Legendary Swedish Band Refused Officially Call It Quits
From 1991 to 1998, Swedish hardcore punk band Refused revolutionized the genre and inspired legions of hardcore, alt-rock and metal bands to push the boundaries of their artistic expression and political awareness. After reuniting in 2012, today they officially announce the end of their influential run and share plans for a farewell tour that will mark the band’s final performances in the United States.
Refused drummer David Sandström muses: “We were supposed to do this in May. Roll out our modest farewell run, starting with the Rosendal Garden Party in Stockholm and then doing a few shows here and there before calling it quits end of year. The rehearsals had been magnificent, the vibe was great and two days before the show we played a secret show at Kulturhuset Femman in Uppsala. There were no pictures taken and it wasn’t filmed but it was a great show in front of maybe 60 local scenesters. We hung out afterwards, I had a few beers and me and Dennis, still vegan and basically straight edge, traded stupid stories about bands we love. It was a fine evening. Next morning I get a call from Dennis’ wife and a couple of tumultuous hours later it’s confirmed that he’s had a heart attack at the hotel.
We played our first show in February 1992. That same week George H.W. Bush and Boris Yeltsin held a press conference at Camp David to declare that the cold war was over. That’s how long ago it was. It was so long ago that I can’t quite remember who we were that wintry Saturday when we piled into a car and drove up to Luleå to play 4 Gorilla Biscuits songs, a Shelter song, an AC\DC song and I think 3 original compositions to a crowd of 50-60 blind drunk northerners. I had just turned 17, had never travelled outside of Sweden and by the time the band broke up in 1998 we had played over 500 shows all over Europe and the US. To say that the band changed our lives would be a gross understatement, and to say that we got to know each other in those seven years is as well. A band that tours becomes like a family, especially when you do it in a van, with maps, scrambling to find a squat in Halberstadt where you were supposed to have started playing an hour ago. And family relations can be difficult. So it was with us.
That was partly why we wanted to give it another shot in 2012. We had made a decent splash in the nineties and the breakup had been very sudden and chaotic, there were feelings and they were not aired out and the whole thing had been such a shitshow that it was almost inevitable that we’d get back on the horse at some point. We wanted a do-over, to see what was still there, if anything, and what could be made of it. There’s a Neil Young song called “Buffalo Springfield Again” where he sings:
“I’d like to see those guys again and give it a shot
Maybe now we can show the world what we got
But I'd just like to play for the fun we had”
And that was basically it. We gave it several shots between 2012 and 2024. We all have different takes on how it went and what the legacy of the reformed band will be, but personally I felt we couldn’t quite agree on what we were supposed to do musically, and we were still struggling with that when the pandemic hit. Kristofer felt that he’d done what he wanted to do and left the band in august of 2020 and although there was a delayed effect to the death blow, a death blow it was. So in the beginning of this year we started making plans to have one last big hurrah, to make the end of the band a fun, generous, indulgent affair. And that’s how it felt after the first show, it’s the best we’ve ever sounded and we were really enjoying ourselves, tossing in old songs we haven’t played since the nineties and even a Misfits cover. And then disaster struck. I visited Dennis in the hospital the day after he was admitted and true to form he was not happy about the hospital gown he was forced to wear. Hooked up to all these machines, unshaven with tousled hair, I swear the first thing he said was: (pointing to the gown) “I mean, this is not great”. I guess they don’t let you wear suits or Negative Approach t-shirts in the hospital.
In addition, on November 8th Refused will be celebrating 25 years of their groundbreaking record ‘The Shape Of Punk To Come’ with a limited collector’s edition loaded with exclusives, including a 3 LP version of the album on exclusive colored vinyl, unreleased demos and rare alternate versions of songs. The anniversary package also comes with a 12-song tribute album titled ‘The Shape Of Punk To Come Obliterated’ with covers and remixes by boundary smashing bands like Quicksand, Zulu, Gel, IDLES, Touche Amore and more. Liner notes from Dennis Lyxzén and David Sandstrom alongside written contributions from bands featured on the tribute album provide new context and insight on the album’s legacy.
The band adds: “Whatever the record means to everyone else, it represents a remarkable time in our lives when we were young and devil-may-care, we were taking risks, wanting to prove our mettle, and more than anything else we want to celebrate that: the madness, the wild combinations, the pure creativity of it all. So we asked a bunch of artists we love and respect to actually take liberties with the songs and either rearrange or deconstruct the material completely, to take the engine apart essentially and not be precious about it. And they weren't, and to us this is the only tribute to our record that matters: heroes of ours, young guns as well as old friends and peers complimenting our music by uncovering new possibilities and new meaning within it. These bands are all caviar for the general and we are honored they took time to be a part of this. Thank you all."
