Refused Visits Rockabilia HQ

We then sat down with vocalist Dennis Lyxzen and drummer David Sandstrom to talk about their new album ‘War Music,’ their most recent tour with Chicago’s Racetraitor (featuring Fall Out Boy drummer Andy Hurley) and EMB powerhouse duo Youth Code from Los Angeles, capitalism vs. socialism, and the legacies of their song “New Noise” and album ‘The Shape of Punk to Come.’ Plus, Dennis made an eerie prediction that just so happened to come true only a couple of weeks later, which changed the entire world as we know it…

Afterwards, we switched gears to Refused’s new alter ego, the band Samurai, from the MASSIVE upcoming video game Cyberpunk 2077 (out on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Microsoft Windows, and Google Stadia). Even though we all have to wait until September 17, 2020, to play CD Projekt RED’s (The Witcher series) latest masterpiece, right now you can hear how Dennis found out he was playing Keanu Reeves’ character in the highly anticipated RPG…

Finally, after eating some vegan donuts and pizza (thanks, Glam Doll Donuts and Pizza Luce!), we took our new buds to Prince’s Paisley Park Studios, which is located just right around the corner from our office. Here’s our video with the band’s reaction to the tour, against the backdrop of their Prince “Let’s Go Crazy” cover (originally released on the hardcore compilation Purple Pain in 1995).

Their show later that night was absolutely insane, and although it’s hard to explain just how amazing it really was, hopefully, these live pics we ripped can help paint a picture:

And if you were unfamiliar with The Refused until now, here’s a brief history of the band:

After forming in Umea, Sweden in 1991 and releasing albums on Victory Records, the band broke up in 1998, immediately after their genre-defying album ‘The Shape of Punk to Come’ was released on Epitaph Records.

However, when MTV added the band’s music video “New Noise” to their regular rotation in 1999, the band, although broken up, went on to obtain a cult-like presence in the music scene. Suddenly, every band was citing them as a major influence, and artists such as Anthrax, Crazy Town, Steve Aoki and The Used all covered the song. To this day, ‘The Shape of Punk to Come’ is highly regarded as one of the best punk rock albums of all time.

A decade went by with everyone in the music industry trying to get the band to reunite, but it wasn’t until 2012 when Coachella made them an offer they simply couldn’t refuse, that so they finally agreed. The band has since become a full-time unit again, releasing ‘Freedom’ on Epitaph in 2015, and ‘War Music’ on Spinefarm (Black Label Society, Bullet For My Valentine, Children Of Bodom, Ghost, Godsmack) in 2019.

Thanks again for stopping by, Refused! See you next time,

-Rockabilia