Andy Frasco's World Saving Podcast - EP 167: Hanson

Episode Date: April 12, 2022

Pod-Bard Shawn delivers a special message to MIA co-host, Nick Gerlach. Andy catches up with the band on the road and an airing of the grievances occurs. But most importantly, we got legends on the Interview Hour this week as we welcome all 3 brothers, Taylor, Zac, and Isaac of Hanson!  You can watch this puppy on youtube if you're more of a visual person Follow us on Instagram @worldsavingpodcast For more information on Andy Frasco, the band and/or the blog, go to: AndyFrasco.com Check out Andy's new song, "Puff Break (Believe That)" on iTunes, Spotify  These guys rule: https://hanson.net/home Produced by Andy Frasco Joe Angelhow Chris Lorentz Audio mix by Chris Lorentz Featuring: Shawn Eckels The U.N. Arno Bakker

Andrew, it's Nicholas, your only true friend who watches you and cares for you. And that's why I have three observations. One, it's about your live show. Been watching you guys on Instagram the last, I don't know, three weeks, two weeks. I've noticed a couple things. One, I thought we had a little conversation about not having as many sit-ins, you know, not having entire bands sit in with us for two songs i noticed like mike ganster was on stage he wasn't even an opening band or like you know i don't think he even lives in buffalo like he just showed up and you let him

sit in uh i'm pretty sure i saw the crowd up there playing your keyboard at one point like i know covid's over but we still should have a delineation between the band and the people that paid money to see you. Two, it's about the podcast. You're interviewing who? Hanson today. What are Hanson? Wholesome, good Christian boys from middle America, a.k.a. the fucking opposite of you, Brasco.

So think about what you're going to ask them. Don't ask them about their sex life in middle school. Guess what? They didn't have one. They were busy writing hits and having beautiful hair. Don't ask them if they got pussy even in middle school. Guess what? They didn't have one. They were busy writing hits and having beautiful hair. Don't ask them if they got pussy even after high school. Don't ask them about having sex at all.

Don't ask them if they ever did drugs. They didn't. They have a nice IPA, okay? That's about as far as Hanson's going. Ask them good questions about their music, okay? They sold four records in a week than you will in your entire lifetime. Ask them about that.

Have a good day And now a message from the UN for Nick Gertlock You are a little bitch to me You are a little bitch to me. Can't you see? You've always been a little bitch. And you're always gonna be You are a little bitch To me You little fucking bitch

And we're back. Andy Frasco's World's Favorite Podcast. I'm Andy Frasco. We are on location in the tour. I got the band here Let's fucking go What's up boys We're deep

We have a day off We're in our Tuffy sweatpants Hell yeah How do you know It's a day off Because you're in your Tuffy's

Shout out Shout out Tuffy's What's going on Floyd I got a question for you Where do you go In the night time What Every time you're Disappearing And I see you What's going on? Floyd, I got a question for you. Where do you go in the nighttime? What?

Every time you're disappearing and I see you passed out on the Airbnb couches. Because there's no beds left. Because you took the bed. No. You guys took the beds. I had to sleep here. No, don't guilt trip us. We always give you.

You're making it sound like I chose to sleep here. You could share the king bed with Frasco. You just don't want to. I don't need to wake up with a leg over me. I think that's the plan. You know, anytime you're ready, you come over the king bed. No? Invitation.

God. Does that have double meaning for you? The last thing he's thinking about when he walks into the Airbnb is a bed. He goes straight for the fridge and opens a beer. Let's be real. We drank that one dude's last beer at his Airbnb. And you're going down the road and you're like, who drank the Airbnb dude's

beer? It's just one beer. It's like, what do you expect? I think we talked. We shared that beer, I believe. It was a Heineken. It wasn't even a good beer. I was sitting there like the Holy Grail. It was like the only fucking beer. It's like the red button. You just have to...

Oh, shit. I'm telling you i we haven't done a tour like this in a while i'm kind of not i'm kind of tired not six shows in a row jesus i'm exhausted we did six shows in a row and normally we don't bitch normally we're like we do 12 shows in a row no big deal i think it's because we haven't gone on tour in three years. Do you think we're bitching a little bit? You are definitely bitching. Yeah. I doubt it not more than usual.

I like touring better than the weekend stuff for our band because we can finally get a rhythm. We get the flow. The airport kind of messes with me. What's horrible about us is we go out right when we fly into the hotel room.

We're having dinner. We don't want to chill. There's no chill. We go straight to have a couple beers. Dude! Then it's over. The party before the party. Oh my God.

We always get the job done. Let's fucking go. We sure do. The party before the party. Oh my God. We always get the job done. We always, let's fucking go. We sure do. We show up on time. I want to do a pop quiz. I want to do a pop quiz. Ernie, what do you think Repsy.com is?

Oh boy. All right. I've been listening to your podcast so I actually know this answer. All right. Repsy.com. Just see if these motherfuckers listen to this thing.

Repsy.com is where it's a platform for anybody that's a musician, a magician, it could be a photographer, whoever it may be whoever it may be, you know if you need a booker, you could go ask for them to set it up and then

if you even have a booker already they work with them and then get you booked to any kind of show or gig. Look at that. Let's fucking go. Let's go. Our boys. Question.

Do they do all genres? They do whatever you want. Do they take a cut? Wow, that is such a good question. Is Floyd listening to the podcast too? Wow, I don't need to listen to your podcast to know what I'm booking. No, no, no, shut the fuck up.

I thought it was cute. You're like, yeah, you're actually getting better guests. I'm kind of interested in it. That's what he said to me. Wow. No, I think I just listened to the one with Tony Hawk on it. I think that was pretty gnar. All right, we're done.

Okay, we're done. Okay. It's gnar related. Can you skate? Can you skate, bro? God. Floyd, what's happening with you? He's getting married.

Is that true? He doesn't want to talk about that on the podcast. There's this... He went into whatever that was over there. There's this thing. No, there's this thing right here. It says, I thought it said brain opener. And I was like, that's where my, but it says drain opener.

Like that's where my head is right now. Oh my God. Crack that open. I do like, I do like, I do like torn with twilled. I thought it'd be different. Oh, those guys are cool as fuck. They're cool. I didn't, you know.

I don't get why they get shitted on so bad. They rip, dude. And like, those guys are fucking hilarious. They also say, if you're not getting shitted on, you ain't doing shit right. That's right. Let's go. I'll clap to that. Let's go.

Come on. Thank you. Haters gonna hate. Haters are always gonna hate. They got something to do. What's who? It's been a couple years. Floyd has more questions.

What'd you say? Who shits on him? Just like chat rooms shit on them Chat rooms? Trolls! You know what a troll is? Floyd barely knows how to work his phone This guy is a fucking psychopath He knows everything

Floyd, do you have any trolls? Have you ever had a troll? What's that mean? Like someone just keeps writing you? Someone who stalks you and someone who just keeps ripping on you. Like in a negative way. Yeah. Or can you have a good troll?

Like an anonymous troll. Yeah, like internet and stuff, dude. Anyone show up to your gigs in Nantucket? It's got to be hateful, right? Yeah. I think it's us. I think we're the trolls. Every fucking day when I step in

I wake up. God damn. You might be right. I think we are Floyd Kellogg's trolls. I have this thing every time when I'm done with a water, a beer, whatever I have in my hand, as soon as it's done I throw it at Floyd. He's tuning his

bass, boom, right in the back of the head. It's crazy. Do you hate us? Give us an honest opinion. When you don't notice stuff like that that's happening anymore, that's a problem. You threw one at me the other day and I just turned around and I saw you laughing and I'm like,

oh, he just threw the can at me. There's got to be a Floyd abuse hotline or something. Also, see how we're all wearing sweats and we're all comfortable, we're showered. Floyd's wearing the same clothes from the show last time it's all good now show me your back yeah it's all dirty give the crowd the fashion show wow floyd rock and roll unbelievable soaked up in rock and roll

what what band is that uh it's a buddy of mine Gabe Bernini his dad is a great music producer oh cool he does front end sound for Ed Harper wow humble brag but check out Gabe's music

Gabe's awesome we'll check it out we put out a new record But check out Gabe's music. Gabe's awesome. It's dope. We'll check it out. We put out a new record. Yeah. Let's go. Let's go. We're good.

