If playing support to one of the UK’s most beloved bands in the cavernous, often soulless surroundings of a stadium can often prove a tough gig, then it helps if you happen to be The Hives. It’s not just that the Swedish stalwarts remain one of the best live acts you’re likely to see on any stage, at any hour (although that doesn’t hurt). It’s also that, nearly 30 years since the release of their incendiary 1997 debut Barely Legal, Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist and his cohorts still see the world in a different way to most. As they prepare for the release of the appropriately titled new LP The Hives Forever Forever The Hives, they still — perhaps more than ever — believe in the raw, ridiculous powers of rock’n’roll.
“The coolest thing about doing the Arctic Monkeys tour was that the audience was so young, and when you play a stadium, the nature of the beast is that half of them won’t have had any contact with underground punk rock. Which means that you get such great reactions like… fear!” Almqvist chuckles, dressed in customary monochrome and reclining in the suite of a Shoreditch hotel. “All the reactions you want when you’re a rock’n’roll band! Excitement, fear, confusion… I remember walking off stage once after supporting Maroon 5 and hearing a girl at the front say, ‘Did you see that? That was so scary.’ That’s the energy we want!”
