The Hives: Difference between revisions

Content deleted Content added

Inline

Revision as of 23:26, 5 November 2007

The Hives are a rock band from Fagersta, Sweden that first rose to prominence in the early 2000's 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 punk-influenced garage rock songs and wear matching black and white suits.

History

Early days (Oh Lord! When? How? and Barely Legal)

The band claims it was formed in 1993 under the guidance of Randy Fitzsimmons. 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.

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 "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 and 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.

Continued Success (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" (another top 50 hit), and "A Little More For A Little You".

The Hives have a new album out called The Black and White Album [1]. They announced, via their website, that they were recording in Mississippi. Recent touring announcements for their July 24, 2007 show in London have as a footnote: "New Album out October".

The Hives have recently performed two new songs at the Hurricane Festival in Germany one called "Hey Little World" and a second song "Arm yourself for armageddon, Arm yourself for summer" . [2] Also two other new songs known as "Have No Money" and "Tick Tick Boom"

Their website also recently unveiled new tour dates in Sweden and Germany.

As of May 22nd, 2007, a video entitled "Remembering the Titans" has been up on the official Hives website assuring fans that the best is yet to come.

On July 11th, 2007 it was announced that the Hives would be returning to North America in the fall to tour as support for Maroon 5.

The Hives have also recently been featured in a Finish Line commercial performing "Tick Tick Boom"

The Return (The Black and White Album)

The Hives official website was overhauled in the second week of August, with a grungier, "emergency broadcast" layout. The new site revealed the album's cover and the title of the first single, "Tick Tick Boom," with a release date of August 14 in the United States and October 8 in the United Kingdom. The revealed release dates for the new record are October 15 in the UK on Polydor and November 13 in the US on A&M/Octone.

To support the release of the new album The Hives are embarking on a 2 month long North American tour in late September 2007, opening for Maroon 5. This arena tour stops in major cities across North America, and on off days The Hives are playing their own headlining shows at smaller more appropriate venues.

The Black and White Album leaked online on October 12th 2007.

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.

Live performances

Vocalist 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 "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 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!"

Collaborations

The Hives completed recording vocals and guitar in late November 2006 for a song called "Throw It On Me", a collaboration with hip-hop producer Timbaland. The song was included on his album, Timbaland Presents Shock Value, released April 3, 2007. They also performed in a music video for the track. The Hives also have recently spoken of a collaboration with Jack White's The Raconteurs on a song for The Raconteurs' new album, originally entitled "Footsteps", however it was later revealed that Howlin' Pelle had literally recorded footsteps. Howlin Pelle also did a collaboration with Swedish rock artist Moneybrother. They did a cover of an Operation Ivy song called Freeze Up. They put on Swedish lyrics and called it "Jag skriver inte på nått", that stands for "I won't sign anything".

Style

The Hives are noted for wearing matching suits or outfits, always in nothing but black and white, synchronized to spell their name in one position. However, their clothing has changed with each album. They wore suits for Veni Vidi Vicious, suits with colonel-styled laces and white spats for Tyrannosaurus Hives and bandannas and suspenders for their most recent tours. Lately, for their new album "The Black and White Album", they have gone with something of a schoolboy look, with black blazers bearing an "H" crest on the left breast, and striped black and white ties.

Members

Howlin' Pelle Almqvist (Per Almqvist) – lead vocals
Nicholaus Arson (Niklas Almqvist) – guitar
Vigilante Carlstroem (Mikael Karlsson Åström) – guitar
Dr. Matt Destruction (Mattias Bernvall) – bass
Chris Dangerous (Christian Grahn) – drums
Randy Fitzsimmons

Discography

Albums

Barely Legal (1997)
Veni Vidi Vicious (2000; re-released 2002)
Tyrannosaurus Hives (2004) UK #7
The Black and White Album (October 13th, 2007) UK #29, EU #22

Compilations

Your New Favourite Band (2001; re-released 2002) UK #7

EPs

Singles

Year	Song	Chart positions				Album
Year	Song	UK singles	US Hot 100	US Modern Rock	US Main- stream Rock	Album
2000	"Hate to Say I Told You So"	-	-	-	-	Veni Vidi Vicious
2001	"Main Offender"	-	-	-	-	Veni Vidi Vicious
2001	"Supply and Demand"	-	-	-	-	Veni Vidi Vicious
2001	"Die, All Right!"	-	-	-	-	Veni Vidi Vicious
2002	"Hate to Say I Told You So" (re-release)	23	86	6	35	Veni Vidi Vicious
2002	"Main Offender" (re-release)	24	-	-	-	Veni Vidi Vicious
2002	"Die, All Right! / Supply and Demand"	-	-	-	-	Veni Vidi Vicious
2004	"Walk Idiot Walk"	13	-	19	36	Tyrannosaurus Hives
2004	"Two-Timing Touch and Broken Bones"	44	-	-	-	Tyrannosaurus Hives
2005	"A Little More for Little You"	-	-	-	-	Tyrannosaurus Hives
2007	"Throw It on Me" (Timbaland featuring The Hives)	-	-	-	-	Timbaland Presents: Shock Value
2007	"Tick Tick Boom"	41	-	39	-	The Black and White Album

DVDs

Tussles in Brussels (2005)

Media reference

The Hives' are shown playing their new song "Tick Tick Boom" in a commercial for Nike + Shoes.
The Hives' song: "See Through Head" was featured in the preview for the Movie: "Hot Rod".
The Hives' song: "Outsmarted" was featured in the Australian movie Kenny.
"Tick Tick Boom" is featured in Madden 08. However, it the early verison of the song.
"Well Alright!" is featured in NBA Live 08.
The song: "Declare Guerre Nucleaire" was featured in the movie Accepted.
The song: "Diabolic Scheme" was featured in the Swedish vampire movie Frostbiten
Their song: "Main Offender" will be playable in the upcoming game Rock Band.
The Hives' Song: "Fall Is Just Something That Grownups Invented" is used as the commercial theme for Cartoon Network.
The song "Main Offender" is featured in various Singstar games, and "Hate To Say I Told You So" was featured in Singstar Rocks!.

External links

@@ Line 225: / Line 225: @@
 *{{myspace|thehives|The Hives}}
 *[http://www.burningheart.com/ Burning Heart Records]
+*[http://www.ishotyourband.com/w/thehives.html Live Photos from Tampa Show]
 {{DEFAULTSORT:Hives, The}}