Not like we're physically good. Everything is fine. Things are progressing. Things are progressing. Everything is good. We're still moving forward. Are these songs harder to play live than the other ones? I love playing them.

I love playing the new shit. No. We just got to do practice. Yeah, but it's been getting good. It's been getting deep. And, yeah, it's hard to practice when we're the opener on the soundcheck. We're trying to learn all these songs during fucking soundcheck. Well, you brought in the new freaking Death Party machine. Oh, yeah.

We had to figure that out. We had to figure that out for a show. The Death Star or whatever. The Death Star. It works great, though. That's cool. But, yeah, though. That's cool. But yeah, I kind of like opening. We're done in an hour.

Oh, it's great. The only problem with this, we're just, I don't know about you guys, I don't want to stereotype you, but I'm drinking my ass off more. There's more time. We have a lot of time. There is more time. Let's get the newbie out here, Jason.

Come here. Let's have Jason.bie out here. Jason, come here. Come here, sound guy. Get in there. On the tour with us. He's also wearing toughies. He's wearing toughies. Get in there. Tough enough.

Oh, man. Jason. Hey, what's up, buddy? How's it going? Now we're comfy. Now we're comfy. Okay. It's a party now.

Jason. We love Jason. We were just talking about this. Don't ever fucking leave us unless you're making crazy money somewhere else. Then you can let us borrow money.

We've never had it yet. We're going to need, so how is it being the sound guy for this fucking chaos that we call the band? It's definitely a party for sure.

The fucking new party machines kicking my ass though. Yeah. It's a heavy bitch. Oh yeah. It's a heavy bitch. Yeah. You're like it, uh,

it holds 800 pounds or like it weighs 800 pounds. It's like, I sure fucking hope so. Exactly. Well, I'm sorry that I'm not helping you more you're good

we talked about the me and Sean were talking about that where it's like we have this epic moment at the end of the show we walk off stage and then Sean the whole band has to walk back on stage Frasco's like rock and roll smoking cigs finally And fucking blow your shit out. Frasco's like, rock and roll.

Smoking cigs. What a set. We left it all out there. Actually, we gotta get our gear now. Floyd, you leave your shit on the stage too. You don't come back until... What was the craziest moment for that? Where it was just slammed? This week, for sure, Buffalo.

But at the end, you're like, holy shit, this is a rock star moment. You walk out and then you have to slowly walk back to pick up all your gear. You suck it up. Fuck me. But it's good. Everybody wants to talk to you and shit.

Although Floyd helped pack the trailer last night. I gotta give him. He helped. Really? In the night before? Sure. No. No.

Partially the night before that. No. No, you didn't. No? No, just last night. Okay. You have a little boo thing? Yeah.

A little boo thing. Yeah, I do. Yeah, that's probably the craziest. I love playing an hour. It's kind of fun. Yeah, the hour is cool. But I love playing an hour. It's kind of fun. Yeah, the hour is cool. The power hour. Power hour.

A lot of people. That's something cool about, like, last night, we played for like two hours. It was awesome. That was cool. It's different, for sure, but the hour, that's like the festival set. Get ready for the festival set.

Punch him in the face. Fuck yeah. It was nice last night, too, because we finally just got to have a moment to just chill before we had to pack all of our shit up. Yeah, no shit. It wasn't like the mad scramble at the end of the night. Yeah.

Is it like herding cats at the end of the night when we're all just dispersed? It depends on the city. Because if you find a spot that you know is a local spot, you're gone. Really? It just depends. It depends on where we're at. Oh, my. Yeah, yeah.

Have you ever been worried that we're going to leave you? No. No? No. I got Bo. That's Jay. Bo, get over here. Let's go, Bo.

Let's go. Bo Bo Linska, tour manager, a podcast editor on the couch. Get on the couch. Yay, boys. All right. And I need to clear something on the couch. Hey, boys. All right. And I need to clear something up real quick. Okay.

Because I've had a lot of people coming up to me like, I thought you were leaving. I thought you weren't going to be on the road with Frasco anymore. Yeah. They're like,

he kept saying on the podcast that you're just going with the Velveteers now. And everyone's like, oh my God, Bo's back. Yeah. I'm not going anywhere.

Oh, man. I'm not fucking going. I'm like yeah I'm not going anywhere oh man yeah Bo yeah God Bo has this tour been hard? Has this been easier than the tour? get in there Bo it's been easy I think it's been easier

the last tour we had all fucking we had the van fuck up but it was the sick tide tour this is like 2.5. It's not quite as bad. We're still dealing with some van issues. What is happening with our van? Why can't we only go

20 miles, 40 miles per hour up a hill? Because it's fucking turbo. Because we can't get the parts replaced we need to. The fuck? Well, look at this big old happy family. Look at these boys. Hey, Mercedes. How you doing, Mercedes? Fuck you, Mercedes. We'll rock for you, man. We'll write a song called Mercedes Beats. Oh, yeah.

We love Mercedes. I love Mercedes. Help me fix us. Mercedes Sprinters, please get us a new van sponsorship. More cup holders, please. All right, guys. We have Hanson on the show. Anyone remember Hanson?

That's it. So it's going to be fun. Do anyone want to do the motivational speech tonight? Floyd, give the people for the week before we go into Hanson. First off, I love you guys, and it's been a blast. And thank you for putting up with me during album release week. You know I fucking hate that. Also, the album's called Wash, Rinse, Repeat,

and he has a picture of his dirty feet on it. You think he's trying to say something to himself? Rejecting? All right. Who wants to do the motivational speech? Floyd does. Floyd, how are you going to get these people through their week? Here we go.

Like, I don't want to do this, but hold on. All right, so this is a good breathing exercise. If you ever get the hiccups, try this, okay? You have to breathe from top to bottom, in and out, slowly. Okay, we're done here. Wait, wait. Okay, fine. And if you hiccup,

it's got like a life analogy. If you hiccup while it's happening, don't freak out. Just keep doing it. Wow. Until it goes away. Very meta. Whoa.

Okay, okay. Wow, very meta of you. Very meta. All right, Wow. Very meta of you. Very meta. All right, guys. The band's here. This is our only day off. We're doing the podcast, so we're going to make a dinner. What are we making?

Who's making dinner? Ernie's got something. Here. Ernie, what are you doing? Chef. Chef Ernie. Chef Chang's table. At Chang's restaurant tonight, we got ribeye steaks.

We got Caesar salad Okay We have Rotisserie chicken Okay We have Pasta A la

Bo Pasta a la Bo He's making pasta Pasta a la Bo And for dessert We got some wine Wow We could have

That For appet Floyd made guac Oh Yeah Yeah Yeah Okay I know We could have that for Abbott. Floyd McGuag. Oh, hey! Yeah. I know, yeah, totally.

Let's go around the world tonight. Little Mexi-Italiano. All right, guys, be safe out there. We love you. We'll see you next week. Who is on the show next week? I can't even fucking remember. But someone's on the show. Give it up for't even fucking remember, but someone's on the show. Give it up for Hanson.

Alright, guys. Be good out there. May the force be with you. Hey, Floyd, sit the fuck down. We're not done yet. God damn it. We're not done. Sit down. God damn it. Can't we just fucking close something out with a bang without you fucking getting all anxious? Gotta get the fuck out of here.

Kiss me on the mouth. Kiss me on the mouth for the podcast. What'd you say? We're not here. Kiss me on the mouth for the podcast. Why? No, no, no. Just one.

No, I need to brush my teeth and stuff. I don't care. I love your stint. We're done. We're done. We're done. Goodbye. Enjoy Hanson. This was actually crazy and I don't care. I love your stage. All right. We're done. We're done. We're done. Goodbye. Enjoy Hanson. This was actually a crazy thing I didn't realize.

