The Hives Breathe Again with New Song “I’m Alive”
The band are currently at work on their first new album in seven years
Photo by Goran Broberg Music News The Hives
The Hives are still alive.
A whopping two decades since the Swedish garage rockers dropped their debut album, Barely Legal, The Hives have released a new song, “I’m Alive.” The new song is their first in four years following the 2015 single “Blood Red Moon,” and will be featured on a limited-edition, double A-side 7’, in stores this summer. And there’s more to come: “Stay tuned for news on [the band’s] first new album in seven years,” a press release teases.
Recorded in L.A. and produced by Dave Sardy, who’s worked with the likes of LCD Soundsystem and Fall Out Boy, the new song is The Hives’ first release through Third Man Records.
A bold first step in a new leg of the band’s careers, “I’m Alive” was born two decades after The Hives first exploded onto the world’s stage during the post-punk revival of the 2000s, performing alongside bands like AC/DC and The Rolling Stones.
“‘I’m Alive’ is a song about crawling up from under a rock and obliterating all resistance that sounds like crawling up from under a rock and obliterating all resistance because it is a band crawling up from under a rock and obliterating all resistance,” lead singer Pelle Almqvist explains. “Use it in your own life to help you obliterate your own resistance.”
The song begins with a bristle of blurred guitar chords that grow into bludgeoning drums—textbook for The Hives’ characteristic sound progression. Through the slick, simple, carefully constructed noise and chaos, Almqvist sings, “I was under the rubble, but I’m back again.”
“Did you miss me boys and girls?” he continues. “I crawled out of the underworld. And I’m alive!”
Yes, Pelle. We missed you.
The clash of chords and deluge of drums calms as Almqvist breathes, “I’m alive. Yeah, I’m alive,” as a red heart monitor line inches across the screen. Yes, The Hives are alive again, but no longer the wide-eyed teens they were when they first stepped onto the stage.
The Hives were catapulted into mainstream success with their album Veni Vidi Vicious and its hit single, “Hate to Say I Told You So.” The band will soon kick of a series of sold-out U.S. tour dates, wrapping up on May 29 in San Diego. Then they’ll be homeward-bound to Europe to play at the inaugural Lollapalooza Stockholm, Sjock Festival in Belgium, Mad Cool in Spain and more.
You can check out the full tour schedule and buy tickets on the band’s website. Listen to their new song for yourself below.