BONKERS BROTHERS?
Crikey! Isaac's 16, Taylor's 13 and Zac's 11, yet the brothers HANSON are already on their way
to pop superstardom.But packing in school and travelling around the world is hardly a normal
carry-on, so we had to ask- are they on the road to going bonker's?
So, how come your not in school then?
Isaac: Well we're touring Europe promoting our single and album.
Zac: We never went to school in the first place anyway.
Sorry?
Zac: We were home-schooled. Our parents teach us and we have a tutor who teaches us when we're
on the road.
Isaac: Loads of families do that where we're from - home schooling gives you the opportunity to go
after your own interests, you're allowed to go with your own flow!
Do you, erm, have many mates then?
Taylor: Oh yeah, most families from round our way have at least five kids, we have home school
co-ops where a group of us all get together to study.
Isaac: The disadvantage of school is that there is this age thing where they separate you because of
your ages. People always ask me what I'm doing hanging round with Zac, but the truth is I never
think of him as being younger.
We often hear rumours of pop stars losing the plot a bit when they find
stardom at an early age, does this worry you?
Taylor: Ha,ha,ha! Our friends have already said to us, 'If you start going weird we're going to sort
you out.'
Zac: Yeah, we're not going to start having nose jobs or anything. It's cool! I mean, how many
11-year-olds get to tour Europe?
But what if you make tons of money? Are you going to blow it all on
fast cars and extravagance?
Taylor: A Porsche may be cool but what happens when your career's over and all you have to live in
is your car?
Zac: Yeah, you'd be wishing you'd at least bought a bus!
Isaac: I think you have to try and be level-headed about it. If we did make loads of cash we'd
probably build a studio to record in.
Do your friends treat you differently now?
Taylor: Well, to be honest we've never been kinda normal so our friends are used to it. I mean,
we're weird in a way, it's not every kid who sings with his brothers for a living.
Isaac: My friends work in a pizza shop near our home, it has a TV in it and when our video was on
MTV, they got into trouble for watching it instead of working. But they told their boss, 'They're the
Hansons, they're our friends, man!' Our friends are cool about us.
Zac: When we get home, our friends will just say, 'Wow, it's cool you were on TV. Are you coming
out?'
What keeps your feet on the ground?
Isaac: Our family. There are six kids in our family and with our mum and dad we travel everywhere
together.
Zac: It helps being from Oklahoma-it's not exactly LA or anything, people are quite down to earth.
Taylor: It's important to stick with your family and friends. Look at the Bee Gees. They haven't
gone out and done anything crazy, have they?
What about in-Hanson fighting, surely you must have the odd scrap?
Taylor: Nothing serious, we just play tricks on each other. Like Isaac is a real romantic and I found
this love letter he wrote to a girl once, it was horrid, I threw it in a fountain. When I was little I
couldn't care less about girls, I just wanted to throw tomatoes and stuff at them.
Isaac: I never knew you threw it in a fountain!
You all must receive plenty of letters from girls now.
Zac: Girls! Girls are cute, they write letters telling us they love us.
Taylor: We know it has nothing to do with us though. If we weren't on stage singing I don't reckon
we'd be getting too many!
Isaac: The attention hasn't gone to our heads just yet!
THE TOTP LOTTERY - with HANSON!!!
What's the first thing you're going to buy when the money comes
rolling in?
Taylor: (Frowning) Now that's a difficult question coz the money thing doesn't really matter to
us.
Zac: It's not important...
Taylor: I guess we'll put it into buying more musical equipment. We'd like to build a studio so we
could produce our own stuff as much as possible.
Isaac: Just because you earn a bit of money doesn't mean you have to buy a gigantoid house and
fast cars. We'll probably put most of it in the bank. I'm sure we'll have better uses for it when we
grow older.
What's your favorite toy?
I: We collect a lot of Lego. We have tons of the stuff. We store it in tupperware boxes and we're
always in search of more bricks to add to our collection.
T: But Lego have added so many new pieces it's hard to keep up.
Z: I'd love to go to Legoland.
What's your favorite school subject?
Z: Maths! I like literature too - it's a toss-up between them.
T: We all love literature!
