The Hives on the longevity of rock bands: “Your band and music dies along with your fans. A band that attracts new fans will live on forever.”
Swedish indie rockers The Hives have argued that a band’s longevity by and large boils down to its ability to attract new fans.
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In a new interview with NME, the group – whose first album in over a decade, The Death Of Randy Fitzsimmons, arrives 11 August – explain what it takes to keep the rock ‘n’ roll flame alive over the years, saying, “It’s true for all bands like AC/DC or Iron Maiden.”
“When you’ve been around for a while you have to pick up youngsters,” singer Pelle Almqvist explains. “We had a lot of bands that we liked or were friends with and they would never get new fans. It would just be the same ones with a few dropped off and the ones who remained cared a little bit less.”
Guitarist Nicholaus Arson adds: “Your band and music dies along with your fans. A band that attracts new fans will live on forever. You gotta have some kind of regrowth. The shows and the crowds are always re-energised by younger fans. If we’re projecting energy, they’ll react to that.”
The band also revealed that they get a lot of teenage girls coming to see their shows, “which are great for a rock crowd because they’re the loudest thing in the world – 50,000 teenage girls is such a loud sound.”
Elsewhere, Almqvist also opines on the importance of rock being a “perpetual teenager”, saying “There’s nothing more depressing than adult rock music. ‘Oh great! You took away the one thing about it that was fun! Now it’s rock without energy!’ I really like Dire Straits, that’s my image of an adult rock situation, but I don’t think that’s what we should be doing.”
“There has to be some bad choices in there. It has to be a kid trying to figure shit out, trying to have fun, or just reacting to stuff,” Arson explains.
“A lot of energy but no direction – that’s rock ‘n’ roll!”
Bogus Operandi, the lead single from The Hives’ upcoming album, is now out. Listen below.
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