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HAI MAGAZINE
Hanson, Ouch!
The performance was forced to stop. Hard Rock Café Jakarta lost 2 millions Rupiahs.
Daniel Tumiwa, moderator
plus MC for Hanson’s promo tour gig, had to use his voice to the max. The
Marketing Manager of MTV Asia (Indonesia) almost out of his mind trying
to control the hundreds of teen fans that can’t be controlled.
That day, 6th.
August ’97 the trio Hanson appeared in HRC Jakarta. They held a press conference
plus sang 3 songs to the fans. About 1.30 PM hundreds of teenage girls
have already gathered in front of the entrance door, even though the special
gig for them won’t start until 6 PM. It’s no wonder that some of them already
sweating. From the long queue, screaming of those that got pushed back
and forth can be heard. And like usual when there’s a famous artist in
town, suddenly a lot of people felt that they’re important too. The HRC
crews were made powerless by the mothers who came with their kids showing
their ‘permit’. Those little guests made it through the first door but
got held by the last door. Because, inside there’s a press conference going
to be held. That’s where gathered together, not forgetting to scream non-stop,
made the people who still outside mad with jealousy. The press who got
held off by those crowds had to be diverted through the kitchen entrance
of HRC. Suddenly there’s a commotion. The girls creaming when they spotted
a little blond boy; they thought he’s Sac’s little brother. They chase
the poor boy whom run around looking so confused. Fortunately, pretty soon
the chasers realized that he wasn’t and put their attention back to the
main entrance.
Finished with Q&A with
the press, Hanson disappeared to prepare themselves for the performance.
Meanwhile, they started to let the fans in. The sound of Hanson sang the
first song made the people who still outside panicked. And so the pushing
between the HRC crews who’s trying to get them to the balcony and the fans
happened. Face with the fans who afraid to missed the show made the HRC
crews dead in their step. Their barricade finally broke down. While screaming
the name Hanson the fans run forward, knocked down anybody and anything
that get in their way. The other half, crying with no apparent reason,
cried out "Zac!" "Taylor!" "Taylor!" "I love you" Gosh!
At the balcony, some of
the girls who couldn’t see Hanson in person because of the crowds in front
of them, taking pictures of the TV monitors with panicked! Facing the mad
crowds, Taylor got scared too. Finished singing Madeline, he thrown away
the maracas that he used and ran off the stage followed by Ike and Zac.
For a while, the show had to be stopped. Eva Adams, Artist Manager from
Polygram, busy giving instructions. Jason, the bodyguard, who before was
doing his job whistling, this time got very serious. He, with help from
Eric Laddel from Polygram, and with the HRC crews, started to push back
the people to get away from the stage. Then Hanson was back on stage. "Everybody
move back!" yelled Zac, copying Jason’s word, "We can’t sing if you guys
keep pushing in." said Taylor. It’s going to be a big loss if Hanson had
to be cancelled. And so, the audiences tried to put themselves in order.
With Ike’s guitar as accompaniment, Hanson kept their promise and sang
Man From Milwaukee and of course MMMBop. At first, according to Harris
Effendi from Polygram, they were supposed to perform with a ‘full band’.
But because of the instruments that they asked for were too complicated,
Hanson decided to perform ‘unplugged’.
To leave the HRC, required
a lot of effort for Hanson and crew. Because they had to pass the kitchen
area which at this time has already packed with fans that kept screaming.
After opening the way, Jason with help of friends guided Ike, Tay, and
Zac out of the room. The audience is going their separate ways, the show
is over, but not for the people outside. They thought Hanson was still
inside. Upset, they start throwing rocks and plastic bottles. A ‘crack’
here and there can be heard. The glass wall at the HRC front entrance ‘cracked’
because of the pushing and shoving. ‘It’s so difficult to get the little
kids to listen to you’, said Teges Prita Soraya, HRC’s PR who was forced
to spend an ‘extra’ 2 millions Rupiahs (around US$ 870) to repair the damage.
According to Teges, the ‘riot’ because of Hanson overdid the time when
Steve Vai performed there a few months before. At that time, about 8 chairs
were broken and got stepped over by the crowds, not to mention 4 tables.
But the Steve Vai audiences were easier to handle. Is this visit by Hanson
a repeat of the phenomenon of New Kids on the Block? Who knows!
Going Crazy with Hanson
"I don’t want to be
kissed…"
Thursday, 7th.
August, Hanson welcomed some press people for interview. The schedule is
very tight, because of the interview range from TV to magazines. Even the
rooms got separated into 3 different rooms (one especially for photo shoots).
Before meeting ‘Hai’ Hanson had a 20 minutes break. So they’ll be refreshed!
Taking place in room 1801,
one of the room in ‘Pondok Sahid’ at the 18th. Floor, ‘Hai’
crew is the last interviewer. You may and may not believe it, but ‘Hai’
came with a full team. Syanne & Dine to do the interview, Daniel &
Sute for photo shoot, Hen & Ichwan to organized the photo shoots, and
Tris & Danny to interview any person that close to Hanson that can
be interviewed.
