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| Thursday, February 21, 2008 at Roseland Theater |
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(click for full-page printable poster)
GENRES
Indie Rock
Pop
Rock
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The Hives
The Donnas
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Roseland Theater 503-224-2038
8 NW 6th Ave, Portland, OR (MapQuest)
8pm (doors open at 7pm). All Ages.
$18.00 advance tix from TicketsWest.
$20.00 at the door.
ABOUT THE HIVES -
Fools, misfits and miscreants of the earth! What have you being doing with your time? Eating big piles of chipped potatoes? Watching substandard football on TV? Erroneously imagining the non-riff-based travesty that is modern rock music to be exciting?
People, it is as if you have existed only in pathetic colours like beige, or pastel pink. For two years, you have felt listless, wishy-washy and largely kicks-free. Bad! But it has been bad for a reason: so that you fully appreciate the return of the good times. And these only come in two colours: BLACK & WHITE! Yeah!
THE HIVES, the curators of that perfectly balanced colour scheme, have been away far too long. During their absence, they have not been mucking about, oh no. They are now ready to bring the BLACK & WHITE again, only more so.
THE HIVES have made a record which has everything that you originally loved them for -- kicks, riffs, good times, etc etc etc -- while also being snazzy and new and longer and generally different from everything they did before. You might almost say it's like making the transition from monochrome TV to colour TV, except THE HIVES are more BLACK & WHITE than ever, so that would be misleading.
That's why the record is called: 'THE BLACK & WHITE ALBUM'!!
Here's their singer, Howlin' Pelle Almqvist: "We promised ourselves when we were 17," he says, "that we'd make 3 half-hour-long records of blistering punk rock, and so we did, culminating in 'Tyrannosaurus Hives'. This time, we didn't want 12 fast songs, then it was over. That would've been the 4th time. They work in sets of three, you see, then it's a new period, so we had to come up with a new plan."
To recap: THE HIVES first imposed their B&W vision in the late 1990's, touring Sweden (their home nation) and Germany like crazy, until 2001, when they took the world by storm alongside strapping young rockers like The Strokes and White Stripes. Their first 2 records were collected on a British compilation, called 'Your New Favourite Band', which went not silver, gold or even multi-platinum, but diamond! Yeah! From it, came the hits 'Supply And Demand', 'Main Offender' and 'Hate To Say I Told You So'.
With 2004's 'Tyrannosaurus Hives', they successfully patted down the earth around the flag they'd placed atop this measly globe, consolidating their repute for rockin' brouhaha with further hits -- 'Walk Idiot Walk', 'Two-Timing Touch & Broken Bones' and 'A Little More For Little You'.
Without even THE HIVES knowing it at the time, the first seed of Phase 2 Hives was sewn during the 'Tyrannosaurus...' era, when they met Pharrell Williams -- the Numero Uno production dude from the kicks-hungry world of hip hop.
"Pharrell was always saying he wanted to record with us," notes Howlin' Pelle. "Then, when we started this record, we finally just figured it'd be more fun to say yes than to say no. This is THE HIVES' major label adventure -- an honest attempt at a sell-out, maybe. We see it as the last major-label rock & roll record that anybody's ever gonna put out. So we thought we'd better spend some money on it."
Pharrell may come from the state of Virginia, and THE HIVES from Fagersta, Sweden, but when these two giants of modern entertainment came together, the union of their differing talents worked like magic, setting 'THE BLACK & WHITE ALBUM' -- yeah! yeah! -- on its long and unwavering path towards massiveness.
"We assumed he'd have all these synths and beats," sez HP, "but he has all this enthusiasm for rock music, because he only just discovered it. We started talking about Creedence Clearwater Revival, and he was going, Hey, I saw them on an infomercial last night, they sounded great! We've been listening to Creedence since we were kids.
"It kinda meant we got to see rock with new eyes. We'd just hit a chord on electric guitar, and he'd freak out, and think it's so cool. When you see someone react to it like that, you think, 'Yeah! Loud, stinky guitar! This is really fun!', and you get into it all over again. The best thing with Pharrell was, it's mainly about having fun."
In the past, THE HIVES' unrivalled excellence has been achieved via a pain-staking collective process, whereby the 5 members have lovingly slaved over songs in rehearsals, and in the studio, often for many weeks, until all 5 were 100% satisfied that it rocked in exemplary fashion. Pharrell's methodology was the exact opposite.
"It's like he throws 500 pancakes on the ceiling and sees what sticks," reflects guitarist Nicholaus Arson. "Whereas, we would have one pancake, and work on it forever. We wrote one song with him in 7 minutes. He's always on the edge of his seat, doing stuff on the phone while he's writing a song -- maybe opening a restaurant in Japan, or starting a clothes line in South America. For five minutes he wants to sound like Stevie Wonder, then he's onto something else."
