Paul Hanson

BORN: December 1969JOINED THE DV STAFF: October 1997HOMETOWN: Cedar Rapids, IowaNOW LIVING IN: North Liberty, IowaSPOUSE / KIDS?: Wife, Karen, married on 8/7/93. Two children: Megan, born 8/96, and Alex, born 10/98.FAVORITE ARTIST: Don't have one. I can go from saying Brand New Sin to Disarray to Postman Syndrome to Engine to TenFootPole to Black Sabbath to Metallica to Supafuzz to Tool to Brand New Sin in a single conversation.OTHER ARTISTS I LIKE: Offspring's "Americana" has found a new home in my player. Also, bands on Kung Fu Records, like the Ataris, Useless ID, and bands on Victory Records like TenFootPole. About the only 'bands' I can't stand are Meat Loaf and Linkin Park.BEER: Bud Light in a bottle.OTHER HOBBIES: PRO WRESTLING!! I like the athleticism of the wrestlers.BLOG: PRHmusic PERSONAL MOTTO: "There is no try. Do or do not." - YodaI WRITE MUSIC REVIEWS BECAUSE: …I retired from playing drums in bands. Yet, I don't want to be away from the industry. I like writing and I like music so it seems a fit made in heaven.
26 Posts
15 Oct

Heavy And Heavier With Human Abstract, 36 Crazy Fist, All That Remains and Trivium

Paul HansonFeature
There can be no doubt -- the concert bill headlined by Trivium on Monday, October 6, 2008, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, was tailored to a select few. Those who like the music that echoed through Hawkeye Downs like their music heavy, loud, and fast. While the small crowd was vocal during the actual music, it was quiet between when a band quit playing a song and started the next one. And that's not a complaint. The roar of guitars and drums and bass and keyboards and screaming -- yes, lots of screaming -- needed to cease every so often to…
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20 Sep

Buckcherry, ShineDown, and Saving Abel Live

Paul HansonFeature
There are at least two tiers in concerts these days. On one tier, you have established bands like Rush that use traditional rock show elements like giant video screens, laser lights, and pyro to compliment their music. On the other tier, you have less-established bands like the three I saw on Tuesday, September 16, 2008, at the iWireless Center in Moline, IL. The headliner, Buckcherry, did not have a giant video screen, laser lights, or pyro to compliment their music. Instead, Buckcherry’s Josh Todd used his charismatic approach to singing to win over the crowd. Todd is a mixture of…
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25 May

Rush — Three Concerts For The Price Of One

Paul HansonFeature
As I was walking out of the Rush concert in Moline, IL, on Tuesday, May 20, 2008, I overheard a woman say, “Yeah, that was not the best Rush show I’ve ever been to, but it was pretty good.” Pretty good?? Rush provided around 6,000 fans with a grade-A, excellent rock concert. In addition to superb musicianship, a couple of loud explosions startled fans and an impressive laser light show supplemented the songs. There were also three huge screens that showed an assortment of images throughout the concert. The only way I can come close to understanding what this woman…
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03 Dec

KISS Loves You

Paul HansonFeature
I am a KISS fan but I'm embarrassed if you think that the KISS fans in the recently-out-on-DVD film KISS Loves You are anything close to normal. The people in this movie are freaks. And stupid. No, they're freakin' stupid. In this netherworld of over-the-top fandom, if you purchase and then plaster KISS patches on your jacket, you are given a higher status in the world. If you purchase KISS records and get tattoos with the band members' likeness on your body, that gets you points too. Somehow, these acts make these people superior fans of the band. This insane…
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09 Apr

Umphrey’s McGee Make An Impression

Paul HansonFeature
I am not an avid jam band fan. Bands like Phish and the Grateful Dead are mysterious entities to me. I own nothing by either band -- a fact that I’m not necessarily proud of, but that I mention in the interest of framing this concert review in a clear context. I have no personal interest in whether Umphrey's McGee makes a lot of money on their current tour. I can also tell you that I felt ferociously out of place. I'm 35, married, kids, eight-to-five job in the software industry. My fellow concert goers were all young (under 25),…
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18 Mar

Chris Adler (Lamb Of God): The Interview

Paul HansonFeature
 Photo © William Hawkins - morphusphotography.comI'm smiling, sitting in the Hawkeye Downs Expo Center in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Lamb Of God's soundcheck is over and the arena is now filled with various noises. The roadies for the other three bands on the bill work feverishly to set up the stage for the concert. The roster reads Gojira, Machine Head, Trivium and Lamb Of God. It is a great lineup on paper. Satisfied with his drums, Lamb of God drummer Chris Adler walks from backstage to the arena floor to greet me. We find a place to sit down and talk about…
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11 Jan

High School Musical Goes Remix

Paul HansonFeature
When my daughter and I walked into the Girl Scout-sponsored Daddy-Daughter Dance recently, the dance floor was empty. But as soon as the first chords of "Breaking Free" began, there were screams of joy from what seemed like hundreds of 10-year-old girls. The dance floor was suddenly a mob as dads began filing to the bleachers to watch their daughters scream the lyrics to the tune. This was in April 2006, shortly after High School Musical premiered on the Disney Channel. Now, in early 2007, Disney continues to feed the marketing machine behind the hit film with a remix DVD…
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11 Nov

Moline Gets Godsmacked

Paul HansonFeature
The question asked by thousands of bands in thousands of arenas for many years was asked first by Hour Cast’s Patrick McBride. The lead vocalist wanted to know “How are you feeling?” The crowd in the Mark in Moline, IL answered with a respectable roar, but it didn’t satisfy McBride. “That’s not going to cut it,” he told the crowd, continuing a night where his band had to get a crowd riled up that was there to see fellow Bostonians Godsmack. Judging by the riffs by David Henriquez, the band’s dreadlocked-hair guitarist, and the pounding of Jerry Clews, the band’s…
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23 Jun

Poison in the Water

Paul HansonFeature
Poison returned to Des Moines, Iowa, to headline the Lazer 103.3 Water Stock Rock Show on Saturday, June 17. For the 2006 version of the all-day event, a buffet for hard rock music fans was laid out. The doors on Saturday opened at 10 a.m., the music began an hour later and didn't let up until Poison's Bret Michaels said goodnight to the crowd shortly after 11 p.m.It was the fourth night into the band's 20-year anniversary tour and it started off in perfect fashion with the title track from their debut, Look What the Cat Dragged In. The crowd…
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06 Dec

2004: The End

Paul HansonBest Of
Were there great releases in 2004? Certainly. I got acquainted with acronym bands LAW (Lazy American Workers) and MDC (Magnus Dominus Corpus) and I liked those releases a lot. I've been thinking about the concept that a great CD is one that lives in your CD player for months. It's one thing to say, "Led Zeppelin's IV release -- that's a great CD." It's another to live with that release in your CD changer for months on end. That's why this article only addresses a few official 2004 releases and then dips into the past. I'm basing this list solely…
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