On January 9, 2012 REFUSED announced to the world that they were indeed… NOT FUCKING DEAD! Now long suffering Australian fans get their turn. REFUSED are as vital as ever and will be touring this November and supports have just been announced for each show..
BLKOUT take influence from the traditional New York Hardcore sound and have completed countless runs of Australia, as well as a full European tour. On their new album, ‘Point Of No Return’, BLKOUT lay down by panning towards the unorthodox in their journey to widen the scope of Australian hardcore. Perth’s favourite hardcore sons will be hitting the stage with Refused.
NUCLEAR SUMMER embodies the light and dark, dances between insane technicality and punk rock simplicity, while simultaneously channeling pure joy with unbridled rage. They will be taking their brand of ‘Sunshine Metal’ to the Brisbane show.
ENDLESS HEIGHTS are about taking chances and pushing to achieve what you desire in life. Their motto, “Dream Strong”, permeates every element of the band, and it is this principle that will see them take their personalised brand of melodic hardcore to the Sydney show.
OUTRIGHT are backed by big riffs, hard hits and unstoppable energy. Their distinct passion, nestled within a sea of heavy chords and a progressive social conscience will be in full flight at both Melbourne shows.
HIGHTIME have managed to create a punk rock sound that defies many a genre; yet always carries the raw passion of its hardcore roots. They will be bringing their infectious and energetic live show to Adelaide.
Refused also recently revealed they will be playing their final show in their hometown of Umea on December 15th, bringing to a close their reunion year...
GOIN' HOME
So there were those years right after school, when you were 15 and pissed off and everyone thought you were a loser and you ran around with the other weirdos, generating weirdness and little else. And there were those years when what set you apart from the others become a fixation and a lifestyle and you had a band and people talked about what you did but you were so used to being weird you just lumped them in with the rest of the slanderers. Then there were those years when the ideas you'd clung to through late adolescence were beginning to ring hollow and you got more and more confused and destructive and the band broke up and you had rent to pay. That was among the tougher years. And then slowly, over a span of time, you began to sort yourself out and your friends started making sensible decisions in their lives and it suddenly began to seem like most of you were gonna be ok.
And then there was the year when you stopped being a petulent kid and you got your favorite musicians together in a room again and decided that you were gonna accept the love of thousands of listeners, accept the success that was waiting there to be had and just in general enjoy being appreciated for the exact same qualities that made you a freak to your contemporaries in your teens. This was one of the better years.
And now it is coming to a close. It's been kind to us. And that old punkrock golem "The shape of punk to come" has done good. The hatchet is buried, 1998 is not such a terrible memory for us anymore. We're going home. And we're doing it in style.
With old friends and new acquaintances in tow we're gonna take over our old hometown Umeå for one more night, just because we can. On the 15th of December at the Exel arena we'll be sharing the stage with these magnificent comrades: Randy (http://www.randytheband.com/), a band of punkrock bandidos from the north who we befriended years before we even were Refused, Two White Horses, an excellent sister/brother-duo from Sävar, both of whom we've individually collaborated with in different musical projects through the years, and Råd Kjetil Senza Testa, a new and exciting musical collective consisting of old Umeå pop and hardcore scenesters, among them the guy who produced the very first version of New noise for a local hardcore compilation in early 1997. We unconditionally endorse these bands.
Great music, good crude fun, what more do you need? It's going to be one of those nights.
Thank you for populating the pit in 2012.