"Working with Pharrell helped kickstart the whole record," concludes Howlin' Pelle. "After that, there was a lot less questioning going on. The last record -- I really love it, it has such a straight, narrow vision. Making this one was a lot more, 'Yeah, but this feels good, too....and this! Why can't it all be on same record?'"
With the 21st-century disco-fied 'T.H.E.H.I.V.E.S.' and the woo-hoo rockin' 'Well, Alright' under their belts, THE HIVES rounded up a considerable batch of demo tracks in Fagersta, and soon hooked up with another blade whose hotness as a producer equals theirs as a band, Jacknife Lee (U2, Editors, R.E.M.), who brought his hi-tech skills to 'Hey Little World' and an early version of 'Tick Tick Boom'.
From there, the 5 Swedes zipped over to Oxford, Mississippi, where they spent some weeks carving out the rest of 'THE BLACK & WHITE ALBUM' (say it again: yeah!) with Dennis Herring -- another 'man of the moment', whose credits include Elvis Costello, Buddy Guy and the last two Modest Mouse records. For a band who'd never hired a producer before, his methods, again, came as quite a shock.
Howlin' Pelle: "In the South, it's all slow. At times, the temperance and efficiency of us Scandinavians didn't gel with the old Jamaican attitude of the American South. Like, there's nothing you can do today, that can't be done tomorrow. But this had an impact on our sound. Some stuff was better because we took longer.
"The big difference is: the record actually has bass -- it has a bass register, which we really never wanted on our records before. But you should do it at least once, and now is the time!"
Yeah! It's no coincidence that 'THE BLACK & WHITE ALBUM' is Dr Matt Destruction's favourite Hives record -- he's the bassist! But it will almost certainly end up being most people's favourite Hives record, because it's all about opening out the band's horizons -- including the lengthening of how long each song lasts.
"The first two Hives records were designed to be played at a 200 capacity club, tops, whereas now we play to 1000s of people," says Pelle. "The bigger the crowd, the slower they react, so there's a natural progression in making the songs longer. When the last row of the audience hears the first chord, it's already over for the first half of the audience, so basically we're doing it for the people at the back."
Having vaguely intended, initially, to get away from the sound of adrenalized punky rock, THE HIVES found themselves gravitating back towards righteousness. Pelle, again: "We were missing the rock riffage. Plus, no-one's doing it now, at all. There's a complete lack of proper, good rock riffin'! It's sorely needed!"
Damn right, HP! When Vigilante Carlstrom, THE HIVES' other guitarist, came up with the title for the record, all were agreed -- even drummer Chris Dangerous -- that it brilliantly encapsulated the mood of confidence in the record.
Arson: "If The Beatles could make a 'White Album' and Metallica could make a 'Black Album', there was only one band who could make a record twice as good as those two combined. And as far as sales go, The Beatles' 'White Album' sold 11 million copies while Metallica's 'Black Album' has sold well over 16 million copies. The logic is undisputable: THE HIVES' 'THE BLACK & WHITE ALBUM' will go on to sell 176 million copies, thus exceeding sales-wise anything THE HIVES have released before, or any modern artist since 1968."
THE HIVES are now ready for global supremacy. Back in action lately at the notoriously red & white 100 Club in London, they imposed a BLACK & WHITE regime so emphatically, that one UK newspaper breathlessly reported: "They used to be our new favourite band, now they're the best band in the world".
Yeah! And one last time: Yeah!
ABOUT THE DONNAS -
During The Donnas' last tour through North America, one of their most memorable shows ended
with one of them face down on the hood of a cop car, arms behind her back, handcuffs cutting off the circulation to her clenched fists. Her crime? Drinking whiskey in the streets of Canada. Yes, The Donnas are for real and they are here to stay. They are survivors in an industry known more for its comet casualties than career success stories. They are successful, smart, savvy, and sexy.
They are the American Rock n' Roll Machine. The legend begins in a Palo Alto junior high school in Northern California where four self-described "dorky pre-teen girls" form a rock n' roll band at the age of 13 in 1993. Over the course of the next 14 years, six critically acclaimed albums are released and The Donnas tour the planet several times over to an ever-expanding, international fanbase of "Donnaholics". From Palo Alto to the stages of Letterman and SNL and the pages of Rolling Stone and Billboard, The Donnas have grown to become one of the best female rock groups of all time.
