For those even mildy familair with hardcore punk know all well about the influential group, Refused. Their release of “The Shape of Punk to Come” in 1996 was met with critical immediacy, yet little financial success. The group broke up, yet the album and band have simply exploded with a massive following since the years of the release.
In 2011, the group reunited for what seemed to be a few scattered shows. Yet Refused kept adding tours, and with a recent blog posts, have hinted that they are back and they are here to stay.
The group are most knwon for their single “New Noise,” which was featured in video games, of all things, years after its initial release. “The Shape of Punk to Come” is considered a pivotal release, and only the third album the group created in theri short time together in the mid 90’s.
View the beginning of their most recent statement regarding their reunion below. Visit the site for the full stateent and tour dates. Expect a full-blown tour announcement very soon.
It’s been a strange couple of months. We’ve barricaded ourselves in a rehearsal space in the outskirts of our hometown Umeå and rediscovered not only the truly fierce music we made in our twenties but also our old tested and true 24/7 work ethic (or as friends and family refer to it: the diagnosis). Rehearsals have been electrifying and powerful, the songs seem to have stood the test of time pretty well and we’ve been having a great time preparing for the, mildly put, very unusual situations we soon will find ourselves in.
When we decided to do this, the idea was to make sure that as many people as possible would get to see us (if actual demand would prove to warrant such an approach, which we feel safe in saying it has), but to achieve this without us wearing eachother out (again) or David hurting his wrists more than absolutely necessary. We all have lives with friends and families back home so piecing it all together is a nightmare for the people helping us with that. We haven’t been a rocknroll band for 14 years so not all of us are as compatible with the culture of the music business as some other band in a similar situation probably would be. We never were, but in 1996 we could work our way around it by playing all of your hometowns, 150 shows in a year, no sweat. This is no longer the case. In summation: we want to play to everybody but we’re not the Rolling Stones. We convey this with all due respect.
Image Source, Refused Promotional 1999
