Review/Giveaway: Infidel Rising - The Torn Wings of Illusion Album Review

Before I start this review I would like to say a few words: I did not get paid or received any free products in return for this review. I am not an expert on music. this is just my opinion about this album and how it makes me feel. I did not do this review because I was asked to, I do it because I deem the album worthy of spreading the word about it. The Giveaway is also not sponsored - I was just so excited to share my thoughts on Infidel Rising's album, The Torn Wings of Illusion, that I wanted to give a copy away to one of our readers!

New fan!

After seeing Infidel Rising live on December 10th 2016, and buying their album that day I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve listen to it over the past month. To be honest, I am not the biggest fan of studio albums. There’s no particular reason as of why, I just always enjoyed live albums a tad more, but after spending so much time it, The Torn Wings Of Illusion has become one of my favorite studio albums.

Infidel Rising is a Power / Progressive Metal band local to Dallas, Texas with a heavy sound, classical symphonic and ethnic overtones and the lyrical artwork has depth and a richness of ideas.

According to  the band's Facebook bio, "the concept for Infidel Rising was always inside Travis Wills before he even realized it. Growing up in Houston as a drummer, it wouldn't be until he moved to Dallas as a vocalist that the calling would take hold.

It was difficult to find the right band members to create the sound they envision, and it ended up taking almost 2 years to find and put together the current members: Travis Wills - Lead Vocals, Wayne Stokely - Drums, Jason Donnelly - Guitar, Daniel Almagro -Bass, and Pasche Simmons - Keys and vocals.

I had the good fortune of starting todevelop a friendship with some of the band members on Facebook after my mentioning them in the Power Metal Concert Review and I totally took advantage of it by asking Travis Willis directly about the backstory of The Torn Wings Of Illusion.

This is what he told me (quoted from our conversation with permission):

“The Back story to the album is personal experience, or a different perspective to what has always been told.

The songs like Power of Goodbye, Reflections, Talitha, Torn Wings, Alive, those were all personal experiences dealing with death, or loving someone that dealt with depression, or dealing with my own demons or joys.

Holodomor, was a piece of history that never gets told, I thought it was important to bring it to light.

Exodus to Kadesh, Cloning Appearance, Finding Nevermore, were observations, and also a different approach into the main stream biblical teachings, which I don’t agree with. I believe that the Bible should be viewed thru the eyes of Jewish, and middle eastern view...not western.... we know nothing about the culture, all we know is what we think we know... Meaning, we may dismiss something written in the bible because we may think it’s no big deal...While that is the case thru western eyes, it is a big deal on the other side of the world. So this modern approach to religion has killed lots of what the original intent was, and it’s sad, and I try to expose it.

The Great Discovery is a song about an idea that you view the world the way you would want to live in... and that it’s in each of our powers to make a great world... to manifest it...stop depending on others to make the world special. it starts with you, and if everyone thought that way then the world would manifest itself differently. “

That should give you a good idea of where this album is coming from - now I'd like to share a few impressions of some of the tracks.

Infidel Rising – The Torn Wings of Illusion

Year released:   2015

Tracks:                  11

Run Time:            66:25

Artists on the Album:

Travis Wills – Lead Vocals

Wayne Stokely – Drums

Rafael Rivera – Guitars

Aaron Walton – Keyboards & Violin

Daniel Almagro -Bass

1.       1932 – 1933 (Passaeaglia)

The prologue to Holodomor is in Ukrainian and you can hear a dramatic sounding conversation between an older man and a boy. It talks about how the Government is to blame for the Holodomor.

Travis was so nice and provided a transcript for me:

Made by Stalin."Holodomor"
The man said: "Run away child, because they are gonna catch you and cook you"
Kid: "and you?"
Man: "well, they will cook me as well if they catch me. But it's no use, there's only bones in this body."
Kid: " is that a plague?"
Man:" no, son, that's the government, run away son, run away…"

2.       Holodomor

3.       Exodus to Kadesh

This track seems to deal with the new Testament and the different approach that Travis mentioned in our Facebook conversation.

