Did you have the Hives releasing their first album since 2012 on your 2023 bingo card? The indie sleaze revival is evidently serving the Swedish aught-rockers well, as they've just announced plans for the August 11 arrival of The Death of Randy Fitzsimmons, previewed today by a new single.
Named for the honorary sixth Hive, the "founder, mentor and songwriter, the perpetual limelight-shunning Randy Fitzsimmons," the album is said to have come about when the band dug up Fitz's grave after stumbling upon his tombstone in "hidden away obituary and cryptic poem in the local paper of the Northern Vastmanland town where the Hives are from." What a way to announce a comeback!
"There's no maturity or anything like that bullshit, because who the fuck wants mature rock 'n' roll?" vocalist Howlin' Pelle Almqvist — whose registered pseudonym is Randy Fitzsimmons, curiously — said of the group's return to music-making. "That's always where people go wrong, I feel. 'It's like rock 'n' roll but adult,' nobody wants that! That's literally taking the good shit out of it. Rock 'n' roll can't grow up, it is a perpetual teenager and this album feels exactly like that, which it's all down to our excitement — and you can't fake that shit."
Today, you can hear the surprisingly Hives catalogue-honouring lead single "Bogus Operandi," which has an accompanying Evil Dead-esque music video directed by Aube Perrie. Take a gander at that below, where you'll also find the album's tracklist.
The Death of Randy Fitzsimmons marks the follow-up to 2012's Lex Hives.
The Death of Randy Fitzsimmons:
1. Bogus Operandi
2. Trapdoor Solution
3. Countdown to Shutdown
4. Rigor Mortis Radio
5. Stick Up
6. Smoke & Mirrors
7. Crash into the Weekend
8. Two Kinds of Trouble
9. The Way the Story Goes
10. The Bomb
11. What Did I Ever Do to You?
12. Step Out of the Way
Named for the honorary sixth Hive, the "founder, mentor and songwriter, the perpetual limelight-shunning Randy Fitzsimmons," the album is said to have come about when the band dug up Fitz's grave after stumbling upon his tombstone in "hidden away obituary and cryptic poem in the local paper of the Northern Vastmanland town where the Hives are from." What a way to announce a comeback!
"There's no maturity or anything like that bullshit, because who the fuck wants mature rock 'n' roll?" vocalist Howlin' Pelle Almqvist — whose registered pseudonym is Randy Fitzsimmons, curiously — said of the group's return to music-making. "That's always where people go wrong, I feel. 'It's like rock 'n' roll but adult,' nobody wants that! That's literally taking the good shit out of it. Rock 'n' roll can't grow up, it is a perpetual teenager and this album feels exactly like that, which it's all down to our excitement — and you can't fake that shit."
Today, you can hear the surprisingly Hives catalogue-honouring lead single "Bogus Operandi," which has an accompanying Evil Dead-esque music video directed by Aube Perrie. Take a gander at that below, where you'll also find the album's tracklist.
The Death of Randy Fitzsimmons marks the follow-up to 2012's Lex Hives.
The Death of Randy Fitzsimmons:
1. Bogus Operandi
2. Trapdoor Solution
3. Countdown to Shutdown
4. Rigor Mortis Radio
5. Stick Up
6. Smoke & Mirrors
7. Crash into the Weekend
8. Two Kinds of Trouble
9. The Way the Story Goes
10. The Bomb
11. What Did I Ever Do to You?
12. Step Out of the Way