All the crazy shit they've gotten into and how self-sufficient they are. So I think you're going to like this one. Bo, you're doing a good job, buddy. Hey, Bo. Love you. Boys, you're killing it. Keep fucking killing it and let's not die on the road, okay?

Okay. Love you guys. Have a good one. Bye. you're killing it keep fucking killing it and let's not try it let's not die on the road okay alright okay keep it going love you guys have a good one bye alright next up on the interview hour we have Hanson

yes the Hanson you're thinking about as well all three of the brothers came on the show and yo Chris play some Hanson while we

talk about our guest. Perfect. It was fun. It was the first Zoom interview from the house. And it was great. It felt like I had him in my living room. I had fucking Hanson in our living room. So, ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the dynamic brotherhood that is Hanson.

What's going on, no entry? So, ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the dynamic brotherhood that is Antigua. We can head on down to Memphis And try on someone else's coat Alright, fuck it, let's do it. We're going live! Always record! Always record. Alright, here we go. What's up, boys? Where you guys at? We are at our studio in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The one and only.

Yep. Yo, it's people. Actually, one of my close friends, Paul McDonald. I heard he knows you guys pretty well. What? Oh, yeah. We know Paul. Paul is like our brother from another mother. Oh, man. We've spent so much time. In fact, actually, Paul and I wrote a song on this latest record that we're about to put out. What song?

to actually Paul and I wrote a song on this latest record that we're about to put out. What song? It's actually going to be the second single off the RGB Red Green Blue album. It's called Write You a Song. They couldn't come up with another title. They're like, what are we going to call this song?

Write You a Song. That's so funny. Tell me, he went on tour with you guys. How did you guys meet each other we knew him originally through his ex-wife and we just kind of fell in love with Paul when we met him

we got him in the divorce he's like fuck having one girl we're going to have three dudes let's fucking get this Paul is from Huntsville my wife uh her family's all from huntsville and so kind of like it's just our kind of people yeah it was just like a lot of things and paul is just paul is a great hang and a very talented songwriter and and and has a really unique voice and just i don't know and a great body. Yeah. Great body. I was going to say, we have strong beard envy.

And we can do a hobo beard. Did you say beard? Almost no one I know. Isn't it crazy when you meet just like guys who've been hustling in the, in the music industry, just as long as you guys, I mean, it's just, it's inspiring to see guys keep going, you know, what's the hardest part about keeping the name around? Well, I mean, I think it goes to any principle of, of longevity. It's that thing of some combination of knowing who

you are enough that you're not, the failures are not the things that define you. You know, it's, it's like, if you look at the people that, you know, make impacts on, you know, business, music, you know, art, most of them, we were talking about it, you know, just earlier today, you hear no a lot. Right. So you, you know, I kind of call, I've always. No is everybody else's favorite word. We're not really able to do other things really. So, you know, this is what we know and see who we are. So. If no wasn't in the vocabulary, what would you guys be doing?

Oh man. Oh man man so many things oh gosh uh i would probably be doing radio in some capacity that or that or uh that or or writing in some uh other form living in a van down by the river i was just thinking if people couldn't say no we'd probably be signed to Curb Records. Oh, that's true, too. Oh, yeah. And that would have been a disaster. Yes. That record contract. I remember we lucked out and ended up with a really good attorney through a really exceptional manager and concert promoter, a guy named Jim Halsey. He connected us with his attorney early on, but long before we were signed. And we got an offer from Curb Records.

And he was like, listen, this is an 80, there's a 40 page contract and I got 80 things I want to change about it. Oh my God. And did, was he able to change it or no? No, he said, don't sign it basically. Cause if you want to be making music in two years, don't sign this. Run don't walk. I think was his phrase. Yeah. And you got, why do you guys sign it then? We didn't.

We didn't. Oh, thank God. Okay. Let's clap that up. Let's go. We don't want the boys to get fucked. We don't want the boys to get fucked. Yeah.

It's just not that way. Anyway, we, we learned, we learned early on that, uh, just because someone was enthusiastic about you, it didn't mean they were enthusiastic about your best interests.

Yeah. All right. Yeah. That's so true. What about that? That's one of the, yeah, about you it didn't mean they were enthusiastic about your best interests yeah all right yeah yeah that's so true what about that that's one of the yeah explain that to me that's one of the strange things about um music you know you have to be confident have to be a self-promoter right you have to kind of sort of jokingly like you know be narcissists for you know professionally but but um it's always a combination of, because it's not just ego. It's, it's like, I have something and it's hard to separate yourself from that. Anyway, that's what I was going to say. Yeah. And what about like, what about when you were a kid as well? Like, did, did you guys have a shitty record

deal when you first got your first deal? Our deal was pretty good because we had gone through so many people that had said, no, we read a lot of contracts, you know? So, so our, our deal is pretty good. Actually. I think all the rights to our records revert in about five or 10 years. So, you know, when we've been a band for 40 years, we'll actually own everything we've ever recorded. Does that make you bitter though? No, not really. I mean, think of it as you're going to make certain mistakes. I mean, the record industry, as far as how people fare,

we've fared fairly well considering all the possible terrible things that can happen to you. Yeah. I mean, I will say though too, some of that is also choosing not to, shall we say, make certain lucrative deals that you could have made because you didn't feel like it was good for the long tail. It's kind of choosing, trying to say, look, I want to think about this for five to 10 years from now, not just right now. But of course, then again, we probably should have done the dolls thing. You know, I think that we've always been really a live band.

We've always considered that to be very important, right? And I think the philosophy of being a live band, it changes the way you look at your fame and your sort of adoring fans because it's very much about the moment you're in, right? And every artist who plays a lot of concerts and really values that and earns their bread by selling tickets and being

in that moment. Their relationship with the fans, I think, is much purer and their view of themselves is usually, not always, a lot more real. They get it that I walk off stage and there's nobody back there adoring. And I understand that living in this moment and then, and moving on to the next moment is valuable. And I think that that keeps you from, in a lot of cases, getting the bad singer, lead singer disease kind of head where you're like, man, I'm the greatest thing ever because, you know, it comes and goes and every night is a good show or a bad show. And the tech's on the side of the stage, trying to fix your in-air monitors while you're going deaf because they're static or something right and you've got to kind of keep smiling and singing and it's just blowing your head off you know this sucks yeah one of the

one of the things that i mean honestly for artists today that you know the the problem or the challenge with a lot of people breaking out just on youtube or just online it's not that that's not an amazing thing because going direct to fan is incredible. We experienced the beginning of that when it all began, you know, 20 plus years ago. But the challenge is like, you don't, you don't aren't forced to learn how to walk out and deal with a bad night. Right. You know, you just, you just, people do get blown up by comments and that's negative and sad as well. But, you know, when you walk into a physical space and like there's 12 people there and you need for there to be 100 and it looks pretty crummy or or if there's a thousand and they don't but but it's a bad show for you i mean that's how you get forged you know it's like

forged in fire you know the one ring of artistry i think part of it is too that um when you're in a stage environment you have this megaphone right right and you you have this ability to change the vibe of the room yeah when you live on instagram or youtube the comment section has more power than you do as the person people are there to watch like scary everybody's there to watch you but they're looking at some dude who's like posting links to some other thing you know sitting in a beanbag eating Cheetos. That's a moron. Everybody's like, laugh, laugh, laugh. Wait, hold on a second.

Exactly. Or like, check out my new hot piss. I'm performing live on the Great Wall of China and you're watching that guy's emoji. Basically like a megaphone. I don't know why. Yeah. Do you blame ADD culture?

No, ADD culture is almost a cycle on itself. I've always been an ABBA fan. I don't blame... Oh, wait, different acronym. I saw a meme the other day that was like, since when did we all get the good idea that Mark Zuckerberg should be responsible for the mental health and well-being of our children?