Three Hanson, who we heard
has been acting up all day today, apparently have changed to a better mood.
So the interview was doing
great. It’s clear that Ike is the spoke person. Taylor, who’s in real life
quieter and serious, talked quite a lot too. While Zac, the loud one, was
always cutting in his brothers words, looked like he had a good answer
for the question but mostly just repeating what his brothers had already
said.
Finished with the interview,
the trio from Tulsa, were brought to the next room where it had been set
up as a photo studio. Daniel, whose job is taking the pictures apparently
didn’t realize that every time he took a picture he always said, "One,
two, three. Good!". After a while, this ‘habit’ was caught by Hanson, who
in unison, copied him.
Zac chose to stand on the
table while hanging on to the ceiling for his pose, which became the starting
point to play, jumping back and forth on to the bed. Tay & Ike also
got into it.
Photo session is over; Eva
Adams asked them to take a picture together with the ‘Hai’ crew.
"Wait, wait, I’ll make the
best jump!" screamed Zac, doing his jump again.
Your parents are also
musicians. Does this help you guys that you’ve got the talent since the
day you were born?
(T): Obviously, this talent
is from them. Playing music is part of our lives.
(I): Yes, really is part
of our lives because of that.
Is it true that you were
always singing your prayers?
(Ike): Mm…I don’t think
so.
(Z): Huh?
(T): Not exactly
(Z): Where did you get that?
(Ike): Maybe when we were
sitting around the dining table, we always said a little prayer with da..da..da..
What was your first recorded
song like?
(T): We made two independent
albums.
(Ike): Yeah, but it’s very
different.
(T): Small album, kinda
like a live performance that got recorded. So we don’t know if there’s
a first song that we recorded on purpose. And then, it’s only out among
us. Even though we now have a contract with Polygram, we’re not gonna try
to release those two albums. We're now concentrating on Middle of Nowhere.
Is it true that you’ve
written over 200 songs?
ITZ: we’ve written a lot
of songs.
Ike: When we sing, that’s
when we also write.
T: We wrote all those songs
ourselves. But there are some that we got help from other people.
Ike: So, we never sang a
cover version. It’s all real, from us.
There are 14 songs in
this album. Where’s the other 186?
Ike: Sometimes those songs
are just bits and pieces. Sometimes just the lead. Sometimes just a chorus.
Some of what we wrote wasn’t good enough to be put in the album.
T: And there are those that
have got two different versions. Maybe this one is good and the other wasn’t.
Just which one we thought was the best.
How about MMMBop? How
many versions are there?
T: No, no. What we meant
was, we also wrote several different songs. Of course we can also sing
a song a different way. That doesn’t mean there are several version of
MMMBop. We’ve recorded MMMBop before, but the song is still the same.
We heard in ‘People’ that
your Dad told you to write all your experiences in a diary. Is it true?
Ike: Wow…they got it wrong.
Z: You need….hmm..hmm..
T: What we meant was when
we’ve passed it, it’s gonna be a good experience. It’s good to write a
diary don’t you think ? To see what’s goin’ on everyday.
Ike: We wrote it for our
own purpose. Not because our Dad always reminded us to do it, but because
this is fun. If we don’t write it down, we might forget about it.
Z: And it’ll never happen
again.
T: We’ll be able to look
back and say……wow, that’s amazing!
Do you have the coolest
experience that you wrote down in your diary?
T: Actually, it’s not a
real diary. We just wrote what happened everyday. So questions like ‘what’s
the coolest experience’ is hard to answer.
Ike: And hard to remember.
We’ve been travelling all over the place, so there’s a lot of cool and
uncool experiences that have happened.
Such as last night at
Hard Rock Café huh?
T: Geez, those fans are
really crazy. Crazy, but fun. So that’s a really great experience. We have
to appreciate all our fans. They’re happy to be there and so are we. We
love performing in front of them.
Did you know that the
ceiling in the second floor of the HRC was almost going to fall down?
T: No. Is that really true?
Yes, and it’s all because
of you guys.
Ike: Wow…
T: We only heard that they
almost broke down the glass entrance.
The video 'Where’s The
Love' seems like a lot of fun! Hanson surrounded by lots of girls.
Ike: They’re just extras.
T: We pretended to perform
with a lot of people around us.
Z: And there just happened
to be more girls.
What do you think of the
girls?
Ike, Z: Girls are girls.
T: What about the girls?
Y’know people often asked us about what do you think about this girl or
that girl. That’s hard. Of course we like girls. We’re guys. There’s no
secret behind it.
Z: There are guys and there
are girls.
Ike: Yeah, then it happens
(relationship).
Okay, okay! What does
it feel like? From a small town band, suddenly famous everywhere?
Ike: The problem is, the
truth is we never really think about this kind of thing. It doesn’t feel
like anything. We’ve never had this kind of thing before.
