Hanson's Bizarre Death Rumours

As for whether he’s averse to Hanson being labelled a nostalgia act by some critics, well, he good-naturedly chuckles. “If somebody says that, it means you’ve survived a certain amount of time. So I don’t think anybody sees themselves as out there to be a nostalgia act, but of course, if you have a history then people will feel nostalgic about their past. So I see that as a positive. If someone’s thinking positively about their history and their time liking you and sharing a moment in their life, that’s amazing. The important part is they’re with you, now. We’ve had stories of people meeting their best friends, or their husbands or wives, or told us about how certain songs have changed the choices they’ve made in life. That’s pretty wild.”

The American sibling trio were inescapable circa 1997-98, generation Y teens elevating them to the status of one of the biggest bands on the planet. The aforementioned sentimentality has helped ensure they’ve retained a degree of resonance. However, Hanson also partially attributes online engagement and consistently releasing music as integral to remaining vital. They recently released sixth studio album, Anthem, issued on their own independent label 3CG Records. They’re also able to indulge other whims. Case in point – celebrating their 21st anniversary by launching their own beer, Mmmhops.

“There’s so many things we want to do,” Hanson admits. “I feel like we haven’t even scratched the surface in many respects. Of course we’ve had the ability to have fans for a long time, we’ve done many tours, released a lot of music. But I think it’s all about, not just thinking, ‘okay, I want to sell more records.’ It’s about how you impact people and what it leads to. For instance, we just launched our own craft beer last year. Which is just kind of an aspect of our entrepreneurial spirit; like, ‘hey, why don’t we do this?’ This is something we’re into, so you take the risk and you build this new thing, and you don’t know whether it’s going to work, but you try. That’s been received really well. If you follow what you’re passionate about, I think the list can always grow. And of course, music is at the centre of all of that.”

If you follow what you’re passionate about, I think the list can always grow.

On the music front, standout career moments have included performing on stage with Paul McCartney. Off-stage, Hanson have contended with bizarre rumours. “Probably the most ridiculous is that one of us was dead. Zac was dead for a while. It was like, newspapers actually wrote about it. Who picks up these rumours and actually prints them? We were in the studio at the time I think, so we weren’t really out in front of cameras particularly to prove that one right or wrong. So that’s pretty ridiculous.”