Finally the time has come for the Sweden’s hardcore icons Refused to return to Australian shores. With an impressive new album under their belt they will be touring around the land down under for headline dates in January 2017. We caught up with vocalist Dennis Lyxzén to talk about their new music and the tour.

SCENEzine
Looking back how was 2016 for you?

Dennis Lyxzén
It’s been a good year it’s been creative. A lot of touring I managed to write and record it’s been a very busy year.

SCENEzine
Was getting to play Riot Fest alongside the reunited Misfits a bit of a highlight?

Dennis Lyxzén
Yeah that was pretty fantastic we didn’t play the same day but I got to stick around and see the Misfits play so it’s kind of a highlight of the year.

SCENEzine
You recently released a new EP called Servants of Death. Can you tell us a bit about that?

Dennis Lyxzén
It was supposed to come out a while ago it contains an unreleased track we did called “stolen voices”. There’s a couple of live tracks new ones and old ones. We write in the now so we wanted to do something to make people aware that we are still around. It was a good thing to make a proper EP.

 

 

SCENEzine
It’s around a year and a half since your newest album Freedom was released. Are you happy with how it all turned out?

Dennis Lyxzén
Yeah I am. The cool thing about being a musician is you can look back and see where things could of been different and get some perspective. It’s been over two years since we recorded the record so you get some perspective on it. It’s been interesting to see what song works live and what doesn’t. We are all very happy with the record and the way it turned out. It’s inspiring after seventeen years to put out a new record. A bit of a nerve racking thing but the record turned out good. Any music that you make and create is a stepping stone to the next move you are going to make. I like that about music, you are never done that’s a cool thing.

SCENEzine
A lot of people when Refused released “the shape of punk to come” said you were a band ahead of your time. Did that make it easier to write “Freedom” since you were a band from the future anyway?

Dennis Lyxzén
(laughs) The times have caught up with us man. Here’s the thing it was not that tricky to write Freedom because we isolated ourselves. We were very secretive about it. We didn’t talk to anyone and didn’t want any input but our own. So we could shy away from peoples opinion about what we should be as a band. It was quite easy to write but it’s hard having a record that people live with for seventeen years and that people use as a template for a certain type of scene or sound. To go up against that is a bit scary but when I heard the riffs that the other guys had I though yeah it’s definitely worth taking the chance. For us as people the band had become something that we felt very disconnected from. Through all the years we weren’t together the band just kind of took on a life all of it’s own. So for us to write a record Freedom was a way for us to take control of Refused again. We could feel it. It was like ok now it’s up to us once again to define what Refused is going to be.

SCENEzine
Freedom opens up with the amazing track “Elektra” can you tell us about the writing process for that song?

Dennis Lyxzén
That songs riff was what made us write new music. We had been broken up for fourteen years and Kris didn’t play guitar for a long time. One day he called David and said I have a riff it was the “Elektra” riff and David was like holy crap that’s a cool riff. So they were working on that Kris, David and Magnus had a project they were working on for “Elektra” but it was a eight minute instrumental track. They thought maybe this song could be a Refused song. I added vocals to it and it became the first glimpse of what we could be as a band in the future. That riff and song was the key moment that made us feel alright we can do this. From their eight minute instrumental to the version that’s on the record it changed quite a lot. I think it turned out to be one of those killer songs. That was a very defining song for the continuation of Refused.

 

SCENEzine
Refused was a band that for many years the world really wanted back. Did you have a sense of how big the band had become and how many people worldwide wanted you back?

Dennis Lyxzén
I think I was the only one to have an inkling of an idea how big it could be. When Refused broke up I kept releasing records and playing. So I was the only person from Refused still out there and meeting the crowd. I would play shows with Noise Conspiracy and people would come up to me after saying how much they loved Refused. So I kind of knew there was a lot of people out there ready to see us play but when we announced it on facebook my facebook broke. I was like holy crap what have we gotten ourselves into. The feedback that we got was enormous. We were the second most thing talked about on twitter that day in the world so that kind of blew our minds. I had an idea but I wasn’t really prepared. I think the other guys were quite clueless saying why are people this excited, they didn’t really get it at first.

SCENEzine
Since being back with Refused did it take you long to get your voice back into shape for the screaming parts?

Dennis Lyxzén
Not that long. It’s changed though when you look at shape of punk to come then Freedom it’s almost an octave lower. It’s a different screaming voice. The first couple of practices my voice sounded good but then my voice went. With all the bands I’d had in between that type of screaming was something I never worked with. It was like the day Refused broke up I had stopped screaming and started singing. The way I use my voice with Refused is very different from Noise Conspiracy so it took me a little bit to get in shape. If we have a couple of weeks off it takes me a while for my voice to get strong again.

SCENEzine
You are kicking off 2017 by coming to Australia. Are you guys excited to get back down here?

Dennis Lyxzén
Yes we are very excited. We were supposed to come in January 2016 but that got cancelled. We were supposed to be done by now with touring this record but everyone was like we need to do Australia before we setup for what’s next. I’m super excited. Some of us are staying after and just being tourists. I love Australia. I’ve been down there several times I can’t want to get back there.

SCENEzine
Sick Of It All will be supporting on the tour. Did you get to choose the support?

Dennis Lyxzén
Yeah I pick all the support bands that’s kind of my job. Someone said maybe we should have Sick Of It All on the tour and I thought that’s not such a crazy idea. We talked to the promoters and Sick Of It All immediately said yes. It’s quite surreal actually.

SCENEzine
Do you a have a favourite Australian memory from a previous visit?

Dennis Lyxzén
I have a couple of friends in Sydney and one of them has this old drag racing car. Every time I’m there we usually go cruising around all night. I’m really looking forward to that again.

SCENEzine
A huge crowd favourite is “New Noise”. Did that song take long to write and do you have any memories of making the video?

Dennis Lyxzén
One day Kris showed David the riff and said he had an idea for a song. David was like holy shit that’s fucking crazy. So David did an arrangement for it. The song came together quite quickly. It’s a weird arranged song but in a cool way. There’s a lot of breakdowns. We wrote it for a compilation we recorded but then when we did shape of punk to come we thought it should be on the record as well. With the video we showed up to this warehouse and were told to walk out front of Marshall amps and wear outfits and go crazy. It turned into one of those weird classic videos. I was hanging upside down in this climbing harness thing trying to sing along to the song. It was a good video shoot (laughs).

 

SCENEzine
Can you leave us a last message for your Aussie fans?

Dennis Lyxzén
We are super excited about coming down there and having High Tension open up for us. It’s going to be fun and the last Refused tour for a long time so we are going to be ready to destroy. It’s going to be great. Super stoked.

(Interview by Christian Ross)