Gothenburg Officials Force Techno Club to Close
Organisers involved in Swedish techno club Mythos have confirmed that the acclaimed Berlin style monthly warehouse party is to permanently close after local officials strangled the club’s economic viability with bureaucracy and uber-tight regulation.
“It was fun to have a proper club in Göteborg. But Swedish authorities’ interpretation of the law made it impossible to continue doing events at the Mythos venue (Backavägen 7,” they said in a statement,
“the required infrastructure and fire safety investments would simply have been too high to cover with only one members-only event per month.”
Opening the club in November 2014, organisers hoped to circumvent the country’s notoriously inflexible licencing laws by limiting admission to clubbers who registered as members at least 24 hours before.
Chatting to Skrufff at the time, co-promoter Bjorn Wurmbach was optimistic their strategy could work.
“In Sweden every place closes at 3am or 5am at the latest,” he explained.
“To be able to party all night we’ve formed an association to which only members have access. Therefore, every guest hast to register at least 24 hours before the event to become a supporting member. We are very strict with that rule, simply to avoid trouble with authorities.”
Combining local talents such as Arik Brikha and Joel Alter alongside Berlin techno and house DJs including Berghain resident Marcel Fengler and Sisyphos’ Fidelity Kastrow, Mythos achieved immediate commercial success as well as enthusiastic support in international media including the Guardian newspaper.
By November, however, parties were suspended until further notice, they announced in a newsletter mailed to the club’s membership.
“Despite all efforts and measures we made in an attempt to make Backavägen 7 a safe place to listen to great sets and have magical party all night long, without risking to be burned to death or trampled during an evacuation,” they said.
“Last weeks inspection, done by the fire protection authority and the social services office, resulted in us not being allowed to arrange any party in our venue – if we go against their decision and arrange a party anyway we would face a big fine.”
In the latest newsletter, organisers announced that Bjorn Wurmbach’s acclaimed micro-boutique festival Secret Island Nation also no longer exists, though ended with a cautious note of optimism.
“All bad has something good inherent (sic),” they declared. “For this summer, we are working on something new, something different and maybe even something better.”
