NEW YORK (Top40 Charts) - The
Hives are itching to record a new album, but there's no time. The Swedish band's various worldwide record labels keep adding to its tour itinerary. And, after the critically acclaimed band's first headlining U.S. tour ends in June, they're off to
Europe and Japan.
"We've been away for far too long," says guitarist
Vigilante Carlstroem from a tour stop in Portland, Ore. "We've been trying to stop touring for two and a half years to try to make the new record."
But the Swedish band is too hot right now to let disappear into a studio. Its last album, 2000's Veni Vidi Vicious, is only getting its American legs now. And the $10 tickets to its sold-out club shows routinely fetch $100 on Ebay.
"We're kind of used to it from Europe," says Carlstroem. "Even if it shouldn't go that well in the States, we're fine anyway with the fans we already have."
Carlstroem says the band "probably has some parts for some songs," but hasn't had the time to piece them together and doesn't carry a tape recorder on the road. "It won't be exactly the same as the last record is all I can say," he says.
In addition, the Hives' sole credited songwriter, Randy Fitzsimmons, isn't around. "He doesn't necessarily write all the songs," says Vigilante. "He comes up with the name of the song or some part of the lyrics or whatever, and we get to put it together ourselves." Fitzsimmons is the Svengali who supposedly wrote each Hive a letter, in eighth grade, requesting that they form a band. It's in every band bio.
Even after Britain's New Music Express tracked Fitzsimmons down to the pseudonym used by Hives guitarist Nicholaus Arson (a.k.a., Nicholaus Almqvist) to collect royalties in Sweden, the band members still stick like super glue to this highly suspect story. Vigilante explained that Fitzsimmons donates all his money to the band, which is why Arson collects it.
"And we're not stupid," he says. "If Randy Fitzsimmons registered for the money, people would get his address and find out who he was." Vigilante won't even admit that Fitzsimmons is a pseudonym. "If you tell a little bit in every interview," he says, "you'll soon get the whole picture."
