Refused Are ……. Alive!! [VIDEO]

After killing off their band 16 years ago; one of the most respected, groundbreaking bands both musically and thematically of the past 20 years is back with a full world tour and a new album! Find out the details here!! 

Punk Hardcore was never the same after Sweden's Refused torn the world a new ass in the 90's. As documented in their mesmerizing DVD (one of the best music docs I've ever seen), "Refused Are F------ Dead", the band self destructed. Maybe imploded is more like it. Bottom line is they shut it down. As they were about to embark on their first US tour (first ever US dates really) and continue to lay the groundwork for more hardcore and punk bands to come, they realized they couldn't be a band anymore. Not with each other, not for anyone. A band that could start a revolution quickly became nothing but a memory of a powerful gameplan.

Over the years they all did other things to carry on. Lead singer Dennis Lyxzen fronted other bands like the soul garage rock fueled International Noise Conspiracy, the wild rock act, AC4 and eventually the new wave alternative, INVSN (Invasion). All cool bands, but nothing that would leave a mark like Refused was doing back in the 90's.

Keep in mind by the time Refused broke up in 1998, they had toured well but done only a few shows in the US which were mostly in college house basements and vet hall venues. Only a few shows at most in the States. So that's what... a couple hundred at best ever saw Refused live in the US?! A couple hundred people for a band most say truly started the new phase of punk hardcore. None of the fans in the US got to see them except those couple hundred. Then...

Three years ago they did some special dates for reasons all their own. This was never in the cards and no one expected it. When this band finished in the late 90's the honesty to their break up was so sincere that any band in history seemed more likely to reunite than Refused. A powerful headlining set at Coachella and some other scattered dates (I got to see them in Boston) Refused started to open the door to more.

I remember at the show I saw Lyxzen said something that stuck with me. He said that everyone was asking why now, why would this band return now. He thought to when they started and how messed up the world was and what they hope to do to spread words of strength and revolution and education. To open people's eyes to the wrong going on like punk rock did, like Public Enemy did and so many others. He said that looking at the world now and reading the lyrics they wrote, 15 years after Refused broke up, everything still holds true that they sang about. The words mean more today than ever.

Where the hell is Rage? System? PE? Dead Kennedys? The bands who were basically created thanks to awful happenings and injustice around our world. NOW is the time for these bands to shout and take it to the people. Rage doesn't need a Lollapalooza slot to do right. They need to play anywhere right NOW and make records right NOW cause things are more messed up NOW than compared to when they fired up back in 95. What are they doing today?! What those bands were all about, it's needed today and I'm sorry but Tom Morello's acoustic guitar ain't getting it done. System of a Down... all that spazzyness and heavy stuff mixed with political music mutilation, where is it?! Things are a mess right NOW! Forget about your PR agent and managers and record labels.. return because that's who you are. Were. Make a record to talk to the people and help the people make things right! (side note: Anti Flag does good work, but something needs to breakthrough bigger)

None of those other bands are doing a friggin thing. They're needed NOW! So, I call them frauds to a certain extent. (lightly cause they might have other reasons to not be out there, but I stick behind my accusation 90%). The songs would write themselves today with everything going on; Ebola, ISIS, deficit, gasoline battles, homeless, police brutality, immigration, equal rights, North Korea, Russia's cold re-emergence, etc.

Well...Refused are ready. They're going lead a charge and we don't know what will happen, but it will be real and full of truth and damn loud. Good for them and us. (Guitarist Jon Brännström is no longer with the band which takes away a bit of the live energy, but frontman Dennis Lyxzen has plenty to spread around)

In 2015, they have a world tour lined up, an American tour opening for Faith No More and most shocking; a brand new album done and ready for release this summer. This is the cover...

AND FOR THOSE UNAWARE.... I GIVE YOU REFUSED