The Hanson Brothers
Encyclopedia
- This article is about the Canadian punk rock group. For the American pop rock trio, see HansonHanson (band)Hanson are an American pop rock band formed in Tulsa, Oklahoma, by brothers Isaac , Taylor , and Zac Hanson . They are best known for the 1997 hit song "MMMBop" from their major label debut album Middle of Nowhere, which earned three Grammy nominations...
. For the Slap Shot characters, see Hanson BrothersHanson BrothersThe Hanson Brothers are fictional characters in the 1977 movie Slap Shot. The characters are based on three brothers who were actual hockey players; two of them starred in the film.The movie, which stars Paul Newman, was written by Nancy Dowd...
.
The Hanson Brothers are a Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
band based in Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
, British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
and led by John
John Wright (musician)
John Wright is a Canadian musician and songwriter. He replaced the former drummer, Murray Jackson. He is best known as the drummer, keyboardist, occasional vocalist and co-songwriter in the progressive punk rock/punk jazz band NoMeansNo, as well as the lead singer and co-songwriter of the...
and Rob Wright
Rob Wright
Rob Wright is a Canadian musician and songwriter best known as the bassist, lead vocalist and occasional guitarist of the progressive punk rock band Nomeansno, as well as the bassist of the pop punk band The Hanson Brothers...
and Tom Holliston
Tom Holliston
Tom Holliston is a musician, composing and playing in such bands as Showbusiness Giants, NoMeansNo and The Hanson Brothers, as well as releasing three solo records since 2002...
, all members of the punk rock band Nomeansno
Nomeansno
NoMeansNo is a Canadian progressive punk rock music group originally from Victoria, British Columbia and now located in Vancouver.The band has never had, nor have they seemed to pursue, strong mainstream success, but they do have a devoted underground following in North America and Europe...
.
The Hanson Brothers' band name references characters in the cult ice hockey
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
film Slap Shot. Heavily influenced by the music of the Ramones and the sport of ice hockey, the band appears to be a self-conscious attempt to construct a set of simplistic Canadian male personas and accordingly simple music that alludes to the sorts of deeper philosophical issues NoMeansNo is prone to tackling. The band's music is frequently referred to as "puck rock."
History
From 1984–1989, the Wright brothers and original NoMeansNo guitarist Andy KerrAndy Kerr (musician)
Andy Kerr is a Canadian-born musician, originally from British Columbia and currently residing in Amsterdam, Holland. Kerr is best known as the former guitarist, frequent vocalist, and co-songwriter in the progressive punk rock/punk jazz band NoMeansNo...
performed live shows sporadically under the Hanson Brothers moniker, constructing their sets with Ramones covers. The band later began to dabble with writing "their own Ramones songs". At this time John Wright played drums and the three members shared lead vocal duties. Examples of songs from this era are "Ya Little Creep" and "Bad," two Kerr-era NoMeansNo songs with songwriting credited to the Hanson Brothers (the former appears on the 1991 compilation Clam Chowder and Ice Vs. Big Macs and Bombers, while the latter appears on The Sky Is Falling and I Want My Mommy
The Sky Is Falling and I Want My Mommy
The Sky is Falling and I Want My Mommy is an album recorded by Jello Biafra with punk band NoMeansNo. The project came about after Nomeansno and Biafra had collaborated for the soundtrack to the underground film Terminal City Ricochet.-Track listing:#"The Sky Is Falling, and I Want My Mommy " –...
, a collaborative LP with Jello Biafra
Jello Biafra
Jello Biafra is an American musician, spoken word artist and leading figure of the Green Party of the United States. Biafra first gained attention as the lead singer and songwriter for San Francisco punk rock band Dead Kennedys...
.) While the band was actively creating music under this name for some time, it was treated as a strictly casual and only occasionally evoked side project until the early-mid '90s.
The Wrights began working with Holliston (and without Kerr) as the Hanson Brothers around 1989. The earliest sessions from this time still featured John Wright on drums; however, Ken Jensen of D.O.A.
D.O.A. (band)
D.O.A. is a hardcore punk band from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. They are often referred to as the "founders" of hardcore punk, along with Black Flag, Bad Brains, Teen Idles, and Minor Threat. Their second album Hardcore '81 was thought by many to have been the first actual reference to...
soon joined and, after releasing a debut 7", the band recorded their first album, Gross Misconduct, in 1992. The record featured art spoofing the cover to the Ramones
Ramones
The Ramones were an American rock band that formed in the New York City neighborhood of Forest Hills, Queens, in 1974. They are often cited as the first punk rock group...
' Road to Ruin
Road to Ruin
Road to Ruin is the fourth studio album by the American punk rock band The Ramones. It was released on September 22, 1978 through Sire Records...
. Kerr emigrated to the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
in 1992, leading the Wright brothers to, at least for a time, focus on the Hanson Brothers. (Holliston would join NoMeansNo, replacing Kerr, shortly thereafter.)
Jensen died in a house fire in 1995. Ken Kempster
Ken Kempster
Ken Kempster is a Canadian musician.Kempster has played drums in the Canadian punk rock bands Shovlhead, Swell Prod., The Showbusiness Giants , The Hanson Brothers , and NoMeansNo -External links:*...
