Refused

Refused is a Swedish punk rock band originating from Umeå and formed in 1991. Refused is composed of vocalist Dennis Lyxzén, guitarist Kristofer Steen, drummer David Sandström, and bassist Magnus Flagge. Guitarist Jon Brännström was a member from 1994, through reunions, until he was fired in late-2014. Their lyrics are often of a non-conformist and politically far-left nature.^[1][2]

On January 9, 2012, the band announced their long-awaited reunion (which was also highly contested considering the band's original and explicit declaration to never reunite),^[1] confirming shows at Coachella, Rock am Ring, Ruisrock, Roskilde Festival, Groezrock, Way Out West Festival, Sonisphere Festival (Cancelled), Download Festival, Rock for People, Primavera Sound, Hellfest, Fuji Rock Festival, Øyafestivalen, Pukkelpop, Resurrection. After embarking on a world tour for nearly a year, Refused went on hiatus again in 2012, but announced another reunion in November 2014.

The band released five EPs and three full-length albums before originally splitting up in 1998, and released their fourth full-length album Freedom on the Epitaph Records label on June 26, 2015. "Elektra" was released as the first single from the comeback album on April 27, 2015.^[3]

History

Career trajectory (1991–1998)

Refused formed in early 1991^[4] with Dennis Lyxzén, David Sandström, Pär Hansson, and Jonas Lindgren and released their first demo, "Refused," the same year. With an already altered lineup (including Kristofer Steen joining from local band Abhinanda with Pär Hansson going the other way) the band released their first studio album, This Just Might Be the Truth, in 1994.

Refused's final line-up consisted of Dennis Lyxzén, David Sandström, Kristofer Steen, and Jon Brännström, who released everything from Songs to Fan the Flames of Discontent to the definitive album The Shape of Punk to Come. The band never found a permanent bass player.

Refused broke up in late 1998. Some believe this happened as a result of a depletion of creative energy and band members wanting different things. There was also conflict between Dennis and the rest of the band.^[5] Band members stated that their first shows after the release of Shape of Punk to Come were emotionally devastating and that their final tour was an awful experience.^[4] The band eventually cancelled the tour and announced their breakup through a strongly-worded press release, described below. Their last performance of their United States tour was played in Harrisonburg, Virginia but was shut down by police.^[1]

Daniel P. Carter described in January 2012 how unfairly poor the reception that Refused used to receive was, and how they never had the chance to make an impact whilst together.^[6]

After breakup (1999–2009)

After Refused split up, Dennis released one final, fiery open letter titled "Refused Are Fucking Dead."^[7] on their label Burning Heart's website.

Lead singer Dennis Lyxzén went on to form The (International) Noise Conspiracy while the other members, as well as venturing into their own projects, formed the group TEXT.

In 2007 Dennis and David briefly reformed their Refused side project, Final Exit, which existed in the mid-late 1990s and originally consisted of members of Refused and Abhinanda, with each member taking a different role to that which they had in their main bands (e.g., David on vocals and Dennis on bass guitar).

As of May, 2008, Dennis Lyxzén and David Sandström have formed a new straightforward hardcore band under the name AC4.

Kristofer Steen is now a director and made a documentary on the band's last year in existence called Refused Are Fucking Dead.

Rumours (2010–2011)

In March 2010, Epitaph Records put up the old Refused website online with the words "Coming Soon."^[8][9] Rumours spread across the Internet about what the new website could indicate, including speculation of a reunion.^[10] Citing an anonymous source "close to the situation," Punknews.org unofficially announced that the band would perform at European music festivals in 2010.^[11] Dennis Lyxzén denied claims of a Refused reformation as he and David Sandström were busy with AC4.^[10][12] The new band website was later announced to be a promotional site for a reissue of Refused's final album, The Shape of Punk to Come.^[10] The reissue, released on June 8, 2010, is a three-disc set with an unreleased live album recorded in 1998 and the Refused Are Fucking Dead DVD documentary in addition to the full original album.^[13]

In November 2011, multiple posters said to be for the upcoming 2012 Coachella Festival appeared on several Internet sites, and the line-ups included Refused.^[14] This started new rumours of a long-awaited reunion.