T: We only see this position
as a position that we got temporarily. Of course as long as possible if
we can. But if it weren’t us, it could be someone else. We can’t let them
control us. We can’t let them think that we can’t be touched/invisible.
We just do it like this (click his fingers) and this is something that
we like.
How difficult was it to
manage your time between school and music?
T: We’re not going to regular
school. Our parents are our tutors, who teach us themselves.
Ike: We bring our own books
and curriculum.
T: Including the first time
we learned how to sing.
How about your song,'Yearbook'?
It seems like you’re remembering your school friends…
Z: Ohm…ohm…
Ike: It’s about someone’s
picture that missing from the yearbook. That’s the mystery. It’s a song
about mystery.
T: The song goes like this,
’Dear Amy see you in September, I hope that you remember me next year’.
It’s about someone who decided to make a yearbook after passing one year.
Z: And there’s one kid that
didn’t show up..
T: There are a lot of photos
displayed, while this kid didn’t show up. So his place is empty.
Ike: There’s no picture
available. So we said in there, it says, ’picture unavailable right here’.
But you guys don’t go
to public school. How do you know about these things?
T: I think everybody knows
about these kinds of things.
Ike: Yeah, we know. We’re
not isolated (Zac and Tay instantly screaming around pretended to be isolated
kids. Zac’s feet, which have been on the table all this time, knocks down
everything that’s on the table where the tape recorders are. Ike just laughs
watching his brothers’ behavior.
Ike: That doesn’t mean we’re
in a vacuum or anything. We’ve got our own life. We often hang out with
our friends. I think everybody has the opportunity/chance to do what ever
he or she wants. We also had that opportunity. Singing is something that
we always wanted, and we got that opportunity. Not everybody gets to experience
this, but if they got the opportunity to so something, they’d do the same.
You’ve got a brother and
sisters, are you going to ask them to join in, like The Jackson 5?
T: The thing is, they’ve
got the musical talent just like we do and our parents do. But we don’t
know what they’re gonna be. We do what we wanted to do.
Z: I think they're gonna
do what they wanna do.
Ike: If we want to add someone
else in this band, then they’re gonna be a member of this band. But for
now, it’s only the 3 of us. I mean why does it have to change?
T: It could happen one day,
who knows? But for now, it’s only us. Ike, Tay and Zac. And if it happens
like that, it just happen naturally, just like that. Who knows?
Have they learned/play
any instruments yet?
T: You can see, they have
the talent. We come from a family who loves music very much. They often
come along to the studio, and enjoy what we’re doing.
Ike: They’ll dance when
they hear music is playing.
T: They into music very
much. Avie, 6 years old, one time she jumped up on to the stage while we
were playing. And the 9year old, Jessica, comes with us wherever we go.
They like peeking in while we're being photographed or interviewed. They
always come with us on tour.
Taylor, you sing lead
in most of the songs. In some things, certainly you’ve become the center
of attention?
T: That’s just a coincidence.
When people asks who Hanson is, the answer is Ike, Tay and Zac. 3 people.
Ike: We all sing in all
of the songs.
Z: Sometimes you don’t realize
that it’s my voice.
T: Yeah, people often said,
‘wow you have a nice voice, Tay’ when it’s really Zac’s voice.
Ike: Tay just happened to
always sing lead vocal. In the next album, maybe Zac will sing the most,
or me, we don’t know. Do you know that Zac sings Lucy, and I sang A Minute
Without You. Zac also sang Man from Milwaukee.
Z: If you hear our independent
record, MMMBop, in there Ike sang the most.
T: That’s why we describe
Hanson as 3 guys who sing, play instruments and write songs.
This one is for Zac, you’ve
been hugged by Jenny McCarthy. How does it feel that many guys so jealous
of you?
Z: Yeah, every guy is jealous
of me. She kissed my eye, while I…(he demonstrated it..)
Ike: That happened at the
end of the show. Jenny just jumped right at his direction, but Zac ran
away instead. During the interview she always tried to kiss Zac who prefers
to run away.
Ha ha…do you want to?
T: Want what? I don’t want
to be kiss by Jenny McCarthy.
Are you sure?
Ike: Yeah, if it wasn’t
Jenny than who?
Come on….
T: Okay, okay. Of course
to be kissed by her is fun/cool. What guy doesn’t want to be kissed by
Jenny?
Okay then, let’s change
the subject. You guys have your own website on the internet. How far are
you involved in it?
Ike: There’s someone who
always gets information from us.
T: They're our neighbour
and friend. Not just somebody who we don’t know.
Ike: There’s also a rumor
that said Taylor designed the website.
T: I’m not a computer expert,
not at all.
Z: Tay is like,'What’s the
space bar ?’ ha, ha, ha..
Ike That’s stupid gossip.
Too much gossip.
If you guys don’t like
computers, then what?
Ike, T & Z: oh ...no,
we like computers.
