Refused named their classic 1998 album The Shape of Punk to Come after Ornette Coleman’s 1959 free jazz classic The Shape of Jazz to Come, and now Refused members Dennis Lyxzén (vocals), Magnus Flagge (Bass) and David Sandström (drums) have formed their own free jazz band called Backengrillen. Rounding out the lineup is veteran saxophonist Mats Gustafsson, who’s played with Sonic Youth, Four Tet’s Kieran Hebden, Jim O’Rourke, Colin Stetson, The Ex, and others, in addition to leading many of his own bands over the past 30+ years. They performed live once in 2023 (video below), and now announced their self-titled debut album, due out on January 23 via Svart Records (pre-order). This band is presumably different from the band that all four members of Refused (including guitarist Mattias Bärjed) recently said they’d be starting.
The first single/opening track “A Hate Inferior” is a 10-minute punk-jazz excursion with skronky sax freakouts from Mats Gustafsson, screams from Dennis Lyxzén, heavy distortion, and more. The band cites The Cramps, Little Richard, Albert Ayler, Polly Bradfield, Entombed, John Zorn, Misfits, Stooges, Lars Gullin, and Can as influences and it’s not a stretch to say you can hear bits of all of those artists coming through on this song.
The band also refer to themselves as “antifascist, antiracists free form death – jazz – in the memory of Lars Lystedt” and they give this statement:
Backengrillens music is a paean to chaos and destruction. The basic idea is to take a death/doom metal, or noiserock riff and play it until it loses meaning and then break it apart like a ravenous cat would a tiny forest mouse. It’s filled to the brim with the self-hatred endemic to the province of Västerbotten from whence the member’s hail. The record was written on a Thursday during their first ever rehearsal, performed live on a Friday and recorded on a Saturday, so what you’re hearing is raw, stupid, gut instinct music played by seasoned purveyors of hardcore punk, metal, free jazz, noise et cetera.
Record no 2 is in the making, less stupid, more ugly. Stay tuned and fuck the pigs.
Stay tuned for record 2, the other Refused-related band, and the final Refused shows this December. Listen to “A Hate Inferior” below.
Tracklist
1. A Hate Inferior
2. Dör för långsamt
3. Repeater II
4. Backengrillen
5. Socialism or Barbarism
