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The Hives Are Ready for Their Close-Up in ‘Wait a Minute’ Clip

Earlier this year, when the Hives began promoting their latest album, Lex Hives, they wore dapper tuxes and top hats. We took them shopping for fancy Mariachi outfits. They even heralded the arrival of their first single, “Go Right Ahead,” by playing on a blimp. So did the Swedes spend all their krona too quickly, or what?

The group’s latest video, “Wait a Minute,” is about as stripped down as they could get. Close-ups of frontman Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist and his bandmates sweating, even closer-ups of Almqvist’s lips contorting and folding like one of Sesame Street’s Yip-Yips and lots of shots of tugging at a leather jacket. But of course, the Hives aren’t always about “the look.” Earlier this year, Almqvist told us, “If you put together a band of really cute-looking guys on purpose, they always suck. AC/DC is a way better-looking rock band than Poison.”

And with that mind, there’s something charming about how the group embraces so many different ways of presenting their music. In a way, it would be a disservice to the song, with its repeated “wait a minute”s and Almqvist’s vocal, uh, howling, to gussy it up for another bombastic clip. That said, the band has only a week to figure out just what it’s going to wear for its appearance at Jay-Z’s Made in America Festival.