Right. I think it's a funny thing, too, because I was with somebody who's talking about the negatives of technology. Right. And I'm like, what you mean is there's an application you use on technology that you don't like. Right. It's social media. That's not technology. That's just the thing you use technology for. Totally. Right. Totally. And I think I think that's not technology that's just the thing you use technology for totally right totally and and i think i think that's we we miss that stuff i mean ad culture no what actually has happened is the world has said i want immediate feedback from everyone yeah right yeah i have never wanted immediate feedback from everyone no he doesn't want immediate feedback from me i don't want him to tell me what he thinks why would i want immediate feedback from everyone in the audience like when was the last time you

finished the song you were like hey guys how did i do give me a like i don't know one to five scale you know and everybody put their fingers up and guess what they're gonna do yeah yeah totally wait we're number one we're number one hey guys they think we're number one? We're number one. Hey, guys, they think we're number one. It's sort of like saying blaming all food. They really need to blame all donuts. Exactly. These things, food makes me feel horrible. No, you're just eating only Twinkies. And it goes back to what you're saying,

like with Zuckerberg controlling the mental health of our kids. I mean, you're totally, that is totally spot on. Like that's the reason why we're in this predicament. So I'm like, what the fuck are we trying to do here? So like going back to like the musician side too. So like, how do you guys not listen to all the bullshit and just be you guys? Well, you, you just sort of mute things. No.

And he's talking about me, actually. That was the really complicated nobody's nobody's impervious to to to negativity and to things that come you know at you but i think that so that's that's not possible to turn it all off but i do think knowing what you're trying to do and who you are i mean that's what it goes back to especially i mean if i feel much more you know a pity for people that are like the random dry cleaner and you know oshkosh who suddenly has people like screaming at them because they didn't set up to have a public platform at the same level they just i wanted to start a business and now you have this dialogue

whereas people that have been making music i mean we are sort of asking for it i mean we're putting our face out there we're saying you are i just i'm just saying right so the nature of art is you're building an audience like music actually and so at some point i mean you know they say you look at the kind of the the idea of having haters or having people like if you have people willing to mock you or go after you that means you must have done something right so as well as wrong as well as wrong so i mean i think at some level some level, when you put yourself out there as an artist, you kind of sign up to a certain amount of abuse. But the question is,

the only reason you can take it is because you actually know why you showed up. Yeah. Like you had something you wanted to do. You know, I think too, a good creative process is kind of exhausting knowing like a good workout is exhausting.

And so you should be developing the muscles, um, to deal with your own rejection. Right. And that's just sort of like, Oh, Oh, you didn't like it. Cool. Zach rejects himself daily. He walks in and is like, you're horrible. I hate your face. But to me, like, it's also about like, we, we do so many different things. And I think to like, as a musician, I would say, I find more inspiration

outside of listening to other people's music then that's not really the way i get inspired to write a song it's like man what is everybody doing right right i think that's a for me that's a huge benefit because it keeps you in a positive sense insulated like you're not really being influenced by, oh, I need to be like that. When you go watch a great movie and you hear a score in that environment, you go, man, that's cool. I need to step up. Or you read a great book or you go play a video game. You're like, that was amazing. I just want to create something. I think that's an even better inspiration than hearing the latest successful album or cool project that another musician did. latest successful album or cool project that another musician did.

Because I think your creativity can be more pure sometimes when it's not actually inspired by the music you heard. Totally. And that goes back to what you're saying about blocking the noise of what your fans are trying to say too. I mean, we, yeah, I mean,

the thing is the fan, the actual fan is incredible. And, and we, we've benefited from great community um but you know you you obviously can never please every person ever right and you know if you don't have a compass you you really have to have that sense of look i'm waking up and i'm creating because i'm inspired to create this is who i am right and we talk about this with the audience it's like hey you know

you we have a song called i was born and so i I was born to do something no one's ever done before. It's not to say everybody's going to be Muhammad Ali, but you literally are the only you. You've got something you're going to contribute to the universe. We still, all of us, you know, we're not the same in our creative process and even in the things that always inspire us. But we do all have a sense of this is what I want to make. And even if nobody's listening, I'm going to be creating, I'm going to, I'm going to want to create something.

I think that's a huge benefit to overcoming just how long did it take you? You talk about building that muscle of like building the calluses of that. How long did it take you in your career until you said, fuck it? Well, I mean, let me reflect on the day. Well, I mean, let me reflect on the day. Thursday. It was 8 p.m. on a Thursday in Milwaukee. I think it was when we basically got kicked out by our church as like, you know, under the age of less than double digits.

Yeah, because we were singing too much rock and roll. We were growing up singing gospel songs. And then we're like, I guess we're only going to write songs about that. We're going to write songs about... There's already church songs in church, so we should write songs that are not in church. First rejected by those. Did it bum you out that you were rejected by

the church? Are you guys religious people? Were you bummed out that you were rejected by the church? You said, fuck it. We're rock stars now. It was probably the fact that we said, fuck it. We're rock stars now. It was probably the fact that we said, fuck it. They probably didn't like a nine-year-old saying that. Actually, I just figured it out. Now I know why they were so pissed off. They were right.

I was in Sunday school and everybody was like, we were walking out, fingers in the air, listening to Sex Pistols. And I'm walking down the street. And I'm like, fuck you. school and everybody was like we were walking out fingers in the air listening to the same they're gotta it's gotta be a trip you know because like you guys was very moment i realized that were people worried about you because it's got to be a trip to get that famous that young start selling out like the hollywood bull being on television having the hugest hit like yeah i mean like you could hear about childhood stars and how it fucks them up. You know, like, were people worried about you?

I mean, I worry about me every day, but that's a whole other thing. They were, yeah. I think there were definitely people that were probably, especially peripherally, like people that didn't know us that well or weren't, you know, doing the day-to-day with us. So we're probably a little bit concerned about that element. But I mean, we had, I mean, not protective parents, but adequately protective parents, both parents that were willing to be brave enough to allow us to do what we were doing, but also recognize that there's kind of a point where like the pressure and the kind of insane, you know,

like life of that, of that celebrity factor could, could be really challenging. So they were, they were pretty good at cutting against that grain. And again, as, as I said, kind of earlier, in some ways you sacrifice a little bit of chasing the popularity, you know, train for your own long-term sanity in certain cases, you know, but, but that's, but that's hopefully why, you know, train for your own long-term sanity in certain cases, you know, but that's hopefully why, you know, you wake up today and go, you know what, I feel really good about every record that I've made, and I don't think to myself, oh, I wish I never would have done that. I just

think, oh, well, it wasn't as successful as I hoped it was, or whatever, but you have a certain sense of internal confidence and pride that, hey, I made the best choices I could given the circumstance. Well, I think you should jump back just a few steps, right? You said a few minutes ago, we were joking about getting kicked out of the church. But the reality is, I mean, faith is a huge part of that. And I think sometimes when you look at people who are in the spotlight, you do lose your perspective on where you fit in the hierarchy of matters in the world. Yeah. Especially when you're,

because you're your own saving the world. I wake up and pray to me. Let's fucking go. The cult of Hanson. Yeah, yeah. I mean, like, dude, faith is the reason we're not complete weirdos. Not because, I mean, and that comes from your parents. That comes from your upbringing.

So in that sense, but like. Spiritual grounding. Let's get real. There's no special sauce except for understanding that you're accountable to all your actions and that you are very small, little tadpole in the stream of life. So how did you guys stay so humble

when getting so big so young? Paul told me, you guys are like, you guys are legit. I looked you guys up. You guys are like the first real indie band to like make their own merch, basically run the business as a family. Like you guys are doing an operation that I fucking respect. Cause I'm in a band. I've been in band for what? Almost 15 years doing 250 shows a year as well. And, and you know, it's like, you talk about the grind and like, especially when you

don't have the idea of like, I don't need a fucking record label anymore. Let's do this ourselves. There's got to be someone who taught you drive. And who was that? Well, Taylor was naturally born with a level of drive that is unusual. I will give Taylor that. I will give Taylor that. If he was an engine, it would say high torque.

