Refused have confirmed their split and have announced the 25th-anniversary edition of their third album ‘The Shape Of Punk To Come’.
READ MORE: Refused – ‘War Music’ review: a microcosm of everything brilliant about punk
In 1998, in the midst of their North American tour in support of ‘The Shape Of Punk To Come,’ the Swedish punk band famously broke up but went on to reunite in 2012 and release 2015’s ‘Freedom’ and 2019’s ‘War Music’. Today (September 10), the band announced their official split, bringing Refused to an official end.
Confirming the split in a press release, the band’s drummer David Sandström shared that the band were initially going to announce the breakup earlier this year starting with their headline slot at Stockholm’s Rosendal Garden Party which was billed as “their last festival gig in Sweden. Ever.”
He went on to say that following that performance, the group were supposed to do a “few shows here and there before calling it quits end of year.” Sandström added that the show rehearsals were magnificent, and revealed that Refused had played a secret show two days prior to Stockholm’s Rosendal Garden Party 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 [Refused frontman] Dennis [Lyxzén], still vegan and basically straight edge, traded stupid stories about bands we love,” he said.
“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.”
Lyxzén took to social media to announce their festival appearance was cancelled following his heart attack. He shared a photo of himself while in the hospital recuperating.
In his statement, Sandström reflected on their first show, which occurred the same week that George H.W. Bush and Boris Yeltsin held a press conference and declared the Cold War was over. He added that by the time the band split in 1998, they had played over 500 gigs in 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,” he wrote.
He opened up about the band’s reunion in 2012, explaining that the sudden split in 1998 was “sudden and chaotic” with feelings that were not “aired out”, adding 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.
Refused perform at Eurockeennes Music Festival on July 1, 2012 in Belfort, France. (Photo by David Wolff – Patrick/WireImage)
“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 [Steen, guitarist] 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.”
The drummer added that at the start of the year, the group began to make plans for “one last big hurrah” as a way to end the band in a “fun, generous and indulgent affair”. He shared that the secret show they played was “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.”
Sandström shared that Lyxzén is doing great and that his recuperation will be swift. “Needless to say, he’s itching to get back on tour to play shows and he even suggested we should keep preliminary dates set up for the late fall and winter, but we decided to postpone those shows and instead start up in the spring,” he wrote.
“So yeah, that’s where we’re at. We’re coming to the US in March/April 2025 and we’re looking at what else we can do with the rest of the year, all we know is that we want to finish back home in Sweden at the end of the year. Let us know if there are songs you want us to play and we’ll give them a shot. Hope to see you out there.”
Tickets for the band’s 2025 US tour dates will go on general sale this Friday (September 13) at 10am local time. Visit here to purchase tickets and check out a full list of dates below.
Refused’s 2025 North American tour dates are:
MARCH
21 – Brooklyn, NY, Brooklyn Paramount *
23 – Toronto, ON, HISTORY *
25 – Chicago, IL, Salt Shed *
27 – San Francisco, CA, The Warfield *
28 – Los Angeles, CA, Shrine Expo Hall *
29 – Del Mar, CA, The Sound *
30 – Phoenix, AZ, Marquee Theatre *
APRIL
1 – Denver, CO, Ogden Theatre *
2 – Salt Lake City, UT, Union Event Center *
4 – Boise, ID, Knitting Factory *
5 – Seattle, WA, The Showbox *
7 – Vancouver, BC, Vogue Theatre *
8 – Portland, OR, Revolution Hall *
10 – Sacramento, CA, Ace Of Spades *
* with Quicksand
Along with the announcement of a North American tour in 2025, the band are set to release a limited collector’s edition of ‘The Shape Of Punk To Come’ which will feature exclusives such as a 3 LP version of the LP on coloured vinyl, unreleased demos and rare alternate versions of songs.
The 25th-anniversary package will also come with a 12-song tribute album titled ‘The Shape Of Punk To Come Obliterated’ that will feature covers and remixes by the likes of Quicksand, Zulu, Gel, IDLES, Touche Amore and more. Liner notes from Lyxzén and Sandström alongside written contributions from bands featured on the tribute album will also be included an will provide new context and insight on the album’s legacy. The limited edition of ‘The Shape Of Punk To Come’ will be made up of only 2000 copies worldwide and can be pre-ordered here.
Speaking about the LP in a press release, the band shared: “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.”
Refused ‘The Shape Of What’s To Come Obliterated’ album artwork. Credit: PRESS
‘The Shape Of Punk To Come Obliterated’ track list is:
1.Gel – ‘Worms Of The Senses / Faculties Of The Skull’
2.Quicksand – ‘The Liberation Frequency’
3.Brutus – ‘The Deadly Rhythm’
4.Snapcase – ‘Summer Holidays Vs. Punkroutine’
5.Idles – ‘New Noise (remix)’
6.Ho99o9 – ‘New Noise’
7.Fucked Up – ‘Refused Party Program’
8.Zulu – ‘Protest Song ’68’
9.Cold Cave – ‘Refused Are Fucking Dead’
10.IGORR – ‘The Shape Of Punk To Come’
11.Cult Of Luna – ‘Tannhäuser / Derive’
12.Touche Amore – ‘The Apollo Programme Was A Hoax’
Recently, there has been a spike in interest in the band’s track ‘New Noise’ after it appeared in various episodes of the Emmy and Golden Globe-winning series The Bear and in 2022’s Palmde d’Or-winning film Triangle of Sadness.
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