PR.com (Allison Kugel): I want to start with the work that Hanson has been doing in Africa. What sparked your interest in visiting Africa, and what did you discover while you were there?

Zac Hanson: We never really intended to be inspired the way we were. We were making this record, The Walk, and we met up with some friends in Tulsa to talk about something completely unrelated to Africa. We ended up on the subject because what they were doing was developing a medical technology with some doctors, and they were giving it away. It was just an inspiring thing that they were doing. We started talking about AIDS and the impact it’s having there, and the impact it’s having in the world. Then the impact it’s having on Tulsa. It’s not that we didn’t know that AIDS was a huge issue, but we all realized, “I’m not sure what role we’re supposed to play in this, but we need to go with these guys.” If it means stopping the record for a couple weeks to go to Africa, then that’s just what we’re gonna have to do. A month or so later we ended up going to Africa. The first trip was with them and the doctors they were working with there. We didn’t want to be somebody trying to support a cause that we didn’t know anything about or didn’t take any time to try to understand. It’s not that we know anything now, but what we’re doing is just saying that those who have the opportunity to take the time to experience with their own eyes the reality and impact of a disease that is killing off the working class population… it’s the people who are the young, not the old, but the young and the middle aged, are the ones being affected so strongly.

PR.com: While you were there did you meet any AIDS orphans or people who were living with AIDS? Who did you interact with?

Zac Hanson: The main purpose was to go to the hospital that they were donating the technology to, the research wing of that hospital which was the PHRU Unit. Their focus is to stop the transmission of the virus from pregnant mothers to their unborn children. That’s all that’s in their facility. They do more now. They work on different vaccines now.

PR.com: How is your current tour being tied in with these mile walks that you’re doing with your fans to raise money, and how are you raising the money?

Zac Hanson: The last tour we did was The Walk tour and we did do walks. We’re simply trying to find ways that we can do something, and trying to take it a step at a time and say, “Let’s do one more, let’s do one better.” It started with Great Divide, giving that song away and giving all of the proceeds to that hospital when people buy that song. When we finally came across a company called TOMS Shoes we started doing the walks. To me, more than shoes being the greatest solution, it’s the idea of what they’re representing which is a young company that’s a for profit company that’s giving back, and they succeed. Too often I think it’s hard for anybody, when you’re in the midst of trying to become a successful business, to say, “You know, I’m going to give some of my bottom line back, even though I’m struggling now.” It’s a great example of somebody taking what their business is and what their assets are and saying, “How can this help fight something?” In their case it’s poverty and it ties in expertly. Where you find extreme poverty, you find the worst problems with AIDS. On our last tour, we asked people to walk with us and buy shoes. We helped TOMS Shoes sell about 50,000 pairs of shoes (For every pair of shoes TOMS sells, they donate 1 pair of shoes to a child in Africa). It was incredibly gratifying to see that people want to come out and support that. So, now we’re just trying to say, “How do we take that one [step] further? How do we get people to go one deeper then just buying a pair of shoes, and [make them] start to understand other things like education, clean water and healthcare?” Those things are huge issues that are also weaved intricately into what it’s going to take to really change the course of this virus.

PR.com: Let’s talk a little about your documentary series that is currently on iTunes, Taking The Walk. I watched a lot of it and it was very interesting. I know that the documentary takes Hanson from the process of forming your own independent label (3CG) to the subsequent full production of your album. Whose idea was it to film Taking The Walk, and why did you feel it was important to show your fans this entire process?

Zac Hanson: Taking The Walk really spawned off of a project we did on our last album, which is called Underneath. Unintentionally, we ended up making a documentary about what it takes to survive the business side of the music business. The intention was to make a film about writing songs, being in the studio and kind of getting this “behind-the- scenes” that most people don’t really get. We felt like we could really do something cool. In the end we ended up making this film about the business, and surviving a corporate music industry that has [occurred] since we started, and since we found success. The music business has changed drastically! If anyone looks at sales records of the last years, and even radio and things like that, it’s a struggling business where people are almost jumping out of windows.

click to read interview with Zac Hanson