Rob Beckett and Josh Widdicombe's Parenting Hell - S04 EP32: Hanson

Episode Date: May 20, 2022

S04 EP32: Hanson Joining us this episode to discuss the highs and lows of parenting (and life) are brothers Isaac, Taylor, and Zac from the band Hanson. Hanson's new album 'RED GREEN BLUE' is out today (20th May) and you can find all the details of their upcoming world tour (including all the U.K. dates!) over at WWW.HANSON.NETThanks - R&JBIG NEWS.... we're writing a book! ⭐ All the stories we can’t tell on the podcast – in depth.⭐ What it’s like to raise a stiff neck and a loose neck – straight from the horse’s mouth (our parents)⭐ And.. the BIGGEST REQUEST WE’VE EVER HAD FOR THE PODCAST… Hearing from our wives, Rose & Lou. They’ve got a chapter each and YOU can submit your burning questions to them... [e-mail]'s it really like to be a parent? And how come no one ever warned Rob or Josh of the sheer mind-bending, world-altering, sleep-depriving, sick-covering, tear-inducing, snot-wiping, bore-inspiring, 4am-relationship-straining brutality of it all? And if they did, why can't they remember it (or remember anything else, for that matter)?And just when they thought it couldn't get any harder, why didn't anyone warn them about the slices of unmatched euphoric joy and pride that occasionally come piercing through, drenching you in unbridled happiness in much the same way a badly burped baby drenches you in milk-sick?Join Josh and Rob as they share the challenges and madness of their parenting journeys with lashings of empathy and extra helpings of laughs. Filled with all the things they never tell you at antenatal classes, Parenting Hell is a beguiling mixture of humour, rumination and conversation for prospective parents, new parents, old parents and never-to-be parents alike.Find out everything you need to know, including how you could win a pair of tickets to the Parenting Hell LIVE tour & an overnight stay in London here: https://www.bit.ly/ParentingHellBookWe're going on tour!! Fancy seeing the podcast live in some of the best venues in the UK?Of course you do, you're not made of stone! Tickets available now on the dates and at the venues below. We can't wait to see you there...ON SALE NOW 14th April 2023 - Manchester AO Arena19th April 2023 - Nottingham20th April 2023 - Cardiff 21st April 2023 - London (The O2)23rd April 2023 - London (Wembley)28th April 2023 - Birmingham Utilita Arena If you want to get in touch with the show here's how:EMAIL: [e-mail]: @parenting_hellINSTAGRAM: @parentinghellA 'Keep It Light Media' Production Sales, advertising, and general enquiries: [e-mail] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello, I'm Rob Beckett. And I'm Josh Willicombe. Welcome to Parenting Hell, the show in which Josh and I discuss what it's really like to be a parent, which I would say can be a little tricky. So, to make ourselves, and hopefully you, feel better about the trials and tribulations of modern day parenting, each week we'll be chatting to a famous parent about how they're coping. Or hopefully how they're not coping. And we'll also be hearing from you, the listener, with your tips, advice and, of course, tales of parenting woe.

Because, let's be honest, there are plenty of times when none of us know what we're doing. Hello, you're listening to Parenting Hell with... Brooke, can you say Rob Beckett? Rob Beckett. And can you say Josh Widdicombe? My name's Josh Widdicombe. Big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big Oh, that's a cute one. I like that. Attention-seeking brother in the background. Yeah.

This is my two-year-old daughter, Brooke, who was interrupted by her older brother, Mason, who's four and a half. Thank you for keeping me laughing whilst running. Your sexy and relatable voices zen me out on my daily runs. Can't wait to see you in Birmingham next year. Rob, I've got to start this with quite a stranger. Do you remember in the last episode,

which we just recorded, I went up to the bedroom? Yeah a stranger. Do you remember in the last episode, which we just recorded, I went up to the bedroom? Yeah. So Rose needs to go to bed now, so I need to leave the bedroom. Right. She's just texted me to say, can she have the bedroom? But that's because you don't sleep in the same room, isn't it? Nothing to do with the podcast.

No, exactly. I sleep on the sofa. Held up like a dog. So I'm just going to nip downstairs. So is Rose walking past? I don't know if she's going to walk past. How big's your landing? How big's the landing? We've got two separate entrances to the bedroom Uh Rose do you want to go upstairs?

I was going to do it in the sitting room Yeah she was just saying she didn't think I should risk it on the kitchen No so you're not going to risk it in the kitchen You're going to do it in the living room? Yeah. She just said, for fuck's sake. About what? Just her life.

You should ask her one of the book questions live. Yeah, why don't you ask her a book question then? Should I ask her a book question live? Which was the one we didn't want? What is the thing that you do that make her realise how much she loves you? Okay. Rose, quick question. Can you tell us one thing that Josh does that makes you feel truly loved and cared for no matter how trivial

or mundane can you hear her laughing yeah just the one don't tell her don't she doesn't need to do five or six can you hear that what she's saying she's who the fuck's asked that oh actually one of our very loyal and loving listeners. Well, I could really want a genuine answer to that. I don't think 10 o'clock on a Monday night when the kids just woke up's the time to ask. You text me and ask me whether I want to go to bed when you're doing a podcast.

All right, did you hear that? She said that I text her and ask if she wants to go to bed when i'm doing a podcast in the bedroom so that's oh that's so lovely yeah really nice i think i think maybe if she had some time alone and wasn't being kept up by you and me and michael and that she might have something to say nice so maybe it might be nicer in the book yeah i think i think that would be a better version because i'd from that, I'd pick up on the feeling of despondent. That's a lot. That was a lot to be asked on the spot.

She said that's a lot to be asked on the spot. I think that is fair, yeah. When she's got time, I'm sure there'll be loads of things. Yeah, exactly. I'm sure. We'll see. Well, buy the book. See.

Oh, OK. We're already five minutes into the podcast, according to my timings. Chris Ramb's got it right. It's half the workload, isn't it? If Lou and Rose did this, we wouldn't have to speak. It'd be well easy. Do you know what we should do? We should pretend to have a big falling out

and then set up our own podcast, you with Rose, me with Lou, and then pretend that we really don't get on with each other and stag each other off and try and build it like a big rivalry. But actually it's all under the same banner. Yeah, exactly. Like Frankie and Eamon. Who's Frankie and Eamon? Do you remember? Oh, Fuck You Right Back.

