After their maiden Australian visit in late 2012, however, Refused made it clear that the reunion would soon come to an end, and there were no plans to record more music. But it seems this was nothing but a bluff, as the band’s fifth album, Freedom, rocketed into view last weekend.
“It was great to play [Shape of Punk] because we realised that stuff feels good,” says drummerDavid Sandström. “But we also discovered that there was a lot of room for improvement. There were things that we hadn’t done so well and there was a lot of stuff left unexplored. That process was a part of the inspiration for making new music.”
Freedom was recorded in mid-2014, and the band did an exceptional job at keeping it a secret. In fact, there was absolutely no news about the album until Refused unleashed its lead single Elektra in late April. On the one hand, Elektra is the sound of the Swedish punks taking a hearty step into the future – adding a touch of stadium gloss to their agile, economical hardcore punk. But it also shows they haven’t abandoned their roots, harking back to ‘80s thrash and the likes of early-Soundgarden. Either way, one thing’s for sure; Shape of Punk, might’ve become an unassailable part of hard rock history, but they weren’t interested in making a sequel.
“We sort of feel we need to prove ourselves as a contemporary band now – that there’s a point to us being around,” says drummerDavid Sandström. “It’s perfectly understandable that there’s talk on nostalgia, but it’s a concept that I’m not familiar with. It removes any sense of progress or uncertainty or any type of danger from the artistic process, which just makes things bland.”
The majority of Freedom was tracked in Los Angeles with producer Nick Launay (Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Midnight Oil). The band also teamed up with young Swedish producer Shellback on two tracks, including Elektra. Given that Shellback made his name writing and producing songs for the likes of Taylor Swift, Maroon 5, Lily Allen and Pink, it’s a most unlikely partnership. But, as odd as it seems, the decision to work with Shellback wasn’t made flippantly. In truth, Refused weren’t going to welcome anyone into their creative world unless they saw some constructive benefit. Launay’s got decades of experience working with fiercely independent rock bands.
“We’re sort of an eclectic rock band,” says Sandström. “We have somewhat disparate influences – there might be a vibe of early speed metal/ early Slayer to some songs and then there’s elements of hip hop on another song and then there’s some almost classic rock, Jimi Hendrix vibe somewhere. We sort of felt like we would need someone sort of old school that could give us a consistent sound throughout the record.”
For a record made in 1998, The Shape Of Punk To Come has aged exceptionally well. Unlike many big records made around that time, the instrument sounds are quite organic, which allows the album to continue recruiting fans. Sandström and Steen spearheaded the Shape Of Punk recording sessions, but this time around, they couldn’t argue with Launay’s sonic vision.
“He just thinks about things in a special way,” Sandström says. “It seemed he was on a whole other level. I hardly understood a lot of the choices he made, but as soon as we listened back to stuff, we felt that he was consistently making the right decisions.”
BY AUGUSTUS WELBY
