Dennis Lyxzen fronts iconic Swedish hardcore punk band Refused, a band that formed in 1991 then broke up in 1998 after several explosive albums. The band reunited in 2012 for a memorable run of shows – their Enmore Theatre performance in particular notable for its frenetic energy, savagery and joy, and recorded another album in 2015.
With Refused due to return to Australia in January beside New York’s Sick Of It All and Melbourne’s High Tension, singer Dennis appeared on the Riffing With Christina podcast this week to discuss No Wave music and its transcendental power to connect us through alienation, whether music can transform the world, or just worlds, and lots more. As far as new music is concerned, they’re in no hurry but “we are writing,” he says. “I am actually meeting the other guys in a week and a half to talk through some ideas.”
Christina: I spoke to Dave Brockie (Oderus Urungus) from GWAR just before he died and he was talking about how you know people call it punk rock and say all that shit, but if you’re not inspiring insurrection and revolution then your band isn’t shit. Which made me kind of think about it, like which are the bands that did actually cause a revolution, and is that even a possible thing or is it a fantasy? I don’t know. What do you think?
Dennis: “It is a big question but it is a question that I have been talking about, thinking about, dealing with my entire life. And I think its a valid question because I think that a lot of us, everyone, should take a look at themselves and say what does music mean to me, and how do I define myself as a person through music?
To be honest … I don’t think music can change the world. I don’t think economic and religious structures are going to tumble because we write a song. But I believe that music can change worlds. It changed mine, I’m sure it changed yours. It changed a lot of people around me.
Dennis: “My trajectory in life was something … I was meant to become a different person than the person I am today but because of music, I’m sitting here talking to you. So I believe in the power of music. And in a corrupt sort of narcissistic, voyeuristic world, all politics is sort of devoid of meaning, which we can see with the American election and so on. I think music and art is the only thing that can elevate humans into a real sense of a political idea of a revolution, and I think that has always been the function of art but I think its needed more than ever today because of the wholeness of the world. And because of like what you see in politics and what you see on TV. It’s very bleak and void of substance. So I think that music and art has big shoes to fill because we need to be the ideas that politics is no longer representing.
I don’t think that everyone started playing music did it because they wanted to change the world, but I do definitely think that for me thats like the main agenda of what music should be. Its not always like that. Some days, it’s just a show. Some days it’s just a job. But some days, it has that meaning that definitely redefines new ideas of life. That’s how I feel.”
On No Wave, growing up and the state of music today:
“Because music for most people (which is a shifting culture I think) music used to be something that a certain group of people were really really into … now, everyone is kind of into music, but its just like – you’re into music the same way you’re into a TV show. Its just something that you pass the time with. And I think that also makes it easy for a lot of music to become bland because its supposed to appeal to the lowest common denominator, which is problematic.
Looking back on myself … I felt, still do, like an alien. I felt like I was born in the wrong place at the wrong time, everything. So when I discovered music it was such a relief. I grew up in the north of Sweden, in a small town, very isolated. I was a freak and discovering music enabled me to be like, OK there’s others out there like me. Wow, that’s pretty amazing. I think music has that power. its fascinating that you can read a book and go, I can relate to that, I didn’t grow up in the 1970s in New York, I grew up in the north of Sweden in the 1980s], but I could still relate to the feeling of alienation and a disconnect to the world that’s what is so fascinating about music.”
+More:
Get Tickets | Refused, Sick of It All & High Tension
“The Void with Christina” on YouTube