Fuck You and Fuck You Right Back. Yeah. Just like Frankie and Eamon. I thought Frankie Bridge and Eamon Holmes used that. Should we do some listener stuff? I feel like we're being... A couple of listener things and then let's bring on Hanson.

Okay. Okay, so what we'll do is we'll do big celebs, small places. That's what we put a call out for, innit? Yeah. Here we go. This one, Drake in a car up in Walsall, which I think is absolute bollocks. That can't be true.

Jared. That sounds like an example one we'd give. Yeah. Does he realise they have to be real, or is he just going, oh, I can do this? He has sent 300, actually. So maybe he's got the wrong end of the stick, Jared. That just doesn't seem right, does it?

My family own a holiday house in Ventnor, Isle of Wight, and on New Year's Eve, we went down to the local pub when Robert Patterson and Kirsten Stewart walked by. No. Who was exactly the same as she is in Twilight. He wasn't taking any photos that day, but he said, happy new year to us, and the waitress knew that we were Twilight fans

and gave us the glass he'd drunk out of. What are you doing with that? Now I look back and think that's actually a bit weird. Yes, it is weird, isn't it? Yeah. Katie from Watford, Hertfordshire. I. Katie from Watford, Hertfordshire. I think people from Watford, the Hertfordshire, are trying to sex up Watford.

Yeah. Everyone knows of Watford. You don't need the Hertfordshire bit. Yeah, exactly, yeah. It just makes it sound posher, doesn't it? Talking of underwhelming celeb spots in good places, in New York City, we bumped into Noel Edmonds. Oh, that's good.

Nicola. Oh, this is a good one. Oh, did I tell you I once saw Beppe in LA? I don't know, but it feels like something you've said before. Beppe DeMarco. Beppe DeMarco. Michael Greco. This was a good one.

Small celebrities in big places. In the year about 2000, I saw Darius Dinesh. Oh, yes, please. You know, from Pop Idol. Is it Dinesh? Yeah, yeah. Darius, hit me, baby. Oh, yes, please. You know him from Pop Idol, is it Dinesh? Darius, hit me, baby. Yeah, and colourblind.

One more time. Sorry, I'm going up an escalator in one of the big hotels in Las Vegas. Oh. Hipper from South Shields. Very nice. I've got Terry Waite in Felix, though. I thought that was who'd written in. No, Terry Waite, the hostage guy,

signed an autograph in a portacabin in Felixstowe. From Rob Mayhew. Here we've got another one. A few years ago, I was in Times Square in New York with my sister, and she pointed and said, look, there's Ali McCoy. I looked up to see... I looked up to see Alan Hansen standing in front of us from Fiona. This is great.

More of these, please. Well, my mum once saw Bruce Springsteen, but in like a posh hotel. That don't count. It was like in the Savoy or something. But it doesn't count. My husband saw Alice Cooper in River Island in a shopping centre in Derby. Now, come on. Come on.

That can't be. Apparently he was happy to stop and have a chat, Emma. Here we go. I suppose if you're on tour and you're, even if you're Alice Cooper, you've got to do something with your day. Yeah, because he probably would have done Derby. If you come over and do a UK tour,

you've got to do something with your day. He's in Derby. He's got to do something. Do you reckon he went to Rivrana and went, look at this really cool British shop? I haven't got that in LA. Maybe this is what Beppe DiMarco wears in LA. I've never seen it.

I've never seen anyone else in it. This is a good one. For the most exciting, this is a really good one. This might win it, actually. For the most exciting... This is a really good one. This might win it, actually. For the most exciting celeb in the most underwhelming place, in my hometown of Salisbury, which is another chock famous now, but this is before then, I think,

I saw Jay-Z and Beyonce outside Poundland. What? Hear me out. This is what he said. So Jay-Z and Beyonce, two of the most famous people in the world, outside Poundland in Salisbury, he was in town for the release of his album Magna Carta as we have one of the only remaining copies in the cathedral. Oh, wow.

From Tim. He doesn't think they were shopping in the Poundland shop. That is good. Do you know Kurt Cobain met Courtney Love in Newport? What, in Wales? Yeah. Really? What were they doing?

I think they were both on tour or one of them was on tour and the other was in Newport. They must have stopped for a piss on the way to Cardiff. Yeah. No offence, Newport, but it's so near Cardiff.

If you're Kurt Cobain, you're doing Cardiff. You're never doing Cardiff and Newport. You're doing one or the other. And if you were lower level, you might do a smaller room in Newport and work your way to Cardiff. But surely Cobain. Surely.

This is the last one before we bring in our next act. In response to seeing celebrities in unexciting places, Samuel Jackson in a cafe in Huddersfield. What? There was a caveat. He was in West Yorkshire filming a new Marvel film. I think that's fair. I think it's good when they give the

example. Yes, you need a reason why. You need to explain this shit. There's no offence, Huddersfield. There's absolutely no reason for Samuel Jackson to visit unless he's being paid. Is that fair? Yeah, I think that's fair. Should we bring on Hanson? Well, what is this as a job?

Hanson, we interviewed Hanson. It's a good interview, though, isn't it? We were nervous about this, weren't we? But they were much more of a laugh than we thought they were going to be. Great laugh. I was really nervous about doing it, but they were really funny. And they've got loads of kids. Yeah.

Yeah, it's a good one. Enjoy. Loads of kids. Yeah. Yeah, it's a good one. Enjoy. We are very excited to be joined by Hanson today. Lads, live from Tulsa, Oklahoma.

We're sorry for getting you up early. No, we have children. We've been up. Yeah, well, that's good. What time is it then? 9 a.m.? It's not super early. It's like 9.30. Oh, 9.30. That's it's not super early it's like 9 30 yeah oh 9 30

that's the middle of the day for a dad this is the most people we've ever interviewed at one time yes and probably we have the most children that you've ever talked to someone well take us through the amount of children you have let's go left to right so uh give give us your name and the amount of children you have so this is taylor. I have seven. Seven! Fucking hell, Taylor. Yeah, and this is Zach. I have five. Whoa! And this is Isaac. I have three. Isaac, you need

to put in more effort, mate. Three? What's wrong with you? Exactly. This is how I feel in my family. I'm like, wait, I have three kids. It feels like a lot to me. You know, and these other guys went, there you know, over-performing over here. Jeez.