I: I think it's really neat to read about history-type stuff. We've been reading about that guy Winston
Churchill since we've been in England. History is cool and when we're on tour in Europe we get to
see all the things we'd normally only read about.
Do you think you'll ever cut your hair?
I: What a weird question!
T: (Sounding a bit miffed) It's just hair! That's all we have to say on the matter, it's just hair.
I: I'm actually going to have my hair cut a bit before we shoot our next video. It's getting a little too
long.
T: It's getting VERY long, Isaac!
I: (ignoring him)But I've had very short hair before.
T: For a long time we had short, layered hair. Who knows, we could have it shaved off one day!
What do you reckon you'll be doing five years from now?
T: Hopefully, we'll be doing music in five years, ten years and for the rest of our lives!
Z: We always want to be in the band and perform on stage, but if anything else comes along, such
as directing and producing movies, we'd always be interested.
Who's the naughtiest of the three?
(Isaac and Taylor both glance at Zac who's throwing balls widely around the room.)
I: It's Za... Well no, actually Zac isn't the naughtiest.
T: Well, we're really not that naughty but I'd say we all have our moments. Zac is crazy, he's
definitely the most active.
I: During interviews I act quite laid-back, but in real life I'm actually quite wacko. I'm a bit of a party
animal.
(Zac goes bonkers and starts screaming - next question!)
Do you fly in the posh bit of planes?
T: We fly first, business and economy classes. We don't really mind either way. We just mess
around and play games, draw, write - anything to pass the time.
How romantic are you?
T: Yuck! Now that question is gross.
I: Well, as the readers will know, I like writing letters. As well as Taylor once throwing a letter I'd
written to a girl into a fountain, he also finished off a letter I'd written to a girl who was just a friend.
My bit said, "Hope all's well with you," and so on, but Taylor ended it by writing, " I need you
desperately!"
Have you ever been mistaken for a girl?
All three: Yes!
I: Numerous of times, especially Zac coz he's the youngest.
Z: I have a good friend, a girl who looks exactly like me and has my length blonde hair.
T: People come over to her with autograph books saying, "Hey Zac, can you sign this for me?"
I: She's from a family of three girls who are my age, Taylor's age and Zac's age. I suppose...
T: ...Yuk! They don't all look like us, do they? That would be too spooky!
I: No, they don't all look like us. If they did they'd be the ugliest girls ever!
What's the most embarrassing moment you've had on stage?
Z: I'm probably the most embarrasing thing on stage!
I: We once stopped a potential embarrassment when, 15 minutes before we went on stage, we
realised we'd forgotten to bring the power lead for the keyboard. It would have taken an hour to drive
back to our house, so ouur mum decided she would drive to a nearby music store instead. They ended
up lending her a whole keyboard cos they didn't have a replacement lead!
How do you stay calm in front of a huge audience?
T: A lot of the time we screw up but the audience never knows.
I: We're our own worst critics though. Just ask photographers when we're approving photos of
ourselves - we're terrible!
Describe your dream date scenario?
(Taylor starts squealing with horror at the thought of talking about girls!)
I: If you were on a date with someone you really liked, it wouldn't matter where you were or what
you did.
T: I think it'd matter if you were driving your date somewhere and your car broke down in a mud
puddle in freezong weather - and there was a moose on the road.
I: I could find a harness and tie it around the moose!
How important are looks when it comes to having a successful pop
career?
I: I don't think looks matter.
Z: They aren't important so long as you have a good song. I mean, you might not get girls or
something but...
T: When it comes down to it you lose your looks and all you have left is records.
Have you ever had a fight?
I: I got into a fist fight once because a guy picked on Tay. He was a friend and he threw Taylor
against a wall and made his nose bleed. I went really mad. He wasn't a friend after that.
T: We haven't really fought with any of our good friends. We fight with each other every once in a
while, but we're not too bad.
Z: We hit each other with pillows. Our fights don't last long.
What's the girlfriend situation at the moment?
I: (In a stern voice) We don't have girlfriends. Never have, and...
Z: (Shouts) ...Never will!
I: (Laughing) No, we'll definitely have girlfriends in the future but I think that'll work itself out.
Z: I want to be single always...
I: I mean, I suppose we're always looking...