T: But we’re not hackers.
We just like going through the internet.
Ike: Yeah, surf the net.
Chat. We know what’s going on in our website, and get involved a lot.
Do you guys plan to do
a concert here (in Jakarta, Indonesia)?
Ike: When we go on tour,
we'll definitely come to Indonesia. We have a lot of fans here. So, why
not?
48 Hours Sticking to Hanson
Hanson came, Jakarta was chaos. ‘Hai’ phone doesn’t stop ringing. Somebody even offered themselves to be a driver for the ‘Hai’ crew who were going to meet Hanson. Sike!
On August 5, 1997, the Hanson
party arrived at ‘Soekarno-Hatta’ airport with Qantas from Melbourne. According
to plan, the plane with flight # QFA 145 arrives around 2.40 PM. But they
arrived 25 minutes early. Not many fans knew about their arrival so they
weren’t getting too crowded. In fact, ‘Hai’ who come only as a watcher
ended up helping by giving away the flowers and draping them around Ike’s
neck. Not bad huh…
Since he was still jetlagged,
Ike only smiled when he got the flowers. In the meantime, Taylor who was
beside Ike, busy covering his face from the fans who wanted to take his
picture, plus guarding Zac who followed him. "Please, no blitz!" asked
Taylor with a tired face. Well, what can we do? This guy, born on 14th.
March’83, is the cutest! Up until they got to the car, Taylor and Zac still
got chased, while Ike just walked on like there was no care in the world.
Ike, Tay and Zac asked the
welcoming team about the Indonesian history. "What’s the name of that building?
What’s the main food of Indonesia?" Oh, oh, who can answer that?
Hanson brought along quite
a party. They’re accompanied by their parents (Walker & Diana), and
their brother and sisters; Jessica (9), Avery (6), and Mac (3). Beside
that there’s Ashley Grayson (the nanny), Jason Browning (the bodyguard
who got paid US$ 185 a day), Eva Adams (representative from Polygram) and
Christopher Sabec (manager) who always comes with them. Around 4 PM. The
pary arrived at the hotel. The Hanson family got very hungry and asked
for Wendy’s. About this order, the Polygram staff got a little bit confused,
since what they ordered; the bacon burger menu; isn’t available in Indonesia.
After a little discussion, they decided to order the chicken burger &
hamburger, french fries & frosty. Kids! They never stop ordering food.
Anything that has junk food labels on them, from pepperoni pizza, tortilla
chips, salsa, to pretzels were finished by Zac and friends. Don’t be surprised
when they have a rule. Snacks have to be ready in the bus. It’s just like
a picnic! Meanwhile with drinks, Hanson is crazy for Evian (the little
bottles) and Diet Coke. Believe it or not, they always carry Diet Coke
wherever they go! Wow!
Hanson spend their first
night by staying in their room. The activity won’t start ‘till tomorrow
at noon. Each morning (read: from 8 AM. Until 11.30 AM) for three days
in a row, this trio, who likes Seinfeld, has to be in school first. Since
the beginning, Hanson management put down the rule that they can only work
for 5 hours a day because they have to be in school first. Hanson’s teacher
is also their own mother, Diana. "My wife does teach our own children.
But they still got the same curriculum as in public school. So they study
the history, math also." Said Walker Hanson, the father who confessed only
once in a while that he helped Ike, Tay and Zac study. "My wife’s got the
teaching background. She’s got scholarship at the school for music, and
did teach for a while before we were married." Added Walker.
An hour before they had
to leave to the HRC, Hanson got hungry again. They ordered 5 large pepperoni
& cheese pizza. One more proof of Hanson’s crazy appetite! While they’re
enjoying their pizza, back at the HRC, the staff has a different fate.
The mostly girls fans of Hanson has gathered in front of HRC since 2 PM.
It got so full of people that the HRC staff had to close the entry door.
Near to 4.30 PM hundreds of girls crowded in front of the HRC gift shop.
Screams of fear, tired and frustrated because of the door that won’t open,
turned them hysterical. The HRC staff with what’s left of their energy
yelled, " No cameras allowed to go inside!", were ignored. The screams
only stopped for a minute, when the glass wall of the gift shop was cracked
about one-meter. "Crack..ed !!". They stepped back, but after that the
screams continued.
The hysterical screaming
got louder when they found out that Hanson had arrived and were doing sound
checks. Apparently the Hanson party got in quietly from the back, through
‘The Chili’s’ restaurant. Before going in, Zac had the time to check out
the scenery of Thamrin St. from the open space between the Chili’s and
HRC.
