Here Comes The Buzz

Amidst a buzz of activity backstage “in New York, the New Jersey hockey arena [Prudential Center]” after The Hives performed their support slot as part of Pink's current US tour, Howlin' Pelle Almqvist sounds chipper as always. And we all need to know whether the dashing frontman is still sweaty: “Yes I am!” he laughs.

So have the Swedish rockers and self-proclaimed best live band on the planet – Almqvist, his brother/guitarist Nicholaus Arson (real name: Niklas Almqvist), guitarist Vigilante Carlstroem (Mikael Karlsson to his parents), bass player Dr Matt Destruction (Mattias Bernvall in his civvies) and drummer Chris Dangerous (aka Christian Grahn) – been tempted to try out Pink's trapeze equipment? “Well Chris used that thing where you fly around in the arena. It's on YouTube; I think you could find it somewhere. But later on somebody died using that thing so I'm not gonna try using it.” With an adopted surname like Dangerous, such behaviour is surely expected of him. “It is very typical of Chris Dangerous, yes,” Almqvist allows. “He's just that kinda guy.” 

Almqvist is famous for his onstage banter/bigging up (eg: “Bad music is the devil and I will be your exorcising priest, helpin' you out!”). On whether he's had to watch his language in front of the kiddies while supporting Pink, Almqvist opines, “Not really, she swears a lot so I think that's fine… I don't think that you can keep stuff like that away from kids, that's my philosophy so I'm just gonna stick to that.”

The frontman inadvertently upset concert-goers when he dedicated Tick Tick Boom (“It's about stuff blowing up”) to the crowd in Boston. He immediately took to Facebook to post the following apology afterwards: “About last night: I wanted to dedicate a song to the Boston crowd because they had been so great throughout the show, and unfortunately Tick Tick Boom was the next song in the set. The tragic Boston Marathon bombing never once crossed my mind while on stage, and of course it should have. My most sincere apologies to the people of Boston for this unintentional but serious mistake.” Almqvist further explains the randomness of his banter during our chat: “I can't censor it. I have no idea what I'm saying half the time so I can't, you know – I say it before I thought about it, therefore I have no idea what's goin' on. So it could land anywhere.”

Pink might seem like an odd musical pairing for the Swedish quintet, but Almqvist recalls a previous The Hives support slot that would naturally have propelled those in attendance straight to rock'n'roll heaven. “Ah, we've toured with The Rolling Stones,” the singer says offhandedly. “In 2003 I think it was, on their Forty Licks Tour. It was, like, when they did that 40-year anniversary tour. It's kinda nuts that they're now in their 50th anniversary tour.” Given that Stones fever is heading Down Under this year, does Almqvist reckon they've still got it? “I mean, I haven't seen them in ten years, but they were great ten years ago.” Almqvist hopes that, like The Stones, The Hives will still be rocking out when they're 70, but also acknowledges, “It's hard to keep those acrobatics at 70”. Almqvist's professional attitude should go some way toward enhancing the band's longevity: “I can't drink a lot and do what I do, it just gets too tiring. I don't really drink that much on the road. I do drink, but I don't really drink my ass off.” When quizzed about his age, the band leader tactfully reveals, “I am halfway [to 70]”. 

If you're wondering how long The Hives have been together as a band, Almqvist confirms, “It's over 20 years”. “I mean, we formed when we were children. We were, like, 13 or something like that – you know, pre-pubescent – when we formed the band.” And a helluva lot has happened since then. “Not mentally,” Almqvist counters, explaining that his onstage mental age hasn't really evolved past his early teens. “The rest of the time I'm like a 90-year-old man,” he jests, which fits in with the visual of The Hives playing card games to kill time backstage. “That's actually new,” Almqvist confesses about his band's hobby. “That happened this tour because somebody found a deck of cards. It's good fun!” When asked what the band's preferred games are, Almqvist consults one of his bandmates, momentarily breaking away from our conversation to speak in his native tongue. And what does that translate as? “Blob means blob, basically,” he divulges. After a quick Google, the rules to this game – also known as Oh Hell, Up And Down The River or Prediction Whist – sound very complicated. On who's the biggest card shark in The Hives, Almqvist concludes, “I think Chris is definitely most competitive in the band. He's the one that wants to win the most and I think sometimes he does too.” And does he sulk when he loses? “Ah, instead he just leaves the room [laughs].”

Following Blur's shock cancellation from Big Day Out's 2014 line-up, The Hives (as well as Beady Eye and Deftones) were announced as replacements. “What happened was, Blur cancelled and then they had to call us,” Almqvist chuckles. “We're ecstatic. I think we thought about it for maybe half a second before we decided to do it. They had a good day at the Big Day Out office that day.”

You've probably heard The Hives' awesome Come On! track synced to the latest Xbox One commercial. There was also a remix contest utilising this same kicking track. Surely it's impossible to improve upon any track by The Hives, however. “That's what I'm thinking too,” Almqvist agrees. “It's sorta like putting graffiti on the Mona Lisa, but on the other hand their songs might be interesting – they won't be better, we know that, but they might be interesting,” he laughs. “Also, if you make a house remix of a song like Come On!, I don't know how it could get more party than that.” And attempting a ballad version of Come On! would definitely be a challenge. “Exactly, it just doesn't contain enough music to make a ballad,” Almqvist reasons. 

Almqvist's onstage persona is all brazen egotism and sometimes he wears this mantle (and probably top hat) throughout our conversation, but the frontman also can't hide his sweet side for too long. Exhibit a): There's a photo of Almqvist with three fans cradling polystyrene cups outside 9:30 Club in Washington captioned thus: “He howls, and he makes tea for cold fans. Class freaking act.” Almqvist elaborates: “They were sitting outside the venue and it was really cold and I just thought that, you know – I asked them if they wanted coffee, they said no, and I asked them if they wanted tea and they said yes. And so I went and got some… They were sitting outside on a piece of cardboard and people were mistaking them for hobos.” 

In terms of stage outfits, which The Hives are renowned for, what are their plans for this Down Under touring stint? “Well it's hard to look presentable in summer times,” Almqvist observes. “I dunno what we can do, but I was thinking something like Steve Irwin-ish outfits in black and white. Do you think that could work?” Affirmative. Also, given that The Hives are keen surfers, a challenge is thrown out there for Almqvist to crowd-surf on a surfboard. “Oh, yeah. Yeah, I could try that,” he considers. Are you gonna try it? “Maybe, we'll see.” Special training would be involved. “I was born in special training,” he teases. 

It's been a very busy touring year for The Hives, but that doesn't mean they haven't found time to work on new masterpieces for our future listening rapture. “We have some new stuff that just showed up on its own,” the frontman says mysteriously. “We haven't had no control over it. So we have new stuff and hopefully we can play some of it over there to Big Day Out.” Really? You're gonna debut some new material? “Ah, we hope so. I mean I will make no promises,” Almqvist backpedals, “'cause we usually just break 'em if we make 'em.” So does new material just come to Almqvist in dreams? “Something like that. From an unknown source that's deep inside the earth's crust.”