All told, 2002 was a vintage year for the Hives. Nearly a decade after their inception in Fagersta, a pinprick-size Swedish town (population: 12,000), the quintet found themselves hailed as part of rock's young new ruling class.

"Oh, it was more than that," says singer Pelle Almqvist, a man not generally comfortable with understatement. "We were the hottest band in the world. Everyone went mad for us. Entirely justified, of course. We were fantastic."

The quality of their music may have had something to do with this, but timing also played its part. The Hives emerged on the scene during the so-called New Rock Revolution at the very same time as the Strokes, the White Stripes, Jet, and the Vines. By then, they had released just two albums on the small Swedish label Burning Heart, 1997's Barely Legal and 2000's Veni Vidi Vicious, in which they played blunt, joyful '60s-style rock while dressed monochromatically, like the world's most badass maître d's. And unlike, say, the Strokes, they appeared to be having an inordinate amount of fun as suddenly famous men. Much of their amusement was self-generated: All five members, for example, had appropriately "rock" names -- Almqvist preceded his own with the prefix Howlin'; one guitarist was called Nicholaus Arson (real name: Niklas Almqvist, Pelle's brother); another, Vigilante Carlstroem (Mikael Karlsson); the bassist, Dr. Matt Destruction (Mattias Bernvall); the drummer, Chris Dangerous (Christian Grahn) -- and they liked to claim they were Svengali'd by (the entirely fictional) Randy Fitzsimmons. Julian Casablancas, it's fair to suggest, never laughed quite like this.

In NYC, Pelle and company talk with SPIN.com's William Goodman further about working with Pharrell and touring with Maroon 5. WATCH THE VIDEOS:
>> "A little out of context"
>> "Black and white"
>> The new album
>> Sweden's music scene
>> Working in a posh studio

"We'd always had a big and healthy ego," Dangerous says now, "convinced we were better than everyone else. And so when we became as popular as we did, it made complete sense to us."

A furious bidding war broke out after Epitaph put out Veni Vidi Vicious in the U.S., and the Hives eventually signed to Interscope for a reported $10 million.

"I couldn't possibly comment on that figure," Almqvist says, with a slight smile, "though it was certainly a life-changing amount. But then, the hottest band on earth should get everything they want, no?"

Veni Vidi Vicious and the 2002 release of Your New Favourite Band, a British compilation of their best songs to date, kept momentum sky-high. Then, in 2004, they delivered Tyrannosaurus Hives, the album designed to repay Interscope for its up-front belief by selling millions of copies and, in the words of Dangerous, "putting us up there with the U2s and the Elvis Presleys." Some 600 days of tireless touring followed, accompanied by mostly unfettered critical acclaim. Those who loved the Hives loved them. But by the beginning of 2006, the album had still failed to cross over, having sold just 500,000 copies worldwide. Not bad for a lowly punk act, but a veritable disaster for the U2s and Elvis Presleys of this world.

Suddenly, there was frowning. Panic, even.

Three years after that album's release, the band's frontman strides through the lobby of Le Royal Monceau, a fivestar Parisian hotel that, tonight at least, comprises wall-to-wall businessmen and their jewelry-dripping wives. Chauffeurs wait discreetly in the lobby, while strategically placed candles glitter in the chandeliers above and jazz drifts out from the corner bar. Not a hipster-leaning boutique by any stretch of the imagination, but the always snazzy Hives blend in surprisingly well.

If Almqvist looks somewhat fragile right now, it is because he was out in Stockholm last night, getting drunk with friends before the requirements of promotion would keep him away from home for at least the next year. The Hives are about to release their fourth studio effort, The Black and White Album (rumored original title: The World's First Perfect Album) -- their most expensive to date, and also their most crucial. Simply put, if they want to have any hope of maintaining their still lofty reputation, this record will need to shift some serious units.