- Maybe our way of life is something that's hard to believe! We're cool,polite, clean and if we're not taking drugs or getting drunk all the time,then that's suspect for some people. I'm sorry, but we are like this. Idon't think that we really have a dark side.- Q: Taylor, any great fan moments that stand out in your mind?
Taylor: There's a lot. There's so many great things that people send us
either letters, amazing gifts, or meeting someone that it means a lot to
them. I think one of the coolest things we get to do is charity events. It's
really an awesome feeling. We get so many letters from fans that say things
about their lives being changed and that's a great feeling.
I wonder if he remembers meeting me.
- "It's like being a playwright or something: You're creating a storyline and
it connects to a feeling but you're thinking about it and you find ways to
express them in song."
- "Back then, we seemed to be singing a capella everywhere. I mean, at the
dinner table, someone might kick into song, but music is what we do, whether
it's in a car, at home, or on the road."
- Q: Do you ever get sick of the "pop star" experience and just want to go
shoot hoops?
Taylor: No, because music is a passion. I mean, we do get to shoot hoops
but we also get to travel the world and do things that a lot of people
don't.
- "Some of it is a little shocking," he said. "Some of it is hilarious. Some
of it is disturbing. But overall it's at least interesting."
- Q: What's the funniest thing a fan ever said to Taylor?
Taylor: 'Hi, how's it going, I love you, can I marry you?' That's always
kind of shocking. It's like, 'Yeah, why don't we get to know each other a
little better first?'
Hmm, perhaps I'll ask him that when we meet again.
- "Making the record is about being creative and work, but you're having fun
as well. But it is long hours. And the creative juices are flowing the
whole time."
- "I wish I could say it was like some major quest to educate the young public
on music history," Taylor says. "To be honest, it's really just because we
like it. It's because we're sitting in sound check one day and say, 'Hmmm,
that would be cool. Let's do it.'"
- Q: Have you ever felt like loosers?
Taylor: When we were recording with Rose Stone was there with a chior. When
they sang with us, we felt like we couldn't sing at all.
Isaac: That little bit of soul we had going on nun-uh!
Taylor: We felt transparent. Our ability to sing with soul didn't exsist.
- Q: But what do you think of all these girls who go crazy and passout because of
you?
Taylor: We invoke seizures. (Laughs). It's just what happens. That's the way
fans are.
- We've always been really close, we've spent a lot of time around each
other. In many ways being in the band has been benificial for our
relationship. I guess it could go both ways, but our relationship has always
been really good. And more and more from being in a band.
- Q: How far along are you from producing other people's projects?
Taylor: Well, we're away off because there's not a moment to spare right
now. In your head you'd love to explore that if there was any time. But to
be honest, it's about running into a project or band that wanted to work
with you that you really felt passionate about. It really comes down to the
project.
- Q: What's been the biggest lesson you've learned about the music industry?
Taylor: The problem is that it is a music business. We do it because we
love the music; writing songs and playing shows is something that we not
only want to do but we have to.
- We are way too young to have experienced these things. But of course we
have fallen for a girl and things didn't work out. That's normal, right?
But you don't need to have had a heartache to be able to write about it.
(December 1999)
- Q: I just saw a picture of you in Rolling Stone with Sisqo. Is there a
"Thong Song" in your future?
Taylor: Are you kidding? Ask me that again.
- Let's face it, we're going to be old for longer than we're going to be
young, so we may as well make the most of it.
- We don't think it's important to tell people the colour of the underwear we
wear or the size of our shoes!
- Ike and I both have our driver's license. Me, I fear for everyone else on
the road.
I was thinking about this quote and I fear for everyone else on the road too.
I mean imagine you are going down the motorway and you see Taylor or Ike in the car next to you.
What would you do if you were a)driving or b) a passenger?
- Probably the worst and the best is being recognized, because walking down
the street and people going 'You're Hanson', and asking for your autograph
is cool. But it's also the bad part because it's okay, I can't go some
places because it's going to be a problem, going to be a pain.
- It's nice to come back to somewhere that you've got your friends. -Tay on Tulsa.
- We don't think it's important to tell people the colour of the underwear we
wear or the size of our shoes!
- Q: Taylor, is it true that your vocal chords are strained so
badly that you can't talk at times, or is it just a rumor?
Taylor: Everybody can have a tendancy to hurt themselves. It's been a long
time since I've been so hoarse that I couldn't talk, years.
Its very important to take care of your vocal cords, and I do
as much as I can.
- Q: Whats your favorite instrument to play now that you play
the piano, drums, guitar, and more...
Tay: Well there are certain things that are really great for
certain things.
Piano is probably always going to be the instrument I favor
because it is so versatile.
But there is nothing like sitting at the drums, and there are
a lot of things you can do on guitar that you can't do on keyboards.
- Q: Taylor, you sound like a classically trained musican. How
many years of piano did you take and did you like it?
Tay: A seven year old kid will never love the idea of taking
piano lessons right off the bat. I definitely didn't always like it.
I love it, I love to play, and I wish I would have kept up
even more of my classical training. I took lessons for about seven years.
