Hanson hope to expose the less lovely side of the music industry by releasing on DVD their recent documentary 'Strong Enough To Break', which follows the trio during their tedious falling out with Universal's Island/Def Jam, and their final decision to release their third album themselves (a release which was subsequently one of the highest charting independent releases in US chart history). Viewers see the major label reject over 80 songs as the band try to provide them with an album they are willing to release. The film has been shown at a number of screenings around the US for over a year now, but the DVD release should get it to a much wider audience.
Speaking to Billboard, Zac Hanson says the film shows the kind of traumas a number of artists and bands have gone through when dealing with unhelpful record companies. He reckons it's an important film: "not because it's about Hanson - because who cares, we're just one more band - but because there are so many similar stories, like what happened to Fiona Apple and Wilco. It's sort of the norm".
Elsewhere in Hanson news, the band are planning on releasing a special digital track for World AIDS Day, profits from which will go to an HIV unit at a hospital in Soweto. The release follows a trip the band took to Africa to see the extent of the AIDS crisis there. Taylor Hanson explains: "Our trip to Africa was a personal awakening. Our experience there made clear that the fight against AIDS is an urgent cause that requires action whether you're in the ghettos of Soweto or suburbs of America. That is the message we want to help deliver through whatever means we can amass and encourage others to do so as well."
Press info on the track is available from Cooking Vinyl.