The Hives have something new in store for their fans, along with their new album called “Lex Hives.” They have used tails and topped hats. This has, however, not received a positive reaction from the lead singer of the band, Pelle Almqvist.
In an interview with Billboard, Almqvist stated that although it has been difficult putting them on, as well as, taking them off, they looked really wonderful. He went on to say, ““It was bound to happen at some point, I think; we really dig looking like a cross between Fred Astaire and Dracula. They don't smell that great, though."
The tuxedos seem to go along perfectly well and complement “Lex Hives” which, after five whole years, is the first new release by the Swedish band. It is solely produced on their own label called Disques Hives, which is quite an achievement for these guys.
Almqvist was quite enthusiastic about this new production and suggested, “It was really fun to see what we were on our own, what we do when left to our own devices. There was no A&Ring involved, no other people involved. During most of making this album, we weren't talking to record companies. It was as much in-the-house as we could make it. It was fun again to do all the bits and pieces ourselves...and also a very difficult process. I mean, if you're going to produce your album you've got to first learn HOW to produce."
Almqvist also told the media that the production was “a function of democracy” and came with its dysfunctions as well. He explained how difficult it had been to create an album with five people, all having their own opinions. He stated, "It's like five dictators battling it out in a room, trying to get it to work. That takes its time. We need to all like what we do; otherwise it's very, very difficult to continue. The songs always have to feel like we're writing a new song, not that we're writing an old song again. But we've been doing it for such a long time that we know what we like, so we listen a lot to our music while making it." According to him, the sessions were also held in Los Angeles along with Josh Homme from Queens of Stone Age, which proved to be quite beneficial and yielded some amazing new tracks with a very digital edge. It also includes some additional tracks such as Vigilante Carlstroem from Dragtones’ cover of “Insane” as well as Chris Dangerous’ “High School Shuffle” sung by Alex Carole by the Crush.
The band also decided to give credit to Jeff Lyne because they felt that their album’s song, “Don’t bring me down”, was very similar to Lynne’s, “Go right ahead.” Almqvist said, “There's a lot of similarity so we felt we might as well admit to that. Lynne, on the other hand, was completely fine with it. We never heard anything negative about it."
The Hives are in the middle of their promotion tour for “Lex Hives”, for which the band is quite hopeful and plan to release their next album in a much shorter period of time as compared to how long they took this time. They are also in the planning process for their next release and say, “there's a good chunk of really great stuff that's not on ('Lex Hives') that we're hoping might make the next one. Seeing as it was five years between this one and the last album, I don't want to say too much, 'cause you never know what will happen. But we're hoping it will be faster."
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