It’s no secret that we were ecstatic to hear that Refused were reuniting for a handful of festivals and intimate dates. However, our excitement made us forget one crucial question: who was going to play bass on the reunion shows? At first, we simply assumed that Kristofer Steen (who also plays guitar in the band) would simply take over bass duties. However, let’s not forget that Refused have gone through their fair share of bassists (13 to be exact), never actually finding a permanent member.
However, today Refused confirmed that joining them on the road will be former bassist Magnus Flagge (aka Magnus Björklund). The reunited Swedish punk legends released the following statement regarding Flagge and his history with the band:
“We went through 13 different bass players in 7 years as band. This positively Spinal Tap-ish figure was due partly to us being difficult to be around, but the actual root cause was that we never managed to restock the Hamer-silhouetted chasm left by the magnificent Magnus Flagge (then Björklund).
Flagge joined the band in the fall of 1992, solidifying a pretty wobbly little hardcore band with his rythmic stability and firm grasp of time. His playing was crucial to our musical direction in the early years. He eventually left us in the summer of 1995 to focus on his own band Cobolt and during the last three years we enlisted assorted scenesters to try and compensate the lack, but we never came close. Sympathetic to our plight he rejoined us in the studio for both the “Songs to fan the flames of discontent” and “The shape of punk to come”-sessions (1995 and 1997 respectively), adding body to both records and giving them the steady footing that is the seal of the gifted bassplayer.
When putting the band back together there was never any discussion of who we wanted on bass. Magnus has a steady job and a family now so there was uncertainty whether he could find the time, so we were elated and relieved when he accepted. It’s a singular job, but in our minds it is, and always was, his.”
Refused were also kind enough to include a list of every bassist they played with in their statement. You can check out their bass player list (in order of appearance and minus Flagge) after the jump.
Jonas Lidgren
Henrik Jansson
Kristofer Steen
Jesper Sundberg
Anders Johansson
Jon F Brännström
Magnus Höggren
Jonas Babyface Eriksson
Håkan-Håkan Strandhag
Inge Johansson
Andreas Nilsson
Ulf Nybérg