If you are starting, remember that by the time you start to
get good at it, there is nothing like it. So stick it out !
Not to say that I'm that good!
And that is the reason I'm going to learn how to play the piano!
I'll also make a note of taking his advice too. When I used to learn how to play the piano
with my second teacher at the age of 9 I certainly didn't like it. My first teacher
was nice though and I did like it. But enough about me this is meant to be about Tay!
- Q: Where did you get the Shirt that had a Pot Leaf on it
and Why did you wear that in public?
Tay: The pot leaf sweater is first of all really comfortable,
and that was the reason I got it in the first place. But I did think it was
interesting to turn a few heads. NO I do not smoke marijuana or support it,
but I thought it was a cool sweater. End of story.
- Q: Do you think Never Let Go will be a possible track for the next
record?
Taylor: I think it's very likely that it could wind up on the next
record. I've always loved that song myself, hopefully more people will hear
it next time around.
Any Tay fan who hasn't heard 'Never Let Go' I'm sorry to
dampen your day but it is a lovely, slow, heartfelt song! I really hope it's on the
next album!
- Q: The Save Me video is very cool, very stark.... Why did
you decide to do such a cool low budget/indie looking video?
Taylor: Well, there is a very good song that goes with the weather,
weather outside...I don't mind the snow or cold, I think it's very nice.
But of course, too much heat or two much cold can get pretty old!
From the beginning we wanted to something special
for Hanson Net. We were on the road and unable to stop and do much more than
the videos from the live performances what we had been doing on the road.
Also we wanted to do something really simple.
- Q: How do you feel being the "lead" singer? You can
try to deny it, but the media is making you out to be that...
Tay: LOL! Looks like we've got a shark here!
You know thing about doing what we do is people always kind of
try to pull you apart and define each band member.
I love being in the band and love singing. And I think it's
cool that people respond to what we sing. Hanson has always been the three
of us.
Oh my gosh Tay uses LOL too! I better use it more often. LOL!
- Q: You guys do covers so well, and I was
wondering...would you ever consider making an album with just covers?
Taylor: That's actually a cool question. We recently had a
discussion just for the fun of it about collaborating with some musician
friends and doing an album of covers. You never know. You'd have to do it really well.
- Q: Do you have a favorite beatles album?
Tay: That is always hard....Wow.... It's probably Revolver.
That's my weekend planned. Anyone know whre I can get a copy of Revolver?
LOL! I love doing these comments!
- As time goes by you never write about different things, you're still
writing about the same thoughts and feelings. It's just that you have
slightly different things to pull from. So all of a sudden it's got a
different flavor or twist to it and you have a different perspective of life
as time goes by.
- We're pretty much the same people we always were, just a little bit
taller.
- No matter what you do, there's good stuff and there's bad stuff. You just
hope it evens itself out in the end.
- I think there's so many things out there that we haven't even touched on.
We're hopefully at the beginning. It's been really exciting to have new
music and have different people respond to it. I'm just hoping we'll be
able to do it for a long time. You never know where it's gonna go.
- We're not really big shoppers.
- Taylor says he enjoyed being able to collaborate, "getting to meet with
different artists and do so many things that are exciting, musically. We
keep trying new things, keeping a totally open mind, never knowing what will
happen. I think of an album as a time capsule. It captures what's happening
that day, that year."
- We're always crammed in a confined space together so being in a studio is
like every day life, actually.
- Jonny Lang is a proidgy and I don't know if he can get any better. They're
amazing and it's awkward to tell them, 'That wasn't good enough', because
you're not as good as a player. But how many producers were as good as
Eddie Van Halen? And they still said, 'Do it again'.
- I don't think it's about being sex symbols. It's about doing what we're
doing. I think playing music is what it's always been about. But, I guess
that's always something that you have to deal with, too.
- I always wanted to do a back flip on stage like Steven Tyler does, back
flip on stage, but I've never been able to do one. Maybe one of these
days.
- Q: Assuming you are stuck on an island, would you rather be with men or
women?
Taylor: I would rather be with guys because that way I would not feel
overly compassionate for anybody. I would not do anything different for a
guy. If I was on the island with a girl, I would feel inclined to take care
of her. There would be a little bit more of those compassionate,
gentlemanly acts that just kind of happen in your general life.
Wouldn't you just love to be stuck on a island with Tay?
Perhaps not forever but at least or a day or two. However if I was to be stuck
in a deserted 5 star hotel with Taylor I'd definately want to be stuck for a
month, perhaps 6 months..no a year. Nah, forever would do! I mean as long as
we had everything we needed you know the essentials...water..food..hairbrush..
electricity..a clean water supply..indoor swimming pool. Ok, ok I'm getting carried away.
Next quote.
- So many unbelievable things have happened to us on the road that I wish I
had the time to fill a book with them just so people could experience what
it's like. We've been in every conceivable situation: running through
hotel lobbies, having cars shaken, hair ripped out, clothes ripped off,
traveling to three countries in a day.
- People try to put us in the category of a lot of the boy bands but we never
have been that and we never will fit into it because that is not the kind of
music we do.
Well said Tay, and that is why I try not to class Hanson as a boy band.
