Hanson has been on Ear Candy's most wanted list since they first struck it big back in 1997. And let me tell you, it was worth the wait.

Hanson is one of the few remaining members of a rare breed of rock music. Not only are all three members extremely talented musicians who continually provide highly energized performances, but they have also managed to remain very devoted to their fans, even after going multi-platinum. However, what really separates Hanson from the masses is their unconditional passion for their music. Whereas four years in the studio under a record label that didn't understand their music would have crushed most bands, Hanson found an alternative route. They broke free from Island Def Jam, formed their own independent record label and did what came naturally to them- created an unadulterated, 100% pure rock'n roll record.

I recently had a chance to speak with the Isaac about their tour, their music, and of course, their new record label.

E.C.: So you guys finally made the big leap and started your own record label. What was the defining factor, the last straw that made you realize that this was something you had to do?

Isaac Hanson: Oh wow, that's a good question. It's always hard to boil it down when you're making a decision like forming your own record company. I don't think it is ever one particular reason why, but if you could say that, I would say we felt like there are a lot of opportunities that are not being utilized in today's industry. And we felt like the best way for us to maintain our careers and continue to move forward and the best way to take control of those opportunities and seize them was to have our own record company. We felt like it was a freedom and a necessity that we needed. It also allows us to be much more free with content in a way that we couldn't have in the past.

E.C.: So you guys just finished your acoustic tour, and now you are getting ready to start your all electric tour. How do those two settings differ for you as a performer?

Isaac Hanson: Well the electric tour and the acoustic tour are very different. The acoustic show is just the three of us, we go out as a three piece, and the dynamics are different. It is a much more mellow show, there is a lot of varying arrangements of songs that we do. Obviously you don't play certain songs because they just don't work as acoustic songs. For example, the track "Look at You" which is on the recent live record that we are about to release in October, that's a very funky groove based song. You don't really play that one, that doesn't really make a lot of sense, I mean it would be really interesting if we thought about doing it acoustic, but its kind of a difficult one to pull off acoustically. Whereas other songs, like the song "Ain't no Sunshine" which is a cover of Bill Withers, that one is one that has been a pretty consistence piece of our acoustic set, which does not necessarily translate to the electric show. For me the dynamics is the biggest thing about the shows, the overall tone, you've got a much more mellow show with the acoustic show. You have much more kind of rock and aggressive show with the electric tour, and it just allows you to do a lot of things differently, more so than with the other setting.

E.C.: I love your idea of having a contest to determine your opening act. What types of acts are you actually looking for?

Isaac Hanson: Well we are not actually looking for any particular act. We are just looking for bands in those local markets, trying to give them opportunities to get in front of our fans and in front of just new faces and new ears. One of the coolest things about it is, that not only are we allowing them to open for us in their local market, but we are putting their music on the website which allows for them to be exposed to the entire community and the entire group of fans that visit our website on a regular basis. And not only from the United States but from around the world because we have a pretty substantial international contingent of fans that visit on a regular basis, especially because the website in the last year has actually begun to include even more foreign language content. So if you're, you know, a Spanish speaking Hanson fan or an Italian speaking Hanson fan there are ways you can access Italian language information and whatnot. But with regard to that, it just allows even more influx of new ears to get to hear these band's music. And the music that we are looking for, we are primarily looking at songs and if a band has something unique about them and can write a good song. That's just kind of always what you look for and so it applies to everybody no matter whether you're in an opening band contest or whether you're trying to get signed to a record company. Whatever it is, you try to put your best foot forward and we are hoping that we are going to find some really interesting music.

E.C.: If you had to categorize your music now, what would you call it?

Isaac Hanson: I've just always kind of liked the term "rock'n roll" because it's a very broad term. We've historically called it, you know, it's gone everywhere from "power pop" to "pop rock" to "singer-songwriter rock," I don't know. It could be any one of those depending on what song you are talking about. I think its harmony based rock really.

