Viva Sounds is one of the most exciting events happening in Europe, equally welcoming regardless of your genre preferences or depth of knowledge.

Are you more into more metal stuff and you know zero bands on the bill? That’s fine, I can guarantee you’ll have a great time and come back with a bunch of new favourites. You an open-minded indie explorer and a lot of these bands are already familiar? That’s great too, this time you might be able to watch them play on a boat, or a tram, or a tiny cafe, or between racks of CDs in a record store. You a bit tired of live music? Come anyway, and stay for the conferences where likeminded industry veterans will maybe offer you a new perspective on stuff and you might end the weekend holding up beers watching a new band at the Pustervik.

But don’t take it just from us. We got on a call with Gustav Påhlsson and Mattias Tell, the two main guys behind it all, who told us all about not only this edition, but all of the secrets that happen behind the scenes at an event like this. And by “like this”, we mean a company of two people dealing with 90 bands spread over seventeen stages in three days.