by Nancy Chang
Daily Lobo
If punk rock could be stylish garage music, the Hives' latest album, Tyrannosaurus Hives, would fall into that category.
The CD is the first of the band's albums to be launched off major record label Interscope Records. It's the follow up to the enormously successful 2000 album Veni Vidi Vicious, which put the Swedish group in the spotlight.
The group performs in outfits that look like something a cheesy ventriloquist would wear. Band members sport matching black, button-down shirts, white windbreakers, lanky bow-ties, black pants and coordinated footwear, which serve as a contrast to their personalized sound of punk rock.
The Hives have a way of stripping down the complexity of their music by removing clutter like long guitar solos to create a precise sound, clean and remarkably their own.
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The quintet consists of lead singer Howlin' Pelle Almqvist and his brother, guitarist Nicholaus Arson, guitarist Vigilante Carlstroem, bassist Dr. Matt Destruction and drummer Chris Dangerous.
Having risen from Fagersta, Sweden, they escaped the fate of becoming factory workers in the town of about 12,000 people. The band came together in 1993 and soon after began to book shows with a variety of bands ranging from metal to ska, which allowed them to reach out to many musical subcultures.
In 2003, the Hives signed a deal with Interscope Records allowing them to have complete creative control over their
music.
In Spin magazine Almqvist said they shot for a dry, dull sound on this album, and it made them play their hearts out to keep it interesting.
The July 20 release of Tyrannosaurus Hives also kicked off the band's North American tour, which lasts until Aug. 4.
The down side to Tyrannosaurus Hives is that the CD is a mere half an hour of the band's evolution. There isn't the innovation that "Hate to Say I Told You So" delivered in its previous effort, which put the band on the same level as the White Stripes and the Strokes. Either way, the Hives will be here to stay.
