After a string of live shows in recent years, today The Hives are officially back. The Swedish rockers are releasing their first studio album is over a decade titled The Death of Randy Fitzsimmons on August 11. The news comes with the lead single "Bogus Operandi" and a music video directed by Aube Perrie and produced by Pulse Films.
The album's backstory is a wild tale: The group's absence is (allegedly) due to the fact the members haven't seen or heard from band founder Randy Fitzsimmons (a.k.a. guitarist Niklas Almqvist—still very much alive according to his Wikipedia page) since the release of 2012’s Lex Hives. They recently discovered "an obituary and cryptic poem in the local paper of the Northern Vastmanland town where The Hives are from," according to a press release, which led them to his tombstone. "Upon digging the freshly interred ground, the band found not a body but instead several tapes, suits, and a piece of paper bearing the words 'The Death of Randy Fitzsimmons' typed up as if a title."
Speaking to the music itself, frontman Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist confirms that it's equally unserious. “There's no maturity or anything like that bullshit, because who the fuck wants mature rock ’n’ roll?" he shared. "That's always where people go wrong, I feel. ‘It’s like rock ’n’ roll but adult,’ nobody wants that! That's literally taking the good shit out of it. Rock ’n’ roll can't grow up, it is a perpetual teenager and this album feels exactly like that, which it's all down to our excitement—and you can’t fake that shit.”
Watch the bloodbath video for "Bogus Operandi" below, and pre-order The Death of Randy Fitzsimmons here.
