March 15, 2012

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The Hives have spoken in depth about their first studio album for five years Lex Hives.

The Swedish band, who last released an album in 2007 with Black And White Hives, will release their fifth album on June 5 and singer Howlin' Pelle Almqvist has told NME that though some tracks on the album represent a significant departure from their earlier records, the album "still sounds like The Hives".

Asked if Lex Hives stuck to the classic garage rock formula of the band's previous efforts, Almqvist said: "There's no formula, but it definitely sounds like The Hives. Every good band there is has a certain sound. There are a few songs that couldn't have been on any of other Hives album, that are sort of a departure, but I'd say that kind of happened on the last time album too. But I'd also say that they couldn't have been on any other album by anybody else either."

Almqvist also said that the band could not cite any influences for the record, but that he was very excited for people to hear it.

He said of this: "We're not 21 anymore. Most of the influences come from within or they're so ingrained in our DNA that we don't really think of them as influences anymore. We haven't really listened to other music for almost two years because we've been working on the album. There's a few different tempos. And then there are some songs that are in a style that I don't think anyone has done before, at all. I'm really excited about it. And if it's exciting to me, then it's exciting to most other people as well."


Almqvist revealed that Lex Hives had largely been recorded in the band's home country of Sweden, with one week in Berlin's Hansa Studios, which they used to try and recreate Iggy And The Stooges' classic drum sound.

Asked where the band recorded the album, he said: "Last time we recorded a lot of it aboard and this time we thought we'd record it in Stockholm, pretty much every good studio in Stockholm. We'd get some songs together, then we'd record for a week, then we'd go home and get some more songs together and we'd keep going like that. We also spent one week in the Hansa studio in Berlin, trying to get the Iggy drum sound."

The singer also gave some more details on the album, revealing that it had 12 songs in total. He said: "There are 12 songs on the record; we probably recorded 14 or 15. There's one called 'My Time Is Coming' that we're pretty proud of, there's one called 'I Want More', another called 'Patrolling Days'. It's a pretty cool record. It's my favourite of all our albums, easily."

Almqvist also added that the band have begun work on their sixth album already, despite the fact 'Lex Hives' isn't even out yet, adding: "We feel like we've got a pretty good start on the next one already. It'll probably be six years down the line before we release it though."

Lex Hives will be preceded by a single 'Go Right Ahead' and the band are expected to announce fresh live dates in support of the album in the coming weeks.

Oh aye, I was wondering where this lot went to.

Fun band.