Reviews
This is the kerrang review of your new favourite band..................
Reviewed: October 2001
Genre: Punk
Label: Poptones
Key tracks: 'Supply And Demand' , 'Untutored Youth' , 'The Hives Are Law, You Are Crime'

When Alan 'Oasis' McGee's Poptones label stumbled across The Hives last year, they thought they'd discovered the best unknown band in Europe. Of course, those with their fingers to the pulse have been saying the same thing for many moons. Still, at least McGee's enthusiasm means we've a chance to hear this collection of hard-to-find early singles and B-sides, mysteriously all written by The Hives' unseen Machiavellian mentor Randy Fitzsimmons.
The likes of the excellent 'Supply And Demand' and 'The Hives Are Law, You Are Crime' show just why these Swedes play the best Grammy-nominated punk rock, rhythm and blues hybrid, with both sophisticated humour and a big side-order of subterranean soul. Dust down your sharpest suit and go see. 4/5



This is a review i found of the Hives second album Veni Vedi Vicious on some obscure website...................
THE HIVES– Veni Vidi Vicious (Burning Heart/Epitaph)



Absolutely incredible. This album is one of the best listens of 2000 hands down. Nitty gritty rock-n-roll with a 60’s garage feel. The Hives sort of remind me of Rocket From the Crypt minus the horns, mainly because they all dress the same. The album cover for example has them all in black suits with white shoes. Now that kicks ass.

This band from Sweden has been churning this stuff out since ’93 and you’ll definitely want to pick up some of their earlier stuff after listening to this. Just about everything on here is high-octane type stuff. “Die, All Right!” is a serious example of this. You’re ripped through an onslaught of greed and selling out. A lot of this stuff has lyrics that sound like random thoughts but after reading them a couple of times they make sense…I think. “Hate to Say I Told You So” is a prime example. One of my favorite songs was “Find Another Girl”. It combines sort of a reggae type feel combined with 50’s style rock and a hint of lounge. This is one of the most innovative songs I’ve heard in awhile. I believe I saw a video from these guys on M2 or something not too long ago while I was flipping through the channels but unfortunately I didn’t stop on it. I wish I did now.


Hives Live Review from Sheffield

First off all, The Hives are one of my favorite bands so you've got to understand that i'm biased from the start, but these guys are great live, great stage presence, great music, great band and seeing as tonight was a free entry night then that makes it all the better. For anybody who is not aware of The Hives (where have you been??) then they're a five piece Swedish band on Burning Heart Records (big surprise) that create a garage, 60 style punk for the 2000's infact their probably the Beatles of the 2000's but with loads more balls and attitude. The Hives played songs from both their CD's 'Barely Legal' & 'Veni Vidi Vicous' which are more than highly recommended, and these songs came over really well live and very loud. The vocalist Howlin' Pelle is a great frontman who has great rappour with the crowd though it times you did feel like you were part of a mass advert for the band, and were being force fed with 'The Hives' with comments constantly along the lines of 'Who do you love', 'The Hives' 'Do you love The Hives', 'The Hives are going to rock your world' etc etc. As you would expect they all hit the stage in the 60's black suites and white ties and straight away look the part, especially as they've got a light bulb back drop of their logo behind them as well. You all should get a chance to see The hives pretty soon as Alan Mcgee founder of Creation records has signed therm for the UK on his new label Poptones, this is a direct quote from him - "Hate to say I told you so" came on. I thought great! Who the fuck are this band? I got back to England to find that they had played my club RADIO 4 and the whole office was going mental about them. I then got the album and my thoughts were confirmed THE HIVES are the greatest garage punk band on the planet. Meanwhile England is going through a "New acoustic movement" - Fuck that shit - Salute THE HIVES!!!" well for a person who signed Oasis your got to be surprised that he actually has some taste. Look out for a compilation CD being released by him with tracks from both CD's called "Your New Favorite Band" if you've already got the original Cd's it's probably not worth it , but it does have 4 mpeg of videos on it for your viewing pleasure. If you get a chance to see The Hives then go, they do hype themselves up a bit, but it's good to see they live up to it and they didn't disappoint this long time fan.


Another live review from London


With Nina Persson mothballing her leather trousers in favour of flat caps and country music, Sweden looks to The Hives to keep the rock flag aloft; fine ambassadors your new favourite band prove to be



Swedish garage punkers The Hives have just released a compilation comprising the best bits of their last two albums on the Burning Heart label, steadily building a devoted fanbase along the way. But now, thanks to Alan McGee falling in lust with The Hives and throwing the weight of his Poptones label behind them, all hell has broken loose and they have found themselves touted as this week’s Next Big Thing. It’s a situation they’re apparently absolutely delighted to find themselves in, which is more than can be said for the countless fans locked outside due to the high quotient of industry freeloaders; tonight’s guest list is roughly the same length as ‘War And Peace’.


Musically The Hives are great, some of the better descendants of the MC5, along with well groomed newcomers The Pattern. What takes them from being merely competent to exciting enough to prove McGee right is their singular brand of arrogance: even when they’re declaring themselves to be the most important band in the world ever (which they do, frequently and loudly), it’s with a charm that makes you want to adopt them rather than kick their heads in.
When their young Jagger-like singer Howlin’ Pelle (they all have ‘Bananaman’ villain names: Nicholaus Arson and Vigilante on guitars, Chris Dangerous on drums and Dr. Dangerous, who best resembles celebrity chef Anthony Worral Thompson, on bass) thrusts his hands into the crowd and demands “Touch me!”, it’s with the air of the hyper kid at school pretending to be Elvis. When he declares “The Hives are so great! This one’s dedicated to me!” before bounding into ‘Search And Destroy’ and hanging of the ceiling by stray electrical wires, you can’t help but smile.


They look good, they sound great and – most importantly of all - they think they’re fantastic. In a larger venue next time around, with the faithful inside and the liggers elsewhere, they’re sure to make good on the buzz. Ahem.