The band has always attracted an almost ridiculously wide spectrum of fans who would otherwise never be seen together in the same room. Where else than at a Donnas show would you see fans rubbing shoulders together in the front row wearing t-shirts from such diametrically opposed bands as Motley Crue, the Mr. T Experience, and Maroon 5? Some even make parole in time for the gig and bring special souvenirs from the Big House. No joke--in Oklahoma City, a paroled Donnaholic ex-con showed up with four Oklahoma State license plates he made "when the guards weren't lookin'" and each imprinted with a band member's name.
So who are The Donnas in 2007? The players remain the same--Brett Anderson on lead vocals, Maya Ford on bass, Allison Robertson on guitar and Torry Castellano on drums--a testament to the girls' talent and dedication. But there is a vast divide between the awkward tweens of the 1990s and The Donnas of the 2000s. Besides utterly poker-hot musicianship (and way better hair), The Donnas have entered into a new chapter of maturity and comfort in their career. "The big difference between then and now is that we are not afraid," states Robertson, one of the best rock guitarists, female, male or otherwise, playing today. "We know what we want, we know how to get it, and we are ready and willing to take it. It's almost like we have come full circle. Maybe in some way we are still the same dorky pre-teens who started playing because we love rock n' roll. The difference is that now we are completely comfortable and confident with who we are."
Throughout the ups and downs of rock n' roll's daily rations, the ladies stay true to who they are every spike-heeled step of the way. The Donnas are a four-way, equal partnership of women in friendship, art and business. There is a deep and rare trust that exists between the members that most bands could never dream of achieving in a similar group dynamic. That is why most bands break up and The Donnas continue to stick together. "I think that's our secret to surviving in the industry this long," says Robertson. "We're really close. We can read each other's minds and order for each other at dinner. We also truly respect one another." "We always stick to our guns as a band and as friends," adds Castellano, the group's hurricane-force drummer (and whip-smart business woman who has corrected many a promoter's math). "We remember who we are. We don't want to be anything but ourselves at the end of the day."
As for their sound, "We've always felt somewhat sceneless," says Castellano. "But these days, when we go to a metal show I feel like 'these are our people!' That's where I really feel the connection-Motley Crue, Cinderella, Aerosmith, Def Leppard-that's where I want our band to be."
This brings us to the aural thunderclap that is Bitchin', The Donnas' brand new record, an unapologetically anthemic hard rock album. Their much-improved luscious locks must have been a four-way blur of headbanging fury at this recording session. Thirty shout-along, swaggering rockers were slimmed down to an album-length fourteen tunes, all co-produced with Jay Ruston (The Polyphonic Spree, Meat Loaf). Anderson, The Donnas' power-house lead singer, explains, "The making of our new record was a wild and educational ride. We wanted to reach more people with this album and that inspired us to really challenge ourselves in the studio. We learned a lot about songwriting in the process and had time for once to experiment and develop our sound, which combines everything we know and love from our previous records with a new life and ravenous energy, a feeling that is summed up in the title."
Bitchin', a refreshingly loud, unbridled album, was even somewhat of a cathartic process for Ford, The Donnas' furious femme fatale of the four string. "Writing this record made me realize that I could get something good out of even the worst relationship. I ditched the guy and we got the songs. I'm stronger than I was yesterday because of it." With that said, the track "What Do I Have to Do" takes a peek into the band's more vulnerable side through lyrics that tell the tale of a relationship gone rotten. "I'm being way too nice/and you're as cold as ice," is heard, as well as, "What do I have to do to make you want me?" Feelings range from boyfriend tension to girl fight anger to party time enthusiasm on Bitchin'. "Girl Talk" is reminiscent of earlier Donnas tracks with lyrics that bring to mind the image of a high school hallway cat fight with a heated Anderson shouting, "Up & down the halls/writing on the walls... Stop talking about me..." and, "Think you're jealous much/all up in my business/girl I've had enough/you better start running." Then there is "Don't Wait Up for Me," a Def Leppard-esque metal anthem that chants, "Loosen up/drain the cup," and brings together clapping hands and stadium crowd cheering with pounding drums and a roaring guitar solo.
Bitchin' significantly marks The Donnas' return to complete career independence. Bitchin' will be released on September 18, 2007 on The Donnas' very own Purple Feather Records (available through Redeye Distribution). The band has parted ways with Atlantic Records (which released The Donnas' last two albums, Gold Medal and the hugely successful Spend The Night) to create their own record company. "There is just not enough accountability in the music industry anymore," says Anderson. Robertson agrees, "We formed our own label because we could. That's the beauty of it. Our whole career has been 'The Donnas' and 'the label'. It makes sense to us to keep doing what we want to do and cut the crap." The Donnas: a band of power-on stage and off. When they come back to rock Canada, the whiskey is on me.
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