The Hives come to HISTORY on September 16th
The Death Of Randy Fitzsimmons by The Hives.
The Hives… on a creative hiatus… surely not? Yet, while it has been over ten years since the Swedish band’s last album, 2012’s Lex Hives, anyone fearing they have fallen into the ageing rock cliche of an act touring on past glories can rest easy. Yes, The Death Of Randy Fitzsimmons is The Hives first full album in over a decade, but as its macabre title hints, the reason for the band’s absence from the studio has been uniquely and suitably The Hives. Of course, the group did not disappeared since their last long player. Along with several singles – including 2019’s double a-side I’m Alive/Good Samaritan – a live album and a series of global tours, to the outside world The Hives were still setting the pace. Yet inside the band, the lack of a new record was concerning… as was the increasingly long absence of The Hives’ founder, mentor and songwriter, the limelight-shunning Randy Fitzsimmons. As the title of the new record tells you, there was a problem… though possibly not the one you think. “Randy is really important to us, he was responsible for forming the band and the treasure trove of Hives songs are pretty much all his,” explains frontman Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist of Fitzsimmons’ pivotal behind the scenes role. “Randy never really went on tour, he didn’t want to be in the public eye, so we respected his wishes and didn’t reveal his identity, which I think pissed people off. Journalists wanted to uncover the secret, so increasingly we stopped talking about Randy out of respect for him but he was always key to The Hives.”
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