THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Swedish rock band Refused weren’t just ruminating about the lasting impact of popular culture when they opened their 1998 album The Shape Of Punk To Come with a lyric about classics never going out of style — they was also taking stock of their own turbulent existence, which met an ignominious end later that year in front of 50 kids at a basement show in a Virginia college town.
Indeed, Refused came and went before the true power of their music could be understood, even by its own members. And in the ensuing years, the band cast a giant shadow over the world of underground rock, with the boundary-exploding Shape… rising to all-time legendary status as it influenced a new generation of musical revolutionaries.
After Refused, frontman Dennis Lyxzen, drummer David Sandstrom, guitarist Kristofer Steen and bassist Magnus Flagge started anew in a host of different bands — sometimes in various combinations of playing together, sometimes making music they didn’t intend anyone else to hear. All the while, “Refused was this weird albatross,” says Lyxzen. “I could play a great show and walk out into the crowd afterward, and someone would come up and say, ‘I love Refused.’ For a long time, playing together again wasn’t even on the table.”
Now they’re celebrating 25 years of their groundbreaking record The Shape Of Punk To Come with a limited collector’s edition loaded with exclusives, including unreleased demos and rare alternate versions. The anniversary package also comes with a 12-song tribute album titled The Shape Of Punk To Come Obliterated, with covers and remixes by boundary-smashing bands like Fucked Up, Ho99o9, Cold Cave, Touché Amoré, Snapcase, Zulu and Quicksand.”