T: We're always looking, but we're not looking for girlfriends.
Who's the most famous person you've met during your pop career?
I: Wow, erm, that's tricky.
Z: The only famous people we've met are the Spice Girls. They were really nice.
I: (Laughing) Geri is nearly as tall as Zac, but when she wears her platforms she comes up to
Taylor's shoulders.
Z: I didn't find Scary Spice that scary, but she's very energetic!
Hanging with Hanson (Tears Before Bedtime )
It's not all eating chocolate and being chased by adoring fans when you and your brothers are in
a famous pop band, y'know! Sometimes there's tears, hard work and trips to the dentist too!
SHANDY BOOZE!
On the tenth floor of the Holiday Inn, Cologne, Germany, three blond Hanson heads are sleeping
soundly under the watchful eye of their father. They're oblivious to the rest of their team who are
sitting downstairs in the bar sipping away at large tumblers of v strong shandy booze and discussing
the hairy trio's astounding leap to fame. "I'm amazed how they cope with it all!" says Eva, Hanson's
record company bod who also acts as all-round looker-afterer and second mum to the boys when
they're feeling a little homesick. "I wonder what's going on in Zac's mind when he sees all those girls
chasing him?!"
CHEESE!
Girls seem to be the last thing on Zac's mind when he bounces downstairs for breakfast with Isaac
and Taylor the next morning - there's showbiz biz to be done. The boys are in Germany for just a
couple of days in order to appear on Geld oder Liebe - a TV show which is absolutely huge in
Germany. It will ensure that MMMBop is transmitted live to nearly every Herr and Frau in the
country! It's a relatively small Hanson family turnout compared to usual trips; no Mommy Hanson,
and sisters Jessica and Avary and baby bro' Mackie are also absent. "We left the rest of the family
behind," says Taylor, muching on a piece of rubbery-looking cheese. "We miss them when they're
not with us, but this is only a short trip so it's not too bad." "It's brilliant when we're all on the road,"
says Zac. "We have like, this gigantoid bus with 12 bunks..." "...and a living room!" adds Taylor.
"...yeah, and a kitchen and a movie room in the back!" enthuses Isaac. "Last time we were in it, in
Oklahoma, we cranked up the music and we were all dancing inside..." "...yeah, and the bus was
bouncing from side to side. It was cool!" says Zac. "It was like, eeeeh uuuuh, dum dum dum."
CHOCOLATE!
Welcome to life according to Hanson, where most things are 'cool' and describing things involves
finishing off each other's sentences, making wild hand gestures and strange sounds just to make sure
the listener knows what you're on about. A couple of hours later, the guys have experienced
something even more 'cool' to interrupt each other about...
ZAC: "We've just been to this chocolate factory and..."
TAYLOR: "Yeah, and it was brilliant and there's like, this chocolate fountain and there's like,
chocolate everywhere, a bit like Willy Wonka's place..."
ISAAC: "And there's, like, these wafers to dip into the chocolate, so we did that for a while!"
ZAC: "Like, I'll have one of those in my house, thank you. Yum, yum, yummmmmmmm."
A chocolate filled Hanson prepare to set off to the TV studios, half-an-hour's drive away, but first,
Eva's task is to put them in their car safely before the fans who are waiting in the hotel lobby and in
the car park can besiege them. "The fans are cool," says hurried Isaac while being bustled through a
sneaky back door, "but when there are a lot of them they get a bit excited and it can be a bit scary!"
CHICKEN LEGS!
Even scarier is the fact that most of the fans look like Hanson themselves - the girls and even a few
boys seem to have long, shoulder-length blond hair! Spooky! Hanson are greeted by enthustiastic TV
people as soon as they reach the studio and whisked off to a dressing room filled with chocolate bars,
chicken legs, crisps and further calorie-laden goodies but, before they have so much as a nibble,
they're bustled into a studio to do photo shoots and endless questions for two German magazines.
After a couple of hours of press duties the boys are STILL in high spirits.
"We've learnt a lot about interviews in recent months," anounces Taylor. "If they ask uus stuff that
we don't really want to talk about then we just casually change the subject!" says Zac like an old pro.
