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But let’s take it from the top,
shall we? Yes, let’s!
When, in 2001, they played 250+ shows, wowed audiences
from Tokyo to Trondheim, from Glasgow to Georgia,
reintroduced rock in the mainstream (No, I mean
actual ROCK MUSIC) and truly became everybody and
their mama’s new favourite band, their plan
had already been in action for 7 years. Formed in
the small industrial town of Fagersta, Sweden in
1993, the Hives, then in their early teens were
saved from boredom and despair by Mr. Randy Fitzimmons.
He came to them with the idea to start a musical
group based on everything he and the band found
exciting.
After teaching themselves to play instruments and
then practising, perfecting and polishing their
craft, they released their first album ‘Barely
Legal’ in 1997 to much acclaim. A perfect
statement of teenage will power over pretty much
everything else, it was hailed by people fed up
with the staleness of contemporary rock. Here was
a band with roots but a mind of their own. Style
and grace yet swerve and brute force. Not to mention
the sheer energy to power the watch on your wrist
and the sun in the sky. Touring commenced and took
them several laps around Sweden and Europe gathering
a cult following that grew steadily upon each visit.
Dressed in black and white and looking out of sight,
the gloves were off and they were ready for anything. |
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exactly what to do - record a record
so good the world can’t ignore it. They release
‘Veni Vidi Vicious’ and nothing is ever
the same. Rave reviews, more touring and that steadily
growing cult following that can no longer fit into
the clubs they play. A full year and a half of sold
out shows later…
Cue big time UK industry guy and all around music
fan Alan McGee (Oasis, Primal Scream, Creation Records)
sees the Hives on German TV and decides that this
is important. He has the band put together a form
of greatest hits for his Poptones label. ‘Your
New Favourite Band’, as the result is dubbed,
catches a sleeping England by surprise. Rock music
that is exciting and dangerous not really being
the toast of the town lately.
Cue ‘Rock is back!’ headlines in newspapers
and on TV. “We always knew the world would
catch on, we just had to wait them in”, as
the band themselves say. Cue hits ‘Hate To
Say I Told You So’ and ‘Main Offender’
and things are drastically different. People in
the UK once again connect rock bands with showmanship,
excitement and an actual good time. Your new favourite
band? Indeed.
In the space of a few short months, the band then
go on to conquer America and beyond. People everywhere
now talk about, listen to and praise our five heroes.
The world seems a little bit blacker and a little
bit whiter. Phase Two is |
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complete. Time to initiate Phase Three.
After touring for three years, the Hives suddenly decide on
a full stop. A new record deal is signed and they go back
to Hive Manor, their HQ in Fagersta, Sweden. Here they will
spend all their time until they come up with a new sound,
they promise. A more metronomic, monotonous and mechanical
sound. “After playing the same songs for three years,
we wanted to surprise ourselves again,” they say. This
is where the traces end.
Well, The calendar now says 2004, and the Hives have been
missing from the world for a year and a half. Their doubters
and enemies have already begun scribbling their obituaries
and their fans have to try and make do with the copycat bands
that follow in their wake. Things look bleak…
BUT HERE THEY ARE! BACK FROM THE DUG-OUT WITH TYRANNOSAURUS
HIVES!
After much research, the members of the Hives discovered that
Tyrannosaurus Hives had to be located in their own backyard.
Two weeks after touring stopped, digging would start. Reports
of strange noises heard all over Fagersta commenced. As the
’90s layer was still covered in smelly crap, the first
layer to be thoroughly searched contained the bleeps and blops
of ’80s new wave. Interesting! They dug further. The
metallic kerrang of ’70s punk. Wow! They dug further
still. The shaking hair and swinging hips of ’60s rock
and soul. Useful! Further… Slapback echo, twangy guitar
- this must be the ’50s. Further. The primal force and
sheer joy of ’40s R’n’B. Good. Further….further…further.
KRITA, JURA…
TYRANNOSAURUS HIVES!
Tyrannosaurus Hives is all you hoped for and more.
Tyrannosaurus Hives is a record so full of potential hits,
it would take a hundred songwriters working for a hundred
years to come up with anything like it.
Tyrannosaurus Hives is an album recorded in Sweden by Pelle
Gunnerfeldt, who also recorded their previous two, despite
many of the world’s biggest-name producers lining up
to work with them. “It’s the only way we wanted
to do it,” they say.
Tyrannosaurus Hives is a record by a band so fired up that,
if you look closely, you can see small drops of sweat when
you open the disc.
Tyrannosaurus Hives is
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equal parts the end of something old and the
start of something new.
Tyrannosaurus Hives is razor-sharp commentary on the world
of the Hives today, something you can adapt to your own life
and feel they are singing about you.
Tyrannosaurus Hives is the most highly anticipated album by
the Hives since the dawn of mankind.
The dumb will nod and stomp in approval. The smart will debate
its power forever.
Tyrannosaurus Hives is not an album put together by “dudes”
“jamming”.
It’s the result of young men tireless in their search
for “better” and “more”.
Tyrannosaurus Hives is not a record outlined to fit your life.
You must fit your life to IT.
Tyrannosaurus Hives is not at all bad for a bunch of mid-20s
Swedish guys from the sticks.
Tyrannosaurus Hives features songs such as: Walk Idiot Walk
The lead single. A tenacious bassline. A guitar riff so jagged
it soungs like it was played with a cattleprod. Lyrics both
enigmatic and crystal-clear about life on Planet Earth 2004.
Great chorus too. Two Timing Touch And Broken Bones A drumbeat
that sounds like a bullet train with a limp, guitars both
classical and modern. This is a song that could only be from
this album. Diabolic Scheme The album’s “ballad”,
where a barrage of horror-movie strings fly in and out over
a slow menacing beat. An equal mix of Screaming Jay Hawkins
and modern R’n’B. Howlin Pelle earning his prefix
with something that sounds like ad-libbed vocals about the
deliberate escape and return of the Hives in the public eye.
Abra Cadaver The first sign of life, the album’s opener.
95.6 seconds of anti-subtle and super-intense havoc-wreaking.
As The Hives now gear up to explode across the world’s
stages once more, they are rightly confident that they have
at their disposal all the musical fire-power to complete the
job. At the end of the liner notes on ‘Veni Vidi Vicious’,
there ran the following citation: “Confucius says: Ah…
The Hives. The future is theirs…should they want it”.
The wise old fella had it right: with ‘Tyrannosaurus
Hives’ all ready to go, it’s going to be a black-and-white
world for 2004 and beyond…
EXTRA!
EXTRA!
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