The Hives took the world by storm over 20 years ago, and the fact that they’re still an A-list act on today’s tours and festivals is a testament to the quality of the tracks they’ve always produced. Rightly or wrongly lumped in with bands like the Strokes at the time of their first hits, their staying power since then has been due to them getting, from the outset, the building blocks of rock-and-roll right: a witty mash-up of European design and American bravado. Yet, for a band with touchstones closer to the Stooges-meet-the-Clash, there are some surprisingly Southern elements to their history and sound.
This week, they begin a brief run through the South that will bring them to Oxford’s Lyric Theater on Tuesday, October 26th, and, excited by the possibility of hearing a Swedish band in this hemisphere — all too rare, post-pandemic — I caught up with Nicholaus Arson, guitarist and collaborative songwriter for the group, to find out where they stand now, as they consolidate the world domination they spearheaded in the early aughts.
Memphis Flyer: The Hives have a history of ties with Memphis, don’t they?
Nicholaus Arson: Yeah, for sure. I’m wearing my Goner shirt now! And for us, the Oblivians was one of the most important bands, growing up. To begin with, we didn’t even know they were from Memphis. They were on Crypt, which was based in Hamburg, just across the water from Sweden. But yeah, me and [brother and lead singer] Pelle went to an Oblivians show around 1997 in Stockholm. We’d been aching to see the Oblivians for a long time, so that was a pivotal moment! It was one of those shows where you go just knowing it’s going to be great. Because if you can release records like that, chances are that the shows will be good. That brand of rock-and-roll is seldom shy.
You’ve even been known to cover “Stop & Think it Over” by the Compulsive Gamblers.
Yeah, definitely. It’s the greatest ’60s song not written in the ’60s. That’s just what Greg Cartwright does.
And you recorded and shot some music videos in this area as well.
Yeah, I think we did at least two with Mike McCarthy — “Abra Cadaver” and “A Little More for Little You.” It was all on the same day. We were just running between sets and Mike had a whole schedule in his head. And then, we recorded pretty much all of The Black and White Album in Oxford, and also in Como, Mississippi, at Jimbo Mathus’ studio. Oxford’s pretty close to Memphis, and it’s sort of a neat little place. Good food. So we’re sort of tied to the geography. We have friends there.
Rumor has it that you’ve been writing a lot of songs since the pandemic shut down touring.
With Covid, we were able to start finishing stuff, really. I think we have about 25 songs that are ready to record. Since Covid hit, we haven’t been able to go into any studios. But really there are effectively two new albums ready to record. That’s very un-Hives. Usually, if we have an album of 14 songs, that’s the only songs we have.
Any surprises in store with the new songs?
As far as greatness, no. It’ll all be great. And as far as going in some other direction, again, no. They’re new Hives songs. Some pretty good rockers. We’ll play some on this tour. We’re playing new stuff all the time.
One common element in Hives tracks is the guitar interplay between you and Vigilante Carlstroem. How do your different styles inform the group sound?
We’ve always talked in terms of where you are in the beat. I was always a tad ahead of the beat. Vigilante was always lagging a little bit. So it was like the Stones. They were very loose in their tempos. If you play everything too much on the grid, there’s no groove left. My guitar style is very choppy. My right hand was always more important than my left. To play what I play, you need a firm grip, and the rest is all strumming!
