Refused Not Reforming Despite 'Shape of Punk to Come' Reissue

When Epitaph Records reissues Swedish hardcore band Refused's third and final studio album, 1998's 'The Shape of Punk to Come' in a deluxe edition on June 8, don't expect any reunion tours. "Refused broke up 12 years ago," frontman Dennis Lyxzén tells Spinner adamantly. "Even doing interviews about something that broke up 12 years ago is really weird."

Lyxzén, who went on to form (International) Noise Conspiracy, says the band never planned any renewed activity. "The initial idea came from Epitaph," he says. "They wanted to do a 10-year anniversary edition. That would have been two years ago, but we got involved and wanted to make it special. I don't think anyone in Refused sat down and thought, 'Ooh let's make a deluxe edition.'"

The three-disc reissue will include the original album, an unreleased live album recorded in 1998 and the 2006 documentary 'Refused Are F---ing Dead' on DVD. Lyxzén recalls the band's collective state of mind 12 years ago when they recorded 'Shape of Punk,' a now highly-regarded '90s hardcore document. "We were doing a s---load of touring on the record before it," he says. "We went to the States and came home feeling confused and alienated by the whole experience. We didn't fit in anywhere. We just decided to do this record and the general attitude was to tell everyone to f--- off. We were in the studio thinking people will hate us. We were laughing and saying, 'This is going to be awesome. Nobody's going to get it'."

Outside of the band's milieu, at that time few did. But the title proved prophetic and Refused influenced a new generation of punks. Lyxzén, however, isn't too thrilled about that. "Without being an a--hole and dismissing every band in the world, we were a hardcore punk band, our goal was to change the world with hardcore and politics," he says. "Sometimes we'll watch MTV and there's this awful metal band and someone will point at me and say, 'This is your fault.' I kinda get bummed out."