Smashed Up
Seeing the crazy respond
from the fans actually made Hanson very happy. Different from ‘Boyzone’
who tended not to touch the gifts from fans. Hanson received the gifts
from the fans with enthusiasm. Especially if the gift is good and makes
sense. Why? The story was when they were at ‘Indosiar’ (TV Station) Zac
got a cute Mickey Mouse watch from a fan. The watch was an instant hit
among the Hanson siblings, everybody wanted it. The same goes for Ike and
Tay. They welcomed the gifts of every kind from fans after they’d done
the TV shoot in ‘RCTI’ (another TV station). The case is different when
the gift is a bit weird, like an umbrella that they got after the last
day interview session. When they were ready to check out from the Hotel
Sahid, Zac asked innocently, " What are we going to do with this umbrella?
Are we gonna need it in Bali?" Ike, Tay and Eva Adams can only answer it
with a great laugh. If there’s something that they’re afraid of, it’s the
over hysterical fans like in HRC, Indosiar and the worst ever was at the
hotel after shooting for Indosiar. Hundreds of fans, God knows from where,
roaming around on the 9th. Floor. Some just sit around in front
of the room, the hallway, and some hide in the elevator, including the
staff elevator. And so the second they arrived, Ike and the rest, were
bombarded by fans. They pinched Ike’s body, pulled and grabbed Tay’s hair
and even scratched Zac’s face. Walker loses his patience seeing this and
questioning the security over this matter. He doesn’t mind at all the enthusiastic
response from fans, but that doesn’t mean that his sons had to be black
and blue. Ike, Tay and Zac were panicked and got scared too and complained
to the Polygram people. It’s different when they meet with fans that are
sweet and polite. Hanson is willing to co-operate. This is what happened
after dinner at ‘Lawry’s Prime Rib’ the next day (august 9th.).
9 PM. sharp, Hanson is willing to meet the 15 fans who have been waiting
for 2 hours in front of the restaurant, located on the 4th floor
of the Senayan Plaza. The trio Hanson gave autographs to the fans patiently.
The cool thing was, as a gift of their satisfaction, the fans then sang
the American anthem, The Star Spangled Banner, which lyrics had been changed
with the word ‘Hanson’. Reception like that clearly made Ike and his brothers
really happy. In the end they asked them to sing it again! O..o.
The dinner in Lawry’s is
a special family only dinner. In the VIP room, the 13 Hanson party was
having the Prime Ribs menu with every kind of cuts. From the Californian
cut, The English cut, to the Lawry’s cut. While for drinks, what else but
Coke! According to Mrs. Indri, marketing manager for Lawry’s, the Hanson
party spend around 2 million Rupiahs just for this dinner! (around US$850).
Besides shooting at Indosiar,
Hanson also had a shooting schedule at RCTI. They were going to sing 3
songs. Where’s The Love, MMMBop & Thinking of You. Luckily, at RCTI
the fans weren’t as crowded as at HRC & Indosiar. Diana, the pregnant
mother of Hanson walked around more easily including when she had to take
Mac to the toilet. When they arrived, instead of preparing themselves to
be ready for the shoot, they ate the stack of A&W chicken burgers and
McDonald’s that had been prepared for them. In a calm situation like that,
then you noticed how close the three brothers are, especially Tay who really
cares about Zac. This youngest ‘Hanson’ is the one who gets easily panicked
and stressed out. So, any kind of programs/ things to do has to be adjusted
to Zac’s mood. This close relationship can be seen clearly during sound
check in RCTI. Right after every one song rehearsed, Tay always checks
on Zac. "Are you okay, Zac ? Are you tired? Do you still want to do it?
If you don’t feel like it, it’s fine. It’s a rehearsal anyway. You’re the
only one who plays live. So it’s up to you", said Tay. Zac, who often has
a change of mood, just kept quiet. Finished ‘Thinking of You’, the left
handed drummer, while keeping his hands on the drum set, lay his face down
onto his hands then on the bass drum. After much wooing and persuasion,
he nodded his head, "Okay, I’ll do it." Zac was a bit upset since the beginning,
after seeing that the drum sticks that they gave him weren’t right. One
is size 5B and the other 7A. He complained to his Dad, "Dad, why do these
sticks have different sizes?" asked Zac with his little child voice. Walker,
who is busy with his handycam, rushed to the RCTI crew, asking them to
change it for Zac who uses drum stick size 5A. While waiting for the real
shooting to take place, these brothers can be mischievous too. The head
of one of the statues, that was in the studio, got beaten by Tay repeatedly.
Zac shook the red pilar on the stage, while Ike was busying himself with
his guitar and pedals. After soundcheck, Zac said he was feeling hot. Tay
nodded, shaking his green shirt saying "Yeah, especially Ike. You wear
two shirts, of course it’s hot." Ike, the quitest just nodded his head.
Finished shooting, at the
hotel, a few reporters has been waiting to interview them including ‘Hai’.
Since we got the last turn, ‘Hai’ has more time to look around, watching
the Hanson family activities. Because the 3 blond hair boys are busy facing
the endless interviews, their mother and younger brother and sisters, walk
back and forth between the 18th floor and the swimming pool.
