Refused shook the punk world this week with the announcement that they will be releasing a new studio album and accompanying it with a world tour. The album, entitled Freedom, will be the band’s first studio effort since the iconic ’90s punk masterpiece The Shape Of Punk To Come.
From their beginnings in the Swedish hardcore scene, to their magnum opus that changed the landscape of punk music, to their visceral reunion world tour, Refused are a band that have broken the mould and forged their own path, leaving one of the greatest legacies in the history of punk music.
Refused were formed in Umeå, Sweden in 1991, by the duo of vocalist Dennis Lyxzén and David Sandström. A few years later, they’d be joined by Kristofer Steen and Jon Brannstrom. This core lineup released several EPs, as well as a debut album, This Just Might Be… in 1993.
Already, the direction was clear: the debut was an album that showcased the band in the early stages of its career, playing heavier songs that contained the same anti-establishment lyrics, but without the experimental and dynamic musicality for which Refused would become known.
Next came a second album, Songs To Fan The Flames Of Discontent, which formed the blueprint of what was to come. The band had started to experiment with more musical ideas, with elements of dynamics and post-hardcore influences. Fan The Flames also brought Refused to fans around the world, and its song ‘Rather Be Dead’, one of their most famous tracks, was the one they chose to close their final live show before disbanding in 1998.
By the time ofFan The Flames, Refused had been touring heavily for four years, and took a break to return to Sweden to make new material. The new album started from humble beginnings, but as Refused spent more time in the studio, their vision became bigger, the influence and inspirations became wider, and the recordings became more intense. The band wanted to create something that would break ground and make a statement that hadn’t been made in the world of punk before.
This album was called The Shape Of Punk To Come: A Chimerical Bombination In 12 Bursts – a name as ambitious and daring as the music inside it. In a four-page manifesto inside the liner notes, Refused ranted against rampant commercialism and unimaginative punk bands. They asked how their music could be considered ‘punk’ and anti-sestablishment when it was consistently using sounds that had been co-opted by the mainstream to sell products.
The album was boldly experimental, and challenged many of the musical sensibilities of hardcore punk at the time. It used heavy riffs, distorted bass tones, and guttural vocals almost as often as it used string sections, electronic beats, and falsetto singing. The album was heavy and experimental, it was intense and political. It was everything punk could and should be. It was the shape of punk to come.
Then, only months after the release ofThe Shape Of Punk To Come was released, Refused were no more. After an underwhelming US tour that left the players fragmented and uninspired, they was famously on their way to the airport to return to Sweden, when they occupied a basement in Harrisonburg, Virginia on October 6, 1998 to perform live for the last time. The set consisted of only four songs before the local police fought their way through the crowd to literally pull the plug on the show, leaving a basement of people screaming “rather be alive” in unison.
In typical fashion, Refused’s final transmission came in the form of a manifesto (not their first) delivered to the world – a manifesto that blasted the people that commoditised their band, and stated: “A division into five new directions means in practice five new projects that can challenge and fight the boredom and death that sneaks into our everyday life”. It ended with the band’s now-iconic phrase, “Refused Are Fucking Dead”.
14 years later, Refused were alive. The reaction was heard around the world.
Some people were upset that a band that had always held so strongly to its conviction would break a promise, but many were happy to once again experience a group that had grown to be bigger than the sum of its parts. Refused announced their reformation with a new modern-day manifesto, penned by a group of individuals who had matured in the 14 years apart. The announcement claimed that The Shape Of Punk To Come (which had since become a landmark ’90s album) was never given the justice it deserved; that they wanted to “do it over, do it right”. And it’s hard to argue with that.
GOIN’ HOMESo there were those years right after school, when you were 15 and pissed off and everyone thought you were…
Posted by Refused on Friday, 26 October 2012
And just as it had appeared, it disappeared – or so it seemed. After their triumphant return at Coachella that was streamed across the globe, and an Australian tour that sold out the Enmore Theatre, Refused had reunited and called it a day within the same year.
As we know, this isn’t the end of the story. Refused are continuing the tradition of their name with the announcement of Freedom; their first studio album in 17 years.
‘Elektra’ is our first taste of their new output, and it picks up right where they left off. It’s three minutes of frantic energy that builds and explores one central riff. The sudden changes, dynamics and energy are all these, along with Dennis proudly singing, “Nothing has changed”.
Because after 17 years, maybe nothing has changed – the punk that Refused promised would come after them never arrived. And so Refused Are Fucking Alive. End Transmission.