“Believing all scriptures of darkness in truthThe lies of Sanhedrin abandon their truthLet us run to the mountains of JordanAbandon society’s violence and lies”

4.       The Torn Wings of Illusion

5.       Alive
Fun fact: Travis told me that this was actually the first song he wrote.

6.       Reflections

7.       Power of Goodbye

8.       Cloning Appearance

9.       Finding Nevermore

10.   Talitha Koum

11.   The Great Discovery

“The love of all grow cold, the hate for kindness unfolds. We’ve lost our way in humanity, and tensions grow. Our patience have grown thin, for others what they believe in. Embrace the cultural decay, has become society’s way.”

I honestly would love to quote every song in full just because of how fulfilling I find the lyrics, but I won’t. The lyrics are listed in full inside the album ;)

My personal favorite would have to be The Torn Wings of Illusion and Cloning Appearance. The Torn Wings of Illusion lyrics are just very deep and I can find myself in them over and over.

I think this album is in general wonderful, and the merge of Power Metal and Progressive Metal couldn’t be better. Many try and can’t pull it off, but Infidel Rising does.

Even with the longer songs like Cloning Appearance (8:47) and The Great Discovery (11:39), I never felt like they overstretched a song.

I feel like that’s the struggle with a lot of albums in that sub-genre - - that many have overstretched songs or that the symphonic & classical elements can seem out of place. But Infidel Rising balanced it out very well without causing boredom or losing interest while listening to the songs.

The lyrics are very deep and managed to provoke all kinds of emotions in me. Some of their songs make me question things, others cause me to tear up a bit (don’t judge me! I never said I wasn’t a tad over emotional when it comes to great music) and others just make me feel great, hopeful and empowered.

I think overall the album is very positive sounding but it has its dark edges.

Another thing I wanted to say about this album is that it comes in a standard Clear CD case with a small booklet which includes the lyrics as well as thank you notes from the members.

The CD its self has a matte finish and the overall design is beautiful.

In our conversation, Travis described the story behind the album artwork like this:

"The album cover is us "butterflies" going back to our past feeding off of it ....Black swan....hence black swan theory...living in regret... thinking if we would have done this or that we could have prevented the out come....”

You can purchase the physical CD of The Torn Wings of Illusion through their Facebook page for $10.00 which includes free shipping within the US.

Or you can also find them on Amazon Music as a digital download for only $8.99!

Overall, I think this band deserves a lot more attention for their work and if you enjoyed this review, got a chance to see them live yourself or liked their music, be loud about it and give them the attention that they are worth!

I also wanted to take a second to mention their band shirts. They have multiple design but I just went with the plain logo one instead of getting the one with the Album logo on it.

The quality is great. The shirt is on the thinner side, which I personally prefer, and they run true to size!

If you order a small you actually get a small and not some teeny tiny piece of fabric that’s more like a XXS.

Also, their merchandise looks pretty cool. I’ve gotten compliments for it quite a few times!

These shirts are priced at $20.00 each.

For more info about their merchandise check out the pinned post on their Facebook page!

I hope you have enjoyed this review and take advantage of your chance to win a free copy of their album!  Read on to see how!

https://www.facebook.com/infidelrisingmusic/
https://twitter.com/infidelrising
https://www.instagram.com/infidelrising/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUoaAEQihrF4lDJT_oD722w
https://www.reverbnation.com/infidelrising
http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/InfidelRising

This giveaway is for 1 audio CD: The Torn Wings of Illusion by Infidel Rising, and is being offered by Patricia Reazin, one of the contributers to Reviews, Chews & How-Tos.  We are not affiliated with Infidel Rising, and they did not provide the giveaway item, nor are they responsible to provide the CD.

To enter the giveaway, please leave a comment in this entry as instructed by the Giveaway Tools Entry Form below. This will open up additional optional entries to increase your odds of winning. (If you don't leave a comment, any additional entries will be void.)

This giveaway is open to US RESIDENTS (& APO/AE) ONLY and will end just before midnight ET on 1/27. 

