Stockholm’s live scene is being continuously gutted by redevelopment, with the list of recently-closed venues getting ever longer, but some people still believe in the dream. Swedish Rock’n’Roll Club (probably the world’s most direct-to-the-point club name) are preparing to make their debut this weekend with a live night at Scalateatern. Driven by a studio collective headed by Amanda Eddestål, Clara Gyökeres and Julia Boman (aka rock trio VERO), the club promises cheap thrills, messy fun and a community spirit with roots deep in the city’s underground indie culture.  VERO themselves headline the opening night with support from GHLOW, and Tella Viv and Kiss My Ass Club DJ. We caught up quickly with the trio to learn about the opening night.

So, how long did it take you to come up with the name?
Two seconds. Once we had the name we knew that we needed to do something – anything – with it. It’s too great to pass on.

Who are you, the people behind the club, and how did it get started?
Behind Swedish Rock’n’Roll Club stands a studio collective formed last year with bands like us (VERO), Tella Viv, Light Vibes and the producers/musicians Christopher Göthberg, Axel Jonsson-Stridbeck and Theodor Khylin, to name a few. The club itself was born only two weeks ago when the name came up and an offer from Scala arrived at the same time. It was rock’n’roll faith.

For each of you, what’s the first rock and roll gig you can remember going to?

Clara: Oasis

Julia: I’m sorry I can’t top that as a first gig, Oasis never came to Västerås.

Amanda: Same

What do you think are the important ingredients for a live rock club?
A loose vibe, an affordable night, cool music, great sound and a kinda dirty dark venue where you feel at home and at the same time far away.

With more and more live venues closing, was part of the motivation for starting this club to just keep alive places where people can play?
Of course, we needed to create the place we are missing in Stockholm. It’s a passion project and to us money is not a motivation at all. We ourselves are starving for this type of nights, and the only logical thing would be to just do it and feed it to the people.

And finally, what can we expect from the opening night?
We won’t know until Saturday but no one should miss the chance to see GHLOW (or us for that matter). And the DJs are wild. That’s it, everything you need with a cherry on top. Come join us.

Swedish Rock’n’Roll Club with VERO and GHLOW, Scalateatern, Feb 24

Logo: Julia Boman and Clara Gyökeres