Drive shaft. That's what they call me when I'm not looking. All the ladies. It's the drive shaft. He has seven children. To prove it, it's very complicated. We try not to think about it. You have seven children?

I have seven. Holy fuck, man. You are fucking my dude. Let's go, dude. It took me a minute to figure that part out. Did you? I will say this, that it was like I said,

obviously grounding and sense of your perspective and that there's something bigger than you is huge. And I think anybody that's created things, regardless of what people say about their belief system, I think you recognize there's something powerful happening when you tap into art. I mean, you're a musician, you're creative. It is incredible.

If you paint something, if you write something, if you make music, it's like, whoa, I get to step into the stream and then call it mine. The independent thing too, I was just going to speak to that specifically. Nobody knows exactly what makes honestly the mistakes happen or the positive stuff happen entirely. Nobody can fully take credit for how things come together. But we did start off beating the pavement before we got signed even though we're super young we did the band stuff we just couldn't go to bars so i mean we we literally licked stamps and had a mailing list of 3 000 you know we were for local gigs before we were signed you know when i was 12 or something hold on and we did the thing you guys were sending demos at 12 years old to

labels we weren't just we weren't just demos. We were sending cards out with lists of gigs to fans that had signed up to a mailing list that we were playing in, you know, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Texas. Oh, okay. Back up, back up. Holy shit. You guys are... Let's fucking go, Hanson. That's what I'm talking about. That fucking hustle, dude.

A lot of people forgot the hustle. Yeah, what was like the first song you guys actually wrote Where you felt like damn we're actually becoming songwriters Is it Rain? Is that probably the one that was kind of the most There's a song called Rain We call it Rain but Rain Falling Down

And you would have been 11? 11, 10 something like that I think Sort of like the first song you write and the first song you're you're talking about that moment yes right and i actually think to me uh something happened someone saw us play shows and he was a a special ed teacher and he would teach the advanced classes and he said you should come do a school assembly because i think kids your age

seeing you play would be amazing for these kids right because basically we would just play anywhere but we could because as kids you can't just go out so we were homeschooled that's super popular in oklahoma and so we we didn't really have school experiences we didn't have those kind of things. And we showed up on stage and played for a group of probably fourth to seventh graders. Right. And it was like. Pandemonium. Yeah.

Screaming at a pitch. You didn't know. Right. Because these are genuine, very small humans. Yeah. And you're like, Oh my God, you're the same age, right? Or how old were you guys? Holy fuck. I would, I think at the old, the oldest that we were doing that when I was,

I was maybe as old as 13 or 14. But as, but Zach would have been, gosh, he would have been nine or 10, nine or 10, 11, 12. I mean like, it's like, yeah. So Zach was like, Zach was prime audience. Taylor was prime audience. I was a little bit old for the crowd in some ways, but. I think that moment, that first time we did that. Yeah. Was like, Whoa, this is different. Yeah. This is different because when you play an arts festival or you go play on the patio at a restaurant or you go play a block party, you're kind of a,

a second rate you're an add-on right people are there yeah you're an add-on people are there to look at art you know like when we did these the kids came to watch us play like a paying audience and they they freaked out because they were used to seeing like here comes the fireman or here comes you know the science teacher or a magician they're like oh people Oh, people, my age playing music. I've never heard anything like this. And that was, I think the first moment where it was like, okay, okay, this is different. Needless to say, we started playing schools.

Yeah. And to this day, actually, in fact, actually the other night, I was at the Gary Clark jr. Show at Gaines ballroom. Shout out to Gary. The other night I was at the Gary Clark Jr. show at Keynes Ballroom. Shout out to Gary. Great show. Amazing show. And a guy walked up to me and he goes, hey, you played at so-and-so elementary school when I was, you know, so-and-so age. And I remember that to this day. So there's like there, especially locally in Tulsa, you'll get that occasionally because there are folks, you know, especially locally in Tulsa, you'll get that occasionally because there are folks, you know, that grew up here and walk up to you and be like, Hey man, I saw you guys like years before anybody had heard of you at my elementary school. I think, I mean, you use the word hustle. I mean, that, you know, the thing about all this stuff is it's, you know, when you talk about it abstractly,

it seems even more sort of like, Oh my God. But when it really comes down to it, all of us are given something and we either choose to run with it or we choose to run away from it. I said, I go, honey, what is it that's different about bad art and bad music? And she goes, well, you can close your eyes when you're looking

at bad art. You can't get away from bad music. You can't. I mean, I guess you can do this. What about distractions? Do you ever have a distraction in your life that didn't keep you focused on the main thing? away from bad music you can't i mean i guess you can do this what about um i want to what about distractions you ever have a distraction in your life that didn't keep you focused on the main thing music like maybe drugs alcohol women i mean was there any distractions in your life that got you not on the path you wanted to be in we've i'm sure everyone has had had something along the way i don't no one's thankfully, a major drug problem.

Although I will say I drink a little bit too much whiskey thanks to the pandemic. Everyone's an alcoholic now. It started off slow. I don't know. I think music is sometimes a distraction if I'm honest. I think what you were talking about earlier about sort of your big head and, and, and kind of those things, how do you stay grounded? Like you have to understand where music fits in,

in the whole spectrum of what you need to be. Right. Right. And as a dad with five kids, like music is not number one right music is is not even number three right music is in the like five or seven or eight range because there's so many other things that have this timeless requirement well actually urgent requirement yeah but music is powerful and it's also um like looking in the mirror. I think it's a reflection that you have to have. Everybody has different versions of it. In our case, we're musicians.

And so we use this to show the people around us, the number ones and the number twos and the number fives, right? You go, this is something that I can share with you, that I can give as a lasting reflection of how I want you to live your life or see someone living their life. And so like what we say, how hard we work, how we represent ourselves, like those things matter because of all the other things. Right. That's, that's, that's beautiful, man. It's like, and you're holding yourself credible to the life you want to live. So the person you want to be. So every, it's a full circle thing right yeah absolutely yeah i

mean the perspective on what it is you want to leave behind um is definitely bigger than you know kill everybody in the path that i you know gets in the way of my ambition yeah but i will say this though that the fight for this you know the fight to be an artist and make music is so you know if you get to do it for a year at a high level let alone you know a lifetime like we've been able to do pretty much like you're in such a small group that gets that opportunity that you also you know the minute you step back and go yeah this is i got this this is easy you know i don't really have to give it it it it does you see it dissipate because somebody's like ready to you know to sell the right arm to get the chance and and we saw that early you know that i was just with a man who mentioned jim halsey

the other day he was still a friend he's 91 years old he represents he managed managed and represented incredible artists i mean across the spectrum mostly country music um but he was telling the story of how he had done a conference that was in tulsa and he he had spoken and our dad at the time was just trying to figure out how to even help us i know we're very very very young it's like two years in like i would probably be in 10 years well i mean that was right around the time we got that horrible offer he had showed up he was staying at a hotel and we he he got a call in his room at seven in the morning and it was, uh, it was our dad on the other line. And he said, Hey, you know,

you said at your conference yesterday that if we had something special, we should really kind of do our best to, you know, get out there and get, you know, get seen. And Jim said, that's great. Let's set up a meeting. He said, no, we're in the lobby. We, we were the three, we were up in the lobby that morning in standing downstairs. Let's fucking go Hansonansen let's go hustling so i mean that obviously is not that's a level you know of crazy but at the same time it's really just that urgency you know that sense of like hey this is this is i'm ready to i'm ready to give them all our dad was doing the due diligence but our mom was the one

that woke him up and said hey the boys should be there at seven in the morning. So I was only there for the taco. You know, you talk about dedication, how hard it is to, you have to give yourself 120% in this industry to even fucking have a chance. How hard is it to be a father of fucking seven and five and four when you're always gone? It's very hard. It's very hard it's very hard actually i'm realizing that so i uh my my youngest is a is a almost eight-year-old daughter and i was realizing and zach we talked about this actually you guys even more than me

um she has memories of me doing shows, but because of this last two year period, she's kind of weirdly spoiled in a certain sense that, that dad has not been traveling a whole lot. Cause the court, whenever we were working on this latest record for the last, you know, for a few months, she was like, dad, where are you? What are you doing? You shouldn't be at the office all the time. You shouldn't be gone.

