Refused’s Dennis Lyxzen Balancing Legacy With Four Active Bands in 2022
It's going to be a busy year in 2022 for Dennis Lyxzen, as the singer will have no fewer than four bands active with projects over the span of 12 months. Though there's a good portion of work that will be done prior to the calendar flipping, Lyxzen revealed that Refused, Fake Names and INVSN will all have projects in the works, while he's also spun off a punk band with INVSN's Sara Almgren.
Lyxzen was a guest on the Sailor Jerry Podcast hosted by The Bronx's Matt Caughthran (seen below) when he revealed what appears to be a jam packed 2022. “This year is 25 years since Fanning the Flames of Discontent came out, so I put together a really awesome ultimate edition of that," revealed the Refused vocalist. "It’s a double LP with the second LP is just demos, unreleased tracks and there’s two songs with David singing and we did liner notes and photos."
He added, "It’s actually coming out next year because of vinyl production, and we’re going to do something soon with the first Refused record. And The Shape of Punk [to Come] is turning 25 in two years, so I’m sure we’ll do something about that.” Lyxzen pointed to an "early 2022" release of the Fanning the Flames of Discontent 25th anniversary set.
The vocalist admitted that it's been an interesting dynamic balancing his legacy while still keeping things fresh with four active bands. “I’m not a nostalgic person," he told Caughthan. "You live in L.A. and there are a lot of people who put out one record and then they coast off that record their entire life … but I’m not like that. I’m doing this new project and these new records and new music, but as you get older, it’s like maybe I should take care of the old stuff. It is interesting and it’s an immense privilege to have that catalog while still being in four active bands at the moment.”
As for his other bands, Lyxzen revealed, “There’s an INVSN record coming out in the springtime called Let the Night Love You. That’s gonna be some touring, but you know how the world is today. Everyone’s supposed to go on tour cause you can tour for two years, so there’ll be a lot of touring.”
He added, “I have a new punk band with Sara from INVSN. We recording in January a new record. I play guitar which is fucking fabulous. I don’t have to be the frontman. Sara plays bass and sings and I almost play the rhythm guitar, I don’t play the lead, I play rhythm guitar.”
As for what else is in store in 2022, Lyxzen offered, “[We’ve got] new Fake Names. Refused has started writing songs, so I’m hoping maybe the end of next year we’ll do some recording and stuff. So I’ve got a lot of stuff happening. Not as much touring as I’d like it to be, but it’ll happen.”
Check out more of Lyxzen's chat with The Bronx's Matt Caughthran on The Sailor Jerry Podcast in the player below and check out previous episodes here.