Before The Hives rocked the Big Day Out last week, the band’s Nicholaus Arson and Chris Dangerous sat down with Stuff.co.nz for a chat.
The five-piece that has been around since 1993 had been a late addition to the festival’s line-up as a replacement for Brit-pop band Blur who pulled out in December.
“When we got the call it was a no-brainer,” drummer Dangerous (real name Christian Grahn) says. “Because we love being down here.”
The band had planned to start rehearsing material for a new album but happily jumped onto a plane Down Under instead.
It wasn’t their first time on the bill for the Big Day Out. The Swedes joined the festival in 2005 alongside acts like the Beastie Boys, System of a Down, Slipknot and Wolfmother.
The best thing about the festival was that they had so much time off in between the shows and the chance to hang out with the other bands.
“You meet up with some pretty cool people and there are days off too. So if you meet somebody you like you can ask ‘do you wanna go surfing’ tomorrow,” Nicholaus Arson (Niklas Almqvist) said.
The Hives, featuring hyper energetic frontman Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist, proved one of the stand-out acts at this year’s Big Day Out. Their brand of punky garage rock left people jumping and a sweaty mess.
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