The Hives

Swedish rockers The Hives are modern garage rock’s most dapper yet disruptive trailblazers. Strutting into the 21st century donning monochrome suits and armed with thick power chords, tight rhythms and tons of bluster, the band conquered the charts in 2002 with the rerelease of snappy alt-rock hit “Hate to Say I Told You So”. But it took them nearly a decade to get there. Formed in 1993 in the small town of Fagersta, Sweden, the quintet—including fiery frontman Howlin' Pelle Almqvist, his lead guitarist brother, Nicholaus Arson, guitarist Vigilante Carlstroem, bassist Dr. Matt Destruction and drummer Chris Dangerous—took their stage names seriously. While their 1997 debut LP, Barely Legal, is one straight punk salvo, subsequent releases—starting with their 2000 breakthrough Veni Vidi Vicious—saw them button up their brash, boisterous attacks and quickly rise from the garage to the arena. After a few left turns working with hip-hop producers like Timbaland and Pharrell Williams, they returned to their hooks-laden, proto-punk roots with 2012’s Lex Hives and 2020’s rowdy, hits-filled Live at Third Man Records, proving that age has done nothing to tame them.