Smash Hits-4th to 17th June 1997
Planet Mmmbop!
Planet pop? Planet Mmmbop more like! It's all long hair, top tunes and big
smiles as Smash Hits spends an interstellar afternoon with rising stars Zac,
Taylor, and Isaac, aka Hanson!
Being the biggest and best new pop band on the planet, topping the charts
throughout the world, with fame, fortune, adulation and loadsa fans
beckoning, Hanson should be the happiest people in the world.
Except that Zac is sitting, his face all forlorn and sad. "I don't tend to
get girls as fans," he sighs, bottom lip sticking out. "I just get all the
young guys and weirdos."
Hanson are talking about girls, one of their favourite topics and it seems a
certain glum-looking, sulking 11-year-old is being left out of the
conversation.
But at this point of potential crisis, when it seems like the youngest,
smiliest third of pop's future is being seriously upset, Taylor hits him
forcefully on the head with a copy of Smash Hits and announces: "Now that's
not true, is it?"
"OK," says Zac, and a huge infectious grin spreads across his face at long
last.
"I guess I get a few girl fans." And Zac, Isaac and Taylor all start to
laugh.
Phew! Hanson are the happiest people in the world. Not only is their single
Mmmbop the cheeriest, brightest, shiniest pop song ever but even more than
that, spending an afternoon in the lads' company is about as much fun as you
can possibly handle fully clothed!
"Being serious is so boring," Taylor says. "Anyone can act like Oasis,
what's the point? You can do that anytime in any job. We love music and it's
what we love to do. So we like having fun."
"We goof off," Zac confesses. "We like to, say, climb up on a roof and drop
water bombs on people. Stuff like that!"
During the Hits photo shoot 'goofing off' is an all too regular occurance.
Be it Zac's daft robotic dancing, their tendancy to break into song or the
high spirits with which they approach even the most boring tasks. They love
'goofing', but it's only one side of Hanson.
"We also take our music seriously, we goof off, but we're certainly not
goofballs," he nods firmly.
Hanson may be fun, young, good looking and poptastic but they are also real,
talented musicians.
Hanson are as they describe themselves: "Brothers who write, sing and play
anything."
Isaac wrote his first song when he was eight years old. Zac started playing
gigs with his big brothers when he was only six. "We've been listening to
and playing music since we were born," Isaac explains as if being in bands
since nappies is the most normal thing on the earth.
"But it all started properly about five years ago," he says. "We started
performing and doing some gigs. Originally we were doing acapella music and
clicking our fingers - but for the last couple of years we've all had
instruments. There were some drums in the attic that dad got down for Zac
and within a week we were playing live!"
Zac: "I guess I'm a natural drummer, although at the beginning I wasn't
doing much. And on top of being the best pre-teen drummer in the world Zac
also writes songs. He wrote Man From MIlwaukee, the bonus track on their
brill album Middle of Nowhere.
So are Hanson the new Jackson Five, the group that saw 'King of Pop' Michael
Jackson shoot fame at a similar young age? Not according to Taylor. "There's
not five of us. It was Michael and four brothers," he points out. "We're all
the same. We all make the music."
'Cos the Hanson lads have private tutors instead of going to school, they
get loadsa time to rehearse their top tunes. "We've been able to practice
rather than being stuck up with school and all that," Taylor says. "It's
really nice because you can focus on the subjects you really like and are
interested in."
The brothers had a history lesson this morning before meeting the Hits. The
lesson involved going around the London Dungeons and the Tower of London
History Ride. "We're experiencing new people and new cultures," Isaac
explains. "How many US history teachers would die to be able to send their
class to London!"
But, if it's cool missing school, Zac adds that bed-time hasn't got any
later just because they're pop stars. "It's worse 'cos we have to get up
early to go and work, we were up at six this morning so we do get told to go
to bed early."
All the Hanson family are over in London. There's mum and dad, as well as
sisters Jessica (8) and Avary (6) and yet another Hanson bro, Mackie (3). So
are their younger family a Hanson Jnr, another popband only years away?
Taylor shrugs. "I don't know, Maxi has got the rhythm - he could play
drums." And he's three years old? "Yeah!" Next time Hanson come over they'll
be much bigger stars and they'll be on their own, without the full Hanson
clan. "We can't afford to fly everyone everywhere 'cos there are too many of
us," says Taylor, insisting that they wouldn't be lost without mum and dad:
"It usually ends up with Zac looking after us!"
Zac adds: "I guess I need looking after sometimes. We look after each other,
but i don't need babysitting. I don't think as those two as older than me, I
think they're 11 as well. To Tay we're all 14 and to Ike we're all 16, I
guess."
Isaac agrees: "We don't really argue and when we do it's not a big thing.
Generally we are best friends for the most part. I don't think about how old
we are."
"It's great to be good friends with your brothers," Taylor adds smiling.
"Then you've got friends for life."
Zac looks at the smiling Taylor, puts his finger in his mouth and starts
making barfing noises.
The coversation, inevitably, returns to girls - and the good news for
lay-dees in Britain is that none of the band are attatched.
Tay wonders why we're suurprised (perhaps 'cos he's already challenging
Ronan for 'Best Looking Felle' al the SH annual Poll Winners bash). "I
thought you weren't meant to be into girls until you were about 14, but it
seems everyone is getting girlfriends younger." But he thinks that Zac may
have a few years to wait. "What's the point of getting a girlfriend when
you're 11?" he says. "What do you do? Ring up and go, 'lets get together and
talk'." "Yeah, or go out rollerblading," adds Zac in full agreement.
Isaac leans over to Zac and says "It's not like you're going to make out."
And all three start making barfing noises, "Bleurgh!"
So, here we have the future of pop. Right now you can get their toppermost
debut single, Mmmbop. Soon you'll be able to get posters, t-shirts and the
album, but you may have to wait a while before Zac's ready to be your
boyfriend!
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