(member of, among many other groups, the Showbusiness Giants
Showbusiness Giants
-External links:* * * *...
) became the group's next drummer, referred to as "Kenny Jr" Hanson. This lineup released the group's second record, Sudden Death, through a subsidiary of Virgin Records
Virgin Records
Virgin Records is a British record label founded by English entrepreneur Richard Branson, Simon Draper, and Nik Powell in 1972. The company grew to be a worldwide music phenomenon, with platinum performers such as Roy Orbison, Devo, Genesis, Keith Richards, Janet Jackson, Culture Club, Lenny...
. The cover spoofed D.O.A.'s The Prisoner single cover.
Kempster left the group in 2001, and Ernie Hawkins joined for touring behind the group's third record, My Game. The cover parodies that of Black Flag
Black Flag (band)
Black Flag was an American punk rock band formed in 1976 in Hermosa Beach, California. The band was established by Greg Ginn, the guitarist, primary songwriter and sole continuous member through multiple personnel changes in the band...
's My War
My War
My War is the second full length album by the American hardcore punk band Black Flag. It was released in 1984 on SST Records.Black Flag's founder and primary songwriter Greg Ginn played bass guitar in addition to his usual guitar; "Dale Nixon" is a pseudonym.My War was released after a long period...
. Hawkins appears on the group's 2008 live album It's a Living (whose cover parodies the Ramones' It's Alive). Mike Branum, from The Freak Accident, debuted as the group's drummer for their 2008 tour.
In 2000, the songs "Rink Rat", "Third Man In", "Stick Boy", and "Danielle", were featured in the NHL Rock The Rink game for the Sony
Sony Computer Entertainment
Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc. is a major video game company specializing in a variety of areas in the video game industry, and is a wholly owned subsidiary and part of the Consumer Products & Services Group of Sony...
PlayStation
PlayStation
The is a 32-bit fifth-generation video game console first released by Sony Computer Entertainment in Japan on December 3, .The PlayStation was the first of the PlayStation series of consoles and handheld game devices. The PlayStation 2 was the console's successor in 2000...
. Also in 2000, John Wright, in his Johnny Hanson "character," recorded an instructional video regarding homebrewing
Homebrewing
Homebrewing is the brewing of beer, wine, sake, mead, cider, perry and other beverages through fermentation on a small scale as a hobby for personal consumption, free distribution at social gatherings, amateur brewing competitions or other non-commercial reasons...
beer
Beer
Beer is the world's most widely consumed andprobably oldest alcoholic beverage; it is the third most popular drink overall, after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of sugars, mainly derived from malted cereal grains, most commonly malted barley and malted wheat...
. Originally released in small batches on VHS
VHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
, the film has been reissued on DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
along with the It's a Living CD. Wright has compiled and released two compilations of hockey-themed songs called Puck Rock Volumes I and II.
Members
Current members- Robbie Hanson (Rob WrightRob WrightRob Wright is a Canadian musician and songwriter best known as the bassist, lead vocalist and occasional guitarist of the progressive punk rock band Nomeansno, as well as the bassist of the pop punk band The Hanson Brothers...
) – bassBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
(1984–present) - Johnny Hanson (John WrightJohn Wright (musician)John Wright is a Canadian musician and songwriter. He replaced the former drummer, Murray Jackson. He is best known as the drummer, keyboardist, occasional vocalist and co-songwriter in the progressive punk rock/punk jazz band NoMeansNo, as well as the lead singer and co-songwriter of the...
) – vocals (1984–present), drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
(1984–1991) - Tommy Hanson (Tom HollistonTom HollistonTom Holliston is a musician, composing and playing in such bands as Showbusiness Giants, NoMeansNo and The Hanson Brothers, as well as releasing three solo records since 2002...
) – guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, vocals (1989–present) - Mikey Hanson (Mike Branum) – drums (2008–present)
Former members
- Kenny Hanson (Ken Jensen) – drums (1991–1995)
- Kenny Jr Hanson (Ken KempsterKen KempsterKen Kempster is a Canadian musician.Kempster has played drums in the Canadian punk rock bands Shovlhead, Swell Prod., The Showbusiness Giants , The Hanson Brothers , and NoMeansNo -External links:*...
) – drums (1995–2001) - Ernie Hanson (Ernie Hawkins) – drums (2001–2006)
- Andy KerrAndy Kerr (musician)Andy Kerr is a Canadian-born musician, originally from British Columbia and currently residing in Amsterdam, Holland. Kerr is best known as the former guitarist, frequent vocalist, and co-songwriter in the progressive punk rock/punk jazz band NoMeansNo...
– guitar, vocals (1984–1989)
Full-length albums
- Gross Misconduct – 1992
- Sudden Death – 1996
- My Game – 2002
- It's a Living (live) – 2008
EPs and singles
- Brad (7" single) – 1992
- The Hockey Song (split 7" single with D.O.A.D.O.A. (band)D.O.A. is a hardcore punk band from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. They are often referred to as the "founders" of hardcore punk, along with Black Flag, Bad Brains, Teen Idles, and Minor Threat. Their second album Hardcore '81 was thought by many to have been the first actual reference to...
) – 1996 - Brad (EP re-release of Brad single with bonus tracks) – 2003
Additionally, there are numerous compilation albums featuring Hanson Brothers tracks.