Diana,busy accompanying her children, swam. While Walker was busy watching
out for Ike,Tay and Zac's activities. After the swim, the mother and the
3 children joined Walker, who was turning the pages of ‘Hai’ back and forth
as he read the article of his sons. Walker’s cool expression changed when
‘Hai’ offered him the whole stack of magazines. Avie look interested when
she saw Hai 30/XXI that had Batman on the cover. "Whose the toughest in
here?" asked ‘Hai’ to Avie. Without hesitation, her little fingers pointing
to the picture of Batgirl. Hmmm, a candidate to replace Alicia for the
10th Batman movie?
When ‘Hai’ put down two
tape recorders for the interview, Zac burst out, "Wow! Double tape recorders!
And if it doesn’t work, it’s going to be a big problem!" he said with his
wide apart front teeth showing. Also in the middle of the interview, when
‘Hai’ asked them about their plans for Bali, Zac tried to deny it. "Are
we going to Bali?" he asked his brothers with an expression on his face
of someone who’s lying. "Yeah, we are not going to Bali" continued Tay
playing along, trying to protect his brother’s feelings and wanted to give
the wrong info. "We’re going straight to Toronto." Added Ike.
The role that their father
takes in the success of Hanson can’t be denied. During the photo session
with Hai, that lasted more than half an hour, Zac gave very little smiles.
Walker then tried to sweet talk him. "C’mon Zac. Think of happy thoughts.
C’mon smile." The same thing, when Tay pay more attention watching MTV
during the photo session. "Hey Tay, you can’t watch too much TV. Your eyes
are going to pop out."
Meanwhile, the oldest member’s
secret is out. He still acted like a little boy. During the photo shoot,
seeing his brother jumping from the table to the bed, he didn’t want to
get left behind. His body which isn’t a little boy’s body anymore, without
a care in the world, he threw himself to the spring bed. Bum!
Last day in Jakarta, Hanson
spent much of their time studying and finishing the last interview for
radios. The expression on Ike, Tay and Zac’s face is showing clearly that
they can’t wait to go on their vacation in Bali. So, after all the interviews
and signing autographs on some CD covers, they scream their lungs out.
Like really loud! "Argh, we’re going to Bali! I can’t believe it. Finished!
Finished!" screamed Ike, Tay and Zac running toward Jason, neigbour plus
security. Zac did get nervous when he found out that ‘Hai’ wouldl be going
too. Just a little boy that he is, he hugged Eva Adams, while Eva can only
smile and stroke his blond hair. Only after she convinced him, that it
would be alright for ‘Hai’ to come along, he started to relax again. He
stayed calm, then ‘Hai’ escorted the party back to the 9th.
Floor. After that, Hanson has to be hurried to the airport. Because, the
airplane GA 664 is ready to take them to Bali. So, what are they going
to do in Bali? Why must they change hotels? You better wait ‘till next
week!
HANSON; What They Have to Say About Them
Hanson has left Jakarta. But the memory still remains. At least for some people like the fans, the busy people who provided their activities and of course their parents. Let’s see what they have to say.
Walker Hanson (father
and manager)
I scheduled Hanson’s promo
tour on their holiday on purpose. In the US, school won’t begin until late
August, different in Europe where they begin in the middle of August. We
were actually pushing this trip because I wanted them to know all the things
outside of the music too. They have to understand about marketing the album,
the musical tastes in other countries. Even learning about the cultures
of other countries. They can’t have all this if Hanson only stayed in US.
Even though my children don’t go to regular or public school, the private
school still has the same curriculum. My wife is the teacher for Hanson
and some other kids. Even though they were tought by their own mother,
they got the same treatment. The advantage of this kind of teaching is
big because their interests or talents can be seen early and be given direction.
In public school, they’ve got a lot of kids so the teacher’s attention
is more divided. The subject material also isn’t too deep and because they’re
tutored, my children’s talent for singing could be detected early. Not
to mention my wife’s hobby is singing. My children got their talent from
my wife. I myself am not that musically talented. I’ve seen my kids had
an instinct for music since they were very young. Taylor for example, he
sometimes played the keyboards without the right key. He just followed
where his brothers were going.
Lely (Assistant Prod.
Manager Polygram)
This Hanson promo tour is
gotta be the most tiring. This is the first time that I as staff also went
down as security. And they asked a lot of stuff. And even though I got
very busy taking care of Hanson, the frequency that I met them was very
little. In one day I probably met them for only 3 minutes.
Teges Prita Soraya (Hard
Rock Café Jakarta PR)
I’ve anticipated this kind
of crowd before hand. But what can you say, kids! They’re very difficult
to control. They can’t tell the difference between "can’t" and "musn’t".
You can say that Hanson is the most sensational artist that we’ve ever
had in HRC Jakarta. When Steve Vai was here, he also caused a lot of commotion,
but because the crowds were more mature, they could be controlled more
easily.
Hanson Activity in
Bali
"next door neighbour
got snapped at.."
Leaving Jakarta behind, Hanson still got chased around. One hour before their arrival at ‘Ngurah Rai’ airport in Denpasar, Bali, a group of girls have already been waiting for their idols.