He said quality, not quantity. And I said quantity, baby. Let's do it. Okay. Obviously, you three are all brothers, but you're from a family of seven. You've got the seven of you like siblings. So has that always been loads of kids like going back through the generations?

Well, actually not. I mean, my dad had two sisters and my mom had three sisters. She was from four. I mean, they were from like reasonably sized, you know, families. But I think we grew up in around an era of we had a bunch of friends, families, all who had a bunch of kids. Yeah. But I never thought I would be that person, honestly an era of, we had a bunch of friends, families, all who had a bunch of kids. Yeah. But I never thought I would be that person, honestly. I mean, I'm like.

I didn't think he would be either. Nobody. I actually thought I would be the other way around. I thought I'd be the one with seven kids. Taylor would have three, that kind of thing. I think the guy, yeah. You're like, you don't predict you're going to have it. That's why I have so many.

Not a lot of predicting going on. You know, we were homeschooled. They don't do sex education in homeschooling. I think Isaac just picked up a little more, you know, being the first. And I've never been to Tulsa in Oklahoma. Is there anything else to do apart from have sex? Or is that you just crack on with that? I think it's just sex.

I'm pretty sure. So we will obviously come to the five and the three, which normally would be enough to talk about. But what, can you just talk me through what a day with seven kids is like? Oh yeah, can we get the ages? Can we get the ages of the kids as well? Yeah, names and ages.

Let's do it. Can you remember? I have to think about it for a second. I mean, ages. But, I mean, 19 down to one is a huge spectrum. 19 down to one. Yeah. So, I mean, you've got, it's, you know, once you pass, I think, three.

We love Jim Gaffigan because he's got all these kids as a comedian. And he has a fantastic joke. He's like, I'm going to tell you what it's like to have four kids. He's like, well, just imagine you're drowning and then someone hands you a baby. And also, I think this is, he said this, I don't know if he said this, but I definitely feel it. People stop congratulating

you after three. They're like, oh, really? There's not like a, wow, that's fantastic. It's up till three. It's oh my god oh my god you had personal experience with that actually so the last but but it happens it changes the whole dynamic i mean five is huge five is i think is is is the big kid category for sure but seven is it's just an extension of that it's like you have more than one it's not like you have

one one class when you have three you still have one class. When you have three, you still have one class of children. They're in the same school. Once you have seven, you have all the schools. You have everything. Daycare. Daycare to college. I have college down to pre-K.

But you haven't actually given us an age yet. You can't remember. I'm sorry. ezra's 19 penelope is 17 rivers 15. a vigo is 13. uh willa is nine indiana is two and a half and then maybelline is one wow yeah that's incredible it's unbelievable so you look too young to have that many kids he He started pretty young. You can start at 12 in Oklahoma. I don't think that's true.

I'm not good at bad advice. I'm pretty sure that's illegal actually. You were like 19 or 20 when... Yeah, I mean, I was 20, so... And so, and so you guys come from seven and so um the other four was there any point at which they were part of the band i was there was there a re because there must have been a point when you were like okay i'm gonna start a band you are you is there another is there another band of four pitt four hunsons going around? They were very young.

So I was six when we started the band. I remember you being really young when Umbop came out. I was about 12 when Umbop came out. You were 12? He was thinking about his family at that point. He had two kids. He already had two kids. He had to get some money in.

When we formed the band, half of our siblings weren't even born yet. Like, like, so, so like our, our, the sister below me would have been like four. Yeah.

You know, she just couldn't keep a tune at four, you know, and she was always needing to go to the bathroom and, you know, couldn't hold it long enough. So we were just like, you're out.

The two year old sister under that. Um, we were like, come on, stand up. Come on, it's only an hour and a half show. Come on. So what's Christmas like? Do you all go back to your parents? Do all the family get together?

How many people are there? Well, there are, between our kids and our siblings' kids, there are 24 grandchildren, right? Something like that. There are 24 cousins, yeah. So imagine going to, like like a Chuck E. Cheese or a kids play park, you know, and that's what it's like.

It's just like adults going, oh God, put that down. Please save me. What have I done? You sort of hear like a motorized vehicle or something. I just, I hope a kid's not in the front seat. Yeah. Cause you can't, with that, it's a numbers game.

Cause you're like, you know, they're your nephew or nieces or they're grandkids. You can't like all of them, can you? Surely there must be a couple you're like, that one's annoying. But you can never say, because it's so-and-so's kid. There's a reason I only have three. It's because Taylor and Zach were like, listen, you're kids. I mean, seriously, you know. Yeah, no more of that.

We sat him down. We sat him down. You should really not do more. Actually, the really interesting thing about having a bunch of kids with a wide age range is it actually gets a lot easier right about the time that we're at now because the older kids are old enough that they actually are substitute babysitters. Right. So like the teenagers, the guys the girls doesn't matter they're all just kind of like you know every single like kid above the age

of 13 has someone in their you know immediate purview that they're kind of watching out for yeah yeah yeah yeah because we're too busy to parent exactly well i've seen your diary out so your diary your schedule you're touring but you're in europe um from like the 8th of june correct right you don't know you're just nodding here but and then you come to you're in london and manchester end of june and then you uh do bristol leads you do a uk tour as well as the rest of europe in denmark sweden then you're back to north america touring and then you do a huge tour there and then you do Latin America and then you have to Mexico and Brazil and then Australia in November so what are you taking the kids or just your partners dealing with the kids what's happening no no no we're going on tour so we don't have to be around

the kids we've been around them for two straight years do you know how isaac has managed to only have three kids he went on tour a lot right because you've made me feel a lot better i'm away for three weeks uh you've making me feel a lot better about that you're away for months i was i woke up the other morning and so i have my youngest is one and uh quincy came over and i'm like it's so sweet, honey. He, he, of all our kids, he likes me more than any of the other kids. And she just looks at me and goes, you weren't around for the other kids. Like you've been home for two years.

