#9 Zac Hanson, Hanson

Hello Zac, how are you?
Not too bad, thanks! We just had two hours in the car stuck in traffic, but whatever.

That’s not very long for an American car journey though is it?
Usually we’re moving at higher speeds. It depends what city you’re in. You could get stuck in traffic for two hours in LA.

Where do you live now?
We still call home Tulsa, Oklahoma. It’s middle America. There’s a lot of history there – oil money, natural gas – so there’s lots of nice 1920s architecture. There’s no traffic in Oklahoma, basically.

How would you describe Hanson’s music to my Mum?
How old is your Mom?

[For reasons of propriety, we have elected to keep our Mum's age under wraps]
I would say that it’s harmony-driven rock’n'roll music that’s inspired by great Motown and r’n'b records.

She’s racing out to HMV as we speak. What’s the best freebie you’ve ever had?
A Playstation.

That’s good. How old were you?
I was 13.

A Playstation One, then? As you were kids, I guess you had to have non-booze gifts? How many cases of wine are you owed?
There were instances where people were like ‘Yeah, we have gifts for you, but we can’t give them to you. They’re alcohol.’

…have them when you’re 21?
I’m still waiting on that case to show up.

It’s out there, in a warehouse, all dusty. Do you have any pre-gig rituals?
We quote a scene from [Steve Martin comedy] The Three Amigos. It’s gibberish and nonsense.

You’re too embarrassed to do it over the phone?
I don’t want to reveal all of it. [composes self] Jib-jib-jib-jib-JIB-JIB-MEEEUUUUHHHH!

Hmm. That’s OK, but it’s not as good as the bit where Steve Martin goes “look-up-ere/look-up-ere”.

How much is a pint of milk?
My wife does all the grocery shopping. I have no idea about pints. I buy gallons.

Well think of a price for a gallon and then divide that by however many pints that is in your crazy imperial system.
Um… £2?

£2! You have an expensive milk vendor.
It’s difficult to switch to pints and then to pounds.

What’s the most luxury item you’ve ever bought?
Um, I don’t really do luxuries. [long pause] I bought a Volvo.

You bought a Volvo…
Yeah, like an SC90.

Do you ever stick a Labrador in the back, wear some Wellington boots? Go off road a bit?
I have two kids. I said to my wife, “I like these cars: 1) they drive great, 2) they’re like BMWs but without the pompous element and plus they’re the safest cars in the world”

This is good because you’re a pop star, you’ve been a pop star pretty much your whole life, you’ve got great moral fibre. You’re not going for a Ferrari. You’ve got a Volvo. You’re gonna be sensible.
[laughs] Sorry… I drove a Subaru for a while. It’s faster than a Porsche.

Good. Motoring? That’s covered. Kate Moss said she was often mistaken for a member of Hanson. Do you remember that being said?
I don’t particularly remember that being said, but I wish she had told me sooner. We could have sat down and talked about it over a nice dinner.

And now it’s too late! You’re both married…
Yeah.

The window has slammed shut. Did you see X Factor on Saturday?
Not in real time, but I watched the video afterwards.

What did you think of Janet’s rendition of ‘MMMBop’?
She seemed really nervous and she did a pretty piss-poor job of it. Not trying to be mean, I think she can sing but there’s a certain groove to that song that comes from listening to doo-wop records and Motown records and that’s the way you have to sing it, with that in mind. It sounded like she was singing it as straight as possible. It was like she didn’t remember the song. From what I’m told, she’s a fan of the band, that’s why she picked the song. I can only figure that nerves took over.

Do you feel sorry for her in that way then?
I don’t feel sorry for her because I think it’s your job as a performer to do things well. If I had to sing an opera song, I would spend every day making sure I knew that song inside and out so that I when I came to perform it I wouldn’t do a crap job of it. That’s your responsibility. She has a good voice though so I wouldn’t turn it down if she wanted to co-write a song.

Maybe she plays a cracking clavichord or something. What’s your favourite film?
That’s hard. It changes all the time, it’s like the weather or something. The video for our new single is a recreation of a scene from the movie the Blues Brothers – that’s one of my favourites.

We’re into the home straight now. You can relax.
I’ve been tense this whole time.

It’s OK. We’re into the really glib questions, the unimportant ones. So… How did the universe start?
[laughs] Oh. I dunno. It probably never started. It probably always was.

How will it end? When people start covering ‘MMMBop’ badly?
[laughs] At the point when people start singing the lyrics to ‘MMMBop’ correctly, everything will turn into a black hole and be gone.

When you’re heading back to Tulsa to meet a loved one there, are you ever tempted to call them the day before and sing “I’m only one day away from your heart”?
[laughing] No. Never.

What’s the most inaccurate thing you’ve ever read about yourself?
That I was dead.

When were you reported dead?
It was 1998 I believe. It was right after Princess Diana died and I was reported to have died the exact same way she did. It was on radio stations in the US and relatives were calling my parents. We were in the UK doing promo and some recording for quite a long time. Our fans were so distraught that we hadn’t been seen in public in two months that they just decided I was dead. Also I read we were from Australia.

Ah man, being dead you can take... Why are Hanson still together?
I dunno. I love making music. I like this job and I wanna have this job. Even now, as a young musician, if I saw us as we were then, even I would be skeptical of it. Like, “Really? That 12-year-old really knows what he wants to do with his life?”

Yeah, but if you asked a 12-year-old what they wanted to be, they would probably say “a rock star”. You got to fast-track yourself.
If your kid says he wants to be a stockbroker, then you’ve got to start worrying.

Especially in a recession, the kid clearly has no grasp of economics.
Here is the last question: Which of these is not real?
a) Hanson HeidelbergCementGroup
b) Alan Hansen
c) Doughty Hanson
d) Hanson Bassoons Company
[laughing] Well I really hope Hanson Bassoons Company is real, I want a bassoon. [long pause] Doughty Hanson?

Oh, I’m sorry Zac. Doughty Hanson is a mid-market private equity group. The correct answer would have been Hanson Bassoons Company, it’s actually Hanson Clarinets Company.
It sounds like we need to start a coalition of everything with the name Hanson. [bandmate and eldest brother] Isaac had a bloodclot and he found that there was a company called Hanson that made medical equipment and they gave him free treatment. We just drove past a big construction site that said Hanson on it too, so I think we can probably build things, heal the world, give out clarinets.

Just in time for armageddon. Terminator thought it was going to be Skynet, but it’s actually going to be Hanson Corps.
Something like that…

Hanson’s ‘Shout It Out’ is out now on 3CG Records.