Ike, Tay and Zac were expected
to arrive around 6.10 PM Bali time, with flight # GA 664 route Singapore
- Jakarta – Denpasar. But it’s late. They arrived at 8.25 PM. The trio
Hanson in unison wearing dark colour clothes. Ike lead the way with all
his quietness. Zac wearing a black T-shirt and jeans looked happy. He smelled
the flower that a fan from Australia, Michelle, gave him. While Taylor,
walked right behind them chatting with Jason, the bodyguard. Zac looked
like the happiest person on this holiday in Bali, which is kind of comforting
to his fans. Before disappeared from the fans who were waiting for them
in the airport, he and Taylor waved happily to them. Without any trouble,
the Hanson party was escorted to the ‘Blue Bird DK 7938’ bus and headed
to where they’re going to stay. Of course the ‘pick-up’ team from The Ritz-Carlton
Hotel led the way. According to plan, this Big Family will stay at the
Sol-Elite Hotel, but ‘Hai’ got a hush-hush information that they’d changed
their hotel. And so ‘Hai’ had to chang the ‘operational area’ to the Ritz
Hotel that is located at Karang Mas Sejahtera St. in Jimbaran, Bali. The
news that we heard was that this change of hotels had already been planned
ahead of time. One of the reasons is because they don’t want to be disturbed.
Maybe this was they can trick some people..he he he. Did you know that
the villa that the Hanson family rented is not just any regular villa?
This particular villa can only be rented by close friends, acquaintances
and relatives of the villa's owner. The price? Around US$2500 for one night.
Isn’t that something?
The facility that this villa
got actually is not that different from the other villas in the Ritz-Carlton
Hotel. They all have private swimming pools and two rooms. What stands
out is the size of the villa which is HUGE. And the villa is located at
the very end, bordering straight with the bushes of Jimbaran (eastern)
and the view of the sea (northern). The Hanson family chose this place
on purpose, so it won’t be too easy to get connected with the other hotel
guests.
"stay in the room"
Just like when they first
arrived in Jakarta, the first night in Bali the Hanson family chose to
rest. The next day they came out late morning. According to the schedule
from Polygram, the first day in Bali Hanson had to do a special shoot for
3 hours for the MTV & Phillips Out of the Box band contest under the
age 18. Even the process of this shooting seems to be done really exclusively
because the MTV didn’t send a local crew to help with the shooting (MTV
Asia based in Singapore). "Eventually Hanson did the shooting for MTV using
only a Handycam. Myself as a representative of MTV in Indonesia didn’t
get any CC (a formal letter of notice)" explained Daniel Tumiwa, Marketing
Manager Indonesia, MTV Asia.
Around noon, Hanson went
to Kubu, one of the recreation areas inside of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel.
They’re all in jeans, only their t-shirts are different. Ike’s in green,
Tay’s in red and Zac’s yellow with green designs. This time the security
wasn’t so tight. The bodyguard chose to rest in his room.
Kubu, located near the beach,
offered full facilities, from snorkeling to sun bathing while enjoying
a fresh young coconut juice. They chose the easiest recreation, what else
but picnic drinking the fresh juice.
"dive in"
At Kubu, they didn’t stay
long. As usual Hanson never forgets when it comes to their stomachs. Around
lunchtime they went to Sami – Sami, the hotel’s restaurant. Even though
they only stayed in the hotel, that doesn’t mean they can’t enjoy Indonesian
things. The family all chose Indonesian food for their lunch this time.
For drinks, what else but diet Coke? A little incident happened before
they can eat, Mac, the youngest Hanson, got lost in the middle of the restaurant.
Upset being separated from the group, he cried while asking the people
he passed by, "Where’s Mom?" He cried it over and over again with a plate
in his hands. Luckily, not long after that Mac met his mother. The Hanson
party can now relax and enjoy the meal they’ve just ordered.
At about 7:15 PM Bali time,
the Hanson party went to ‘Langit Theatre’. There, Ike, Tay and Zac watched
many Balinese traditional dances. The Hanson parents again were the most
worried, they asked specifically for a place that wasn't really an open
spot and that didn't get too much light, so they wouldn’t get noticed.
The trio Hanson themselves didn’t care too much about it, in fact, after
the show they were relaxing at the swimming pool. Ike and Taylor enjoying
themselves playing with water guns while Zac dove straight into the pool,
with all his clothes on! They don’t even care that the night is getting
chilly. They enjoyed themselves so much so they forgot the time. Imagine,
they’re still relaxing by the pool when it’s already 11 PM.
"tight security"
The third day in Bali, Hanson
started to get notice by a lot of people. Like it or not the security around
the villa got tighter. Hanson’s bodyguard now got help from 3-hotel security.
It was just like a very top security situation. In fact, it was so tight
that someone who rented a villa next door to Hanson got snapped at. The
reason? They got too curious, wanted to see what the bustling was about.
