Hanson to learn their connection to Billie Eilish & FINNEAS, Staying Indie and Make Beer

“It's always interesting to meet your peers that you've influenced,” says Zac Hanson.

Like the Hanson trio, Zac and his brothers Taylor and Isaac have, after all, been making music together for 30 years – the equivalent of an entire career for many artists. These peers have included some of today's biggest hit makers, who looked to Hanson's success and stability as a potential model for their own.

“We sat in our studio with Billie Eilish and FINNEAS when they happened to be in town, [with] their parents talking to us saying, 'We basically decided they should do music because we saw Hanson and you guys look like you're fine,'” Taylor recalls. “Well, that's crazy … and here they are, they've done incredible, beautiful work.”

Other artists, the brothers reveal, visited Hanson simply looking to get his take on new music. “In the same studio, Ed Sheeran, when he was opening for Taylor Swift, [was] like, “I want to play you some songs.” … And you just go, 'This is really fun!'” Isaac says with a laugh.

Hanson is currently celebrating 20 years since breaking free and starting his own label, 3CG Records, where they released their third album. Under. The band is on a North American tour in support of a deluxe reissue, Bottom: Completed.

“These songs are all richer, more layered, we created a lot of them,” says Taylor Under. “It's a record that works really well in a live setting and it's exciting to go back and really lean into those songs,” which include the radio hit “Penny and Me.”

In a wide-ranging and casual chat with Billboard News, the Hanson brothers also talk about their foray into brewing with Mmmhops Pale Ale, which will also be re-released, along with a new beer, Pink Moonlight Hazy Peach IPA, brewed in collaboration with the well-known independent craft brewery Destihl.

Watch the full interview — in which the brothers also discuss their thoughts on how to, as Isaac puts it, “fix the music industry” — above.