The Hives

The Hives
The Hives in concert, 2011
Background information
Origin	Fagersta, Sweden
Genres	Garage rock garage punk
Years active	1989–present
Labels	Disque Hives No Fun A&M Octone Interscope Sony Universal Polydor Epitaph Gearhead Burning Heart
Website	thehivesbroadcastingservice.com
Members	Pelle Almqvist Niklas Almqvist Christian Grahn Johan Gustafsson Mikael Karlsson
Past members	Mattias Bernvall

The Hives are a Swedish rock band that rose to prominence in the early 2000s during the garage rock revival. Their mainstream success came with the release of the album Veni Vidi Vicious, containing the anthem "Hate to Say I Told You So". The band received praise for their energetic live shows, and have been acclaimed by music critics as one of the best live rock bands in current music.

The Hives have released five studio albums: Barely Legal (1997), Veni Vidi Vicious (2000), Tyrannosaurus Hives (2004), The Black and White Album (2007) and Lex Hives (2012). They have one compilation album, Your New Favourite Band (2001) and they have issued a live DVD, Tussles in Brussels (2005).

The band claims it was formed in 1993 (although formed in 1989 under a different name and sound) under the guidance of Randy Fitzsimmons. Fitzsimmons suggested that they form a garage rock band. He gave each band member a letter asking them to start the band. Fitzsimmons allegedly acts as a songwriter and manager for the band. The band recorded a demo titled Sounds Like Sushi in 1994. The following year they were signed to Burning Heart, a Swedish skate punk record label. The following year they released their debut EP Oh Lord! When? How? Almqvist decided to promote the band to Burning Heart.

In 1997 they released an album called Barely Legal (an early stage name of guitarist Vigilante Carlstroem), and began touring. The following year they released their second EP A.K.A. I-D-I-O-T.