He knows you. You've been here every morning. You know, like the other kids, this is your dad. That's what they had to say at the start of the three that my nine-year-old was born we happened to be a day off in tulsa he was born that day i left the next morning to kansas city to play a concert oh my god yeah do you have you ever taken them on tour? Because that would be distract-tough, right? Surely. Seven of them? It's madness.

How do you describe your kids? Distracting. I've got things to do. Also, it's going to hit the profit. Because between you three, so there's 15 kids and partners. You've got to put them up and feed them i know i'm like i'm complaining over here going like geez guys slow down seriously i gotta i gotta

share the load over here you got five and seven kids i'm like i no no i've already got my kids working and you know snap snap go blow the line you've got kids that are as old as you were when you were winning grammys right yeah yeah my that is true my oldest son is i hope you remind them that they're not you know doing enough i want a grammy at your age get on with it get something done you losers stuff like that we don't usually take them on tour i think for my my kids it's like i don't really want their life to be completely built around my choices. And so that's part of it. And then the other thing is just, it is a lot. It's not really, it might sound like going on vacation to all these exotic places, but you're there for like 12 hours.

You're in a, you know, dirty club or some weird venue. We jokingly call it the tour of dumpsters and alleyways. You know, that's, man, did you see the alleyway in Milan? It was like, wow, old. Well, because people don't realize that as a, especially the, it's like the higher you go up the food chain as an entertainer, the worst places you, you see worst places. Like you see a back alleys and like the elevator that no one goes in.

That's the service elevator. You drive through the back gate. You know, it's not like here we are in the lobby. This beautiful. It's not just one dumpster. It's 15 and they smell worse. You're underneath the building and going through the kit back through the kitchen. What's that smell?

They're cooking food in here. Yeah. The most famous people in the world don't see anything. Yeah. They have to go everywhere through tunnels. Yeah. So you know, you're going somewhere. Every time you get out of your car, you're like, yes, success.

So do you think you're going to find it harder, though? Because you had those two years at home for the pandemic and not touring and stuff. Are you going to find it harder to leave them? I mean, I think in some ways. That was a nice, healthy pass. We're thinking about it. The dad of seven there, not really bothered. No, it's going to be quite nice, actually.

No. I love them. I'll see you later. I think the hardest thing actually is going to be, and my wife and I were talking about this, is it actually is going to be, I think the hardest thing actually is going to be, and my wife and I were talking about this, is it actually is going to be, I think, the hardest on the relationship between my wife and I, not so much the kids' situation.

The kids are a little bit like bouncy balls. They always seem to have energy and bounce back. The challenge is going to be, hey, honey, sorry you're flying solo for the next five months. So will it be five months fully fully or will you go back and forward or is it five months completely out of the house? There's a few gaps. I'm actually being quite mostly because I actually probably bring my kids out the most.

So I'm in the freak category. But I think that it's pretty much, especially internationally, it's virtually impossible to have all people. But, yeah, the U.S. is slightly more manageable. But, I mean, we're catching up. We're all making up for lost time i mean like you said the last two years it's like we got to get out there and you know hit the road so i think we would normally spread these this amount of shows out by another probably two ish months because it's just it's a lot you know uh you know you to squeeze in you know 90 plus shows in right at five months is you

know like something between it's like four to four and a half shows a week for five months when you're out there so you're you're on all different kinds of time and stuff so are you like you face timing back to home but it's 5 a.m because you're in stock home yeah exactly please don't yeah i obviously i want to talk to my kids but i've just gone to bed please or how does it work yeah well we're up i think we're about to find out to some degree because i feel a little bit like i'm readjusting to the world because again my youngest is a daughter and she is eight years old. So she hasn't known for the last two years since she was six years old, even five and a half almost. She hasn't really seen me on the road just constantly like we're about to be.

And I am just waiting for every few days her to call me and be something like, Daddy, why are you gone? Why don't you love me? Why don't you love me? You know, I just, I was there and she then, you know,

I just waiting for the things. And then my sons will be like, Hey guys, how was school? And they'll be like, fine. Yeah. My experience with my kids is I come home and I'm like,

where are they? And my wife's like, they're where they always are upstairs on their video games and on their technology. I'm like, where are they? And my wife's like, they're where they always are, upstairs on their video games and on their technology. I'm like, how are they doing in school? She's like, I don't know. They didn't say anything to me. At that point, we both look at each other and go,

that must mean they're doing well, right? They'd let us know if they were getting f's right yeah yeah of course we're fine how old were you guys when you did like a big tour then when you were younger what ages were you when you were sort of like really hit it off on big tours uh first real tour zach was 12 i would have been 14 15 when we actually were promoting and doing that first that first record yeah isa Isaac was 17? Yeah, yeah. We were hopping around a lot, obviously, in 1997.

And so at that time, we were about a year younger. But the real kind of full touring, you know, in a bus, all that stuff, didn't happen until about a year after the record was out. Like 98, yeah. Yeah, 98. So 25 years. Did your parents go with you? Because you said they had younger kids.

No, no, they were like, hey, hey, that 11-year-old, he's fine. He'll be good. Yeah. They were there. They were there the first two weeks. All of our siblings, our parents traveled with us. I mean, that was. Oh, wow.

We couldn't legally do anything. Somebody would have gone to prison if they sent us off without. Yeah. Well, I don't know if you had a chaperone or like a family. Because you all seem, for people that were so so like the mega famous at such a young age and sort of straight away like winning Grammys and stuff

you seem quite with it apart from you know the horrendous decision on having seven kids but that's you know your point you all seem people are like

you're fine and then think about it for a minute like wait five? you want five? what? well to be fair

I'm from a family of five I've got four brothers and it is busy a lot of arguments but yeah but you see five brothers all together all brothers

yeah that's a lot of dirty socks that's a lot of broken things we used to have to have a pants and socks amnesty where there were so many pants and socks in the house that they used to get

mixed up in the wash my mum would just drop them on the front room floor and go, just take your own. Take what you want. It feels like I fought you over the best ones. Exactly. That sounds about right.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, I'm at that phase where my 13 year old is big enough that he started, uh, his own amnesty program with my underwear and my clothes. I'm like,

wait, that's mine. Where did my leather check? Hey, that looks, damn it. We seem mostly sane, but we've got brokenness inside. Yes. We had so many kids so we could pass it down. What was your life like then as an 11-year-old or 12-year-old?