- We have never been a boy band, never been something created, never been
anything artificial. There is always the tendency to assume that you're
gonna do whatever it takes to sell records and to do this or that. But we
always, from the beginning, were true to who we wanted to be and to the
music we wanted to make.
- It's sitting at the piano and guitar, and beginning to think about having a
passion for life. You so easily forget how short it all is. Live each day
as much as you can.
Q: What's your worst habit?
Taylor: I always used to tap on stuff. It drove people crazy.
Q: Could you build a shelter (on a deserted island)?
Taylor: We've done that many times. When we were kids, we used to go into
the forest and chop down trees. You cut down one tree and put it in a "v"
in the other tree and drape things over it.
Taylor: There is always that occasional embarrassing moment when you get
caught picking your nose.
Interviewer : I will not tell people that you pick your nose. That's just too
depressing.
Taylor: Everybody picks their nose at some point in their life.
Love is something everybody feels.
Q: What has been your most memorable performance?
Taylor: Melbourne is one of those things where you didn't expect much, and
you show up and there are 30,000 people there. So that's like "Wow". And
probably the Grammys because you don't know how many times you can perform
there.
- Runaway Run is a really really sad song first of all. It's a song about
somebody that is so in love with somebody, and they've gone through this
whole thing in their head, and they're realizing that this other person is
never going to return that feeling. And, they're saying I've gotta move on
with my life, 'cause I'm gonna lose it, I'm gonna go crazy, 'cause they're
never going to return it. And, I've just gotta get away from it, even
though I'll maybe never feel the same way again.
- Q: Do you ever just think to yourself "I wish I was just a regular guy?"
Taylor: Well, that's kind of an odd question, because, like, who wants to be a
"regular guy"? Nobody works up the ladder to become a "regular guy."
Everybody works to be more than a regular guy. I would never stop what I'm
doing to go "I wanna be an accountant." There are things we miss, everyday
things, proms or whatever, but I love what I do. I wouldn't ever want to do
anything else.
- Q: What's in your CD player right now?
Taylor: Moby, Tonic, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Lenny Kravitz, Beck, Sheryl Crow,
Black Crowes, Travis, Vertical Horizon, Macy Gray, Radiohead.
Macy Gray? One question. Why?
- If you have a good relationship with someone they're going to understand
that you can't call every moment and you can't be there for every whim. The
most important thing is to let the other person know that you care about
them. Give them a call, and send them flowers on their birthday. If you
can't be there for them, just let them know that you're thinking about them.
That's the most important thing. It's not easy to make long distance
relationships work, but that's part of it.
Aaahh so romantic! He would make such a great boyfriend!
- There was this one tape from 1958 we'd heard, and we began to sing around
the house. Before we knew it, we were performing.
- Money doesn't change things, it just makes it possible for us to keep
making music. It's our job, it's what we do, but it's what we love at the
same time!
- DJ: But I wanna know Taylor, how you keep this from going to your head
because I'm sure the fan mail comes in every day and if I was in your spot
Taylor, I'd have like a solid gold car, I would have like a cocaine problem,
I would blow like a million dollars a day, just in bad drugs.
Taylor: Yeah, well that would kinda put a damper on the whole thing. And
you know, we tried that, but it's kinda boring so we decided to go the other
way.
DJ: Is that right? In your ripe old age?
Taylor: Yeah, you know, solid cars do not drive very fast.
I bet that wasn't the answer the DJ was expecting.
- There was some divine reason for us to get that music. It wasn't like our
parents were hippies. They had the records, and we picked them up. Our
parents were both musical, but really we were just driven. There was some
innate musicality between the three of us.
- I think you always want to have success commmercially, because you want to
have fans out there and that of course makes it possible, because you can
tour and all those things...but also the respect of critics and people
acknowledging the band, which really they have from beginning, is definitely
very important too.
- It's very cool for people who are constantly critiquing albums and making
assessments of album after album to go 'Yeah, this is a really great record'
or just to make a compliment about it or give it respect. And, we've gotten
a huge amount of that on this record and that is definitely very cool just
as a musician and as a person just doing their thing.
- People drive across the country for ten hours to sit in front of our house
and camp out. Usually there's four or five cars. It's good having fans
like that. They'll camp out to get tickets for our concerts!
If you've ever done that, then just remember
that they appreciate you!
- We have amazing fans, and it makes it really fun to play a concert to fans
that are excited as they are. They're singing every lyric and there's just
a lot of energy.
- It's phenomenal! The things people send you in the mail...fans from South
America send scrolls that say "I love you" over and over across the page.
They're about six inches thick, and at the end it says how many "I love
yous" are written on it. It blows me away that people devote so much time
to make something like that for you.
- We can all be goofy. And when we get together, at some point it can be
kind of frightening. Isaac is actually probably the goofiest. He does
voices and goofs off and stuff like that. But Zac is definitely the
wackiest.
- Q: Taylor - did you ever consider wearing eyeliner?
Taylor: Hmmmmm, WOW!!! very interesting!!!
No but I love a little lip gloss now and then. TAYLOR:o)
Ask Hanson, Hanson.net, 3/23/01
