Step Forward was a Swedish hardcore punk band founded in 1989 in

Umeå Umeå ( , , , locally ; South Westrobothnian: ;). fi, Uumaja; sju, Ubmeje; sma, Upmeje; se, Ubmi) is a city in northeast Sweden. It is the seat of Umeå Municipality and the capital of Västerbotten County. Situated on the Ume River, Ume� ...

, Sweden by Dennis Lyxzén and his friends, Toft Stade, Jens Nordén and Henrik Jansson. Step Forward was one of the first

hardcore punk Hardcore punk (also known as simply hardcore) is a punk rock music genre and subculture that originated in the late 1970s. It is generally faster, harder, and more aggressive than other forms of punk rock. Its roots can be traced to earlier punk ...

bands in Sweden that held on to the American

straight edge Straight edge (sometimes abbreviated sXe or signified by XXX or X) is a subculture of hardcore punk whose adherents refrain from using alcohol, tobacco, and other recreational drugs, in reaction to the excesses of punk subculture. For some, thi ...

lifestyle. They soon released their first demo "I Am Me" and in October 1990, their second demo, "Does It Make a Difference". During their existence they played a handful of gigs, mostly in the north of Sweden where they are from. Differences of opinion on the kind of songs they wanted to play finally reached a point of no return and Step Forward was dissolved. They played their last gig in December 1991. In 1996, a Step Forward CD entitled ''It Did Make a Difference'' was released on the hardcore label

Desperate Fight Records Desperate Fight Records was an independent record label in existence between 1993 and 2000 in Umeå, Sweden, owned and operated by Dennis Lyxzén and Jose Saxlund. It released records by most of the bands in the huge local Straight edge hardcore ...

. It included the demo-recordings mentioned above as well as two of their live-sets. Although the band no longer exists, Dennis Lyxzén created a new band,

Refused Refused (also known as the Refused) is a Swedish hardcore punk band originating from Umeå and formed in 1991. Refused is composed of vocalist Dennis Lyxzén, guitarist Kristofer Steen, drummer David Sandström, and bassist Magnus Flagge. Guit ...

, in 1992, which has revolutionized hardcore punk in Sweden and around the world. Jens Nordén has since played in somewhat notable bands as well, such as Regulations, The Vectors, E.T.A. - and along with Lyxzén, the last lineup of Refused side project

Final Exit ''Final Exit'' (fully titled ''Final Exit: The Practicalities of Self-Deliverance and Assisted Suicide for the Dying'') is a 1991 book written by Derek Humphry, a British-born American journalist, author, and assisted suicide advocate who co-f ...

. In 2008 Nordén and Lyxzén teamed up with

Karl Backman Karl Backman, (born 27 October 1970, Umeå) is a Swedes, Swedish artist and musician. Music Backman became involved in Punk rock in 1980 and started his first punk band the Boredom Brothers in 1982 when he was squatting in Umeå. He formed ...

, The Vectors, and David Sandström, ex-

, to form a new hardcore band called AC4.

Members

Dennis Lyxzén Sven Olov Dennis Lyxzén (born June 19, 1972) is a Swedish singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist for influential Swedish hardcore punk band Refused, as well as the bands INVSN and Fake Names. He is also a former member of bands ...

– vocals (1989–1991) *Toft Stade – bass guitar (1989–1991) *Jens Nordén – drums (1989–1991) *Henrik Jansson – guitar (1989–1991)

Discography

*1991: '' It Did Make a Difference'' (

)

References

{{Authority control Swedish hardcore punk groups Musical groups established in 1989 Refused Straight edge groups