And what's your day like? You're doing your gig in the evening, but you're being schooled in the day. And you're going on AMTV Music Awards, and then you're going, God, I've got my whatever they're called in America, SATs or whatever. Yeah, yeah. Exactly. Yeah. You pretty much did it.

You're just on the move. So one advantage was in Oklahoma, it's very popular to be homeschooled Period so we were already Before the band had any Real success we were homeschooled and so Like when you transition from Being in Oklahoma to traveling to California to make albums or all over

The world to tour that was Actually kind of the same You just bring your very heavy backpack With you But you know it that was actually kind of the same. You just bring your very heavy backpack with you. But, but you know, it, it got a little weird there.

And, and I'll say that my, my high school years, there wasn't a whole lot of school going on. There was a lot of school of life, you know, a lot of like, you're making a record,

you're reading a contract, you're, you're learning about how your publishing works, you know, kind of going on. And, and so, you know, there there's there's some gaps i never dissected anything in biology or science i'm okay with that i'm fine yeah i didn't find out until about 30 that i was dyslexic i'm like oh yeah oh that's why the numbers they're not moving for you i just thought it was this fun game we're all playing

where the numbers are moving is that why there's so many m's at the beginning of m bot what do you mean there's so many m's yeah but uh you know at about at about 16 i I tested out of school because it was just, it was this funny experience where you're like, why am I still going to school when I have a nine to five job and most of the times a nine to 2 a.m. job? You know, like this doesn't make any sense. Like make sure to do your preparatory tests so you can figure out what you want to do with your life. Yeah, I'm already doing it. Let me get on with it. Yeah, already doing it.

What about your kids? Are they homeschooled? Are your kids homeschooled? Or are they in schools? You have to be careful when you ask a question like that. Isaac, are your kids in homeschool? Exactly. You can't speak collectively.

Yeah, they don't go to Hanson Preparatory Academy. We just drop them in a bunker. Well, I didn't know that you all made a decision as a family. We've all decided that you all do not need to learn to read. So I have one kid who is homeschooled and two who are in a private school. So it's kind of a mix based on what child needs what. It's not the same thing for everybody. Yeah, mine are in a private school.

Yeah, mine have been a little. We've done everything. We've done private, public. Currently, we're in a partly mostly public. Yeah, when you have seven kids you can't pay for private school for seven. There is that, that's true. Yeah, that's a lot of kids.

What you could have is one of your kids schooling another of your kids. That would be much easier. You could get your kids to school each other. Yeah, it's like personal tutoring. You want to put the eldest through private school to become a teacher and then work in your house and teach all the other kids.

This is perfect. You should have talked to him 10 years ago. Are any of your kids into music? I mean, we all have sort of various levels of somebody that's creative. I have a couple that are really super musical and I think will want to do it. I don't know if nobody's officially formed a band.

Isaac's one of his son's a great guitar player. And, um, and interesting, at least, you know, as far as people actually doing it and saying, Hey,

I'm going to go out and perform. That hasn't happened officially, but probably it's probably partly the, the fact that there's so in proximity to it that in one sense, it's a huge propelling forward. Like there's a great, there's like 12 drum sets and there's keyboards and there's a car and i'm on tour on the other hand it probably also is a little overwhelming because they're looking at something that is the embodiment of what looks

like to do that for real um so it'll be interesting to see i mean i i i would predict for sure um i'll have a couple that'll want to make music but i don't i don't know if it'll look like the way we've done it. In that situation, do you have a way you're going, well, I've got two musical kids here. We've already got a guitarist, so you're going to need to do drums, I think. We're going to have to... One of you's going to have to do keyboard,

then we're going to have to split this up between you. That's how it works. I have one that said to... I think he was probably eight years old. He said, I don't really want to be a musician. I want to control the musicians. I thought, okay, you need to keep an eye out for it. That's frightening.

Which also reminds me of the one scenario that you often talked about with the boys lined up and Penelope. Oh, gosh, yes. I am your leader. He was like, Taylor was like, yeah, I came into the house the other day, and the kids were playing, and I peered into the room, and the boys, Ezra and River, were kind of against the wall, and Penny was pacing back and forward saying, all right, now let's play, but let's pretend I'm your leader.

And she said it with such clarity and force. And the boys kind of straightened up, stiffed their back, and were like, okay. And have any of them gone for the full shoulder-length blonde hair? Have you talked them out of that? Have they nicked the look? My son had long hair for a minute. And then he asked my wife to be his hairstylist and she did something that he didn't like and now it's shorter again i blame him it was his fault he asked mom to do something i said i

don't think you want her to do that he was like no no i do and then he was like i don't like it it's yeah what did i do do you know what must be difficult though especially because you've got like you guys when you've got the kids so young and so old like that look that spread of kids is that moving between potty training and then oh my god i'm 16 and they've broken up with me how do you because like i say when they're in different classes when you've got five or seven it must be hard to jump between the two because you've got your head space in the younger ages and then as they get older oh god i can't talk about that now i'm just still wiping shit up off the floor. It's sort of zone defense all the time. Yeah. It's it's never, no quiet moments really basically in my house. We've often though

made the joke that having a lot of children is kind of like hanging around musicians because musicians have similar traits as young children. It'll be like for example they think the whole world revolves around them. The other thing is, you know, they do things like, mine, mine, mine, I want it, I want it. And, you know, occasionally they throw up on themselves, you know, etc.

etc. So, you know, it's... They're usually stumbling around with some sort of drink. That's true. Is that appropriate for a toilet pocket? Not fully toilet trained yeah you know it's obviously you know having a lot of kids

there's just a lot of things going on at the same time that's really all you can say how much sleep are you getting when you've got five or seven I really feel sorry this is the first interview we've ever done where someone having three kids is considered so unremarkable we're steering every question away i'm so sorry and you're making that point

from earlier it's okay this somehow seems normal yeah i'm perfectly fine with being unremarkable. So, so. As far as kids and sleep, I find some good concert quality earplugs really increase the amount of sleep you can get, you know? I just think, because I've got two kids, and two, and that's tough. And, you know, occasionally someone will be ill, or like, you know, one of them will just wake up because they've had a nightmare or whatever.

