Music Hives talks to RS about new album, Brazil, playfulness and Swedish metal

Music Hives talks to RS about new album, Brazil, playfulness and Swedish metal

Banda releases their seventh album, ‘The Hives Forever Forever The Hives’, and has a date to return to Brazil: February, opening to My Chemical Romance

In April, all members of the The Hives were in Brazil. There was no show scheduled, nor any other public commitment informed. Naturally, they were received by Rolling Stone Brazil with the following question: “What are you doing here, guys?”.

With the naturalness and eloquence of a vocalist who is used to going crazy audiences worldwide, the vocalist Howlin ‘Pelle Almqvist Answer: “People are even complaining that we take too long to come back”. He and his colleagues – the guitarists NICHOLAUS ARSON and Vigilante Carlstroemthe drummer Chris Dangerous and the bassist The Johan and Only – They were here in October last year, performing the last show of the tour of the previous album, The Death of Randy Fitzsimmons (2023).

At the time of this fun interview with the Rolling Stone Brazilthe Swedish quintet notorious for its burnt and easily assimilated rock and roll had not even revealed that they would still return again in February 2026 for shows. They will serve as an opening attraction to the My Chemical Romanceat Allianz Parque, in São Paulo.

But the group’s seventh studio album was properly announced. It was four long months until The Hives Forever Forever The Hives be properly released. It arrived this Friday, 29, and can be checked on all digital platforms.

Check out a summary of the chat with The Hives. The full conversation is available on Rolling Stone Brazil’s YouTube.

Rolling Stone Brasil Interview The Hives

On The Hives Forever Forever The Hives have reached public two years after its predecessor, The Death of Randy Fitzsimmonsrepresenting the slightest interval between discourse releases in the group’s career:
Howlin ‘Pelle Almqvist: “Randy Fitzsimmons is not, but maybe we finally discovered how to do it faster. And we also think it would be nice to accelerate, since before The Death of Randy Feasimmonswe stayed 10 years without new music. Key only we level the gaps in our discography. ”

The songs on the new album that existed since before the creative process:
Pelle: “I think the oldest thing on this album is the riff that starts a song called ‘Roll Out the Red Carpet’. This is the sessions of Tyrannosaurus Hives (2004), 21 years ago. There is a song called ‘PAINT A PICTURE’ that we play live for many years. Another song called ‘Bad Call’that we played in a version perhaps a decade ago. There are some and others totally new. ”

About the new album being different or an extension of the last, musically speaking:
Pelle: “I think they were made to be quite different, but I don’t think they came out differently. We can’t escape being The Hives. It’s kind of, like … What’s the best soccer player in Brazil today? [Nota: o repórter cita Vini Jr] It’s like Vini Jr, it’s as if he scored goals all the time. When will he come with something new? It is more or less like this with The Hives. We make a really great rock. [Aí perguntam:] ‘When will they invent something new?’ We should probably not, because we like to win. So let’s keep winning sounding like The Hives. ”

About the challenge of making a “12 singles album” as promised in the official statement.
Nicholaus Arson: “Not for The Hives. Making a 12 singles record is easy for us right now. If it was perhaps two or three years ago, it may have been difficult. But nowadays it’s easier because we finally find out how to do it.”

About the involvement of Mike D (Beastie Boys) as one of the producers:
Pelle: “We were thinking about who has the coolest records of all time. And the answer is: Beastie Boys. We wanted our album to sound cool, so we called Mike D. It was really amazing. All the team that worked on the album was kind of since 1997. PELLE GUNNERFELDTwho produced most of him, is the guy who produced our first album. So that was so familiar. It was nice to add Mike D to the mixture. We talked to the Beastie Boys in 2004, we were with them at VMA and things like that. But we have always been fans since we were kids. ”

About receiving a “guidance” from Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age) during the album and what was the biggest contribution of his colleague:
Chris Dangerous: “It was another thing by phone and email. Pelle talked a lot to him. It’s a friend of ours a long time ago and it’s great in this thing called Rock. So we asked Josh what he thought of some things. But he’s not on the album. Just gave a friendly advice.”
Pelle: “[A maior contribuição foi sugerir] That the backing vocals should sound tall but distant. Cutting the microphone, like the Beastie Boys. ”

About The Hives is still treated as a new band, to the point that they themselves define themselves as “still their new favorite band”:
Nicholaus:
“It’s a good thing. We’re treated like this because we’re so good that people can’t believe this is happening. They always think it’s a new thing. And it’s not new: a great rock and roll is a great rock and roll. And that’s going to get you sweaty and whatever comes from a good party.”

About the renewal of the public of The Hives, already perceived by the members:
Pelle: “It’s all for us. Every year we need to have a new generation of 15 -year -olds with us. It’s as if we are vampires. It keeps us young. I think Rock and Roll dies if there is no public renewal. We saw many of our favorite bands follow a path where the audience is composed of the same people, but less and less lively. having a good growth. The only ones who had several generations of fans were Bruce Springsteen and Iron Maidenperhaps. And now, we. ”

About the connection with Brazil, where they already performed in 2008, 2013, 2014, 2023 and 2024:
Nicholaus: “I think from the second album [Veni Vidi Vicious, 2000] We received emails from people telling us to come to Brazil. We hear rumors about being number one in the Brazilian cassette tape exchange charts or whatever it was. And it was well in the beginning. They said, ‘You are very popular in Brazil’, but we had never come. Maybe the good rock and roll connect with the Brazilians. ”

Regarding the fact that the social networking manager of The Hives is a kind of “sixth member”, such the genius of the work performed:
Pelle: “In part, we are the ones who do that. We need to improvise, adapt and overcome. There are people with us, but we are also well involved in that. It’s kind of fun that in the” Middle Ages’, when we form the band, it was impossible to communicate with the fans. And now there are all these tools. “

See this photo on Instagram

A publication shared by The Hives (@thehives)

About members like Sweden artists and bands, Abba Phenomenon Home and various Hard Rock and Heavy Metal groups – and what’s the favorite of each:
Pelle: “Yes, there are many good bands. We are basically the middle ground between Entombed, Meshuggah, Abba and At the gates. Entombed is my favorite. ”
Chris:Refused. ”
The Johan and Only:The Soundtrack of Our Lives. ”
Vigilante Carlstroem: “Entombed.”
Nicholaus: “If we are talking about Heavy Metal and Hard Rock, I would say Entombed too.”

About Veni Vidi Vicious’s 25th anniversary, an album that presented ‘Hate to Say I Told You So’ and ‘Main Offender’ to the public, and how they see this album today:
Pelle: “It was the album that started everything. I remember we released our first album, Cool barely (1997), they pressed 500 copies and were concerned if they would sell them all. Hence, they made 1,500 copies of Veni, Vidi, Vicious. And I think it sold millions. We didn’t know if anyone would like it, but we put it all there. This disc is probably the reason we are here today. It was there that we found whatever our sound is still. Cool barely It is almost like that weird hippie flaute band that Bon Scott was before entering the AC/DC [nota: Fraternity]. ”

Full interview on YouTube:

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Source: Rollingstone

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