The winners will be notified by email within 24 hours after the end of the giveaway. In order to claim the giveaway prize, the winner will need to respond within 24 hours of notification, or an alternate winner will be selected.

Once the winners have responded and confirmed, their first names will be posted on our Giveaways  page.

Good luck!

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Power Metal Concert Brings Together Five Great Bands

On Dec 10th, my friend and I went to the Sonata Arctica*LeavesEyes*Omnium Gatherum*Infidel Rising*Millennial Reign Concert at Trees Dallas.

I’ve literally been waiting to see Sonata Arctica live since I was 12 years old and listened to their music at a friend’s house for the first time. For that reason alone, there wasn’t even a second's hesitation about going when I saw they were coming to Dallas.

Having two small kids and a husband in the military made arranging this more complicated though.

I didn't have a plan yet, but I got VIP Meet &  Greet tickets and was just hoping that something would work out. Of course, my husband had to work on this specific weekend, but my wonderful neighbor and her teenage daughter came to the rescue and watched the little ones so I could go.

That was a huge favor, because I was going to be gone a long while. Google said it was about a 2 hour drive to Dallas, then we would need time to find parking, grab a quick snack for dinner and be at the Meet & Greet check-in by 5:45pm.

That morning went by so quickly. I had decided the night before to add some purple to my blonde hair as soon as I woke up, and that turned into an almost 3 hour hair dye ordeal. I loved the result though.

After that, I had to somehow feed the kids breakfast, run a load of laundry, pick up the house a bit, do my make-up and I also had the stupid idea to put curlers in my hair – go figure.

The original plan was that I would leave around 11.30am to pick up my friend Kristena, and then head up to Dallas. I managed to leave the house around 12.10pm.

I was so excited, it was ridiculous!

Once I picked up Kristena, we hit the road. The drive was rather uneventful and traffic wasn’t too bad but Google maps 2 hour estimate turned out completely unrealistic. We really needed about 3 hours (thank goodness I always over plan!).

Poor Kristena had to listen to my singing on the entire drive!

Trees, the downtown Dallas venue, looked quite big from the outside and the tour busses were already parked in front of it. Sadly, the parking lot was locked up and we got told it wouldn’t even open until around 6pm, but right across from it we found a parking spot that looked quite safe. 

We had some tacos and beer after figuring out the parking situation, and then it was finally time to stand in line. It was cold and they ended up not letting us in until around 6:30pm. Brr!

The VIP Meet & Greet was pretty cool. I am from Germany, and I haven’t been to any concerts before in the States. I was super nervous over how this all goes here, and I also never in my life had VIP tickets for a concert.

The set up was nice. We all lined up in groups of 4 & 5 people, got a signed poster, a chance to get merchandise signed and they took a picture of us with the band.

The guys from Sonata Arctica seemed pretty cool. I somehow imagined them louder though but I was honestly just star struck at the moment. I barely remembered to hand them the cookies that I had made for them.

After that, we went to the bar a bit, got a look around the venue, and then we slowly started making our way to the stage to secure first row spots. The venue had quite a decent size and I need to point out that it was very clean, especially the bathrooms. (these things matter!)

This is my impression of each of the five bands that played:

Millennial Reign

The first band on stage was Millenial Reign, a smaller local Melodic Metal / Power Metal band. I honestly need to say, they surprised me.

The vocalist looked older than the rest, but wow, he has a great and powerful voice. I really enjoyed their opening act and from the few times that I looked around me, I could see that they got quite a good portion of the crowd moving. I don’t have much information on them but I checked out their facebook page after the concert.

Infidel Rising

Infidel Rising is a Power Metal / Progressive Metal band. Omg, I loved this band and was in total shock that I had never heard of them before. I loved the whole show they put on. It was just great music and I was headbanging like there was no tomorrow.

It turned out that the Drummer, Bassist and Guitarist are the same as from Millennial Reign; which honestly had me confused over the first song, because I wasn’t really sure if the first band just swapped singers and added a keyboardist, or what was going on.