But if you've got five or seven, or let's not be around the bush, five or seven, if you've got five or seven, like, there must be constantly an ill child, or there must be constantly a child that's woken up earlier than, do you know what I mean? Is there ever a point when you go, that was a day that flew by? I mean, the truth is, it is a comedy of errors and it's a traveling circus. Yeah.

That's the facts of it. But it's like anything, too. I mean, once you're in a zone, you adjust to what your normal is. So people that actually sleep through the night, to me, that's weird. So it's like, what's your problem? What do you mean? You lay down and then you wake up at the end what are you talking about what is this no you haven't you haven't gotten up to

feed someone or clean something or you know put out a fire in midnight and then wake up in a stupor no it's i don't know it's like the difference in people that choose to go after um you know starting a business like, they say that if you own a business, you never actually, you know, you never actually go, you know, don't work like you own the thing. So, you know, if you own it, if it's yours, it's like with children, you're, they're always going to be your children, no matter how old you get. Like, I think my, my mom used to said early on and I thought I kind of scared me. She's like, you never really sleep the same once you have children. And I thought, well, that's kind of, you mean like for kind of scared me she's like you never really sleep the same once you have children and I thought well that's kind of you mean like for a few years she's like no you just

never really sleep the same and that's true because you are the parent now you keep waiting for somebody to be like you know show up officially and like like get like be like okay now I'm the one that's gonna really do this I remember leaving the hospital with our first child and then genuinely having this feeling of course I was very young looking at my wife and going, wait, wait, hold on a second. Like they're going to leave us with him. You have to take like a test to drive a car, but you have to take a test to take a child home. But it's, I think that's, that's the, I mean, that's the adventure, right? That's it's madness.

I think you could, you could relate having this many kids to like some people keep reptiles as pets, right? You're going to compare your children to reptiles? I'm excited about where this is going, by the way. I'm just very excited. Okay, wow. You're like, why do you have a python? I don't get it. Right?

Okay, I'm still ready. python i don't get it right okay i'm still and we're super happy and having a great time and loving to feed it dead animals and you're just going why i don't get it yeah so when you think about me and you're like but it seems so weird you're right. It's like people who keep reptiles. Zach has compared his children to a boa constrictor. Have you met Junior? You do feed him dead mice as well, don't you? That's one of his favourite treats.

So do your partners get help when you go away on tour? Like you're away for five months. Do you get help in or is it just sort of family members or just they just go for it solo? Well, the upside, I think, to some extent is that it's a little bit like a tour of duty when you go, you know, on the road. I just love how indirect this answer is. He didn't say, yeah, we have a nanny. He goes, it's like a tour of duty. It's one of those things you got to go through like a, like a coming of age, you know, there's a lot of pain involved.

I'm trying to describe himself going away. Yeah. I mean, I, I think, I think, I mean, your kids are old enough that you don't really need to help, right? You have two teenagers. I've got a 15 year old and a, andyear-old, and they're both taller than me. And a daughter. And a daughter who is not taller than me.

But, yeah, I mean, so we're kind of at an interesting stage where the kids are not as dependent as the aunts were. But we've got a great mom, and she is around a lot whenever kids need. Grandma Hanson. Yeah, Grandma Hanson needs to adopt a few kids for an afternoon. is around a lot uh whenever you know whenever kids grandma hansen need yeah grandma hansen needs to you know adopt you know a few kids for an afternoon our mom has often been that person she's got 24 24 on the books 24 options if she did one a day for a month she'd only have six days off like it's true it's true we all do it a little differently. I mean, like in your case, your older kids are adult humans. So yeah, I mean, I have some like built in dynamics that are totally different. I also have, we have grandmas on both sides. So there's, there's a

back and forth between that and all the, I mean, definitely aunts and uncles. I mean, there's a lot of family around. That's, that's family around. That's the main handout. Your Georgia family moved from Georgia to Oklahoma. Yeah, my wife's family all live here. So, I mean, it's a combination of things. But definitely it gets a lot, it makes a lot more sense as the big ones, they're all of a sudden able to.

You're driving the kids to school. You're getting the groceries. Oh, you just got your driver's license. You're so happy about that school. You're getting the groceries. Oh, you just got your driver's license. You're so happy about that. Here's the list. We've got you a car seat to go in the back. Look at this.

Here you are. You are your own personal, your family Uber right here. I suppose if you've got a lot, you've only ever got little ones for three or four years at any one time. Because by the time they're out of that little stage, they're big enough to sort of help out and they're you know become teenagers yeah exactly yeah so it's actually a really good idea i'm going to tell lou we've got four minutes to go yeah exactly you'd be like oh the hansen guys told me this is a good idea we're gonna get some sort of counseling bill sent from you i'll send you guys a t-shirt that said, Hanson made me do it. Yeah, that's fine. Can Grandma Hanson have some of my kids for a couple of the weekends of the year as well?

No, no. You have to reserve those slots years in advance. So how do you do that? Do you have a situation where you're like, could you do Tuesday? And you're like, no, sorry, I've got Wednesday afternoon. That's all I've got free next week. You think you're joking that's so that's pretty much what happens actually when when we started having kids uh it was like that we'd be like hey mom uh can you uh hang out

with Shepard on Tuesday and she'd be like yeah and then we'd come over with the one-year-old and there'd be four kids there and I'd like, I thought you were watching Shepard. And she'd be like, well, Taylor called and Isaac called and your sister called. Everyone called. So they're all here. And so what ends up happening is your kids just become really close to their cousins. And then it's just sort of a... Daycare service.

Yeah. No, it's a feral daycare service. Yeah. The quality drops. You can't look after that many kids and it'd be all right, can you? No. What's her limit? Has she got a limit where she goes, right, I've got 24 grandkids.

