The Hives begin swarming the U.S. next week. Even though the Swedish rock band have been playing since they were seventeen-years-old, they are just now finding themselves pinned as rock’s next critical darling, alongside bands like the Strokes and the White Stripes.
“We get asked a lot of times if we compare ourselves to those bands, but it’s hard to say,” says guitarist Vigilante Carlstroem. “We might have some of the same influences but we come to different conclusions.”
And the Hives certainly are not an overnight success – their most recent album, Veni, Vidi, Vicious was recorded over two years ago and they have a greatest hits album already in the bag. Their live show too has undergone a few transitions. “When we started off touring we played, like, ten minutes,” says Vigilante. “But in Germany and Southern Europe they really don’t like that. So every set is like forty to forty-five minutes now.”
After the U.S. dates and a few more shows in Europe, the band plans to record another album. “We never played and we still don’t play music because we wanted to be famous,” says Vigilante. “We’ll play this kind of music from the start even if we weren’t getting really big.”
Hives Tour Dates:
- 5/26 – San Diego, the Scene
- 5/27-28 – West Hollywood, Roxy Theater
- 5/29 – San Francisco, Slim’s
- 5/30 – Portland, OR, Crystal Ballroom
- 5/31 – Seattle, Graceland
- 6/1 – Vancouver, Richard’s On Richards
- 6/4 – Minneapolis, First Avenue
- 6/5 – Chicago, Metro / Smart Bar
- 6/6 – Detroit, Magic Stick
- 6/7 – Cleveland, Beachland Ballroom and Tavern
- 6/8 – Toronto, Opera House
- 6/9 – Montreal, Club Soda
- 6/11 – Cambridge, MA, Middle East Club
- 6/12-13 – New York, Bowery Ballroom
- 6/14 – Philadelphia, Transit
- 6/15 – Washington, DC, Black Cat