The style of the music was definitely different though, and by the second song they kind of had me fascinated to the point that I decided I will have to check out that band some more after the concert.

The Vocals were also just amazing. I loved the whole male main vocals and the female backing vocals.

Also, have I mentioned that the female vocalist and keyboardist wore the best-looking corset I have ever seen?!? I need one.

After their show, I got to talk to Pasche for a few minutes and she just seems like a really cool lady.

At the very end of the show (I mean after all bands were done that night) I got a chance to stop by their merchandise stand and got a signed album.

I loved them so much, I plan on writing a separate review regarding their album, because guys, if you consider yourself a metalhead and have a soft spot for Progressive / Power Metal, you need to hear this!

I plan to attend more of their shows for sure! (If you go, buy the shirt! Just do it! Don’t be like me who’s sitting here right now, regretting that I didn’t buy it right there and then!)

You should definitely check them out on Facebook and YouTube!

Omnium Gatherum

This was the first time I'd experienced death metal band Omnium Gatherum, and it was another great experience for me.

Death metal is just really my thing, and I am pretty sure its the main reason why my neck has been hurting so much. I don’t think I ever stopped headbanging during Omnium Gatherum's set, except for a few moments to look up to the stage, snatch a picture here and there, and check to make sure Kristena was still all right.

I couldn’t believe I had never heard of them before either, although I know why. I mean, let’s get real, since having kids, my music has not expanded. I am still listening to the albums I bought 8 /10 / 12 years back for the most part, but after this concert, I'm definitely getting a couple of their albums in the near future.

They put on a great show and are worth being seen live. I added them to my band tracker app that same night to make sure I can see them live again when they are in the area, and I'll be keeping up with them on Facebook.

Leaves Eyes

I honestly need to say, the Viking Metal band Leaves Eyes put on the most impressive show of all the bands that night.

I mean, come on, they had a stage full of Vikings and their male Vocalist changed into a Viking outfit as well during their show and was wielding a giant sword above our heads.

I also loved the classical, almost operatic voice of their female vocalist.  I actually ended up making a little video clip of their show to show to my son, Noah. He’s probably the biggest Viking Metal fan I know.

I also genuinely enjoyed their music and hope to see them again some time (hopefully with Noah!).
Meanwhile, I'll be following them on Facebook.

Sonata Arctica

This is the act that I came for. I was beyond excited when I saw them walking on stage and couldn’t even believe this was really happening.

They put on one hell of a great show and were very engaging with the audience. As I already said a couple of times, I am a headbanger. I am really that chick that dresses up cute, spends hours to do her hair just to have it all look like a crazy mess in the end because I just can’t help myself.

They had us clapping, jumping, singing, swinging. It was a great, emotional and fun experience.

There’s just something special about seeing one of your favorite bands live.

What I also would like to point out is that their new album, The Ninth Hour, received a lot of not so positive critique, especially for being ‘not as heavy.’ Some fans seemed a little disappointed in it.

I have to admit, it’s not my favorite album, but then again, I have always preferred live albums over studio albums and For The Sake Of Revenge and Live In Finland are both the bomb.

Back to the show on Saturday:  If you didn't care for The Ninth Hour, live those same pieces are a whole different story. They were definitely a lot heavier than on the album.

I think it was definitely worth seeing them, and I hope to do so again in the future. They have been such a big part of my life, and I connect so many beautiful, sad and emotional memories with their songs.

Their lyrics are also very touching and have never disappointed. I don’t want to get too much into detail at this point, but I am sure their music has saved my life once or twice before.

What also deserves a shout out, they seem to have the world’s happiest drummer. He did not once stop smiling throughout their set.

Keep track of Sonata Arcadia on Facebook.

In the end, I need to say this was well worth the $66 for a VIP ticket. I so hope to see them all live again soon. The whole mix of bands just seemed to compliment each other very well.

I thought I would be sad when it was over, but I just felt really satisfied and this was the best ‘mom’s night out’ I’ve ever had.

