Refused


Refused was a Swedish hardcore punk band originating from Umeå and formed in 1991. Refused's final lineup was 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 2013. Their lyrics are often of a non-conformist and politically far-left nature and were for a time associated with the straight edge subculture.
The band released their debut album This Just Might Be... the Truth in 1994. They followed this up with Songs to Fan the Flames of Discontent and five EPs. In 1998, the band released The Shape of Punk to Come, which expanded their sound with jazz and electronic influences, but was initially poorly received commercially and critically. The group shortly after disbanded during their subsequent tour. Despite limited contemporary success, Refused were influential on the development of rock music in subsequent decades.
In 2012, the band reformed and commenced a reunion tour, and later released further albums Freedom and War Music. Refused embarked on a farewell tour of North America and Europe in 2025, having played their final show on 21 December 2025 in Umeå.

History

Early years (1991–1997)

Refused formed in early 1991 with Dennis Lyxzén on vocals, David Sandström on drums, Pär Hansson on guitar, and Jonas Lindgren on bass. They formed with the aim of playing outside of their hometown and releasing a 7" record. They released their first demo, Refused, the same year. With an already altered lineup the band released their first studio album, This Just Might Be... the Truth, in 1994. A month later, they released the Everlasting EP.
Refused's final line-up consisted of Dennis Lyxzén, David Sandström, Kristofer Steen, and Jon Brännström, but the band never found a permanent bass player, switching up to 12 bassists until their original break-up. In June 1996, they released Songs to Fan the Flames of Discontent through Victory Records. The album had a style that steered towards the metallic hardcore genre and included a fanzine explaining their political ideas. For this record, they toured with Snapcase. Later on, they did it in support of Millencolin in the United States and with Mindjive in Europe.

''The Shape of Punk to Come'' and disbandment (1998)

Their third album, 1998's The Shape of Punk to Come, incorporated diverse sounds outside of the strict hardcore realm, such as electronica, jazz, and ambient. Initially, the album was both a commercial and critical failure, with little media coverage and mixed reception from fans and critics alike; some even refused to rate it because of its stylistic divergence.
The United States tour to support the album was cancelled halfway. They were joined by Washington, D.C.'s Frodus and only completed eight shows in half-empty basements and coffeehouses, finishing in a chaotic performance in a basement of Harrisonburg, Virginia that, after four songs, was shut down by police. They described these concerts as "emotionally devastating" and "an awful experience", which finally led to their break-up after a rough internal fight in Atlanta, Georgia. Other factors to their disbandment were a depletion of creative energy and band members wanting different things. There was also conflict between Dennis and the rest of the band.
Refused announced their demise through a strongly worded open letter titled "Refused Are Fucking Dead" on their label Burning Heart's website.

After breakup (1999–2009)

The story of Refused's last show soon became popular, as well as The Shape of Punk to Come. A year after its release, the album shot up from 1,400 to 21,000 units sold in the United States. In 2000, it went up to 28,000. From then on, many notable artists started to praise the band and newcomers cited them as an influence.
Lead singer Dennis Lyxzén went on to form The Noise Conspiracy soon thereafter, while the other members, as well as venturing into their own projects, formed the group TEXT.
In 2007 Lyxzén and Sandström 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.
As of May 2008, Dennis Lyxzén and David Sandström formed a new straightforward hardcore band under the name AC4.
Kristofer Steen moved to Orange County, California and attended film school there. He made a documentary on the band's last year in existence called Refused Are Fucking Dead, which was released in 2006. Then, he began working on operas in Sweden.

Rumours (2010–2011)

In March 2010, Epitaph Records put up the old Refused website online with the words "Coming Soon." Rumours spread across the Internet about what the new website could indicate, including speculation of a reunion. Citing an anonymous source "close to the situation," Punknews.org unofficially announced that the band would perform at European music festivals in 2010. Dennis Lyxzén denied claims of a Refused reformation as he and David Sandström were busy with AC4. 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. The reissue, released on 8 June 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.
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. This started new rumours of a long-awaited reunion.

Reunion, Brännström's firing and ''Freedom'' (2012–2017)

During BBC Radio 1's "Punk Show" on 2 January 2012, Mike Davies stated that Refused, along with At the Drive-In would be reforming in 2012. On 9 January 2012, Refused announced a reunion to perform at the 2012 Coachella Festival. This was controversial because of the band's original explicit declaration to never reunite.
On 29 February, Refused played a secret show in Umeå, their first live performance since 1998. Refused played numerous European festivals on the Reunion Tour, including Way Out West in Gothenburg, Primavera Sound in Barcelona and Download Festival in England. They appeared for the first time on TV in America on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on 18 July 2012 and toured Australia for the first time in November. Refused ended the tour on 15 December 2012 with a hometown show in Umeå. Sandström would later say about this tour, "We kept things ambigiuous in our final statement: 'The hatchet is buried … we’re going home', for plausible deniability, because we weren’t sure our attempt at a permanent reunion would fly," also confirming that Refused had only broken up officially once, in 1998.
On 22 February 2013, Refused were awarded the "Special Prize for Music Exports" by the Swedish Minister of Trade. Lyxzén and Sandström chose to criticize Sweden's current government at the ceremony, instead thanking the efforts of popular education, in particular Workers' Educational Association and youth centers while Jon Brännström chose to not accept the prize on his behalf later stating he wished they " had said no to the prize and instead held a press conference about why we had turned it down".
On 31 October 2014, Jon Brännström wrote on Refused's Facebook page that he was fired from the band and no longer considered them friends. The band responded by stating that they fired him in 2013 "because he did not share our passion for the band."
On 25 November 2014, the band announced their first shows in three years at the Reading and Leeds Festivals, Groezrock and Amnesia Rockfest for summer 2015. They also headlined Punk Rock Bowling in Las Vegas in May 2015. Around the same time, rumours of a new Refused album in 2015 surfaced 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 it.
On 27 April 2015, Refused announced their fourth studio album, Freedom, released on 29 June via Epitaph Records. The album was produced primarily by Nick Launay and featured two songs produced by Shellback. The opening track "Elektra" was released as the lead single.
On 20 November 2017, members of Refused revealed on social media that the band has been in the studio working on their fifth album.

''Cyberpunk 2077'' and ''War Music'' (2018–2024)

In May 2018, the band released the Servants of Death EP which contained a new song, a b-side and four live songs. It was originally released on vinyl in 2016 as part of Record Store Day.
On 2 July 2019, the video game Cyberpunk 2077 announced that Refused would partner with Polish video game developer CD Projekt Red to record new original music for the game. Refused's music is performed in the game by the fictional punk rock band Samurai, whose frontman Johnny Silverhand is voiced by Keanu Reeves. Lyxzén's vocals were used for the characters Johnny and Kerry Eurodyne.
Later that month, Refused announced their fifth album War Music, released on 18 October and supported by the lead single "Blood Red". Alongside the song, the band released a statement stating: "It's been clear for some time: the sun is setting on our beliefs. But we still believe that capitalism is cancer and we still believe it can be cured. We still believe that the patriarchy is cancer and we still believe it too can be cured. We still believe in the power of art to transform and expand the mind. And last but by no means least: We still believe in the total violent obliteration of the one percent."
Refused released The Malignant Fire EP on 20 November 2020, which featured four new songs.