Refused announce final shows and confirm plans to form new band
Swedish punk band Refused have unveiled plans for their final concerts and confirmed they will continue to work together under a new name.
The rockers, who reunited after 14 years away in 2012, began their farewell tour in North America earlier this year, which is set to stretch into Europe later this year.
In October, Refused will perform in the United Kingdom for the final time with shows scheduled in Glasgow, Manchester, and London. They will also play in Dublin, Paris and Lille before wrapping up in Leipzig on October 11th.
Then, in November, the band will make their last visit as Refused to South America before returning to Sweden to end their career on home territory.
The newly announced dates will begin in Gothenburg on December 11th, with further Swedish shows planned in Norrkoping, Stockholm, and three concerts in their hometown, Umea.
In a statement coinciding with the announcement of their final concerts, drummer David Sandström explained why they are bowing out. He began, “A few people have insinuated that like some other bands who, in the fashion of the great Larry David, quit with bells, whistles (and blood raining from a lacerating sky) only to return within a few years as if nothing had happened, Refused would do the same. Well, we won’t, and i feel the need to elucidate.”
Firstly, he said Refused was “never good” for his relationship with singer Dennis Lyxzén as “we both have our own idea of what the band should be and how we should behave and never the twain shall meet”. He also noted, “And we’d rather be friends than play in a popular band.”
Sandström also confirmed, “A new band has been born within the band and we (Mattias, Magnus, Dennis and me) want to explore that, a band with no baggage, no fans to please, limited only by our wildest musical hopes and dreams. We’re very excited about getting around to taming this new wild beast.”
At this stage, no further details have been revealed regarding the new musical entity that Refused members are set to embark upon once their chapter comes to a definitive close at the end of the year.
Sandström signed off on the message by looking ahead to their final few months of touring, writing, “But before all that, we have some business to attend to. The last of the last shows are soon upon us and it’s come together better than we could have hoped for. The lineups are stacked with old friends, comrades and collaborators as well as some of the best newer bands in the heavy, punk and/or violent music spectrum.”
See his full message below.
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