The concert was on a Friday, and the following Wednesday was the first day that I did not have to put Tiger Balm on my neck to get through the day. It was great and so worth the pain lol

Big shout out to my friend Kristena who went there with me. She was far from being a metalhead but I feel like we might have converted her that night. Kristena, I so appreciate you and that you went there with me.

I also would like to mention how great I thought it was that they had local bands as openers.
A lot of times we are all so focused on the ones who already made it big that we forget to pay attention to the smaller ones that are rising all around us (I am sooo guilty of this, but this will change!!).

It is just such a great way for them to get their name out and I am sure I found a new favorite band from among the local ones.

Important: When you go to a metal concert, get the ear plugs to protect your ears! I did not, and was deaf on my right ear until about Monday around noon. I had serious concerns that I might have ruined my ear completely.

Be smarter than me, get the plugs for your ears' sake!

A Fanson in Tulsa

This past October, my family was up for a military PCS from California to Germany. We decided that instead of flying out of the West Coast, we would drive across country to make lots of stops and visits along the way, ending at my mom's house in Maryland for a few weeks before going overseas via Dulles Airport.

Among the planned stops was Tulsa, Oklahoma – for a few reasons.

My Dad's first wife, my stepmom, Beth resides there and we are pretty close. Though I didn't know her growing up, I will always consider her family. We had stayed with her when we were in town before, but in the past it was quick overnights without getting to see the sights. Not this time! We stayed 3 nights, and loved being able to be leisurely about exploring Tulsa, instead of rushed through.

My husband already knew full how I likely had our days planned out, and for the most part, I definitely did.

It was easy, really... Tulsa OK is the hometown of my favorite band, Hanson and I already knew all their favorite spots to eat and shop and couldn't wait to experience them for myself. Judge away, no shame.

We didn't arrive until nearly 5am, after a ridiculously long drive, so the first thing we did was go straight to bed! But I didn't want to waste the next day, so we headed straight out after a short sleep.

I had a list of places to try for breakfast based on Hanson recommendations and spottings, but had to keep in mind we had a 1 and 6 year old in our midst, so needed to be sure to go somewhere they would be accommodated as well.

I should also mention that I was under no delusions that I would actually run into my favorite celebs as I knew they were currently touring on the East Coast. That said, we settled on a place called Blue Moon Cafe. It was a small place with mostly locally sourced salad and sandwich type items. It was quite tasty and gave us a quiet place to GPS plan the rest of our stops.

After our breakfast we walked just a few blocks down to a place called IDA RED. It is primarily an “I HEART Tulsa” kind of boutique, but also a well known Hanson favorite – it's even a stop on the tour during Hanson Day every May.

They had a ton of unique soda flavors from a local company and strange foreign foods and candies (like beer cotton candy!) I didn't purchase anything Tulsa specific, except post cards for my collection, but I got a few goodies.

My favorite find was my FREAKER USA!! (Jessica reviewed them a few months back so it made me pretty giddy to get my hands on one!)

After IDA RED we hopped in the car and headed to our next stop, Dwelling Spaces.

From my research this place is kind of the obvious, that all fans seem to know is THE place to be for Hanson Fans. Apparently they occasionally have Hanson merchandise, even.

 But one of the real shining lights is the coffee shop inside called Joe Bots.

Rumor has it, they can draw a mean foam Hanson symbol on your cappuccino. As curious as I was to test this theory, it was hot, and I needed an iced chai... so the mystery remains. The shop itself was awesome, but a bit expensive in my opinion.

After a short break to Geocache, we were back on our way.

Next up was Hanson's recording studio!! I was possibly most excited for this. I knew they weren't there, and that it was legit just a picture outside a building, but it was a mindset – they without a doubt, stood here, touched this doorknob, took a picture in this exact spot.

As we were looking for it, I also came across Cain's Ballroom. This is by far their most favorite place to play, and they speak of it often. We didn't bother to stop, but at least had to take a pic to say I was there..

Our next leg of the adventure was another I was quite excited for! We were headed to a site where they had filmed parts of their “Thinkin Bout Somethin” Video.

So off to the corner of N. Greenwood and E. Archer we went! It wasn't hard to find. It's just a street view with the overpass in the backround.