E.C.: What audience are you hoping that your new albums will appeal to?

Isaac Hanson: I try not to limit myself to an audience, I feel like there are a lot of people there out there that could be very motivated by the music that we make. Well first of all, I think music has to always appeal to your peers. Back in the days of Middle of Nowhere, it appealed to our peers, I was 16, Tay was 13, Zac was 11 years old, so a lot of our fans were that age, and it's still the case. Most of our fans are between the ages of 20 and 24 years old. It goes a little younger and it goes a little older in some cases, it just depends, but the average age is between 20 and 24 years old. So I would say, immediately, that people of that age are definitely going to find something that is appealing to them. I also would like it if it very much appealed to people who are older than that and people who are in high school. So it just depends on your musical tastes, I would say if you like anything from Maroon 5 to Crosby, Stills, and Nash you are going to like Hanson.

E.C.: I hear that you guys also have a documentary coming out soon. What do you want your fans, or potential fans, to learn about you all as artists from watching this documentary?

Isaac Hanson: Well most of what you are seeing in the documentary is the creative process, there is a lot of in depth song writing and recording stuff that goes on. It's 50% creative and 50% business, the business side of it is showing the potential hurdles and difficulties that exist in the music industry overall, but primarily in the music industry today. And what I think what I would like for people to walk away from with this documentary, viewing it, is understanding that making a record today is far more difficult and more convoluted than its ever been. But the music itself is larger and lifts beyond, lifts past all the stuff that we are hearing on the radio. I think most of what we want people to understand is that there is a lot of great music out there but it is very very hard for that music to get in front of fans these days. Even more so than its ever been because of the way that the music industry itself has evolved where there are less creative people in the industry and also because of the way that the radio industry has evolved where there is less music being played as an overall rule. I know everybody that I talk to who is my age is frustrated with the situation of radio and feels like they are not represented very well, with the play lists and what not. So I think that is in an effort to try to encourage fans to get more involved in the music scene, and go out and search out music because there is a lot there to be found. I guess overall, it would be that the fans know that their involvement in music, and there support of live music and of bands in general is crucial to the survival of the industry, because it is in a very vulnerable state.

E.C.: Obviously you have your live album coming out soon, but when do you plan on actually going back into the studio? Are we going to have to wait another 4 years?

Isaac Hanson: That's a good question. We are currently in the process of writing music for the new album and we are currently shooting for a mid-2006 release. It could move a few months, forward or back, but there will be another record in 2006. So our goal there is just to make it the most inspired and most passionate record that we have ever made. I think that is your constant goal as an artists, but in this particular case, because it is the first record we will have made completely from scratch since parting ways with Island Def Jam, I think it is going to be full of invigorated passion and a kind of new life.

E.C.: Almost every rock band now days has been influenced by the Beatles in some way or another. What was it like to work with producer Mark Hudson knowing the amazing work he had done with Ringo Starr?

Isaac Hanson: Our friend Mark Hudson has worked with us many times, he worked with us on our Christmas record, he worked with us on Middle of Nowhere and This Time Around. Really talented guy, very smart with vocal arrangements, a really great songwriter. It's really, when it comes down to it, the creative process is about that kinship, that understanding of each other musically. On a very kind of deep level, some one who does rock, and someone who does R&B, they very well may have a lot of musical similarities but they may do different genres. And they don't know it until they get in a room with each other and they realize, 'Oh wow, I can work with this person, and work very well with this person.' So genres in general don't limit the collaboration and so in that case, I would say that working with Mark was a pleasure mostly because of the fact that we understand each other on a creative level.

E.C.: Being a band for 13 years now, I can't even begin to imagine how many songs you've written, yet only a handful of songs end up on each album. Is it hard to put all of that emotion and energy into a song just for it to wind up on the cutting room floor?