"Yeah, we don't want to go on about our ages all the time - the fact that we're kids isn't the point -
we're a band who just happen to be kids," adds Taylor. "And we don't let anyone talk down to us cos
we're kids. If that happens we just beat 'em up!" finishes Zac, beating up a nearby cushion to make
his point!
Although the day has been non-stop so far, the boys are still bursting with energy. "Today's like a
medium day in the work stakes." says Taylor. "I mean, we do loads more than this somedays."
"Today is pretty relaxed," adds Isaac. "Sometimes it goes bonkers and we're rushing around
non-stop." "Yeah, that's why we drink cola all the time," giggles Zac, "cos sometimes it's wacky, it's
crazy, it's TOTALLY INSANE!" Just as Zac begins to squiggle about the dressing room floor
pretending to be an insane person, Daddy Hanson pops his head round the dressing room door and
suggests we all pop out for ice creams before it's time for the boys to go on stage. Good idea!
CHINESE FOOD!
"I wonder what the food's like in Asia?" ponders Taylor out loud, with his mouth full of chocolate
chip. "It'll be a total culture shock when we go there next month. The food here is pretty similar to the
US but like, in Asia I dunno..." adds Isaac licking his vanilla ice. "Yeah, like, we have Chinese food
back home in Tulsa but in Asia it won't be like Americanized Chinese food it'll be, like, HARDCORE
Chinese food!" gasps Zac.
But there's no more time for culinary wonderment, it's time to prepare to appear live on Geld oder
Liebe! The boys whizz back to the studios to wait in the wings while watching the presenter make the
whole audience laugh. "I wish I could speak German," whispers a curious Isaac. "It's a craaazy TV
show!" explains a behind-the-scenes TV lady in almost perfect English. " You see, zair are sree boys
and sree girls..." Too late for explanations, Missus. The boys are hurried behind the silver screen, the
screen lifts and there they are, belting out MMMBop live to Germany.
Live TV means you have to keep your own cool when things go wrong. So when Zac drops one of
his drumsticks, he keeps on drumming with the other one until the camera swoops away from him.
Then he gets up from his tiny druumkit and runs off to pick it up. A true professional! "Zac knew
what he was doing," says Isaac proudly, after their song has gone down as storm. "Yeah, but I was
panicking inside," admits Zac. That's not the only trauma for Zac though - on the way to their car, he
runs out of the studio ahead of his minder much to his manager's annoyance. "You don't know
what's out there Zac, you could have been shot!" says manager, Chris, which is enough to reduce
Zac into tears. "I shouldn't have said that," says Chris later, "but I worry about them. Poor Zac, he
must be really tired." To top off the evening, Taylor opens his mouth to reveal he's whacked front
tooth on his microphone and chipped a piece off! Oh dear - it's been a long day.
DENTIST!
Back at the hotel, Eva ushers the boys safely upstairs to bed. Meanwhile, Daddy Hanson is in the
hotel lobby frantically looking for the number of a dentist in Cologne. Suddenly he is accosted by
another famous dad - Daddy Kelly. The Kelly Family are huuuuge in Germany, also have long hair
and write their own songs but that, according to the Hansons, is where the similarities end. Mr. Kelly
has been waiting in the hotel all day to speak to Mr Hanson and give him some advice about running a
family band. Mr Hanson politely puts him off and scuttles off to check his middle son's teeth.
PIZZA!
Taylor shows off his fixed tooth the very next day. "It was a nice dentist," he grins through pearly
white gnashers, chewing confidently on a large slice of Margherita pizza. The guys are chilling out on
the bed eating, drawing and joking around with Eva while their dad is rushing around packing things
together ready for their flight back to the US. "I'd say the travel is the only real way our lives has
changed," says Isaac. "We're flying around the world doing interviews and stuff now." "But the cool
thing is that when we go home everything's the same - we're back in our nice quiet town and we can
be normal kids again. It's good to go home, it's not like New York and LA where we get mobbed and
stuff," grins Taylor. But it's not in New York and LA that there is an official Hanson Day, it's in the
boys' home state of Oklahoma... "It's cool," says Zac, "May 6 is officially Hanson Day...""It's just
like the state saying, 'We support you guys!" interrupts Isaac.
