Photo by Lise Axelson
The Swedish School for Rock Chicks
By Nikki O'NeillImagine a college program that's devoted to women in rock, where you learn instrument skills, songwriting, record producing and gender studies in the music business. ROCKRGRL went to Sweden to check out the Ella rock program, for women only.
ELLA is part of a college in Gotland, an island off the Swedish coast filled with ancient trade history, medieval ruins and breathtaking nature. Gotland is also a paradise island for women in rock, where chicks with guitar cases and studio savvy are changing the face of their regional music scene.
I visited ELLA in March, invited to guest teach clinics in songwriting, pop composition theory and guitar gear. Being a freelance musician and journalist, I was also asked to talk about publicity, press kit writing, and to share my experiences of being a female musician in New York City.
All ELLA applicants have to audition on their instruments, and go through an interview process. Vocal students actually have to play bass in the ensemble classes and take individual lessons on the instrument.
My three days at the school were an incredible experience. My students were 15 women, ages 18-25. Most of them lived at the school campus during the one-year program. Some were huge metal heads, inspired by Angela Gossard, the front-woman for Swedish death metal band Arch Enemy. Others were digging alt-country, mod pop or other styles. Many of them play actively in multiple bands, record and produce music, and work as mentors for teenage girl musicians. Some even host their own clubs and work as DJs.
Everybody had their own stories to share about the ignorance and opposition they face simply for choosing to play rock instruments. They've traveled from all over Sweden to study at ELLA, because this is a natural profession for them.
"It's very important for young women to be able to make obvious career choices, like playing drums, writing songs, working as an engineer or producer, or running your own label," says ELLA founder/director Lise Axelson. "There are as many women listening to music as there are men, but the situation is very different when you look at who is providing the music, and how women are presented. It's an important democratic issue to change these conditions."
Axelson's vision for a rock education for women started in 1998 with two projects, aiming to get young women into playing in bands and working in the recording studio. Five successful years later, she presented her idea of a one-year rock and pop program to the college Gotlands Folkhögskola. The board of directors were hooked, and the first group of ELLA students began their studies in the fall of 2004. Support for the program continues to be very enthusiastic, and Axelson is becoming quite an expert in researching and receiving funding for it.
"The first projects were financed through a number of investors," Axelson says. "Funding came from government authorities, labor market subsidies and the European Community. The former official authority on equal rights in Gotland also gave us her support. Today, we have a new recording project, called Soundsister, which is headed by the Gender Institute in Gotland. Thanks to our affiliation with them, we are able to apply for funding for that project as well."
ELLA's goal is to provide a broad musical foundation for its students. This includes private instrument lessons, ensemble playing, music theory, and fundamental skills in audio engineering and recording.
Gender studies is another essential part of ELLA's course curriculum. The students learn about gender politics and its goals in Sweden, the European Community and the United Nations. They also look into media and the music business, do research projects on rock magazines' portrayal of female artists, survey the number of female writers and reviewers, and study how reviews of a female band differ from male bands, etc.
My main purpose at ELLA was to teach a three-day workshop in songwriting, which also included theory for pop, rock and metal songwriters. I started off with the blues and showed how rock harmony evolved from there, going chronologically into the Beatles and classic rock bands. Every day, the students partnered to write songs on the spot. They were given 30 minutes to come up with a verse and a chorus that included concepts I'd just talked about in class. My purpose was to show the craft aspects involved in songwriting, besides inspiration. The theory clinic ended with a metal special, exploring the odd rhythms and detuned guitar mania of Korn and Slipknot. Our three days became a rock and roll history class, but based in the evolution of rock songwriting.
I also discussed amps, tubes and effects pedals, and had a chance to demonstrate pedals to the ELLA students and a group of 14 year old girls that they mentored. These girls had just started playing in their first bands and recorded their first demos. To have the opportunity to talk to all these young women was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.
Not even my horror stories of starving artist poverty and occasional sexism in the industry discouraged them. One girl said: "it's so inspiring how much you can accomplish... I feel like I have my entire life ahead of me."
For me, the whole experience of teaching at ELLA not only reminded me of my past starting out as a guitar player, singer and songwriter. I also got to see a great future for women in rock n roll.
(An edited version of this article was published in