The most I can have is 10 at any one time. Has she got a limit? No, no. She does one in, one out like a nightclub. Has she ever had them all overnight for a sleepover not all 24 i don't think all i don't think all of them at once overnight actually a 19 year old don't want to stay over with a one-year-old in the house today unnecessarily just to have like cookies at 11 probably the best thing about us all having kids is that relationship that's built in for those so we all three have a 13 year old boy yeah right and so taylor has a a 15 year old boy as

well and isaac does as well so like there's like five boys that are like a built-in basketball team you know they play together and and my my second son is best friends with my sister's oldest you know like there's there's these built-in relationships. They have other friends too. We don't let them come in. That's a bit of a cult at this point. Yeah, we're developing that. I think it's

important to clarify those things sometimes. I think there's a documentary. You should do a reality show with this. This needs to be on telly. There's a weekly request for that. There's not enough cameras. It's just, you know, people, we don't want to share that. Yeah, put them off.

Yeah, gargling each other's blood, singing Mbop without the lyrics. Every night before bed. We're just, you know, Megan Fox got the idea from us. It's weird. I've got a music question. So when you've got a song like Um Bop, where do you drop that in a set? Because I always say, like, when you've got, like,

one of the biggest songs that's ever happened in your set. Right, right. And do you end on it? The only rule is don't do it first, because it's pretty much down from there. I mean, I'm trying to figure out how seriously to answer that. On a serious note, figuring out a way

to place that song amidst lots of other the live show is really kind of a career-wide project. It happens a lot of times. It's towards the end, but it's not the last song. Do you have a go? We're not going to play it tonight yeah for sure we've had a couple

tours where we did one tour where we didn't play it and you know it's one of those things it has to it's all about how it works in the show the advantage we have now is so many of the fans like the true fans that buy tickets and want to come see a show they really became fans

not just on that first record but on the second record the ones that are like that that show up over and over and so that if it was truly just well we had this one song in that every person in the room that was just there for that that would be a pain yeah i think yeah it's gone beyond that now well i saw chesney yorks and he did um the one and only twice in a set um he opened with it and closed with it and he denies this but i swear he did i've got i'll do a radio show and he's coming on it to debate it with me it's quite funny he reckons he's never done it twice but i'm sure he did um yeah did he maybe imply it maybe he just like did a chorus of it and then moved on. It was like. How could you imply a song? Implied.

He implied it. He implied it. About a backing track. That's sort of like, are you pregnant or not pregnant? I'm kind of pregnant. Yeah. He implied the song. Did you play it or not?

On the pregnant thing, when you've had six kids, when someone tells you they're pregnant, how, do you act surprised? With the seven. You mean just like someone on the street or like your environment? You're right, you're right. I walk up to pregnant people all the time, like, really?

No. It's not mine, is it? That's not exactly. I've implied it's mine. Nice. I will say that I have... Isaac is your own personal laugh track. He just is here. Well, he's got time to laugh.

He's sleeping and enjoying his life. That's right. Look how happy he is. Look how happy he is with three kids. If you only knew. Of my five children, believe it or not, you can put me on a lie detector, none of them were a surprise.

So when my wife said, I'm pregnant, I was like, it's about time. I said, oh my God, I think after six. Are you all done now, though? Any more kids or are you all done? Is this a collective question again? You've got to start calling out who you're talking to here. you all done now though? Any more kids or are you all done? Is this a collective question again?

You've got to start calling out who you're talking to here. It's just, you know, are we just one being? It would be weird if I just went, just Isaac, no one else. I want to know from all of you. I'm kind of curious to hear what the other guys say. We're definitely

done. this is the seven person talking yeah um seven human yeah we're i never liked saying it honestly because i feel i always felt really arrogant and sort of like i didn't like the way it sounded when i looked at somebody like i'm so done i just it it felt bad to me um how does it feel now it feels i'm at peace with it but I still don't like it, but I still don't, I don't love saying it because I, and seriously, I would have never predicted being a dad. And I honestly think that we're all joking about this, but I think that our generation is so spoiled, so self-consumed, so full of themselves that the best thing we could do is

have a generation of people that raise more kids. And I know everybody, you know, there's people that are worried about overpopulating the world, but having kids puts you in such a place of service and of humanity and reminding you like how you're supposed to act. Our whole generation has behaved like children. Like we are the children. I think becoming a parent in a lot of respects is like, okay, like this is good. You're going to be better for it. I promise. Also, it spreads the cost of a retirement home, doesn't it? You get something nicer to live.

Yeah. But it's, it's, it's craziness. And yeah, I mean, we're, we're definitely finished, but yeah. So for me. No, don't care. No, just the one, just the one person I wanted to speak to that. No, fuck off. Don't care.

Don't care. Keep it to yourself. Keep it to yourself. Edit this fuck off. Don't care. Don't care. Keep it to yourself. Keep it to yourself. Edit this bit out. That's fine. See, I have a very specific reason why I have five kids, right? Okay.

One is I was never in charge of it. Just whatever my wife wants. Okay, that's the first reason. But the real reason is I think you keep having kids until you find one that you think truly loves you. And then you can put them in charge of your life when you lose your mind and are too old. Because we had Shepard, our first, I'm like, I don't know.

This kid's really busy. And then Junia, our second, she was like, she told me this. She's like, Dad, when you get old, I am putting you in a home as soon as possible because I don't want to deal with you. I'm like, girl, you're 10 years old. That is rough. So, so Abraham, our third, he's really sweet, but I think he might forget about us. He's kind of a rascal. Junia, or Lucille, Lucille Lucille is a princess

and so she's just going to take all the money and like buy a horse or a pony and then Quincy our fifth was like okay I think we have enough our odds are fine he's going to take care of you he's the one that's going to look out for you yeah he's going to go ahead with Junia and be like no no we're not putting him in the home is that what you're hoping for

he's going to be like no dad dad's my's going to be like, no, Dad, Dad's my friend. She'll be like, he can live with you. He knows my name. When I was a baby, he was actually there. I never knew my father.

That's what the others say. We always end on the same question. Oh, I'm going to ask it to all of you, but Rob only wants one of you to answer it. Okay, okay. And I don't mind which one. Just not Isaac. I'll go back to my first response.

