A.K.A. I-D-I-O-T

The winner of the Hives Tussles in Brussels contest has been chosen! Don't you wish you emailed me? The winner is Annette. Congratulations.

For your reading pleasure, I submit to you my review of this new Hives DVD:

For the Hives fan, Tussles in Brussels is full of good stuff. All the videos from the most recent album Tyrannosaurs Hives (released January '04) are featured as well as all of their appearances performing live on TV. This isn't a common thing in the U.S. Of course, there's MTV and all that, but how often do you see a truly rocking band performing live for MTV on MTV? Rarely, if ever. In Europe, it's a common way for a new band to get noticed...they perform on Top of the Pops, or some similar regional program. All of those appearances are featured here.

There is also a concert presented in it's entirety from Brussels (sometime last year). I haven't seen many concert DVDs, but this one is presented nicely with individual chapters for each song, or you can just 'play all' and watch the whole show continuously. The sound is good, the video quality is good (digital, I believe). Lots of different camera angles, all band members get fairly equal attention. The crowd is lovin' it the whole time, and it seems to be a pretty big venue. For Detroiters, imagine the floor space of the State Theater with a mezzanine and balcony and a second balcony that wrap around on three sides not just the back end. The venue was jam-packed. It was a good long set, a little over an hour. While I know the focus was the Hives, I would've liked to have seen maybe a couple songs from the opening act. But I admit, I have no idea who the opening act was.

Also added to the DVD is a documentary of The Hives titled "The Hives, Hinduism, and Me." The style of the docu is slightly film noir with narration made to sound like Humphrey Bogart or some similar gravel-voiced night hawk type. It's presented as an investigation into the history of the band. There's lots of animated clip art and background material on the band. Pelle's unusual command of the English language is addressed as the result of an accident when the band was playing a show and he hit his head on an amp. He woke up and spoke perfect English with a Southern accent. He also awoke with a cockiness exemplified in his stage banter, i.e. "we are the best band in the world!" The film also addresses the question of Randy Fitzsimmons. If you're familiar with the band, you may have noticed that on all albums, the only listed songwriter is Randy Fitzsimmons. In interviews, the band has noted that Randy is the only songwriter and that he is the 'sixth member' of the Hives, but that he is very reclusive and does not want to be onstage. He does not want to be interviewed, and he does not want to be a public figure, yet he is supposedly the band's sole songwriter and their guiding force. What is not addressed in the documentary is that the Swedish group Svenska Tonsattares Internationella Musikbyra (aka Swedish Performing Rights Society) lists Randy Fitzsimmons as a pseudonym for Nicolaus Almqvist (aka Nick Arson). Nicolaus happens to be one of the guitarists for the Hives and Pelle Almqvist's brother. Pelle is the singer. More intensive investigation by people more curious than I have found that there is no one registered as a Swedish citizen with the name Randy Fitzsimmons or other variation on the name Randy such as Randall. I don't care that much, but it definitely creates a mystique around the band, and it's probably better that we don't know the truth. A good rock n' roll myth that's only half believable is still good. The rest of the documentary presents the history of the band from their beginning in their small hometown of Fagersta, and their rise through the music industry. Much of their history is told to the viewer as barely credible legend, but it's fun anyway. At first I found the odd narration annoying, but it grew on me.

Overall, for fans of the Hives, I recommend Tussles in Brussels, it was fun. For the casual fan, it's still a worthwhile document of the band. Click the DVD cover below to view a trailer.

Also, congratulations to Annette for winning the Hives DVD! Keep watching for more contests coming soon.