The Hives are back with their first new music in over a decade, and an entertainingly far-fetched story which they hope will explain exactly why they've been out-of-action.
The Swedish garage punks will release a new album, The Death Of Randy Fitzsimmons, on August 11, and as a teaser for the delights to come, the quintet have kindly shared a new single and video, Bogus Operandi.
As if this wasn't enough good news for one day, the Swedes have promised that their forthcoming follow-up to 2012's Lex Hives, will feature "no maturity or anything like that bullshit."
"Who the fuck wants mature rock’n’roll?,” asks frontman Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist rhetorically. "That’s always where people go wrong, I feel. ‘It’s like rock’n’roll but adult,’ nobody wants that! That’s literally taking the good shit out of it. Rock’n’roll can’t grow up, it is a perpetual teenager and this album feels exactly like that, which it’s all down to our excitement — and you can’t fake that shit."
Long-time Hives fans will note that the new album title references the demise of the quintet's mysterious svengali, Randy Fitzsimmons... but all is not as it might appear here.
"As the album’s macabre title hints, the band’s extended absence from the studio has been no hiatus but rather a horror story," a press release for the record states.
"The Hives now admit they have not seen nor spoken to their founder, mentor and songwriter, the perpetual limelight-shunning Randy Fitzsimmons since the release of 2012’s Lex Hives. Following the recent discovery of a hidden away obituary and cryptic poem in the local paper of the Northern Vastmanland town where The Hives are from, the band members were led to Fitzsimmons’ tombstone.
“Upon digging the freshly interred ground, the band found not a body but instead several tapes, suits, and a piece of paper bearing the words 'The Death Of Randy Fitzsimmons' typed up as if a title. Whether a hoax or Fitzsimmons’ opening gambit, remains to be seen. The uncovered tapes included the demos that would become the twelve new songs on The Death Of Randy Fitzsimmons.
Utter bollocks, obviously, but a fabulously entertaining set of lies, nonetheless.
The album tracklist is as follows:
1. Bogus Operandi
2. Trapdoor Solution
3. Countdown To Shutdown
4. Rigor Mortis Radio
5. Stick Up
6. Smoke & Mirrors
7. Crash Into The Weekend
8. Two Kinds Of Trouble
9. The Way The Story Goes
10. The Bomb
11. What Did I Ever Do To You?
12. Step Out Of The Way
Watch the horror-themed video for Bogus Operandi below:
The Hives will also play some record shop in-store shows around their stadium shows supporting Arctic Monkeys, plus a date at The Garage in London on June 13. Fans pre-ordering the new album from their website will be given access to a pre-sale for tickets.
The band will appear at:
May 30: Bristol Fleece - Rough Trade Records
Jun 06: Kingston Pryzm - Banquet Records
Thu 22: Nottingham Rescue Room - Rough Trade Records
