Swedish hardcore legends Refused paid tribute to their New York underground rock influences tonight (March 21) at Brooklyn Paramount in New York during the second show of their farewell world tour, which featured opening sets from vintage local staples Orange 9mm and Quicksand.
Refused formed in 1991 and split following their landmark 1998 album The Shape of Punk to Come, but the Dennis Lyxzen-led group reunited in 2012 and has been active in the studio and on the road ever since. Considering he suffered a heart attack last June, the 52-year-old frontman was in remarkable form throughout the 18-song set, as he jumped and danced across the stage, twirled his microphone like a lasso and screamed the classics at the top of his lungs.
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The importance of the setting was clearly not lost on Lyxzen and his bandmates, nor was the lineage of Quicksand, whose frontman Walter Schreifels also played in the influential New York hardcore bands Gorilla Biscuits and Youth of Today. “Since the return of our band, this city has been fucking so good to us. The shows we played, the after parties we played — it’s been fucking fantastic,” Lyxzen said. “I was a metalhead. Yeah, it’s true. I did not have the energy to practice, and then I discovered hardcore — specifically, New York hardcore. One of the first hardcore records I ever bought was [by] Crumbsuckers. And then Agnostic Front. And then Sick of It All. And then Gorilla Biscuits. And then Youth of Today.”
“When we started Refused, and this is a fucking true story, I had a hardcore band called Step Forward and we broke up,” he continued. “A friend of mine called me said, you wanna play a show with Step Forward? I said, we’ve broken up and we got a new band called Refused. He’s like, do you wanna play? I’m like, fuck yeah, we’re gonna play. So, we got on the bus [for] three hours, showed up and played four Gorilla Biscuits songs (laughs). I think we played two or three old songs and maybe a Shelter song. This city’s given so much to me. To be able to have Orange 9mm and Quicksand opening up for us is fucking surreal. It’s so fucking crazy! I could never have dreamed that that was gonna happen.”
Lyxzen admitted that he was “a little winded” from easing back into the physical demands of a Refused show, but added, “we play this really violent, aggressive music, and I’m just super happy (laughs). When we started and we played that fucking punk show, who would have thought we would sell out a fucking beautiful venue like this? It’s unbelievable.”
The set was dominated by material from The Shape of Punk To Come but also sported rarities such as 1993’s “Blind” and opener “Poetry Written in Gasoline,” which had never been played live prior to the tour opener the night before in Washington, D.C.
“For me, punk rock and hardcore music was rebel music,” Lyxzen said. “It was a part of not only subculture but anti-culture. When you’re a young person, you don’t really fully understand the world. You go gut feeling. You’re like, fuck that! Fuck society! We were really young and writing all these political songs, and I’m exaggerating so much my pants are busting at the seams. And then, 30 years goes by and I’m like, oh no. This is not an exaggeration at all. I’m reading songs from our first demo tape, where I talk about politics is controlled by economy, and I’m like, oh shit! It’s pretty wild to see it happen. The good news is, at the end of the day, it’s up to us how we want to live our lives and how we want to define the world we live in. It is up to us if we want this world to be a better place than the fucking shitstorm that’s happening now. There’s plenty of us here. Get fucking organized. Go to protests. Be fucking angry at what’s happening. I feel the overwhelming barrage of bullshit. It makes it feel quite lonely. But, holy shit. Look at us. There’s 3,000 of us here. Beautiful.”
To start the evening, Orange 9mm played just their second show in 25 years — six songs from which were drawn from their beloved 1995 album Driver Not Included. The group also unveiled a new tune titled “Turn It Up.” Quicksand then drew 10 of their 15 songs from Slip and Manic Compression, the two albums they released in their ’90s heyday before splitting for 13 years. Highlights included “Thorn in My Side,” the measured “Landmine Spring” and the first-pumping “Head to Wall.”
Last fall, Quicksand were one of many admirers contributing Refused covers to the collection The Shape of Punk To Come Obliterated. This final Refused run has dates on the books through early August, after which the band have pledged to permanently split.
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