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14 June 2023 9:59 AM

The Hives share boisterous new single ‘Countdown To Shutdown’

It's the second single from new album ‘The Death of Randy Fitzsimmons’, out August 11

By Hollie Geraghty

The Hives press shot, 2023
The album is the group's first since 2012's 'Lex Hives'. (Photo: Bisse Bengtsson)

The Hives have released their raucous new single ‘Countdown To Shutdown’  – check it out and watch the accompanying music video below.

The track, which features a thrashing guitar and rowdy instrumental arrangement, is the second single from the Swedish rock band’s forthcoming new album, The Death of Randy Fitzsimmons, out August 11.

‘Countdown To Shutdown’ is “a versatile banger for all your summer rock needs. Approximately 37 per cent more effective than the closest competitor and sure to help your Q2 and Q3 results,” as frontman Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist shared in a press release.

‘Countdown To Shutdown’ also arrives with a music video in which the band don suits and perform in a corporate office building – listen below.

The lead single from the new album – their first in 11 years – arrived last month in the form of ‘Bogus Operandi’, which was released with a horror-influenced video directed by Aube Perrie, who has worked with the likes of Harry Styles and Megan Thee Stallion.

On every Hives album so far, each original song has been credited to ‘Randy Fitzsimmons’, who has been described in interviews as an honorary sixth Hive.

The title of the new record suggests there will be a major shift. In a statement, Almqvist said of the album: “There’s no maturity or anything like that bullshit, because who the fuck wants mature rock’n’roll?

“That’s always where people go wrong, I feel,” he continued. “‘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.”

Ahead of the album’s summer release, The Hives will serve as the main support on Arctic Monkeys’ UK stadium tour. So far, they have made stops in Bristol, Coventry, Manchester, Middlesborough, Norwich, Sheffield and Swansea. They will perform at Southampton’s Ageas Bowl tonight (June 14), before three nights at London’s Emirates Stadium (16, 17, 18) and Glasgow’s Bellahouston Park on June 25.

Find the full tracklisting for The Hives’ new album below.

The 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’
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