The Hives’ Howlin’ Pelle on mic swing disasters, working with Mike D & Josh Homme on new LP, more

“He said it was fine but there’s no way that could have felt good,” Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist said of the time he accidentally hit a security guard during a Hives show in Chicago during one of his signature mic swings. “I was swinging it with full force and that thing is pretty heavy. It’s like a mace…I apologize again.”

Microphone swing disasters are just one of the topics Pelle and I got into the day after The Hives began their current North American tour in Austin. We also talked about the band’s fantastic new album, The Hives Forever Forever the Hives, how they came to enlist Mike D and Josh Homme to help produce it, Def Leppard, the best Swedish band of the 2000s who weren’t The Hives, playing outdoor shows in bad weather, their upcoming 2026 tour opening for My Chemical Romance, five records he thinks everyone should own, “Chicken Shit Bingo,” and more.

Pelle also revealed that The Hives will be back in North America next year for a tour with Aussie punks The Chats. Stay tuned for more details on that.

You can listen to our whole conversation on the BrooklynVegan Interviews Podcast below or wherever you get your podcasts.

The Hives’ current tour with Snooper wraps up in Los Angeles at Hollywood Palladium on September 25 and VEEPS will be livestreaming it. It’s available with a VEEPS subscription or you can do a one-time purchase.

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