I wasn't able to get a replicated shot, but it's clear it was filmed quite overhead.

If you go a bit further past the bridge you'll find the iconic blues mural they used as well. It was so interesting to see how much was photoshopped and changed for it! I loved standing there. I felt very connected to my favorite band. 

Two more stops to go on my personal Hanson tour of Tulsa! 

Next up was a sweet shop. Every Valentine's day on Hanson.net they sell boxes of chocolates with their different iconic symbols on them. 

These are made by Glacier Confections. Although the shop is small, I was amazed by the selection! If you can dream it, they'd already made it. 

On a big screen behind the counter they even had the original Willy Wonka playing on repeat.

The lady behind the counter was one of the sweetest retail people I've ever met. She was happy to chit chat and answer anything and she was the first person all day that I told what personal tour we were on. When she said she was happy to answer any questions I say “I have one.... have you ever personally MET Hanson??” haha! 

Sadly she hasn't but she did know what I was talking about which was good enough. We spent a good bit of money for some of the most exotic artisan chocolates and truffles...a good few were alcoholic. ;)

The very last stop on my Hanson propelled tour was their childhood home. They no longer owned it of course and the address is public knowledge from when it was sold a few years back.

Obviously I wouldn't overstep any boundaries but I just wanted to SEE it. It's where it all began. It's where they got the name 3CG (Three Car Garage) and created many of the songs I've come to love.

So after a long drive to Mounds, I found that it was entirely inaccessable. Not only was it completely invisable due to the tree cover but there is a lovely sign warning people away...I'll assume I'm not the first Hanson fan to search out this sight... Le Sigh...

We ended the night with meeting up with our wonderful hostess at a Mexican restaurant in town. I had originally thought about wanting to try either Mexicali or Caz's Steakhouse which are notable to the Hanson Fangroup, as these are where the boys take everyone during Hanson Day weekend, but we settled on Cafe Ole without regret. They had wonderful food, and even better margaritas to be enjoyed on the patio.

Our second day was spent doing much needed laundry and being lazy after days on the road with many more ahead. When Beth returned after work we spent the afternoon enjoying her farm land filled with beautiful horses. 

My girls had been begging to meet them and were so happy to get on the golf cart like vehicle and go feed the animals. 

The night topped off with a delisious dinner at JL's Bar'B'Que. This place was insane! It was buffet lunch line style and they top you off like no one's business. 

We went the out of towner way and got the sampler. I believe it filled two trays with pulled pork and chicken, sausages, cole slaw, potato wedges, texas toast, corn, you name it! Between the 4 of us, we still couldn't come close to finishing it! 

After dinner we ventured into a local Amish store and bought the kids some fun new toys and snacks for the next leg of the drive we'd be facing the next day.

On day three, all we had time for was packing and a lovely last meal at a diner I can't remember the name of. 

I had so much fun on this trip with family and finally getting to experience a part of the world I've been eyeing for more than a decade and a half. I will make it back again someday and happily stand in all the same spots once again. 

Tulsa, Oklahoma is a beautiful city filled with friendly people and much to offer. Hanson fan or not, I recommend checking it our some day.

Hanson - So Much More Than MMMBop!

I don't feel it's necessary to start with an intro as to who Hanson is but just in case...

The year was 1996. Three awkward young boys, with blond hair past their shoulders crashed onto the scene at the ages of 16 (Isaac), 13 (Taylor <3 swoon) and 11 (Zac). Their first and most widely known hit was MMMBop, but unbeknownst to many, it didn't end there.

One thing I will never do is refer to my love of Hanson as a 'guilty pleasure'... I have absolutely zero guilt or shame associated with my fangirling. Unfortunately most people cannot quite wrap their minds around a 26 year old enjoying these brothers – simply because they are under the impression that I'm just belting out 'MMMBop' all day.

While I won't deny the the fact that that particular song comes up on my playlist often, it's accompanied by the other HUNDREDS of songs the band has put out. On top of their 6 studio albums, they have demo albums, random singles and 12 members only albums.

