Posts tagged Hanson
The video for ‘Last Friday Night (TGIF)’ Katy Perry’s fifth single from Teenage Dream leaked on Sunday when we were at the Capital FM Summertime Ball. With Twitter blowing up about how amazing it was and with nothing but a Blackberry on low charge we were frantic. We finally managed to watch it at around midnight and it was absolutely worth the wait. If you haven’t seen it yet - where the hell have you been? Here it is now:
Yes, it’s 8 minutes long but not in the convoluted way that sometimes makes Lady Gaga videos a chore. This is pure late 80s/early 90s fun all the way through - colourful, silly and clever. Katy stars as her 13-year-old geeky alter-ego Kathy Beth Terry a fan of sudoku puzzles, the solar system, Skip It and Weenie Babies. In the lead up to the premiere, Kathy Beth took over the internet with a Facebook and a Twitter page, plus videos to flesh out the character.
The cameos are spot on, from Glee’s Darren Criss as a party-goer and co-star Kevin McHale as Everett, Kathy Beth’s gormless suitor, through real life internet meme Rebecca Black (yes, as in ‘Friday’ - geddit?) to Hanson as the band, Kenny G as Kathy Beth’s uncle and Corey Feldman and Debbie Gibson as her parents. And the “out takes” at the end of the video are hilarious, showing that Katy still has the biggest sense of humour in pop.
It wouldn’t be too ridiculous to say that while the single isn’t Katy’s best, the video is easily the best this year. A fantastically executed campaign, brilliantly marketed and entertaining to the max.
Last Friday, Love Machine got the opportunity to meet with Hanson ahead of the release of their latest album Shout It Out and pick their brains about what motivates young men who have already been in the business for fifteen years to keep putting out good music.
On arrival, we were introduced to Isaac (gentlemanly), Taylor (suave) and Zac (charming) and immediately got stuck in. Although not before Taylor took an impromptu photo of us - “He’s turning the tables!” laughs Zac. But dammit, he didn’t get our good side!
What we learned in the 30 minutes we had is that Taylor talks a lot, Zac doesn’t, and Isaac likes to interrupt, but our general impression was of three intelligent guys with a genuine talent who love making music and know a lot about writing the good stuff. You know an interview has gone quite well when the artist says more than you do, and this is quite a long read, which is why we’ve put it after the jump. Enjoy!
In 1997, Hanson released the album ‘Middle Of Nowhere’ and took #1 on the UK charts. Fourteen years later, Isaac, Taylor and Zac took to the stage at King’s College London on Sunday night to play the entire record from start to finish to an audience who were word perfect to just about every track.
The 5of5 tour is a fan experience for the most dedicated. On five consecutive nights, Hanson will play each of their five studio albums from 1997’s ‘Middle Of Nowhere’ through to ‘Shout It Out’ released this week in the UK.
Of course there were no surprises in the setlist, because, well if you know the album, you’ll know how it plays through. Kicking off with track 1, ‘Thinking Of You’ (at an octave lower than the original recordings) and then straight into ‘MMM Bop’, the boys stayed pretty true to the existing arrangements, though the live atmosphere made everything a good deal more bombastic. And there’s really no way to describe the feeling of being fully immersed in a song like ‘MMM Bop’ other than it was quite close to pure euphoria.
There was a moody little dip for ‘Weird’ an angst-fest for misfits long before Gaga was being ‘Born This Way’ but the tempo lifted for personal favourite ‘Speechless’ - grungey, funky, disc-scratching pop goodness. ‘Where’s The Love’ was another crowd pleaser, with every single person singing the chorus back at a clearly exuberant Hanson.
Other highlights include Zac enthusiastically recreating his barking spaz-out in the final minute of ‘Look At You’, everyone joining in on the “whoa-oh” moments in ‘With You In Your Dreams’ and the brilliant ‘Man From Milwaukee’ (the “hidden” track) not being omitted from the setlist.
Miraculously, the momentum didn’t drop once - unlike most live shows where the ballads are all lumped together so that everyone can go to the toilet/the bar/home, following the tracklisting meant the slower moments were spread out at intervals and always sandwiched between something more upbeat.
Even more miraculously, there was no real indication that these adult men were singing songs they wrote as very young lads - indeed, half of the ‘Middle Of Nowhere’ record was written when the brothers were 14, 12 and 9-years-old. None of the tracks had dated, and it is a credit to their songwriting abilities that for a group widely perceived as a “boyband”, there was more than just a handful of guys with their girlfriends who far from being there under duress, were singing along word perfect.
With an encore of ‘Gimme Some Lovin’ - the opening song from their Albertane Tour, which took in Wembley Arena back in 1998, Hanson ended the gig with a fun nod to their past and an unwitting warning that Bieber, the brothers Jonas and even Willow Smith will never be able to play through their first albums in fourteen years and have every song still feel pretty classic.
We interviewed Hanson last Friday, so look out for it later this week, as soon as we’ve got over our tinnitus and transcribed it!
Hanson first burst onto the scene back in 1997 with still amazing pop-rock sing-along ‘MMM Bop’. Fourteen years later, and the eldest Hanson brother, Isaac, is still only 30-years-old. Astounding. Their precocious talent hasn’t waned and ‘Shout It Out’ which is released next week, is a gloriously bouncy rock ‘n’ roll affair perfect for the summer weather.
Stand out tracks like the single ‘Give A Little’, which is breezy and probably the danciest track on the record, are all similar in their effervesecent, beach party edge. Album opener ‘Waiting For This’ has that guitar riff also featured in ‘California Gurls’ by Katy Perry that can’t help but make your mind switch gears to “sun, sea, sand” mode and following on, ‘Thinking ‘Bout Somethin’ has the same feel good, relaxed vibe - all handclaps, brass and cowbells for real retro authentication. Youngest Hanson brother, Zac, even takes the lead on a couple of songs, the best being ‘And I Waited’ which almost demands repeated plays.
There’s also mellow moments. ‘These Walls’ is warmly mournful, like a comforting cup of coffee and ‘Use Me Up’ is a hauntingly stark ballad - just piano and vocals. Thankfully the album picks back up again in typically jaunty style for ‘Voice In The Chorus’ which has more than a touch of Elton John about it.
Driven by funky keys, jazzy brass, energetic guitar, Taylor’s soulful vocal, and excellent harmonies, ‘Shout It Out’ is a cohesive little number perfect for the car or hanging out in the park of a summer afternoon.
Hanson - ‘MMMBop’
