Hanson Brothers

I first heard the Hanson Brothers in 1992, when Gross Misconduct, the band’s initial LP came out. I was already a huge fan of NoMeansNo, and an alter ego band of those fellas playing Ramones-inspired tunes seemed too good to be true. Fortunately, it wasn’t. I didn’t get to experience the full grandeur of the band until ’96, which is when I saw them live for the first time. They came through town as NoMeansNo (the two-drummer era, with Ken Kempster), then, a few weeks later, came back through as the Hanson Brothers—DIY at its most brilliant: tour one direction as one band, return through the same towns a couple weeks later as another. I don’t know what I was expecting, but the Hansons live show was pure spectacle—from Robbie in a hockey mask to Tommy drooling to Kenny Jr. instigating to Johnny holding forth like a punk rock P. T. Barnum, all of them decked out in hockey sweaters, it was punk flamboyance at its best. While NoMeansNo was an organic, tight, ferocious musical onslaught, the Hanson Brothers took that energy and precision and added showmanship, gregariousness, and fun. Oh, and hockey. Can’t forget the hockey. They amped up the between-song banter, which was always stellar in NoMeansNo, and delivered a vim-and-vigor packed, vaudevillian version of a punk rock carnival. I wish I could have seen the original three-piece version with Andy Kerr on guitar doing actual Ramones songs, but the four-piece incarnation, with John Wright hopping out from behind the drums and assuming frontman duties, with three records of original tunes, with a live show not unlike a line brawl, well—that was a sight to behold, and I’m grateful I beheld it as many times as I did. Really thrilled to collaborate with Bifocal and the Hanson Brothers on this t-shirt. How thrilled? At least 100 + 10%.  -Abe Brennan