Isaac Hanson: The creative process is as much about putting it all out there and seeing if it sucks or if it doesn't as it is about going out there and talking about it and being excited about it once its all finished. So for me, putting tons of energy into a song and trying to make it the best it could possibly be only to find out that it's not good enough is never a vain effort. Because you always will have situations like that, but those situations only help you to understand even better what you have the best version of. There have been many many songs that have had really good ideas or good parts or a really good verse or a really good chorus, but the rest of the song didn't flow together very well. And there have been many songs that have just ended up not being finished, or us not being satisfied with them and that's not necessarily a frustration because you can always go back to them. There is always that looming idea, there is always that groove that you really loved, or that cord progression, but you just always hated the melody and the chorus or something like that. You just never really felt like it worked yet, but you never know what is going to happen with those pieces. The best example that I can think of at the moment is the song "Run Away Run" off of This Time Around. The verse, the chorus and the bridge were all from completely different song ideas, but when that verse idea come about, it triggered the inspiration to connect the other two to it. We noticed this kind of similarity, this link somehow, and we pulled them all together into a beautiful picture. We didn't realize that it was only one-third of a puzzle piece until that third puzzle piece was created.

E.C.: Since you all were so young when you started writing music, do you ever look back on some of the songs from the early days and go, "Gosh, what was I thinking?" Would you have done anything different?

Isaac Hanson: Well first of all, with regard to the music from Middle of Nowhere on, definitely not. And I still find even the very very first songs that we wrote very charming in their own way. When you're 9 or 10 years old and you're writing a song, there is a lot of validity there. All I hear is the roots of the understanding of music in its most basic form. And I find that to be inspiring in its own way because I say to myself, "Wow that was still really good" especially given the context. So I look back on almost every single song and go "Wow, I am proud of that." I have never found myself in a situation where I say, "Aw, I'm not proud of that song." It doesn't mean that I would go back and rerecord a bunch of those songs I wrote when I was 9, but I does mean that I'm proud of what I did, and I know that I am proud of why I did it.

E.C.: Have any of you ever considered doing a solo album?

Isaac Hanson: No, it's never been talked about seriously. It's been suggested at times by other very ignorant people who don't understand the dynamics of the band -I'm not actually pinpointing that to be you- I'm saying really that people that were in an immediate circle that might have had a reason to even suggest it. They had no understanding of what this band is really about. So for us, solo records will happen, but they will happen very much on their own time. It's hard to say when or if that will happen, but if it does, it will happen with the right timing.

E.C.: If you could pick any band, past or present, to tour with, who would be on your dream tour?

Isaac Hanson: Wow. Crosby, Stills, and Nash, the Bee Gees, Spencer Davis Group, Traffic- actually no take Traffic off and just Dave Mason. He's one of the principles guys in Traffic, and I think with having the Spenser Davis Group, that is also part of Traffic, so it kind of works out. Hmm, what else? Aretha Franklin and Bobby McFerrin because of his brilliant vocal arrangements. And I am sure that there is one other that is absolutely necessary. I would say somebody more current, somebody like… Johnny Lang.

E.C.: Ok, one last question for you, and then I'll let you go I promise. What advice do you have for those who are really taking your words to heart and what to join you in your efforts to reform the music industry?

Isaac Hanson: Well, I would start by saying that if you are an artist and you are interested in "reforming" the current industry, I would say, hold on to you content, to your music, and to your ability to control the release and making of that music as much as possible. Put as much emphasis and content on to your website as you possibly can, allowing for people around the world to be exposed to your music in the best way possible. Then I would also say, put more emphasis on your relationships with other bands and your fans than relationships within a desire to find a perfect record company for you. You put those things first and whatever record company relationship or management relationship that you end up having will be in the right context, with the right perspective. The other thing that I would say that is that the music industry is changing everyday. The fans have more and more opportunities to have a direct relationship with their favorite bands. Hold the relationships with your fans and yourself very very preciously. And do whatever you can to stimulate that relationship.