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The Hives
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The Hives | ||
|---|---|---|
 (Left to Right: Carlstroem, Arson, Almqvist, Destruction, Dangerous)
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| Background information | ||
| Origin |  Fagersta,Sweden |
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| Genre(s) | Punk rock Garage rock revival Indie rock |
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| Years active | 1993–present | |
| Label(s) | Universal Music Polydor Interscope |
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| Website | Official website | |
| Members | ||
| Howlin' Pelle Almqvist Nicholaus Arson Vigilante Carlstroem Dr. Matt Destruction Chris Dangerous |
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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 produces punky garage rock songs and wears matching black and white suits.
Contents |
- 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)
- Randy Fitzsimmons
The band claims it was formed in 1993 under the guidance of Randy Fitzsimmons. According to them it was Fitzsimmons who was responsible for the formation of the band. Fitzsimmons suggested that they form a garage rock band. Fitzsimmons allegedly acts as a songwriter and Svengali for the band.
In 1995 they were signed by Peter Almqvist 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? Almqvist 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".
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 "Hate To Say I Told You So" 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.
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" (another top 50 hit), 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". On 8 January 2007, the band, via their website, annouced they are continuing recording in London.
The Hives have recently performed two new songs at the Hurricane Festival in Germany one called "Hey Little World" and a second untitled song. [1]
Their website also recently unvieled new tour dates in Sweden and Germany.
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.
Howlin' Pelle Almqvist is known for his habits of stage diving, climbing amps, executing scissor kicks and nonsensical speech.
At the 2002 Video Music Awards, on MTV, The Hives performed their hit Main Offender in a "Battle of the Bands" type of set up, with The Vines playing their hit Get Free right after The Hives. Before the The Vines began playing, Pelle Almqvist said to the crowd, "I know you want us to play more, but that's all the time we have so you can turn off now!"
The Hives have, as of November 28, 2006, finished recording vocals and guitar for a song called "Throw It On Me" for Timbaland's forthcoming album. The release date of said album is March 27, 2007.
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| 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 |
- Tussles in Brussels (2005)