Is it all just Black & White?
‘Your New Favourite Band’ is what The Hives declared as the definitive title of their Poptone released compilation album back in 2001. A favourite band is meant to excite, impress, amaze, and consume you, whilst being the epitome of everything you ever thought they are live. These are the bands whose songs shake you to your very core and make the hairs stand up on the back of your neck when you hear the first chords. Bands like this don’t come around often, and when they do its game over for every other no hoping band failing to capture even just a sprinkling of their kudos.
When these five black and white clad hipsters burst onto the scene they stopped everyone in their tracks, taking their breath away in one fowl swoop, with formidable tracks like ‘Hate to Say I Told You So’, ‘Die Alright’ and ‘Main Offender’ that not only made the hairs stand up on the first listen but made them dance.
Back then The Hives made black and white cool again, not since the heyday of Mary Quant or perhaps the birth of Liquorish Allsorts had monochrome been so pivotal to youth culture. Now after a two year absence The Hives are back to bring the nation out of its humdrum colour spectrum encompassed with pale beiges, greys and chocolate browns to bring back to the fore the only two colours that matter.
The new album is certainly depicted by its title with a touch of bright white radiance whilst echoing the dark intensity of ‘Veni Vidi Vicious’ on the black side of this monochrome masterpiece. ‘Black & White’ is seemingly the product of a band that has evolved consciously as singer Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist explains, “We promised ourselves when we were 17 that we’d make three half-hour-long records of blistering punk rock, and so we did, culminating in ‘Tyrannosaurus Hives’. This time, we didn’t want 12 fast songs then it’s over. That would’ve been the fourth time. They work in sets of three, you see? Then it’s a new period, so we had to come up with a new plan.”
As phase two of The Hives evolution was underway during the making of ‘The Black and White Album’ the band decided to work with a range of producers gradually making their way around the globe. Production duties on this album were first handed to Pharrell Williams which may be a surprise to some Hives fans, “Pharrell was always saying he wanted to record with us,” notes Howlin’ Pelle. “Then, when we started this record, we finally just figured it’d be more fun to say yes than to say no. This is The Hives’ major label adventure – an honest attempt at a sell-out, maybe. We see it as the last major-label rock and roll record that anybody’s ever gonna put out. So we thought we’d better spend some money on it.”
It seems the infusion of the hard hitting hip-hop mogul and the Swedish garage punk-rock revolutionaries worked better than anyone had imagined, “We assumed he’d have all these synths and beats, but he has all this enthusiasm for rock music, because he only just discovered it. We started talking about Creedence Clearwater Revival, and he was going, ‘Hey, I saw them on an infomercial last night, they sounded great!’ We’ve been listening to Creedence since we were kids,” explains HP.
The distribution of production duties on this album may have been a first for The Hives, but as control was handed over they decisively selected a harem of producers with Jacknife Lee and Dennis Herring also taking the hot seat.
“We only work with talented people,” explains bassist Dr. Matt Destruction in his Swedish drawl, “he [Jacknife Lee] is a great producer, and a really interesting and funny guy. He has a great energy and definitely knows what he wants.”
Lee produced an early version of ‘Tick, Tick, Boom’ and DMD’s personal favourite ‘My Little World’. “When I hear that song with the lights off I can imagine the wind blowing in my hair and can envisage how it will be a great arena song - obviously now we have much bigger holes to fill in terms of sound.”
The new album showcases longer songs for The Hives and with an eclectic mix of producers the listening experience will definitely be heightened, Dr. Destruction ensures us, “You need to listen to the album a few times before casting a final judgment as the first time you will miss a lot, each time you listen you will discover new things. We have so many good songs on this album so you really have to listen to it a few times to appreciate it fully.” Who are we to argue with a Dr?
With a penchant for ‘raw’ sounding music it seems the Dr. had a distinct penchant for Iggy & The Stooges and AC/DC when at that impressionable age, “Everything started to make sense when I first heard these bands. ‘Highway to Hell’ made me realise things could sound old even though they are perfectly mastered.”
It has always been clear that The Hives are not just typified by their music, their uniform style, no-nonsense attitude and whimsical sense of humor displayed in ‘The Print’ and on the ‘Scrutinized the Press’ section of their website that gives them the edge, “The press were so annoying in the beginning, criticizing our pictures not the music,” discusses MMD, “they were just plain lazy so we thought – why not put the best things in the right place, on our site for everyone to see and vote for the best reviews. Other journalists can then learn from this!”
Praising journalists who fall in line with their opinion that ‘The Hives are the greatest band ever,’ it’s this loveable tongue-in-cheek attitude that is still clearly high on their agenda. When asked what is lacking in the music today Dr. Matt’s reply was a simple, “If we weren’t around I would think it would definitely be The Hives.” Respect.
‘Black & White’ is out now – Buy it - Dr’s orders.
www.thehivesbroadcastingservice.com
Words: Kimberley Owen