The Hives
As with most of the interesting bands that exist on this planet, The Hives are shrouded in a past consisting of mystery and rumours. Rather than merely forming themselves, the name Randy Fitzsimmons crops up again and again as the kind of Svengali figure that originally merged the five members together when they were in their mid teens.
The saga began in 1993 within the small Swedish town of Fagersta. Matt, Vigilante, Pelle, Chris and Nicholaus each received a letter stating on it both a time and a place. What’s known beyond this is minimal, and everyone in the band is reserved to say anything more than this. Still, what is known of their story is that a year later – following constant rehearsing and writing – led by Fitzsimmons, the group began playing live in local venues.
By ’95, the excitement surrounding their emergence was increasing in volume. Peter Ahlqvist of record-company Burning Heart was the first to really explore the potential, however, and on a side-label of his main interest released their ‘Oh Lord! When? How?’ mini-album the following year. Such was his excitement for the group’s rise in profile and vastly growing catalogue of material, Peter felt it was only correct that The Hives should move up on to Burning Heart as a main act.
This allowed them to get to work on 1997’s ‘Barely Legal’: a ferocious combination of frantic punk-drumming and razor-sharp guitars, heavily distorted bass and insanely manic vocals that both captured their suited, cool image and now reputable live-sets. Keeping up with the momentum, a four-track EP – ‘A.K.A. Idiot’ – unleashed more of the same, though with even more of an emphasis on memorable songwriting.
But – a spanner was thrown in the works. Mr. Fitzsimmons was out of the band’s picture, and the band’s activity slowed down considerably, creating further suspicion as to his involvement with the band and their music…
Still – when they returned with their best and most commercial work to date, ‘Veni Vidi Vicious’, which was so crammed with potential monster-hits such as ‘Hate To Say I Told You So’ and ‘Main Offender’ that Alan McGee over in the UK had to sign up the band to his label Poptones. This resulted in their first British album – ‘Your New Favourite Band’: effectively an amalgamation of the efforts they had so far unleashed in their native country.
Thanks to startling sell-out live performances, plenty of word-of-mouth and press-hype, The Hives went gold with the LP, selling over 112,000 copies of the record before they’d had a chart-single.
With the world at their feet and still loads more countries to conquer, 2002 could be the year that The Hives redefined the coolness of rock ‘n’ roll – and it would definitely be to everyone’s benefit.
Pix - James Faherty
OFFICIAL SITE: Simple, clean, and full of cool info and comprehensive details on the band\'s history and future - recommended!
BURNING HEART: Check out this site of The Hives\' Swedish record-label, and learn about some of the other great acts they work with.
HERE WE GO AGAIN: Astoundingly easy to operate, and crammed with great knowledge about the band.