THE HIVES LOSING THEIR FLAVOR?

The Hives acieved great things with their 2000 release, Veni Vidi Vicious, which captured the world’s imagination spurred on by the song, “Hate To Say I Told You So.” The band eventually became critics darlings and MTV darlings, before dropping off the radar.

The band had released Tyrannasaurus Hives in 2004, but the album didn’t fare as well as its predecessor, with the buzz fading away. Many bands today view them as one of the “flavor of the month” bands that the magazine press likes to tout. We caught up with Hives vocalist Pelle Almqvist to talk about the band’s long-term strategy.

“We’re kind of in a transition from being like the new hip thing to something that’s always going to be there and kind of a band you can trust. Because we always were…before we got really popular for a while we were always a band with a cult following. And we always had our fans, and they would always come to shows and they would dress as us and we always had, like, very intense fans. and now we’re kind of going back to that but we’ll have a lot more of them. Because, live, we’re bigger than we ever were. But as far as record sales, I don’t know. I think we sold a bit less of this record than we did the last one, but it feels good. I’d rather be a big band live than a big band on a record.”

Those wishing for good Christmas gifts can get Hives fans the new DVD, Tussels In Brussels. The video features a mini-movie about the band narrated by Little Steven Van Zandt, guitarist for Bruce Springteen’s E-Street Band and Silvio Dante from the TV show The Sopranos.