I am perfectly fine being inadequate. Inadequate? Oh, my God. That was unremarkable, I think, wasn't it? Oh, unremarkable. You know, I mean, jeez, if I'm willing to say that about myself, imagine how my wife feels.

Yes. Well, I should say, as it is a probe interview, if you want to see Hanson live in the UK. I'll show him through the tour dates. I've got him here if you want him. Nottingham, UK. Rock City, 26th of June. 28th of June, Glasgow.

29th of June, Manchester. O2 Ritz, 30th of June, London. Roundhouse, July 2nd, Bristol. O2 Academy and July 3rd, Leeds, Manchester. O2, Ritz. 30th of June, London, Roundhouse. July 2nd, Bristol. O2 Academy. And July 3rd, Leeds, UK. The University, Stylus. Stylus. Must be the club it's in.

Album is out on the 20th of May as well. It's pretty much the best album you've never heard yet. Well, the red, green and blue, that's the album, isn't it? Yeah. Crayon Colours, that's why their children did it. I can't talk seriously about this now. It's a red, green and blue, that's the album, isn't it? Yeah, it's crayon colours. That's why their children did it. I can't talk seriously about this now. It's a red, green, blue album. There's a lot of colours.

There's music in there. I hope so. It's not just colours. I mean, it's just a light show, no sound. You're just going to imply songs throughout the lights. It's like being kind of pregnant. It's kind of music. We're going to kind of be there.

There will be holograms for half the shows in latin america um do you want to ask the final question josh oh yes so we always ask um is there anything that your uh partner does parenting wise that annoys you but you don't have the guts to say it but were they to listen to this podcast this would be your chance to pass that message across let me just ask you this let me give you some good advice don't share this answer

if you want to stay married like successful I'm about to be married for 20 years that's why I don't have an answer for you words of the wise gentleman listen when a radio host says tell me we're friends you should know Okay, words of the wise, gentlemen listening. When a radio host says, tell me, everyone, you and me, we're friends.

You should know. Just give it. Yeah, but it's a podcast. We're more, you know, intimate. We let feelings out. No one listens to podcasts. Just say it. Don't have a good vibe.

Just say it. You're about to be gone for five months and leave the kids alone with you. It's fine. Don't worry about it. The house will be empty when you come home. Just go look after them for five months, but do not leave towels on the floor because that has been annoying me for the last 10 years.

I would say, though, if you did come home and the house was empty, that first day and a half would be nice, though, wouldn't it? You know, once the grief catches up with you that she's left but that first day oh wait imagine that day it'd be lovely wouldn't it it'd be very relaxing like you said the grief would catch up something something trying to think of something i can share here it's also you know not gonna benign benign gonna come back to haunt you.

My wife uses one of those nasal pots, honey pot. What do they call them? Neti pots? Neti pots. I thought you were going to be like Navaj or whatever. I just... What's this? It's so disgusting.

She pours honey in her nose. Like where you pour the... Into your... Into your... It helps clean your sinuses. I'm like, guys, no. No. And so it leaves it out it's just i don't know what this is they're poor honey it's like a spray you put poor honey

it's called a netty pot it's a netty pot it's like a like it's a sinus cleaning thing oh wow that's why we stopped having kids oh god i've seen it it's horrific so it's like a little it's like a little teapot that you pour in your own nose to clear your nose out. Yes. Yeah, I think you're right, mate. I think, yeah, well, yeah,

I can just clip this up and send it straight to her. What's her email? Just to let her know. I'm like, I just, I love you so much. I'm just going to go with... A little bit less

every time I see you use this teapot for your sinuses. Oh, God, it's mental. I'm just going to go with Zach. Zach, you're a deeply insensitive husband. You clearly don't suffer from allergies the way that she does. Look, I just know I'm about to pay for this, so I've already put in my mind how much it's going to cost me.

He's got an allergy to the neti pot. That's what his allergy is. Thanks so much, lads. We really appreciate this. It's been such a pleasure. Thank you, guys. Absolutely, guys. If you ever have to interview three people,

the way to do it is just don't talk to one of them. That's what we've found. It's one question for everyone on the call. It's the easiest way. It's been a pleasure to talk to you. Thank you so much for doing it. You're on tour and the album's out 20th of May.

Red, green, blue. And if you are in the UK and don't have a fancy little trip away, they're doing Salt Lake City on the 7th of September if you fancy that. Always like to chuck in

a random one. Yeah. What's the one you're looking forward to most? Gosh, well, we'll be all over the world. Brazil. You're doing a lot in Brazil.

You're big in Brazil. Yeah. It's South America and Australia are bigger shows as a whole. Australia will be announced soon.

November. I'm in Australia and New Zealand in November. I mean, it's quite a big place. We probably won't cross paths, but if we do, I'll give you a shout. We may bump into each other.

We'll go for a beer and I'll ask you all the same question at once. Yeah, but if you see a group of people with a bunch of kids around them, it's probably one of these guys. Which will be worrying,

considering you don't travel with your own children, but that's up to you. What happens on tour, stays on tour. Thanks very much, guys. It's been an absolute pleasure. Cheers. Good luck. Bye.

You guys have a good one. Hanson. Hanson. Oh. There we go. Oh so much. Bye. You guys have a good one. Hanson. Hanson. Oh. There we go. Oh, wow. I really enjoyed that. Can I be honest?

Yeah. I didn't know how it was going to work. I've never really seen them interviewed before. I didn't know if they were, especially with bands, you never know if they want to do it or if they've been bullied into it. I was nervous. I was nervous for Hanson. I was more nervous for Hanson than I was for Robbie Williams.

How does that work? But they were brilliant. They're really funny. They were lovely. Brilliant. Great guys. Really fun. They've got so many kids.

And poor Nan. 24 Hansons unbopping about. Where do you put unbopping a set? We didn't play at one tour. What? What? Pardon? Pardon?

It's like us doing an episode of this not mentioning having kids at all ever no I didn't I just want to sort of explore new places in my chat really rather than talking about my kids they were good though

they were very normal considering they were so famous so young you know what I mean yeah do you know what I reckon I reckon

I'm going to bump into them in australia and go out in the pierceville hansen that's good that's the dream i'd love that that would be the dream yeah um see you on tuesday josh see you on tuesday bye