Had their original plans went ahead, avant-garde post-hardcore outfit Refused would have been wrapping up the second chapter to their career by the year’s end. As so often happens though, life gets in the way. This past June saw the group’s vocalist Dennis Lyxzén suffer a “massive heart attack” just ahead of what was supposed to be the kickoff to their farewell run.
Since then he has received treatment and remains committed to staying healthy. Ironically, the group, who previously broke up in 1998 and reunited in 2012, were set to reveal that intended immediate end of their career on the day Lyxzén had his heart attack.
While what transpired was obviously not an ideal situation for Lyxzén or his bandmates, it has turned out to be a boon for fans. Prior to Lyxzén‘s heart attack, the group had originally been eyeing a run of roughly 15 shows before hanging it up.
However, the extra time afforded by Lyxzén‘s recovery has seen the group since reconsider, with plans now intended to stretch out across 2025. In a newly shared video via his ‘Dennis Deep Cuts‘ video series, Lyxzén outlined his heart attack, his current health, the plans that are in the works for his various musical endaveaors, and what Refused‘s final year will look like.
Speaking on the heart attack, he stated [transcribed by theprp.com]:
“So on the 13th of June this summer, I had a massive heart attack. I was at a hotel in Uppsala. We [Refused] were getting ready to do our comeback show. We hadn’t played in over four years, we were supposed to play a huge festival in Stockholm the next day.
And I woke up with insane chest pains. Felt like I was on fire. It was pretty horrible. But I was mere minutes away from one of the best hospitals in Sweden, and I’m insanely grateful for the medical system that we have set up in Sweden.
They blew up some arteries in my heart, and made sure that I am doing pretty well. It’s hereditary. I’m trying to be like, the healthiest person alive, but that didn’t help. But then again, my dad had a stroke when he was in his 50s, my uncle had a heart attack when he was in this late 40s, my grandad had a heart attack, so on and so forth. So it wasn’t really much that I could do to prevent this from happening.
And by doctor’s account, me living a really healthy lifestyle probably made it so that I didn’t have a heart attack earlier. This, of course, led to the fact that, well, that Stockholm show didn’t happen and everything over the summer got canceled. And I told myself, I need to take a break from everything.
So the summer, I didn’t do anything. I didn’t even… I didn’t answer emails, I didn’t play guitar. I didn’t do anything, which was extremely, extremely boring, and that is why I haven’t been doing any episodes.
And then I took a decision that most of the activities that was planned for this fall and winter was all going to be moved or canceled. So I wanted to talk a little bit about that, and my plans for the future, and how my different projects and bands have been affected by this and stuff like that.
I’m feeling pretty great under the circumstances. I feel really good. I lost cardio, which was kind of frustrating. But I’m working on getting my cardio back. And apart from that, the only thing is the mental aspect of having lived through a weird trauma like this is that I’m super sensitive now. So as soon as anything in my body hurts remotely, I’m like, ‘What is this? What’s happening?’, which is super common.
And that’s something that I need to get over, and sort of put myself in a situation where I hope this is not going to happen again. With correct medicine, and so on, and so forth, I should be able to live a life as full-on as before. So that’s why I haven’t been posting. That’s why I haven’t been active here lately, but I’m back. I feel really good and I feel really optimistic about the future.”
He then provided a breakdown of what he has in the works musically, a rundown of that can be found below:
- A new album from his Vännäs Kasino project was recorded this past May and will arrive in late November, with a few shows planned this fall, given his less strenuous role as a guitarist in that band.
- INVSN‘s plans to record a new album this September have been shuffled to February, with a potential late 2025 release being planned.
- His punk supergroup Fake Names have been working on new material for their third studio album.
- Backengrillen, his ‘death jazz’ side project with Refused‘s drummer David Sandström and bassist Magnus Flagge, plus saxophonist/flautist Mats Gustafsson, have a new album completed with a 2025 release in the works.
- His defunct project The (International) Noise Conspiracy are looking at getting their catalog released on vinyl.
As for next year’s swan song for Refused, the group have already announced a North American farewell tour, as well as a 25th anniversary edition of their 1998 magnum opus, “The Shape Of Punk To Come“. The latter will be accompanied by a companion tribute album featuring the likes of Quicksand, Snapcase, Touché Amoré, GEL and more. For now, you can check out Cult Of Luna‘s contribution to it.
As Dennis confirms in this episode, various territories are being looked at for legs of the band’s farewell run, which they expect to conclude in late 2025 in their native Sweden. He relayed of that:
“We went out pretty hard with a statement saying that Refused is breaking up next year. We’re doing a farewell tour, and that we’re releasing ‘A Shape Of Punk To Come‘ 25th year anniversary edition.
The day when I had my heart attack, we were supposed to go out with a press release saying, ‘Refused are fucking dead’ — which is insane, of course. The festival in Stockholm was to be like the starting point, and then we were supposed to do 15 shows, 15 shows, over this fall and winter, before we were supposed to pack it in. That was the original plan. And then I have a heart attack, and everything changed.
And obviously everything this fall got moved or canceled. And we said, what are we going to do next year? And after this conversation, we said, let’s do it, but let’s do it for real. The tour dates for the U.S. tour are already out, and a couple of those shows are already sold out, which is fantastic.
We’re looking into festivals over the summer. We’re looking into doing a European tour. We’re looking at South America, Australia — anything that we can fit into it. We’re finishing off in Sweden next fall/winter. That’s the tentative plan for the next year. I would love to play anywhere we can.
But of course, life, as you know, logistics, timing, economy, you know, families, etc, etc…. We won’t be able to play everywhere, which is a shame. But the good news is that instead of 15 shows, we might end up doing something maybe like 50 shows next year, which is pretty fantastic.
Yeah, so that’s the plan for Refused. We’re doing a full year of touring next year, a little bit of a celebration of ‘The Shape” record, and also a celebration of a long, cool career that we had together. And we want people to come out.
And if you want to hear any songs, let us know we play all the songs people want to hear. And then that ‘Shape‘ 25 year anniversary edition will come out. It’s pretty awesome, I might do an unboxing here if I get it in reasonable time. Yeah. So that, that’s what we got in store for for Refused.”
Refused also recently picked up a notable accolade in their home country, having been inducted into the Swedish Music Hall Of Fame last month. The aforementioned 25th anniversary edition of “The Shape Of Punk To Come” is on track for a November 08th release, with another run on purple vinyl planned for a March release.
Dates for the North American leg of their farewell tour will play out as follows.
With Quicksand:
03/21 Brooklyn, NY – Brooklyn Paramount
03/23 Toronto, ON – HISTORY
03/25 Chicago, IL – Salt Shed
03/27 San Francisco, CA – The Warfield
03/28 Los Angeles, CA – Shrine Expo Hall
03/29 Del Mar, CA – The Sound
03/30 Phoenix, AZ – Marquee Theatre
04/01 Denver, CO – Ogden Theatre
04/02 Salt Lake City, UT – Union Event Center
04/04 Boise, ID – Knitting Factory
04/05 Seattle, WA – The Showbox
04/07 Vancouver, BC – Vogue Theatre
04/08 Portland, OR – Revolution Hall
04/10 Sacramento, CA – Ace Of Spades
