The Hives is the biggest garage rock band in the world, hailing from Sweden but conquering every city in its path.
Or, the Hives are a bunch of music geeks.
If you’re familiar with these reverb-loving Swedes, you know the Hives are both: successful the world over while geeking out over the small stuff — making them 10 times cooler than most other major-label bands.
Name another mainstream band that revels in seeing a Misfits tribute band in Seattle, calling them “fantastic” in their blog — before flying to New York City to see a reunion of the influential (yet underappreciated) garage rock band the Sonics.
“They were to (reunite) at the Cavestomp Festival,” guitarist Nicholaus Arson wrote on the band’s blog at hives.nu late last year. “We flew in the morning from Tacoma International Airport, a weird garage-rock coincidence as the Sonics hail from Tacoma.”
Judging from the rest of the blog post, it’s obvious Arson and Hives singer Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist were completely geeking out at the Sonics show. And their deep appreciation for an anachronistic American rock subgenre is what has made the Hives stand out from the rest of the rock pack over the years.
We caught up with Almqvist to talk about his love of old Daft Punk, New York City, the origins of his band’s matching outfits and their date Tuesday at the Ogden Theatre.
Question: You’re back home in Sweden. How’s that going?
Answer: Yeah, it feels good. The weather’s no good, but it’s nice to be home. We’re looking forward to starting our tour in Mexico.
Q: You’ve been off since Christmas, basically. How have you spent the time?
A: I went to Costa Rica, and that was great. I also bought a house in New York, on the south side of Brooklyn. Me and some friends bought it together, and I really like it there. I do spend a lot of time there, so it just made sense.
Q: Now that you’re long done with “The Black and White Album,” is it easy for you to listen to it and hear what you all were listening to during the making of the record? It seems like there’s some new swing and lounge stuff in there.
A: Not really. It’s always so diverse. I don’t think we listened to any swing and lounge this time around, but we did 10 years ago. We tried to make a more diverse-sounding record. Although I will admit that we listened to a lot of Daft Punk.Q:With Kanye or without?
A: The old stuff without him, although I do like (Kanye), but I really like them better without him.
Q:I once read that Greg Cartwright and the Oblivians had something to do with you being drawn to garage rock in the first place.
A: We listened to garage before that, but they were our favorite band for a while. Greg is fantastic, and everyone in the Oblivians were fantastic, and the stuff they’ve all done after that has been great. We love the Reigning Sound. We brought them on tour a couple of times. In fact, thanks for reminding me. I’ve been looking for Greg. I need to talk with him about something.
Q: Are you surprised when you travel that garage rock isn’t as big throughout the world as it is in Sweden?
A: Absolutely. I didn’t realize how unpopular it is in other places until I went there. It must have something to do with us. There’s a lot of room for different types of music in Sweden — even on the radio. It’s more like American radio was in the ’60s, with a rock song and then a folk song. There’s not a format. There’s more room.
Q: I once saw you guys out on the streets of Austin during South by Southwest for a photo shoot — matching outfits and everything — and it made me wonder who your stylist has been over the years.
A: Ever since ’95 or ’96, we’ve never had a stylist — we have some friends who make clothing, and now they have clothing companies. But we’ve always done everything ourselves, to the point of almost being obsessive. We draw them, and they make them. We have a bit more money now. It used to be hard, because we’re all different sizes.
Q: I’m always interested about the odd song on an album. So where did “A Stroll Through Hives Manor Corridors” come from?
A: It came from Nicholaus Arson, actually. He came to the rehearsal space, and he’d already recorded it the way you hear it on the album — with an old organ he found at a school and a Dictaphone. We liked it the way it was, so we decided to put it on the record. We also like oddball songs on the record. The one we liked the most would usually be the strangest one of the record.
Q:What’s your favorite song on the new record?
A: “Try It Again” is my favorite. I like that one. It’s different from all the others on there.
Ricardo Baca: 303-954-1394 or rbaca@denverpost.com
The Hives
Garage rock. 8 p.m. Tuesday, Ogden Theatre, with the Donnas. $20-$22.
