December 21st will mark the final time Refused take to the stage together.
The show, which will take place in the band’s hometown of Umeå, Sweden, will be livestreamed, offering their global fanbase one last opportunity to celebrate and properly farewell a truly iconic name in punk music.
For the fans, it will surely be a bittersweet moment, but for the band, this is a triumphant punctuation mark on a successful final year of shows.
As frontman Dennis Lyxzen explains, “Sometimes things need to die to be fully appreciated, or to give birth to something new. Which is the case with us, we are going to continue to play music together and do other stuff. Refused has just run its course.”
Lyxzen and drummer David Sandström battle the summer Australian heat with wry humour (“we come from a long line of potato farmers in the north, who toil in the darkness…”) and in Sandström’s case, an icy can of lager, when we steal some of their time at Good Things 2025.
Having performed a headline show of their own in Melbourne the night prior, Refused’s arrival in Australia as part of their victory lap tour is one that Lyxzen feels fulfilled by. With their Australian shows being some of their last ever, he feels a mixture of nostalgia and gratitude for everyone who has been along for the ride.
“It’s been fantastic, it’s probably been the most fun we’ve ever had on tour,” he says. “The reception has been beautiful, people have been really kind. They’re hanging out with us one last time.”
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Across five studio albums, Refused cemented their status as one of punk’s most important names in the 1990s, breaking boundaries and fusing punk with a broad palette of sounds including electronic and metal, diversifying the appeal of punk in its more experimental form.
From This Just Might Be… the Truth, through to the seminal The Shape of Punk to Come, Refused’s catalogue of work prior to their initial disbandment in 1998 still stands up as classic material of the heavy genre, period.
Since the band’s reunion in 2012, Refused have been able to redefine themselves and their legacy for longtime and new fans alike, with Freedom (2015) and War Music (2019) arriving as important touchstones to complete an expressive body of work.
When it comes to the idea of legacy, Lyxzen admits it’s a concept he sometimes struggles with. In connecting with fans of different generations on this final tour, it’s starting to make a little more sense.
“A lot of the stuff we do, we do it in a close little room with friends, over a period of a couple of months. People will then talk about the record 25 years later. It’s a wild idea,” he says. “I’m super happy that in this final year, a lot of young people are discovering us through Cyberpunk 2077 and [in-game band] SAMURAI. Also via The Bear! It’s super cool! Hopefully they’ll get to see us once, at least, and then continue with us on our journey.”
Sandström adds, “I remember seeing a young girl singing to ‘Pump the Brakes’, which we put out in 1994. She definitely didn’t look like she was born then, which is cool!”
“She can go into our music with a clean slate,” Lyxzen responds. “We have so many friends who were there when The Shape of Punk… came out and they’re like, ‘I’ve lived with this record for 25 years and it changed my life.’ These kids have discovered us through this album and now they can go through the discography with their eyes wide open. It’s a beautiful thing.”
Once the final rites are read for Refused just before Christmas, the band isarealready looking ahead with anticipation to new projects, new influences, and a new creative dynamic.
A new project is already in the works, Lyxzen has “a few records” that haven’t come out yet. For Sandström, he is heading into the studio with a freeform jazz orchestra in Stockholm once the final Refused show is done and dusted.
“There’s no real break,” he says. “Musicians’ lives don’t function like that anymore. You’re always working on something.”
Sandström wryly jokes about his ‘love/hate’ relationship with Refused, but admits the connection to music in all its forms is something he’ll likely never lose.
“It’s just a personality thing, I think I have a love/hate relationship with tonnes of stuff,” he laughs. “To get rid of the ‘hate’ part, that would be great. The love will always remain, it’s just the annoying aspects of being in this band will die when we put the band to bed.”
“Doing things for the first time is one of the greatest aspects of how humans see time, which makes us different from animals,” he explains. “Repetition for an animal is nothing, that’s what their lives are. Being able to start anew, being able to start a new band and make new decisions, not just artistically, but also in how to function as a band, that will be great. To be able to do things like we were 18 again. I’m looking forward to that.”
