Interview God Gave Rock and Roll To Them: The Hives

Well into their third decade as a band, The Hives are still the most fun rock’n’roll party you can find. Welcoming in ‘The Death of Randy Fitzsimmons’, Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist and co are feeling more alive than ever.

Words: Elvis Thirlwell
Photos: Oliver Halfin
11th August 2023

While most bands over the course of a long career will ‘mature’ their sound, absorbing new influences and expanding their sonic horizons in an attempt to keep themselves relevant, The Hives are riding high while mastering the opposite. Broaching 30 years since their formation, not only are the Swedish quintet charging back into the fray with their first studio album in over a decade - tackling arenas and stadiums across Europe with Arctic Monkeys, and tearing up Glastonbury while they’re at it - they’re doing so while sacrificing none of their founding principles, nor the enthusiasm, energy or sense of abandon that first brought them fame at the turn of the millennium. In other words, The Hives are adamantly refusing to ‘grow up’.

“All that stuff about growing up and changing the way you do things, on a broader scale as well,” begins frontman Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist, “it’s like, no, you can actually do what you want to do. If you’re older, it is possible. You don’t have to play mature music, you can play whatever music you want.” “It’s more like fast wood-chopping,” suggests guitarist Nicholaus Arson, in his typically deadpan manner. “I guess there’s a way of chopping wood in a slow and graceful way. But whenever we grab a guitar or a microphone or drumsticks, you know, it’s hammering!” “And screaming!” laughs Pelle.

“A lot of people have asked me,” Nicholaus continues, more sincerely now, “how can you keep your energy for so many years while other bands lose energy? I think the reason why we can do that, and why time is moving so fast for us, is that we’re in love so much with the actual craft of playing music; playing punk, playing rock music. Being in a sweaty room and playing music is our favourite thing in the world. I think you start having problems when you start feeling like your energy is dwindling when you’re supposed to do shows. That’s when I think you’re in danger; that’s when your music grows up, in a way that I wouldn’t necessarily want for The Hives.”

Like hammerhead sharks, keeping themselves charging forwards seems key to The Hives’ longevity. Fuelled with a determination “to come back with a bang”, latest record ‘The Death of Randy Fitzsimmons’ sees the band sounding more like themselves than ever, if such a thing were possible. Sticking true to their tried-and-tested formula of matching black and white suits, gung-ho garage-punk riffs, and Iggy Pop-esque bawling vocals, their sixth studio album finds the quintet sounding even bigger, brasher, louder - and less ‘grown up’.

“For this record it just felt so much more fun, after a 10 year break, to come back less mature than the last record,“ laughs Pelle. “It seemed like such a boss move [if people] are like, ‘I wonder what the new Hives album is like now that they’re older?’ And it’s more childish and stupid. I think that’s cool.”

Recorded in the same Swedish studios where ABBA laid down their early records, and with producer Patrik Berger behind the desk, having worked on huge pop moments like Robyn’s ‘Dancing On My Own’ and Charli XCX’s ‘Boom Clap’, The Hives clearly weren’t approaching things by halves. The album’s genesis too is typically, nonsensically them. Having supposedly uncovered a trail of cryptic clues left by the band’s mysterious founder and mentor Randy Fitzsimmons (a shadowy figure who’s been written into Hives lore from the start), the group claim they were led to a gravesite illegally situated in Fagersta, Sweden - birthplace of The Hives - where they uncovered the demo tapes for their new record and five pairs of matching white lightning-emblazoned suits to define a new era. “The guy wants to remain anonymous so it’s always a little delicate,” nods Nicholaus sagely of their aloof leader. Seems legit.

“The intersection of something destructive, something sexual and something euphoric - I think that’s a timeless feeling that we try to reach.”

— Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist

Speaking from their hotel between Arctic Monkeys dates, talk turns to the debilitating heatwave currently sweeping much of Europe. In typical Hives fashion, however, not even 40-plus degree temperatures can stop the band from executing their legendary hell-for-leather live shows.

“The only little trick I figured out is to keep a towel in a bucket of ice water and then slam it in your face between songs,” says Pelle. “I guess the hottest we’ve ever played was at Coachella, in top hat and tails. Like 49 degrees or something like that, some ridiculous desert temperature. But I would probably be less comfortable in shorts and a T-shirt because it would feel wrong, so this is as comfortable as it’s going to get I think.”

Having once suffered a major concussion after falling three metres off a stage onto concrete - his worst on-stage injury, Pelle says - The Hives tend to carry on, no matter what. Just this June during a show in Manchester, the frontman merrily continued the set with blood streaming down his head, having been whacked in the face by a flying microphone. Getting his suit stained was his only real concern.

“We get a little hurt, like there are a lot of cuts and scrapes and nicks and bruises and stuff like that, but that doesn’t stop you,” he grins, almost as a badge of honour. “I think it’s good for you to have a little bit of, you know, bruised knees and stuff. It’s like when you were a kid. It keeps you young, a little bit. I think that’s good.

“On this tour, Arctic Monkeys cancelled a show because [Alex Turner] lost his voice,” he continues. “I remember thinking, ‘Why did he do that?’ Then I realised, we’ve done so many shows that sounded like shit because we just refused to cancel. So I just realise now, after being in the band for 30 years, that maybe we should have cancelled some of those shows!”

The Hives on their new album 'The Death of Randy Fitzsimmons'

“For this record it just felt so much more fun, after a 10 year break, to come back less mature than the last record.”

— Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist

Perhaps it’s partly their reckless attitude to health and safety, but The Hives’ sheer unabating commitment to maximal entertainment value has kept the band’s stock high all these years. Breaking through alongside the garage rock revival of the early-‘00s; producing some of the most iconic rock songs of the 21st Century; outlasting most of their contemporaries and the countless bands that spawned in their wake, while retaining all of their youthful vigour… Safe to say the band have clocked up a fair few achievements throughout an undeniably illustrious career.

But to a whole new generation falling in love with The Hives all over again, maybe it’s something more intangible that keeps reeling people in. “I think it’s that kind of rock’n’roll feeling,” suggests Pelle. “It’s timeless. It’s something everybody feels. It’s like the intersection of something destructive, something sexual and something euphoric. And I think that’s a timeless feeling that we try to reach.

“You’ve got to recruit new fans all the time, as you keep going,” he continues. ”We know many good rock bands who got older, and the crowds got older with them, and then all of a sudden you find yourself 15 years down the line at a really boring show. You need kind of… fresh blood!”

Do the band see themselves like The Rolling Stones, continuing to do this well into their sixties and seventies? Surely they can’t keep this up forever? “This is the weirdest time-fuck, I know,” muses Pelle. “We supported the Rolling Stones 20 years ago, so we were 25.” “We never thought we’d do it past 30. And I guess Mick was like, 60 or something at the time then?” picks up Nicholaus. “He was running around like crazy for three hours. It was the first time that I saw someone do it like that, at that age. And almost it felt like he was competition for us, you know? Being an energetic rock band and this guy in his sixties or whatever, he feels like strong competition. So that’s when we noticed you could do this for what felt like forever.”

“I also think you only get so many things in life that you actually love doing,” concludes Pelle, somewhat rosy-eyed. “And if rock’n’roll is one of them… The only reason I would quit, I guess, would be if other people told me to. Like, ‘That’s enough!’ Or people stop listening. I’ve got no other plans. This is fun now, and I hope it stays fun.”

‘The Death of Randy Fitzsimmons’ is out 11th August via FUGA.

Tags: The Hives, Features, Interviews