Following the posting of a lengthy narrative on the band's Facebook page, Swedish hardcore standards Refused have confirmed that guitarist Jon Brännström had been fired from the group (NME). Both sides of the divide are telling radically different stories however.
If you take Brännström's word for it, the biggest issue was disagreements over what the band was doing with its time. The former guitarist for the group seems to suggest that he wanted to get off the road and create new music while the rest of the band was obsessed with "reproducing it." Indeed, despite reforming during 2012, the band hasn't made any moves toward creating new music (although we admit it's tough to one-up something as classic as the group's final 1998 salvo, The Shape of Punk to Come).
His points established, the rest of Refused called his statements into question, releasing a Facebook statement of their own (awkwardly juxtaposed next to Brännström's post on the same wall) claiming that while yes, he had been fired from the group, the move had happened nearly a year ago.
"We cut ties with Jon already in 2013 because he did not share our passion for the band," read the group's statement. "We don't know why he decided to emit this narrative on facebook or why he did it now, instead of just calling one of us up, but we wish him the best in his future endeavors."
We may never know the truth. All that's for sure is that there's no new Refused music in the pipes, and that the band's breakup during 1998 was reportedly due to conflicts between vocalist Dennis Lyxzén and the rest of the band (among many other reasons).
Refused has never picked up a full-time bassist, and now it looks like it will be in the market for a full-time guitarist first.
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