Maybe they thought ‘what’s going on in the villa next door?’ But their
curiosity got too obvious. Poking their heads around, so the second they
stopped to stand in front of the villa, they got snapped at by Jason. Later
we found out, that the other hotel guests were wondering and curious seeing
the tight security. And besides every time they meet each other these guests
chatted and said to each other ‘I think I’ve seen them on TV?’
As a result, the news about
Hanson is spreading. The hotel staff too got busy. All the phone calls
that went to the Ritz-Carlton Hotel wanted to confirm that Hanson was staying
there and never stopped ringing. Because of this, the Hanson's was forced
to stay inside. Every mealtime, they chose to order in room service. To
take care of the business stuff like bills and other administrations, Hanson's
parents use the service of a butler. So there’s no hope of seeing one of
the Hanson’s crew walking around the hotel area.
This kind of atmosphere
was still going on the next day. It seemed that Hanson locked themselves
from the outside world. Only after around 11 AM the brothers showed up
and played table tennis. It’s not known who won or lost. If one of them
got tired they changed places with the other member of the family.
Close to early evening,
the Hanson's got out from their villa and headed to Kubu. From 4.30 PM,
it seemed that they were waiting for the sunset. Some were just relaxing
and sun bathing on the long chairs, while the trio Hanson and their siblings
tried snorkeling. When the sunset, they headed back to the hotel. Dinner,
again, was inside the villa. But this time it was more apparent that they
were tired. Too much sport apparently. They’ve been doing sports all day,
and now they’re beat.
For almost a week, Hanson
spend their time relaxing at the hotel. They didn’t hire any guide services
or signed themselves to a travel bureau to do any picnics or anything.
They should store their energy anyways, because right after Bali, they’re
heading straight to Canada for another promo tour. Good luck guys!!
(Compiled by Syanne/Hai Magazine)
GADIS MAGAZINE
Hanson interview with "Gadis" Magazine-Indonesia.
G: Most of Hanson's
songs are upbeat and happy. Don’t you ever get sad?
Ike: No, not all songs ("It’s
not all, it’s not all" screamed Tay).Yearbook isn’t a cheery song, then
from the title you know that ‘weird’ isn’t a cheery song either, so is
Lucy. Actually our songs can makes people feel depressed, ha, ha, ha. Did
you know that MMMBop isn’t a happy song?
G: Yeah? But the rhythm
sounds like people having fun.
Ike: The beat is fast but
listen to the lyrics, it’s sad, or more correctly very serious. The story
about how often we loose someone that we love. That’s why when we met people
who we really love, hold on to them tightly, or they’ll fly away. In an
mmmbop they’re gone, in a mmmbop they’re not there…(singing it…)
G: Right now you’re all
busy with your music activities, promo tours around the world, being on
stage everywhere. Do you still have time to hang out or make friends?
Ike : We don’t have any
problem with that. While we’re touring we meet a lot of people. The Hanson
fans and the people who worked for Hanson during the promotion. They’re
our friends. When we’re in Korea, we had an interpreter who was always
with us wherever we went. It’s a girl, about my age. In the end we became
friends.
Tay: She’s very cool and
fun to be with, also, there’s a friend that we met when Hanson performed
at a Charity show. Their mother held the charity gig. We’re still friends
to this day. I tell you what, we meet nice people anytime, in even the
weirdest situation and they can be your best of friend. We’ll never know,
but that doesn’t mean we forget the friends we have back in Tulsa. On our
trip to Canada we’re going to stop over in New York. We’re going to hang
out together there. Wow, I can just imagine the fun we’re going to have….
G: Two years from now,
do you think you’ll change?
Ike: No need to wait for
two years, we’ve changed now ha, ha, ha. Tay’s voice had changed during
the recording (pointing at Taylor). His voice become deeper, more baritone.
On the personality side, well, maybe a little change. Hopefully more mature
and wise. You know, much better. But our music will definitely still have
our own style that we’ll never change.
Tay: Why have to be afraid
of changes? It’s a natural process. What ever happens, Hanson is still
Hanson
G: Okay,okay I believe
you. By the way what type of girls do you like?
Zac: (screaming…) girls,
I like them..
Tay: Changing all the time,
ha, ha, ha. Yesterday I’d said I like brunette now I’ve change my mind
again. Indonesian girls are prettier.
Ike: Conclusion: we like
girls. So the answer to your question is only one word, girls.
Zac: Yes, girls!
Tay: (pointing to Zac) Look
at him, he's always repeating or agreeing with our answer.
G: You’re still under
age. So what will happen when you have to perform in a pub or bar that
is for 18 year olds and up?
Ike: Up ‘till now we never
had an invitation to perform in those places. Hey, that’s a good point,
we’ll have a problem then….
G: How about watching
a movie?
Tay : (cutting in..) We
just have to choose the one for all ages or a PG Movie.
G: Well,that’s the same with us!
