bars, but on this album, Hanson has struck oil!