Tour de Force

One of the best live acts around, Swedish rock titans The Hives talk to Newsweek ahead of their U.S. headline concert dates about opening for Foo Fighters and nearly collaborating with André 3000

- RYAN SMITH

THE HIVES ARE ROCK'S TRUE OLYMPIANS. About every four years, they unveil a new album before embarking on a victory lap in the form of international tours that have solidified their standing as champions of their genre.

That changed somewhat following the release of 2012's Lex Hives, which sat without a successor for some 11 years before the 2023 unveiling of The Death of Randy Fitzsimmons (named in honor of their fictitious yet legendary founder and mentor, who dominates the band's songwriting credits).

A year on from the critically acclaimed album's release, lead guitarist Nicholaus Arson (birth name Niklas Almqvist)-who, though he won't confirm it, is the real Randy Fitzsimmons-told Newsweek that the long wait for their sixth studio album was simply a matter of "boring math," with the COVID19 pandemic playing a central factor.

"Also, life happened," added drummer Chris Dangerous (Christian Grahn), who underwent major stomach surgery. "I was hospitalized for a long time, and when I got back into some sort of playing shape, the pandemic hit."

Were there concerns, then, about how fans would receive their latest release after an unexpectedly lengthy gap? Not particularly.

"We make records that we want to listen to. We want to be proud of them forever. Once the record's out, it's never going away," Dangerous explained. "If we think it's good then, chances are, so will other people. Of course, in some ways, you sort of think of what people are going to think or say...The reception for the record has been nothing but fantastic."