Hanson never left. They are not “One Hit Wonders”.

In 2001, the brothers made a big decision to leave Def Jam Records and put all their earnings into starting their own self run independent label 3CG. Their previous label wanted to box-hole them into the pop feel-good music that they were currently known for, however MMMBop was originally written, primarily by Zac at the age of 6!

Clearly they had grown up and weren't interested in pumping out the same sound album after album.

After nearly 80 songs were turned down, they knew it was all or nothing; leave the industry or take a huge chance on themselves. I'm very happy they chose the latter! They even have a Documentary called Strong Enough to Break that follows them on the journey toward becoming independent artists.

Over the years, decades really, Hanson has put out so much for the fans, beyond just the music!

In May (this year, it's the weekend of the 20th), there is Hanson Day. It started as a one-off festival and has turned into an annual tradition in their hometown of Tulsa, OK, referred to as Middle of Everywhere.

Fans from all over gather for the 3 days event of live concerts, new material, collectively writing and recording a special track, meeting the guys, shopping for unique merchandise, touring the studio and their favorite spots around town, and going out to dinner with them at their favorite restaurants.

Every few years they release a new documentary filled with so much fun behind the scenes, as Taylor is also really into filmography.

They also have an annual special in Jamaica called Back to the Island. Tickets include hotel, food, drinks, activities, personal concerts, as well as different events hosted by each brother that showcases a bit of their personality (like Tie-dying with Zac, a DJ dance party with Taylor, Trivia game with Isaac). It's an all out 4 day paradise destination concert event of my DREAMS. (someday!!)

Aside from the many ways they connect with fans on a personal level, ever showing their appreciation for those that keep their dream alive, they give so much back to the world in general.

They are extremely active philantropists. One very notable example is this - Since 2007, Hanson has been partnered with TOMS shoes for Take The Walk campaign. Many of their tours now start with a one mile BAREFOOT walk through whatever town they are playing with, that anyone can join them on.

It's to raise awareness for impoverished areas of Africa. The idea is to “Walk a mile in someone else's shoes...or lack thereof”.

For each person on the walk they donate one dollar on your behalf, and you get to choose the cause it's supporting! Medical care, medical treatment, shoes, clean water, or education.

I joined the band, and 200+ others in the filthy streets of Downtown Vegas. Its was long, hot and somewhat painful – but the point is, at the end of that walk, I got to put my shoes back on, what a privilege that is!

I've only had the pleasure of seeing them live once, in 2012 for their Anthem Tour, but I certainly hope it won't be the last.

People can be so quick to laugh and judge, but they really have no idea what they are talking about. The Hanson of today is Rhythm and Blues, and smooth rock, with the occasional hint of a catchy pop tune.

Usually, when I am playing them and someone asks “Oh who is this?,” they are incredibly surprised.

“Hanson..? Like..MMMbop Hanson?”

The one in the same, only all grown up!

Another thing many people don't realize is that they are, and always have been, much more than pretty faces with nice voices.

They have never NOT written their own songs, for one thing. Whether it is one or a combination of the 3 of them, its always THEM.

Also, they play all their own instruments and have since there were just above toddler level.

They are beyond talented and I've been noticing them just recently being given the recognition they deserve. I've noticed quite an upswing on my Facebook feed, through outlets such as TODAY, MTV, and BUZZFEED, headlines expressing surprise that they are still around, or amazement that they sure have grown into their looks, haha!

The attention will hopefully pull their talents back into spotlight for people who've lost track of them. While they may not be considered mainstream anymore, they have quite the loyal following. They are doing just fine for themselves on the Independent Charts.

As a fan, all I ask is that you strip away everything you think you know based on a song from 20 years ago and give them an honest, fresh-ears, chance. I don't think you'll regret it.

My personal recommendations for an introduction to the Hanson of today – 'Thinkin Bout Something' or 'Fired Up': Give them a listen and tell me what you think!

https://hanson.net/

https://www.facebook.com/hansonmusic

https://twitter.com/hansonmusic