TD 1
We’ve related more to hiphop than to rock over th
e past twenty years. There’s room for that kind of bragging personality. tion. Under a gravestone, material was found that has now become The Hives’ first studio album in over a decade, The Death Of Randy Fitzsimmons. It makes me think of Peaky Blinders. Then I think of Nick Cave. Some of that has probably sneaked in, more atmospheric stuff. A little more dynamic than before, perhaps? “If you imagine Hives in some kind of cliché world, every other song is super fast and every other song is kinda half-fast. To maintain that feeling throughout a whole album, there has to be change. If it’s going to feel like you’re running fast, sometimes you have to walk.” You have to have the stamina? “Many of the favourite bands we had when we were younger used the same gear all the time. Back then, it was enough if it was loud and fast. Now I’ve become more picky. I love rock music so damn much that I hate when it’s mediocre. However, it sets a pretty high bar if it’s supposed to be worth making more music yourself.” Do you have performance anxiety? “We’ve really proven everything we need to prove. There are probably enough bands that sound like us. Hives tribute bands in Sao Paulo and whatever. Over the years, you’ve heard so much good rock music, it’s like you think you’re going to compete with it somehow. The Hives have done a lot of things that I think are good. That’s something to compete with in some way too. It’s like you’re going for the Nobel Prize in rock.” 44 Is that possible? “You have to try.” He admits that there’s a part of him that would find it a bit comforting if this is The Hives’ last album. It would have been a comfortable decision to make. The problem is what to do instead. “This is what I’ve spent my 25,000 hours on. If I’m not going to make music, I’ll have to accept that maybe I need to do something else that I might not be as good at. Many bands have stumbled upon that when it comes to quitting. Just because you’re good at one thing, you assume you’re just as good at everything else.” Isn’t it most dignified for a band to just disappear? “The most dignified thing is not to say that you’re quitting. Just stop booking gigs. Then you don’t need to make a big deal about starting again if you want to.” back. What was it the English queen said? ‘Never complain, never explain.’ Don’t celebrate anything, don’t mess around. You do a few gigs and record when it needs to be done.” It feels silly to justify your choices so much. “You’re right about that. You’re making me wonder why I’m sitting here doing an interview about exactly that. I think that’s why I like artists who no longer exist. You can’t ask any questions.” “And the Wee Stores used to open on a Sunday. Because they were Prods. They’d open and sell the newspapers, while all the Catholic stores were closed.” Isn’t that what you’ve done? “Even dorkier than making a big deal about quitting is making a big deal about coming Is restraint the finest thing we have? “In a way, it is. But at the same time, there’s a big risk that it’s just a damn boring person with nothing to say. I can like an entertaining show-off, David Lee Roth, for example. But as usual with this kind of crap, you end up somewhere in between.” He stops himself. Doesn’t it depend on the genre, I just realized? If you’re a low-key singer-songwriter with a bubbly and snappy personality, it’s bad for your career. I think it has to match. “It’s in the nature of rock music to reinvent itself. After a decade of extravagance, it rears back and puts on pajamas; ten years later, it regrets it and knocks on the door again. The Hives broke through in a period where it was important to radiate that you didn’t care too much. Just before that, bands like Alice in Chains, Nirvana, and Soundgarden had popularized depression as an artistic expression. Energetic punk rock in matching suits had no clear place in rock history. Everything had to be so damn ordinary all the time, and genuine. That’s probably why we’ve related more to hip-hop than to rock over the past twenty years. There’s room for that kind of bragging personality. In grunge, the narrative was always that they suffered so much, but then they played the music and you knew, that’s guaranteed fun.” It can’t be both, you think? How both? Either you have a feeling in your body or you don’t have a feeling in your body. Can’t you feel both sad and happy at the same time?