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Q. I see! Well, you have a pretty solid fan base. Do you feel that the majority of your fans are ones that have been with you from the beginning, or are you always accumulating new ones along the way?
Z. I think it's usually combination of both. I think there's a core of our fans that have definitely been with us for twelve years, that have been coming to tour after tour and buying records for a long time. But in particular I think there's a younger generation of Hanson fans, that younger sister or brother of someone who's been a fan for 12 years. When we started out, our fans were just like us, they were kids - I mean I was 11 when our first record came out, so most of our fans were around 11. And so as they've grown up they've gone through high school and college and probably have a younger brother or sister who's about to do those things, and suddenly you see the rite of passage, I guess, being passed down. Our fans, in a lot of ways, are more like Deadheads than anything - I mean they don't stink or sell weed in the parking lot, there's not a frisbee and drum circle contingency, but there is a sense of "We've been here for a long time, it's important to go and see live shows, to see more than one." There's a whole subculture, I guess is what I mean, in our fanbase. It's not just a normal guy who goes to a couple shows a year - a lot of our fans know our music, they know every lyric, they know what songs are about, they know when it was written - things like that make it a little different than just any fanbase. I may like the Counting Crows, but I don't know what "Mr. Jones" is about or whatever, or Idon't know why they made Hard Candy and called it that, but I like the band. I think our fans tend to be the people who know that "MMMbop" is about getting old, or This Time Around is about surviving a record label as it was changing out from under us, things like that.

Q. I do have to tell you that I once worked at a summer camp and put on Middle of Nowhere, just for fun, and the kids loved it. They were around 11 or 12 - it was their new favorite thing!
Z. Oh, awesome! Thank you!

Q. Your band is in a pretty unique situation in that you're brothers, you're family. Do you think that sometimes makes writing or playing music together easier, or more difficult?
Z. For us I think its been a good thing. It's part of what we sound like and why we've been able to be a band. I think you do see a lot of bands with brothers and siblings and relatives, whether it's Oasis or Kings of Leon or the Beach Boys or Stone Temple Pilots - there's a lot of bands that have brothers in them, and I think there's a reason. Especially when you're relatively close in age, growing up listening to all the same records, listening on the same sound system, and you probably have similiar vocal chords and a similar outlook on life because you grew up together and experiencing a lot of the same things together. It tends to be a good thing for music, because there's an unsaid language that goes on with like twins or something, where you're onstage and you can tell, "Ok, this is what we're gonna do next, lets just keep going on this and jam for a little longer because its working." Obviously there are cases like the Gallaghers who don't get along very well, of course from other people I've heard that was a complete act, so who knows what the truth is about that. I think in general, you do see a lot of bands with brothers and family because of that natural connection there that's different than with other people. but I know when bands have been working together forever they tend to feel like they're brothers, like "I've spent so much time with this guy, I know him so well that we're basically related, we are family." So I think it can work the other way too, obviously. But in our case, I think it's been a good thing.

Q. I know Taylor joined up with the supergroup Tinted Windows -
Z. Yes, they can all shoot lasers out of their eyes!

Q. (laughs) There's just so many famous names in that group! Do you think you, or Isaac, or all three of you even - do you ever see yourself working on a side project like that?
Z. I think we always said from the very beginning, we love making music and we'll make music in lots of diffferent ways in the course of our lives and careers, whether it's side bands or scoring something or producing for other people. I guess there's a good chance you might see side projects from other members of this band. I have nothing to tell you about particularly that needs to be made public at this moment, but I think what Tay's done with Tinted Windows is awesome. It's super cool, it's something different from what we do, but still has a little hint of Hanson in there because it's got one part Hanson. It's a cool combination of guys who come from different places, but it seems to work - there's a kinship there and a style they've been able to find together. It's proof to me once again of how genres suck - genres don't tend to make much sense when you get people who love making music and are talented. We do a yearly songwriting retreat where we get a bunch of different friends from different bands to come out to Oklahoma, and spend about a week recording. We group up in different groups of 3 every day, so one day it'll be me and Pedro from Morning Wood and Andrew W.K, or Al Yankovic and the guy who wrote Hedwig and the Angry Inch, and all of a sudden you write all these songs and the styles that you're known for - it doesn't quite make sense that you would write a song that sounds like Neil Diamond or Bob Dylan or the Beatles, or the latest dance club hit from DJ Whats-His-Face. I think we tend to box things in a little too much with music, and I love it when things break the mold.

Q. There's this Mick Jagger quote, where he claimed that he would rather be dead than singing "Satisfaction" at 45. Do you think you'll still be singing "MMMBop" when you're 45?
Z. (laughs) I fully intend to be! I think it's funny, a lot of people over the years - particularly early on - would ask questions like that. It's almost like they expect you to be not happy with the art you've created. I think one thing we've always done is never make anything we're not proud of, so if there's a record out there, it's songs that we wanna play, it's songs we're proud to play. And particularly that song, I think with every passing year it means a lot more to our fanbase and more to us about the ability to survive and keep going, to still mean something to our fans. That song is all about surviving. If you look at the lyrics to that song, it's all about - there's few things in life that are really going to matter, and you've got to hold onto those things. I think the cool thing about that for us is, now twelve or thirteen years later, when you sing those lyrics, what it's saying - it's a conversation between us and the audience where we're both saying to each other, "You're what matters, you're the thing we're gonna hold on to." And so if were still singing it at 45, which I guess 45 is 22 years from now, then that would mean - at least to a select group of people - that they're still what matters, it's still one of the most important things. So it's the hugest compliment to our music and everything we do when we get to play that song.

Q. Well, my own personal question that I would like you to answer is what are some of your favorite songs that you have written, that you enjoy playing the most?
Z. Oh, that's a hard one! It's hard because different songs mean different things to you as you go through life. I mean, we just talked about "MMMBop," it means something different now than from the day we wrote it. I'm really excited about the new music that we're writing and that we're gonna put out, just because in particular I really feel like this record, for me as a drummer, has been a huge leap. I'm having a lot more fun with what I'm playing. I think drums on this record have played a bigger part than they've ever played in the vibe and feel of songs, so that's just something I'm enjoying a lot with this new music. But, you know, there's a song called "A Song to Sing" which is a song we love that we wrote on our second record, or "Broken Angel" from our third record, or "Great Divide" from our last record - I love that song and it's something I'm proud of, everything it talks about and what it means. Or "Fire on the Mountain" from our last record, which is a simple short song that I think says a lot.

Q. It's great to hear that you're still passionate about everything that you've written, as a fan.
Z. Thank you! Not every song that we've ever put out is what I would sit down and be the first thing to come out of my mouth when I grab a guitar or piano or a drum set, but it's something that we're able to enjoy and be proud of.

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