The Hives are Great!

He kept bellowing at the crowd with a kind of sub-Jagger faux-American twang, it was beyond horrible

https://scontent-b-lhr.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpa1/t31.0-8/1278928_656901767662040_1827785931_o.jpg

Howlin' Pelle Almvquist

hmm,

We were at reading festival yesterday. We did not go see The Hives, other bands were available, but will probably check out the BBC coverage later.

They did the Jolla Holland new years eve thing, they seemed pretty alright there but as I say, will look later.

bellowing at the crowd with a kind of sub-Jagger faux-American twang

this is p much contintental garage rock in a nutshell, right? there's always been an audience for it, tho usually more niche than the hives in their (brief) pop moment. half amazed they're still at it. i've got a lot more tolerance for this kind of stuff than most around here, but even so, haven't knowingly heard a new hives song in over a decade.

Have very fond memories of a 2001 Hives club gig.

Have seen them lots of times over the years and have enjoyed every show. Contenderizer's "continental garage rock" is spot-on - I'm hard-wired for most of that. I dig it when the Hives come up on random play but their ridiculous live show is the whole point. Early cassette from 1994 is a fave - before all those Sonics reissues hit Scandinavia the Hives were warp speed new wavy punks who manage to out-accelerate the Toy Dolls. Almqvist is the best Mitch Hedberg impersonator out there.

Sympathize with them for being on the wrong side of one of the most ridiculous headlines ever.
http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/1558352/swedish-court-orders-the-hives-pay-the-cardigans-28m

2.8m