Reunion (2012)

During BBC Radio 1's "Punk Show" on January 2, 2012, Mike Davies stated that Refused, along with At the Drive-In would be reforming in 2012. On January 9, 2012, it was announced that Refused would be performing for the 2012 Coachella Festival. The reunion was confirmed via Dennis Lyxzen's Facebook page. Later that day, it was announced that they would also be playing at Way Out West Festival in Gothenburg, Sweden. They also headlined the Groezrock festival in Belgium. The confirmation that Refused would be UK exclusives at Sonisphere Festival in the UK was made on February 20. However, in light of Sonisphere UK's subsequent cancellation, Refused were officially booked by Download Festival on April 3, to perform at Donington Park instead. On February 29, Refused played a secret show in Umeå, their first live performance since 1998.^[15] Refused are also confirmed for the Rock for People festival in Czech Republic. They appeared for the first time on TV in America on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on July 18, 2012.^[16]

On August 23, 2012 Refused indicated by a Facebook post that their reunion was for 2012 only and not a continuation of their career. On August 24, 2012, it was announced that Refused would undertake a theatre tour of Australia for the first time ever that November.^[17] The after party for Refused's show on December 15, 2012 in Fabriken, Umeå saw brief reunions from related Umeå hardcore bands Abhinanda and Final Exit, as well as some rarely performed songs from Refused. Redd Kross also performed on the evening.

Hiatus, second reunion, and Freedom (2013–present)

On February 22, 2013, Refused were awarded "The special prize for Swedish music exports" by the Minister of Trade.^[18][19] Lyxzén and Sandström chose to criticize the current Government at the ceremony, instead thanking the efforts of popular education, in particular Workers' Educational Association (ABF) and youth centers (in Sweden associated with social democracy)^[20] while Jon Brännström chose to not accept the prize on his behalf^[21] later stating he wished they "[...] had said no to the prize and instead held a press conference about why we had turned it down".^[22]

On October 31, 2014, Jon Brännström stated on the official Refused Facebook page that he had been fired from the band (the band would later state that he left the band in 2013),^[23] implying that Refused are still active and plan on performing again in the future. On November 25, 2014, the band announced that they will perform their first shows in three years at the Reading and Leeds Festivals, Groezrock and Amnesia Rockfest in the summer of 2015.^[24][25] They will also headline Punk Rock Bowling in Las Vegas in May 2015.^[26] Around the same time, rumours surfaced of a new album being recorded for release in 2015 after ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead's Autrey Fulbright II posted a photo on Instagram claiming that Lyxzén had been in the studio recording vocals for the album.^[27]

On April 27, 2015, it was announced that Refused would release their fourth studio album, Freedom, in June 2015 via Epitaph Records. The album was produced by Nick Launay and includes further collaborations such as two songs produced with Max Martin-collaborator Shellback (Taylor Swift).^[3] The news was announced along with the release of the album's opening track, "Elektra," as its lead single.^[28]

Influences

Refused incorporated radical left and anti-capitalist politics, into a sound that paid homage to The Nation of Ulysses and Born Against. Before the Umeå hardcore phenomenon went into full bloom, the band was seen as part of the scene centered around youth-oriented venue Galaxen, along with the punk-rock scene as well as metal bands such as Meshuggah.

Drummer David Sandström states that before the band formed he was a "glue-sniffing death metal kid" but eventually a fan of Step Forward, the embryo of Refused. As Step Forward called it quits and friendship between Sandström and Dennis Lyxzén grew stronger, Lyxzén took him home and made him listen to Youth of Today's We're Not in This Alone album over and over again in a room alone.^[29][30]

The album This Just Might Be the Truth was mostly influenced by popular American hardcore bands of the time (such as Earth Crisis) as well as various bands from the New York hardcore scene. By the time of its release, the band already had a strong anti-establishment profile.^[31]

On their second album, Songs to Fan the Flames of Discontent, the band had a heavier sound, largely due to Lyxzén adopting a screaming style rather than shouting.

Members

Timeline

Discography

• This Just Might Be... the Truth (1994)
• Songs to Fan the Flames of Discontent (1996)
• The Shape of Punk to Come (1998)
• Freedom (2015)

References in media

• Many bands cite Refused as influence, including Code Orange (band),^[33] La Dispute,^[34] United Nations,^[35] Underoath, letlive., AFI, The Used, Rise Against, and many others.
• The song "New Noise" has been featured in:
  • the movies Crank, Friday Night Lights and "Boot Camp" and Jalla! Jalla!. It was also used in the trailer for the Spanish horror-comedy Witching and Bitching.
  • the television programs 24 (Season 1), Rage, Criminal Minds, Nitro Circus, and The Following.
  • the game Tony Hawk's Underground,
  • the trailer for the game "Doom (2016 video game)",^[36]
• The Used, Anthrax, Snot, and Crazy Town have covered Refused's "New Noise" on numerous occasions live.
• Emo-pop band Paramore used a sample from the song 'Liberation Frequency' in their 2007 song 'Born For This'.
• The UK magazine Rock Sound gave the album The Shape of Punk to Come the number one spot in the magazine's list of the 100 albums that most influenced the music that Rock Sound covers.
• British post-hardcore punk band Million Dead took their name from a line in the Refused song The Apollo Programme was a Hoax

References

External links

Look up refused in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Official website
• Refused discography at MusicBrainz