What is wrong? Like she, it was really interesting. So, yeah, I mean, it is challenging. It is hard. Luckily, all of us, you know, met our wives in some capacity or another, you know, while on the road. So they have no excuse other than realizing they signed up for this gig and we're sorry. It's not surprising. You know, you have to nurture that.

Yeah. It's not surprising. You know, you have to, you have to nurture that. You have to do your best to kind of, to, to bring the kids along when you can to make sure that, you know, make sure that your wife doesn't feel like you're completely abandoning her. But, but there's some of that. I mean, there is some of it. It's a little bit fucking hard, man. I'm telling you. I mean, I don't, I just think of like your family unions and there's like fucking 18 kids, like Lord of the flies style, just around like i would do like do you ever like forget your kids you actually have a conch

in the back that yeah yeah you ever like home alone taylor used to have eight kids but the other one was named piggy do you ever like home alone forget a kid at the mall or some or just like forget their name or something i'd be forgetting all my kids names like oh billion fucking johnny it's a hard i just do what george farman did just name them all george you always get it right oh man yeah it's wild man but but i think it's just understanding that everything is a give and take right it's like like as a musician when you collaborate with people, you understand that to bring someone else into the room means that it's not a hundred percent you anymore. Right. And so when you bring somebody else into the world, it's also not a

hundred percent you anymore. And, and the more people you bring into the world that are like, man, I love being around this person, which is how I feel about kids and great collaborators. man i love being around this person which is how i feel about kids and great collaborators like we love paul like it's so fun when paul comes around and adds paul yeah the music you're taking right yeah um you just got to remember that like you no longer get what you want you get what you have decided to be a part of and you're the leader of a pack not the leader of your birthday party anymore you know like you've got to nurture every single person. And that means giving up things you want and time you want. And, and honestly that, you know, the money and the life for those other people, it's just a huge sacrifice, but like

everything, it's always better to give. It's always more rewarding to give. And so if you get to give to a lot of kids, man, you feel really full. And they feel really like you didn't have enough time for them. You'll never win, Hanson. Your fans will love you. Your kids will fucking hate you at 60. It may be great

if you never even loved me. That's the message of this project. You brought up a good point about dedicating yourself to a team figure. How hard is it? You guys have been a fucking band brotherhood for so long. And now as you grow older, you guys have your different opinions on things and your different approach on life.

How hard is it to still be individual with how you believe what the things you believe with also running a business and like nurturing to the fans and nurturing to, you know, that kind of thing. Like, can you explain how to like keep that juggle, you know, some counseling. Do we need to talk? Yeah. I mean, you sound like you're speaking from reality. I'm in a band too. And so I'm, I'm an open book and like, there's some things I can't say.

And, but as like musicians and artists, you know, that's why we're in art is to express the feelings we feel. So what's, how hard is it as we grow older and still have you still have your group of fans and maybe you guys have different opinions about things now like how hard is it to like me in the middle with that i think it'll make people listen to everything we've ever put out in a slightly different way as you sort of deconstruct the band in a way and i think you know in an environment that i think people are really into the polarization more than ever in history, how do we get a reaction? Like calling you blue and you black and you red and you purple, you know, and sort of dividing people.

I think this is a way to say, look, look what we did. We divided not to make a point of how different we are, but to accentuate how much we appreciate each other. Right. And, and as a band, we're doing things that are more different than ever together. Right. It's not, it's not really about that. It has to be one way. It's that it can be all these different ways and still serve everybody. Um think about, you know, I've been married for about 15 years. And when I first got married, I think all of our fights were about all the things we were supposed to want to do together. Right.

You're trying to do every single thing together and it creates conflict because inevitably one person likes this thing over here, like walks in the park and this person wants to play video games and this person wants to, you know, go to Thai restaurants and this person wants just hamburgers. Right. I think as you mature in your relationship, you realize that what you want to do is not do everything, but accentuate all the things you do well together.

And the things you don't like doing together you should not do them together yeah right like all the personal reminds me of when we're when we're preparing for a we're preparing for a trip and i say to my wife honey what do you need for me and she says for you to leave me alone right right i need for you to distract the children for the next seven hours i want to go sit on the beach and read a book what she's saying right yeah exactly she doesn't want you to sit on the beach next to her and read a book yeah the deeper underlying issue is how many comparisons you're making to your relationship with your wife and your relationship with your brother yeah that's what we needed well you know it's kind of like a freudian thing you kind of fall in love with either your mom with your brother. That's what we needed. Well, you know, it's kind of like a Freudian thing. You kind of fall in love with either your mom or your brother in some weird way.

And you know what I'm, what I was trying to talk about, you know, I appreciate what, how that is with like giving each other their, their time to grow in their space. Um, I'm also talking about, do you guys ever like beat the shit out of each other? Y'all ever got in some anger issues with each other? You guys always... Absolutely. What was the worst one? You mean the last two? Give me the dirt, dude.

What happened? We're talkers. You're like Black Crows. You're like the Robinsons. There's never been particularly physical. That's not ever been... It does happen and normally it's my fault yeah yeah i agree um most i mean it's very very rare for something something to get

you know to the point where people are are getting really losing that kind of control um and and what zach said is true i mean you the understanding where you're strong and backing off where you're not is that's a balance and i mean anybody that's had a team you know of any kind kind of any team like this is what we're going to do you've got to have different different leanings that's what makes it successful like everybody's not playing the same role like you're you're going hey man there's good here but it is i mean it's stretching and we you know like we said this year we had 30 years playing music let's fucking go and there's no question yeah i'm gonna clap to that let's go hansen let's fucking go. I'm going to clap to that. Let's go, Hanson. Let's fucking go, Hanson. Hell yeah.

So it's, it's, there's no question. It's not, it's not the exact same thing it was 10 years ago, 20 years ago, or three years ago. But I think there, there is a respect for one another and realizing that, you know, it's a long road. Like you've got to, you know, you, you're not expecting everything, every situation to be exactly the panacea. So you keep looking for places you know, you, you're not expecting everything, every situation to be exactly the panacea. So you, you keep looking for places where you build stuff together and

man, I mean, nothing is more powerful than walking on stage and playing music in front of you. It is such an, it's like a spiritual experience to look across the audience and say, wow, these people chose to be in this room. I don't know. I don't know people, everybody since mom and cousin and boyfriend and girlfriend, but we're all sharing this in this room. I don't know. I don't know people, everybody since mom and cousin and boyfriend and girlfriend, but we're all sharing this experience right now. I mean, that is, that's something that really gets, you know, puts things back into focus as an artist. It's like, okay, that's worth it. You know, that's worth it.

It's true. You know, it's like, it comes to all about the music. Like it's gotta be hard when like your face to like talk about politics and stuff. Right. Oh yeah. It's like how hard, like, it's like when you're faced to like talk about politics and stuff right oh yeah yeah it's like how hard like it's like when you're talking about you know whatever thing you might have been talking about with your friends or something and all of a sudden it gets in the news or something like the covet thing or the gun thing and stuff it's got to be hard to like have your opinion like feel like we need to give an opinion on on some things when we just want to play music and let the music talk right it's a tricky thing it's like if you can just say just because you think it doesn't

mean you should say it it's like you know everybody just go watch them you know watch bambi and see listen to thumper's mom it's like you can't say something nice don't say anything at all so sometimes like that's part of the thing with with and band. It's like we got into doing what we do to make music and share. And yeah, you can't have all of that stuff. Everything doesn't, you know, everything's not meant to be discussed and agreed on and made, you know. Well, I think to speak to that too, there's a song on a Finkley EP that we put out in 2020. And there's a song called Beginning In. there's a song on a fan club EP that we put out in 2020 and there's a song called beginning in.

