Refused Are Fucking Alive! New Track, New Album, World Tour!

Refused Are Fucking Alive, or says the band themselves via the press release they just dropped, and there is absolutely no reason to doubt that. After no more than a torturous tease of a return with their 2012 reunion tour, that was swiftly followed by the band’s announcing that it was definitely, over and decisively out – officially. The band having previously split, and tormented their fans so, shortly after the release of their, not-so-much-a-prophecy-but-a-promise, The Shape of Punk to Come.

The band split the first time having begun to split at the seams as a band and, despite their inevitable influence and eventual legacy, they were just a little too ahead of their time for some. However, their reunion tour in 2012 saw them return in revered fashion, but that time it was just that , a reunion, this time though;

“It’s not a reunion anymore. This is one of the most radical things we’ve ever done, both musically and lyrically.”

“Nobody wanted us to fuck with the image of the band who makes a great album and splits up, nobody wanted us to dilute it. That actually provoked us.”

The fully fuelled and fired up words of Refused frontman Dennis Lyxzén and drummer David Sandström repectively, going someway to show that this isn’t going to be just another vanity-project cash-cow milking off nostalgia, as so many reunions are these days, as Lyxzén said, it’s not a reunion anymore. That’s wholly evident from, ‘Elektra’, the first track to drop from The Shape of Punk to Come‘s long-awaited follow-up, Freedom.

The album is due for release the end of June via Epitath, and it was produced by Nick Launay who’s worked with Arcade Fire, Nick Cave, and Kate Bush previously, as well as featuring collaborations with Swedish superproducer Shellback who’s worked with Taylor Swift, Britney Spears, and Pink, to name a few; it’s clear that Refused are keeping things unconventional. They’re clearly no less pissed off than the first time around either, as ‘Elektra’ rages against the fact that ‘nothing has changed’.

Refused might have changed the shape of punk to come, but they are clearly unhappy with their not having changed the world. Take two it is then. REFUSED ARE FUCKING ALIVE!

Freedom Track list:

01 Elektra
02 Old Friends / New War
03 Dawkins Christ
04 Françafrique
05 Thought Is Blood
06 War on the Palaces
07 Destroy the Man
08 366
09 Servants of Death
10 Useless Europeans

Pre-order the album HERE

Live Dates:

05-02 Meerhout, Belgium – Groezrock
05-22 Hünxe, Germany – Ruhrpott Rodeo Open Air Festival
05-24 Las Vegas, NV – Punk Rock Bowling & Music Festival
05-25 Santa Ana, CA – The Observatory
05-26 Los Angeles, CA – The Roxy Theatre
05-28 San Francisco, CA – Great American Music Hall
05-29 Portland, OR – Doug Fir Lounge
05-30 Seattle, WA – The Crocodile
05-31 Chicago, IL – Double Door
06-01 Boston, MA – The Sinclair
06-03 New York, NY – Bowery Ballroom
06-04 Brooklyn, NY – Music Hall of Williamsburg
06-05 Washington, DC – Rock & Roll Hotel
06-20 Montebello, Quebec – Amnesia Rockfest
06-27 Seinäjoki, Finland – Provinssi
07-02 Gdynia, Poland – Open’er Festival
07-11 Collalbo, Italy – Rock am Ring
07-16 Viveiro, Spain – Resurrection Fest
07-17 Tønsberg, Norway – Slottsfjell
07-18 Tromso, Norway – Bukta Tromso Open Air Festival
07-30 Atlanta, GA – Masquerade Music Park *
08-01 Philadelphia, PA – Mann Center *
08-02 Columbia, MA – Merriweather Post Pavilion *
08-04 Boston, MA – Blue Hills Bank Pavilion *
08-05 New York, NY – Madison Square Garden *
08-07 Toronto, Ontario – Ricoh Coliseum *
08-28 Leeds, England – Leeds Festival
08-29 Gräfenhainichen, Germany – Pure & Crafted Festival
08-30 Reading, England – Reading Festival

* with Faith No More