"...It's not a holiday or anything, but if it was up to us we'd make sure everybody was off school on
Hanson Day and that everyone would move to Oklahoma so they could have a day off!" says Zac
rebelliously.
The boys may say their lives haven't changed but a pop star devil-may-care attitude is definitely in the
air. "Listen to this then..." whispers Zac. "The night we left for Europe we were up until three in the
morning drawing!" "Yeah, we go to bed whenever we want now!" says Taylor, with a quick glance
at Eva and his dad standing not too far away. Eva wearily rolls her eyes and helps Daddy Hanson
with the packing while the three pop stars lie back on the bed grinning. Not bad this pop star lark, is
it?
THE HANSON ARTICLE ON BIG! MAGAZINE
Issue Nov 12-Nov 25, 1997
CAUGHT YOU!
Take 4 spray cans, a massive sheet of paper and three very excited Hanson fellas. And what do
you have? Total and Utter Chaos!
When BIG! asked Zac, Isaac and Taylor to create their own backdrop for our photo-shoot, we had no idea what would
happen, but they did. The boys created the brand new Hanson logo on this hu-ge screen, just for us. But it wasn't just
the paper which ended up covered in paint, everything got redecorated. Luckily, the boys changed into their oldest
clothes to paint, so Isaac wasn't too worried when Taylor sprayed his T-shirt, his shoes, his jeans - or even BIG!
photographer David. So they were happy with their creation? "Definitely" says Taylor. "It was a really cool way to
spend an afternoon. Even better than playing basketball!"
The boys changed into these clothes to create their masterpiece. Zac wasn't too keen on these overalls though. Oops!
We wanted to show the world our new logo," says Taylor. "But we were a bit afraid it was going to go wrong."
Once the boys started spraying they just couldn't stop. In fact a snooty 'serious' music mag had to wait an extra hour while the boys finished the painting!
"I'm used to being covered in paint," says Zac. "I love going to paintball wars where you shoot pellets of paint at each other," Mmm.
Never disturb a great artist when he's working...( caption on taylor pic on right corner)
Uh-oh! Taylor sprays Ike's back but oh no, the paint goes straight through and won't
come off...
Next time you see Isaac, check out his back for red streaks!
I'm Dreaming of A TULSA Christmas!
OK, so it might be chaos in your house full of HANSONs and their relatives would be like!
Welcome to Christmas according to ISAAC, TAYLOR, and ZAC...
Is it hot or cold in Tulsa at Christmas?
Zac: Well, every once in a while we get snow. But it's more kinda like slush.
Ike: ( Adopting Michael Fish weatherman voice. ) Tulsa has interesting weather cos we're in the
middle of the States! We often get big cold fronts that come from Colorado.
Tay: Yeah, and then all of a sudden it'll be warm. It's been boiling on Christmas Day loads of times
in Tulsa.
Zac: But, but, BUT ...
Tay: Yeah, OK Zac, yeah, sometimes it'll be freezing, it's like you go out and...
Zac: It's 85 degrees one day but the next day it could be 15!
Ike: Hey guys, that's a little extreme. Let's just says it's generally quite cold!
Have you ever had a white Christmas?
Zac: (Starts singing at top of voice.) I'm dreaming of a white Christmas ...
Ike: That's what everyone wishes for but I don't think we've had one. It does snow but not usually
on Christmas Day.
Do you go sledging when it does snow?
All: Yeah!
Taylor: We live on a really big hill so we go sledging all the time. We have the really fast ones -
they're made of plastic, not like those old fashioned wooden ones.
Zac: Unfortunately we've split most of them in half though. We're like, 'Aahh, I'm gonna fall
through!'
Ike: Luckily, we haven't broken any bones yet - but Taylor once broke his arm going downhill on
his bike.
So, do you Hansons go in for a traditional Christmas?
Ike: Oh no, I'd say we have a very untraditional Christmas! But we do really get into totally
decorating the house.
Zac: We have like, massive decorations in our house. They're huge!
Tay: Our living room is right in the middle of the house and it has really high ceilings. So we get
bows and huge greenery and arch them all around.
Zac: And last year we had a huge tree. Actually, we have a huge tree every year, at least ten feet
high!
Do you all sing round the piano at Christmas?