And one of the lines in one of the verses is the heart of the met, the heart of the matter is the measure of a man. And for me, I think more than anything, look, we've, we've all got opinions. They're kind of like assholes and they all stink. Same. Everyone has a podcast. You know, so everybody has a podcast. Everyone's got a comment section. In fact, my left foot also has a podcast. Exactly.

But, but, but, but there's a tricky thing, which is, I think you gotta, you gotta like I posted on Instagram a while back, you know, open hearts and open minds solve problems. And I think more than anything you got music allows people to open their hearts and open their minds. And I think if you can, if you can implore people to do that more often in their life, then some of the details and the chaos of, of, you know, real challenges and real opinions and real hard things to deal with can hopefully be dealt with in a more, in a more kind of even

keeled way and it's a tricky world out there and especially when the comment section exists on everybody's gotta be fucking hard everybody's instagram it's hard because you're just getting feedback all the time from like you're like who the heck's that guy right you know like you don't even know it's like some dude from finland and you're like i don't know you ever said something you wish you didn't say online oh gosh gosh, I'm sure. What was the worst one that gave you like, what's the worst one

boys that he said that was like, God damn it. Yeah, I think there have been, I think there have been plenty. It's one of those things where someone, if someone asks you that, you know, the goal is don't say it again. By the way, we're on the internet right now. Respect, respect. Respect.

I'll clap to that. I'll clap to that. You guys have been trained well. I'm going to tell you the worst thing I've said. These publicists have trained you well, Hanson. Oh, shit. No, that's great, man. You know, it's like you live and learn.

Like, I've said some things, like, in earlier podcasts where I'm just, like, like my cum and like my dick and like, just like, just like shit that I shouldn't be saying, but like, I'm, I'm a, I'm a fan boy of Howard Stern and stuff. And you know, Howard is such a great interviewer, but he also is personal and like, it's a fine line because our fans want us to be personal and want to see our personalities. So like when you feel like you have to be um shut down from the person you really are how hard is that it's gotta be hard it's a it's a tricky fine line right and part of it is people like people like the personality of the person they're listening to right and so and so you it's always a tricky it's always a tricky balance i mean i've i'm i'm one of those people that

would prefer honesty yeah and and more and more conversation and more candidness in most cases. Not in all cases, but in most cases, especially in environments like this, you know, where you just you are trying to be as personable and real as you can be. And obviously, look, there's a lot of things. There's a lot of things that you probably shouldn't say out loud and we try and avoid those as much as we can that's why they call them inside yeah that's what my manager calls it inside voice oh no no yeah i was talking to a friend uh about music another musician uh who plays on the one of the songs on on the blue part of the album and we were talking about not the sad part that's just the blue yeah this on the blue part of the album. And we were talking about- Not the sad part, just the blue part.

Yeah, just the blue color part. And we were talking about fans and he was talking about how for him, sometimes it's hard to do meet and greets where people walk in, right? And they have all these experiences and things they're bringing with them. And you're like, I don't know this person,

but they're telling me I changed their life. It's really personal for them. And it can be hard to be in that position because you're like, I wrote this song so that people would be able to get through that moment. But I don't know you. I don't know you. So how do I meet you where you are when you have, let's say in our case, 25 years of history of knowing me. And I've known you for two minutes. Yeah, they grew up with you.

I can't meet you there. Now that doesn't mean I don't love that you felt that feeling and I don't value it. Right. And I don't want it for you. It's just, it's a lot of pressure. And I think it's, it's interesting. And that, that kind of thing I think happens in so many ways when you, when you sort of get to hold the seat of the public figure where everything you say is not like the conversation you would have with your friend at the bar. Right. You can't be all things to all people and you can't have everybody, you know,

but if you say something stupid or you say something funny or you go over a line, sometimes stupid and funny are the same thing. Well, if you were doing it with your friend at the bar, you just kind of go like, oh, that's Ben. Yeah. Right. And then you move on. Right.

Yeah. But when you do it in this position. And also six people hear you. Yeah. That's one of the reasons you can say, oh, that's Ben. If you were on a billboard and everyone in every bar downtown, they'd be like a mob outside. They'd be like, you're Ben?

You're Zach? Did you hear what he just said? Well, it's also because... That's part of the problem. Yeah, that is part of the problem. When you act like you're friends with everyone, but you're not friends with everyone. Well, so one of the things...

Yeah, we were talking, I mentioned this about it's unfair. Like we put ourselves out there. So we kind of get when we ask for versus like the dry cleaner, you know, just like the corner business. There's something that's happened. It's going to have to get sort of reset in our generation, the next generation that like our kids are growing up with. It's a challenge.

To check it at the, sometimes at the door because humans are not meant to be able to manage every possible crisis happening at any point in the world at any time. All at the same time. Yeah. People wake up every day and it's enough to like, get your kids to school, take care of your family, like work at the job. Maybe you have a creative idea. Grab a beer with people, you know, you know, let alone someone halfway around the world

said a horrible thing. And now that person looks like you, or that person sounds like you, or that person's from the country you're from. Yeah. Let alone, it's creates too much, creates too much. It's too much. Way too much. And it's not even, it has nothing to do with your point of view. It has to do with all humans born into existence.

Well, there's a psychological reality. Too much pressure to put on the idea of being able to get through the day as a person. And I think, like you asked earlier, like how have we not gone crazy? Like unbelievable amounts of grace that was bestowed upon us. Because you know know we know

artists let alone just people that are now you know i'm almost 40 years into life like there's so many chances so many times where you should have been like either like on the street you know broke you know not had success doing things really offended dead in the gutter that time i took your keys like all the stuff that should have happened know, like the year is likely it's motorcycle accidents. Yeah. I mean, you know, drove into a wall and a brick.

I was just behind him on the motorcycle. You saw him eat shit. Oh yeah. It was right. And like a hundred feet in front of me. It wasn't shit. It was brick. Oh my God.

He's on brick. How did you thought he was dead? I was worried. He wasn't going to walk. Yeah. Frankly, I was right behind him. And I watched him fly across an intersection into a wall. But the thing is, yeah, so Zach should not be here. It's so sad, actually, because the really, I know it really wounded your pride.

I didn't mean to open up that. I meant to say it happens. I love that motorcycle. She'll always live in my heart. Yeah. And one day, I'll just get another. You know Chris Carraba? I know.

Yeah, we know Chris. Chris had a bad accident too, a motorcycle accident too. Really bad. We thought he was going down too. And it was super hard for him, I know. But we all still have motorcycles, which brings you back to why we shouldn't be here that's a fucking story that's a fucking motorcycle that's a full answer we get right back on the horse and keep making the same bad choices that's because living is about taking chances right you're right why do you and it's not you know just different people choose different

things and and having that choice to make mistakes is part of what makes the story interesting. And I have, I hate to say it, but I sound like the older brother because I am, and I am that guy. He's not a motorcycle. I don't have a motorcycle. Yeah, let me just.

You're like, I fucking told you so. Exactly. No, I have never said that. I have never said that. I've just been the thoughtful, considerate big brother that drove Zach to the hospital in his truck. That too sounds a little

passive aggressive. It sort of peeled me off the pavement, put me in a car. Ike didn't have to say, I told you so. He just went, well, thank God you have a big brother who has like, you know, you got to have guys like that in your head. That's like. You've got to have people you can.

