A lot of changes are apparent within the Refused camp moving into the release of their first new album since 1998 titled Freedom, out June 30, 2015 via Epitaph Records. They fired longtime guitarist Jon Brännström and have been spotted performing with Mattias Bärjed of The Soundtrack Of Our Lives fame on guitars. No word on whether he is just filling in live or has joined as a full member.
In a recent interview, Refused vocalist Dennis Lyxzén spoke about recording a new album, and more.
On if he thought the band would ever record a new album:
“No. Well. . . for the last two years, since it has been happening, yes. But before that, a definite no. When we got back together in 2012 I was very confident that that was gonna be it. “We’re gonna do 10 shows,” you know? But then we wound up doing 82, and somewhere down the line we ended up talking about creating new music together. But before that it was pretty unthinkable that this would ever happen. But I think that was partly a matter of history, and sort of the legacy of what Refused was. A lot of people think, “Oh, those guys, their last record was The Shape of Punk to Come, they can never fuck with that.” So it’s very unexpected to people that we decided to actually fuck with that.”
On if had been wanting a Refused reunion himself:
“Before the reunion I had no desire whatsoever to revisit Refused music at all. I was done. And the reunion was just going to be this one-off kind of thing. But what happened was, Kris [guitarist Kristofer Steen] and David [drummer David Sandström] and Magnus [bassist Magnus Flagge], they actually had a band – I think they started playing together in 2010 – and they were doing this weird instrumental avant-garde metal music.
And while we were doing the reunion thing, Kris once asked me, “Do you want to sing on one of these songs we’re writing?” And I said, “Yeah, I can do that.” And then Kris and David started talking about, “Maybe these songs we’re writing could be Refused songs. . . ” So at some point they asked me if I would be into the idea of creating new Refused music. And my initial reaction was, “I’m not sure this is a good idea.” Then they showed me some music and I said, “Yes, this is a good idea!”
On the bands future:
“Well, we initially set out just to do 10 shows. But then we decided we were going to continue, and we became a band. And I think that’s a big difference. At this point Refused is not on a reunion tour. We are a band – a contemporary band that is putting out a record. And it’s not nostalgia or a throwback. Refused 2015 is just Refused. So that’s our future. And it’s gonna be intense, but not as intense as it was in the Nineties, because we’ll have the time and the leverage to do other things we want to do.
I mean, a couple people in the band have kids and families. I played 110 shows last year with my other band [INVSN], so that’s something I’m still gonna do. Kris is an opera director. David just finished up a play in Stockholm. So there will be other things happening around us at all times. But our idea is tour this record for at least two years, and then we’ll see if a new record comes out of that or if it’s time for another break. But really, who knows? I mean, Freedom isn’t even out yet. Maybe this record comes out and people say, “Fuck these guys!” Then I guess we’ll just travel around in a van again [laughs]. Either way, I can say that the future of Refused, it’s a bright one.”