Tay: Not the piano exactly, but our house is extremely musical so we're almost always blasting
music out. Some people have a bit of music in the background but...
Zac: With our house it's like, if you're watching TV you have to feel like you're actually in the TV -
which means you have to have it on full blast.
Tay: Just like the stereo!
Zac: Everything is loud in the Hanson household, especially at Christmas!
So, what's for Christmas dinner at the Hanson house then?
Tay: Well, it's usually Christmas Eve when we have proper Christmas dinner. We get together with
all our family - we have loads of cousins, aunts and uncles - and have a huge dinner. We have turkey
and stuff.
Zac: But we don't have Christmas puddings like you guys do! We tried one once when we'd
finished recording Snowed In - it was delicious!
Ike: We do the whole traditional thing on Christmas Eve, get that out of the way and then we have
Christmas Day to do our stuff - you know, like concentrate on our presents!
You don't have a turkey on Christmas Day?
Ike: Not usually, we used to go to our Grandma's for Christmas dinner and she would cook amazing
turkey dinners and huge cherry pies.
Tay: But since she died we've celebrated at our house - all our family come round. Christmas Day is
a just a big party, but we don't eat traditional food.
Zac: We have like pizza, baked beans and stuff!
Tay: One year we even had Chinese food! The most important thing to us is that we all get together
and play with our presents!
Erm, presents seem to play a large part in the Hanson Christmas. What's on your
lists this year?
(They each begin to reel off their lists, all at the same time, obv!)
Zac: Motorbikes! Actually all I have on my list this year is a motorcycle! It's for my birthday and
Christmas! That's what I want!
Tay: Yeah! We want motorcycles! In Oklahoma there's a lot of land where you can go and ride
around in the fields. We wanna get dirtbikes!
Are you always given the gifts you always ask for?
Tay: Last year we got just about everything we wanted!
Zac: But you're always going to get at least one thing you ask for!
Ike: I'm putting some more Nerf guns on my list this year. They're these toy guns that you fire foam
balls and paint from. They're brilliant fun.
Tay: We've been through hundreds of them but they break easily. All of our friends come round and
we have massive Nerf wars in the living room.
Ike: (Becoming more excited at the thought of Nerf action) Yeah, we pull all the cushions off the
sofa and make barricades! It's brilliant! We cause chaos in the house!
What time do all of you get up on Christmas morning?
Zac: As early as possible!
Tay: (Looking glum) Yeah, but our parents are always asleep for ages - until about nine. They never
get up early enough. And we have to wait around until they come downstairs and all the family are
there before we can open our presents.
Ike: We have our gifts downstairs round the tree. But the thing is we're really good at sussing out
our presents before Christmas day.
Tay: Generally by the time Christmas comes we know every single thing we've been given!
Zac: We shake the boxes to find out! We can always tell what's what!
Do you buy presents for each of your brothers and sisters?
Zac: Generally we'll team up and buy a present from all of us. And we'll write on the tag that it's
from the whole family or from Santa.
Ike: We often have a much better idea about what each other wants than mom and dad do. So, I'll try
and find out what Taylor would really like, then I'll go with my mom and dad to get it.
Tay: Yeah, and when we're given presents we share them anyway cause we share a bedroom.
Isn't it a bit crowded in your room when you have your new toys?
Ike: Well, our room is pretty small! It does get a bit squashed with all three of us and our toys,
clothes and stuff in it.
Tay: We're going to have to think of a way to rearrange our room because we haven't been home for
about three months - we'll come back and it'll seem really small compared to hotel rooms.
Zac: We're all squished in there - it's full of Lego castles - and we'll get more Lego this year too!
Ike: Yep, we only use our room where we keep our TV and computer games. We're either in there
or in our studio downstairs.
Tay: The worst thing is that our baby brother Mackie shares our parent's room but he's probably
gonna move in with us once Mom has her baby.
Zac: Oh no! He'll be like, 'YAK lak balak.' ( continues to impersonate a robot-like baby bro!)
What do you consider to be your best ever Christmas presents?
(Stretches arms as wide as Zac's body length.)
Ike: Taylor's exaggerating, they weren't that big. We ended up with five remote control cars and
they caused chaos. It was brilliant.
