The Hives
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The Hives
<tr style="text-align: center;"><td colspan="3"> Left to right: Destruction, Arson, Almqvist, Dangerous, Carlstroem </td></tr>
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| Background information
<tr><td>Origin</td><td colspan="2">Fagersta, Sweden</td></tr><tr><td>Genre(s)</td><td colspan="2">Punk Rock, Garage rock revival, Indie Rock</td></tr><tr><td>Years active</td><td colspan="2">1993– present</td></tr><tr><td style="padding-right: 1em;">Label(s)</td><td colspan="2">Universal Music, Polydor, Interscope</td></tr><tr><td>Website</td><td colspan="2">www.hivesmusic.com</td></tr><tr><th style="background: lightskyblue;" colspan="3">Members</th></tr><tr><td style="text-align: center;" colspan="3">Howlin' Pelle Almqvist |
The Hives is a rock band from Fagersta, Sweden that first rose to prominence in the early 2000s as a leading group of the garage rock revival. Their breakthrough came with the release of the "Best Of" compilation Your New Favourite Band, featuring their most commercially successful song "Hate To Say I Told You So". The band are notable for producing punky garage rock songs and for wearing matching black and white suits.
Contents |
[edit] Members
- Howlin' Pelle Almqvist (real name Pelle Almqvist) (lead vocals)
- Nicholaus Arson (real name Niklas Almqvist) (guitar)
- Vigilante Carlstroem (real name Mikael Karlsson Åström) (guitar)
- Dr. Matt Destruction (real name Mattias Bernvall) (bass)
- Chris Dangerous (real name Christian Grahn) (drums)
[edit] History
[edit] Early Days (Oh Lord! When? How? and Barely Legal)
The band was formed in 1993 under the guidance of Randy Fitzsimmons. According to The Hives it was Fitzsimmons who was responsible for the formation of the band. Fitzsimmons suggested that they form a garage rock band. Fitzsimmons acts as a songwriter and Svengali for the band.
In 1995 they were signed by Peter Ahlqvist to Sidekick records, a subsidiary of the Swedish skate punk record label Burning Heart Records. The following year they released their debut EP Oh Lord! When? How? Ahlqvist decided to promote the band to Burning Heart.
1997 saw the release of The Hives debut album "Barely Legal" (an early stage name of Vigilante's), and they began touring. The following year they released their second EP "a.k.a I-D-I-O-T".
[edit] The Breakthrough (Veni Vidi Vicious and Your New Favourite Band)
After a two-year break The Hives returned with a new album entitled "Veni Vidi Vicious" which saw the band move away from the raw punk rock intensity of their early work to more of a garage rock sound. The band themselves described the album as being like 'a velvet glove with brass knuckles, both brutal and sophisticated at the same time'. The album yielded the singles "Hate To Say I Told You So", "Main Offender", "Die, All Right!", and "Supply & Demand".
After seeing the video for "A Night in Paris" on German TV, Alan McGee (Oasis, Creation Records) decided to sign the band to his newly formed Poptones label. Poptones released the 'best of' compilation, "Your New Favourite Band", in 2001 which proved to be their breakthrough record, reaching #7 in the UK album charts. Following the success of the album, the band re-released singles "Hate To Say I Told You So" and "Main Offender" which reach numbers #23 and #24 respectively in the UK Singles chart. The band also re-released "Veni Vidi Vicious" in the US.
It was during the promotion of "Veni Vidi Vicious" / "Your New Favourite Band" that The Hives signed a record deal with Universal Music, reportedly worth $12 million. This led to a dispute between The Hives and Burning Heart, who claimed that The Hives were still contracted to them for one more album.
[edit] Current Events (Tyrannosaurus Hives and beyond)
After extensive touring, the band retreated to Fagersta to record their third album. The result was 2004's "Tyrannosaurus Hives", their first new material in four years. The album includes the hit singles "Walk Idiot Walk" (which debuted at #13 on the UK singles charts) "Two-Timing Touch And Broken Bones", and "A Little More For A Little You".
The Hives are currently in the studio working on the follow-up to "Tyrannosaurus Hives". The title of the album is rumoured to be "The World's First Perfect Album".
The Hives have recently performed two new songs at the Hurricane Festival in Germany one called "Hey Little World" and a second untitled track [1]
[edit] Randy Fitzsimmons
The band claims that their songs are written by an honorary "sixth Hive", Randy Fitzsimmons. It was revealed in NME that Randy Fitzsimmons is a registered pseudonym belonging to Nicholas Arson. This has led many to believe that Randy Fitzsimmons is in fact a myth, and that it is Arson who writes the songs. Arson and the rest of the band deny this and insist on the existence of Randy Fitzsimmons as the band's songwriter.
[edit] Live Performances
Howlin' Pelle Almqvist is known for his habits of stage diving, climbing amps, executing scissor kicks and nonsensical speech.
[edit] Collaborations
The Hives have, as of November 28th, 2006, finished recording vocals and guitar for a song called "Put It On Me" for Timbaland's forthcoming album. The release date of said album is unknown.
[edit] Live @ Musikbyrån 2006
2006, when Musikbyrån (a Swedish music show) celebrated their 10-years as a show, The Hives performed a medley with their favourite songs the recent years. The songs were:
- "List of Demands" by Saul Williams
- "Hey Ya!" by Outkast
- "Two Thieves" by Compulsive Gamblers
- "(Gotta Get Some Action) Now!" by The Hellacopters
- "Stay Fly" by Three 6 Mafia
- "Seven Nation Army" by The White Stripes
- "Hate to Say I Told You So" by The Hives
[edit] Discography
[edit] Albums
 <center>(1997) <center> |
 <center> (2000) <center>US #63 (2002 release) |
 <center> (2004)<center>UK #7, US #33 |
[edit] Compilations
 <center> (2001) <center>UK #7 (2002 release) |
[edit] EPs
 <center>(1996) <center> |
 <center> (1998) <center> |
 <center> (1998)<center> |
[edit] Singles
| Year | Song | Chart positions | Album | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK singles | US Hot 100 | US Modern Rock | US Main- stream Rock | |||
| 2000 | Hate To Say I Told You So | - | - | - | - | Veni Vidi Vicious |
| 2001 | Main Offender | - | - | - | - | Veni Vidi Vicious |
| Supply and Demand | - | - | - | - | Veni Vidi Vicious | |
| Die, All Right! | - | - | - | - | Veni Vidi Vicious | |
| 2002 | Hate To Say I Told You So (re-release) | 23 | 86 | 6 | 35 | Veni Vidi Vicious |
| Main Offender (re-release) | 24 | - | - | - | Veni Vidi Vicious | |
| Die, All Right! / Supply and Demand | - | - | - | - | Veni Vidi Vicious | |
| 2004 | Walk Idiot Walk | 13 | - | 19 | 36 | Tyrannosaurus Hives |
| Two-Timing Touch and Broken Bones | 44 | - | - | - | Tyrannosaurus Hives | |
| 2005 | A Little More For Little You | - | - | - | - | Tyrannosaurus Hives |
[edit] DVDs
[edit] External links
es:The Hives fr:The Hives he:ההייבס lb:The Hives nl:The Hives ja:ハイヴス no:The Hives pl:The Hives pt:The Hives fi:The Hives sv:The Hives