Yeah, it's true. Hanson. That's the jam. I mean, I think that's the fact of being able to just realize that you're going to screw up and it's not the end of the world. Man, you guys are fucking way cooler than i thought dude you guys are dope motherfuckers dude i swear to god because i was worried to talk to you i thought you know a lot of people who've been in the industry for 30 years and like just done a

bunch of interviews or just they just go through the the cycle of it and you and i appreciate you being honest about thing and being honest about life and being in a band and being brothers it's it's fucking hard and for you guys yeah especially you guys have like you said it well yeah and you got 15 or 20 kids out there just like you're just like it's a handsome community man and uh as one of those other ones we know about let's go let's go i didn't even get i didn't even get to the years of 13 to 17 I should, dog You guys are just That's one thing too

What is it like to be sex symbols at 13? It's awkward Just like you know how you felt when you were awkward You guys have been hot your whole life You guys have been hot your whole life Seriously When did you start settling down? I appreciate that

You guys feel like you've always been family men When did you start settling down? I appreciate that. You guys feel like you've always been family men. When did you meet your girls? Younger in life or did you guys have a state where you're making love and getting down? I want to point something out that people sometimes miss about the hormones and girls everywhere.

They're going like this the whole time. Oh my God. No, that's like, yeah, that's not hot. That's not hot. It's not until it all settles down.

And then you're like, yeah, don't you want to make out with that? I, you know, they're all out of, they're like lost their voice after the show. Yeah.

That's not, that's not, that's not fun. And so in real so I think honestly, every band should have that as their star because they just get a better perspective. Like instead of thinking, oh, look at all these cute chicks that are into me.

They'd be like, oh my God. You're right. I should have been a pop star, not a jam star. All of our fans are just even more insulted. You only could have been a pop star, like you said. I mean

yeah we all met our wives at shows in some capacity or in cool so and you all brought them back to Tulsa so

did you guys all move back to Tulsa yeah yeah yeah but I mean I don't know how I pulled my wife away

from the beach but you know yes they're all southern ladies and they all live in Oklahoma yeah and we convinced them after years that this is the South. That's amazing.

Do you ever meet Leon Russell? Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. We were, I mean, we were good.

I mean, I became fairly close with him, especially later in his life. What'd you learn? What'd you learn about life and music from Leon? Um, well, there's the funny things and then there's the

like straight up stuff. I mean, the dark things too. He was always, I would say. Yeah. Well, I mean, for one,

it's a, you know, it takes a toll. I mean, being, staying, staying hot to trot and staying,

you know, fighting for this thing over the years. I mean, it beats you up. You know, it definitely runs, like you were running

hot for a long time and, you know, put some wear and tear on it his body was like yeah so far some of it was just how he was but some of it was just the life on the road and never stopping but um i think the biggest thing about leon is just when you look at his career and how many times he decided to start over and just go for it again, build a new studio and try a new way. I think that's a huge part of his legacy as a musician, as someone that you can look at,

because I think that's maybe the biggest thing you come across as a musician with history is how do I start over? Am I brave enough to try something different because it's what I really want? It's what I'm really excited by. Like maybe it won't work. Well, continuing to reinvent yourself. I mean, he was a legend as a player, as a session musician,

and then became an artist. And then he became this legendary, you know, sort of legacy artist that other people admired. And by the time, you know, but when I'm, we began to know him, we knew him for years, but, you know, knew him better in his later years. And he was still hungry. He was still genuinely excited about what he was doing next. I mean, the last time I...

Yeah, the last time I was with him, Isaac and I, I think you saw him that same day. Yeah, yeah. We had breakfast with him and he was sitting in our car talking about music and playing like the latest record he made. Excited about it. Almost like somebody is like, like hey what do you think you know wants to actually know what another person thinks the same way you would when you made your first record he was you know he was 75 yeah so like that's the takeaway is like he was still i think as young and energetic as he was um you know because he was interested in it i got

the i got the open for leon for month or so. And he was like, this is when I was like hopped up on Coke and just like one night stands. And he'd, he'd see me at the end of the night in his wheelchair and stuff. He's like, you're not going to be able to do that forever. And it's like, and,

and it just like hit me because he's in a wheelchair. He's got the big old speaker right by his ear. Have you seen that speaker he has on the States? Oh yeah. Just straight at his ear. I'm like, Oh shit. He's giving me advice that I can't,

I can't sustain this type of lifestyle. It's crazy. Yeah. It's going to hit. Yeah. But I mean, it was still, he was still fighting.

I mean, he, he was, uh, you know, he had ideas that were well beyond. He was also an unbelievably innovative mind. The guy saw stuff.

He was conceiving of music videos, of multi-track types of recording. The studio he built in Tulsa, he built in a church. He called it the church studio. It's actually been recently renovated. But he had two floors worth of control room one was the audio control room and the upstairs was the video control room and his idea was this because he was seeing music videos coming this is in the early mid 70s it was like no music videos it's going to be like filming studio performances and live

performances so we need to be ready for that. And so he literally had his studio built it that built that way. Sick. So, and, and I love the young guys in his band, like Bo, you know,

Bo, um, yeah, yeah. Yeah. They, those guys always back me up when I'm in Tulsa and don't have a band. I just think it's goes back to the community of how you were raised.

That's, I think that's why you guys didn't get hopped up on drugs and pussy and shit because like you guys were raised good. Your parents raised you to be, to just focus on your craft and, and put intention in you call faith, but put, put intention into the things that make you passionate and make you love.

And for that, I'm going to clap up for your fucking parents. Let's go handsome parents. Hell yeah. Shout out. I agree with you. No, seriously. Cause some people get famous at young and get fucked up by it. And it's all about how you were raised and the morals that your parents

taught you. So I'm going to give it, I'm going to give a shout out to your parents. That's fucking awesome. Well, and I will say too, it's, you know, you can have a lot of fun and have a good time, but you don't have to let the good time take over from the intention that you have. Right. And so I think that's really just trying to find that balance of having fun and enjoying the life you've got and loving it and putting in the

good, putting in that good fun and the good and, and stuff, but also, yeah, not losing the reason that got you there in the first place, which I think we had the, in a weird way, the youth actually probably contributed to us being more focused on the craft than not in some ways, because we, it was almost like we got into this thing and started to see success in a significant way, almost pre hormoneshormones in some sense. That's why we focus on Kraft macaroni and cheese. Exactly.

And if you've ever snorted Kraft macaroni and cheese, you don't want none of this shit, do we? It gives you cavities. Guys, thank you so much. God bless. Thank you so much for your time. Very nice to meet you we all gotta hang out when you guys live in

Tulsa I play canes all the time so I'll get your number from Paul or just say hey don't give my number to Frasco that's fine too but it's happening let's hang let's write some tunes macaroni and cheese and

have a good time. I'll bring the weed. So I can snore that. There's a lot in Oklahoma. Oklahoma is now the second highest state in the union, so this is a great place to be. Let's go, Oklahoma. We're back, baby.

We got all the freedom. Freedom of religion, freedom of firearms, freedom of drugs. Treat yourself. When. Freedom of religion, freedom of firearms, freedom of drugs. Treat yourself. When you think of freedom, you think of Oklahoma, baby. Let's go. Guys, thank you so much for being on the show. Hope you guys have a great tour

season and kill the record and I hope to see you soon. Thank you, man. Thank you. We appreciate it. Have a good one, dude. Later. There you go. Thank you, man. Thank you. We appreciate it. Have a good one, dude. Later. There you go. Hanson. Wow. Hanson. Oh, I did okay. I think I did. Okay.

You tuned in to the World Cypher Podcast with Andy Fresco, now in its fourth season. Thank you for listening to this episode produced by Andy Fresco, Joe Angelo and Chris Lawrence. We need you to help us save the world and spread the word. Please subscribe, rate the show, give us those crazy stars, iTunes, Spotify, wherever you're picking this shit up.

Follow us on Instagram at World Saving Podcast for more info and updates. Fresco's blogs and tour dates you'll find at andyfresco.com. And check our socials to see what's up next. Might be a video dance party, a showcase concert, that crazy shit show or whatever springs to Andy's wicked brain. And after a year of keeping clean and playing safe, the band is back on tour. We thank our brand new talent book on Mara Davis.

We thank this week's guest, our co-host and all the fringy frenzies that help make this show great. Thank you all. And thank you for listening. Be your best, be safe, and we will be back next week. No animals were harmed

in the making of this podcast as far as we know. Any similarities, interactions, or knowledge, facts, or fake is purely coincidental.