Little Chevy shakes out her petticoat. Then she laughs to the guests in the audience and grabs the microphone. She is a rockabilly singer from Basel who is usually backed by the four men of her supporting band, but this evening she is performing accompanied by just her guitarist, Markus Werner, “kinda something new” as she points out a minute later, as she greets the audience. The venue this evening invites intimacy: Little Chevy, whose real name is Evelyne Péquignot, is performing at the Hula Club.
Ah, the Hula Club: a perennial insider tip at Sperrstrasse 97 in Basel, a dream of a place − at least for the initiated, those familiar with it – but a huge question mark for those who have no idea what you are talking about when you start raving about this relaxed, Hawaiian-style club in the cellar of a courtyard, tucked away behind a grey apartment block in Klein-Basel.
As it happens, the location has cult status. For one thing, it is one of the last remnants of a gradually disappearing spirit from another time, when people still revelled in innocent dreams about the Pacific and photos of the locals there in traditional dress inspired a desire to visit faraway places. But down in this cellar, among its festoons of plastic flowers, cheerful palm tree décor and now almost touching wood panelling, the spirit of that era lives on.
Memories of the Hawaii fever of the 1950s
The venue in the rear courtyard has been used since 1979 – when it came into being as the rehearsal rooms of the Basel band, the “Hula Hawaiians”. This group emerged from its predecessor, the “Okinawa Hawaiians,” which itself had grown out of the “Basler Strizzi” band, a group of three lads from Basel who had caught the Hawaii fever in the nineteen forties and fifties, a vibe they never lost over the decades to come. It was in the cellar in the Sperrstrasse that they rehearsed, held concerts and where a hard core of fans developed, but where they also continuously attracted new patrons and club members.
The Hula Club is now being run by a new group of people but with the original décor. The “Hula Club Association” sprang into action in December 2024 and you can read a tribute to the work of its predecessors on its website. It states: “On the 17th Dezember 2024, after more than 28 years here, Esther Soland and Heinz Haag bid farewell to the Hula Club with a celebratory evening of concerts.”
Nowadays it is the music and culture aficionados Pascal Biedermann, Bruno Kopp, Benjamin Rüdy, Christoph Peter and Thomas Keller, who are making sure the Hula Club continues to flourish. On Tuesday evening – down at the Hula Club it is always Tuesday evening – Thomas Keller mans the bar and greets everyone heartily. An interior designer by trade, he is a well-known figure in the city, certainly in own his milieu, but also in the restaurant trade. At the Hula Club he manages the bar.
The doorbell rings repeatedly, and behind the bar they press the automatic opener to the entrance door of the grey apartment building. The Hula Club is a members’ club financed by membership fees, as Bruno Kopp, Keller’s fellow manager, who is behind the bar with him, tells me, while explaining they are also designing a membership form and hoping to attract new members. “Let’s see how many people come today,” he says and grins. Kopp is expecting around 30 people this evening. “Well, that would be a good evening.”
Subdued lighting, post cards and plenty of atmosphere
The dusky light from the red and yellow bulbs around the bar illuminates evidence of the heartfelt passion that has been poured into this cellar for more than 46 years now. To the left are two books about the “Hula Hawaiians,” the entrance is hung with countless postcards, photos, and newspaper cuttings about gigs in the past, from friends and local names in the world of music.
At first glance you can spot Pink Pedrazzi, a musician from Basel with very close ties to the Hula Club. And it is not particularly astonishing that Pedrazzi’s fellow musician, Pascal Biedermann, is one of the driving forces behind the club’s new association. “It was Pascal who brought me onto the committee;” says Keller, the bar manager and laughs. “The Hula Club really is a great institution: So much atmosphere, history and a great crowd of regulars.” But then he stops because a new group of guests is just arriving through the entrance: “Have you reserved a table? No? Great, yeah, no, that is no problem at all!”
You don’t have to make a reservation, but it’s not a bad idea, especially if you are planning to come as a group; the cellar is great, but not exactly huge. The audience usually consists of the members and friends of the bands who are playing, but newcomers are always welcome.
The Hula Club is always open on Tuesday and musicians perform here every Tuesday. Country, folk, singer-songwriters, the Blues – that’s what’s happening. And as the association writes on its website: “The Hula Memories will also be performing regularly, Heinz-Peter Glatt and Rudi Maggi will entertain you with other musicians and guest musicians.” The sounds of Hawaii are an integral part of the future too.
Little Chevy has this in mind too. Of course, she first fires up the audience with plenty of spirit, interspersed with some salty banter in the local Basel dialect, the more so because her “youngest friend, oldest friend and longest-standing friend” are all in the audience. But she then takes the opportunity to pay tribute to Pink Pedrazzi, who encouraged her to perform at the Hula Club for the first time this evening – and duly pointed out that a ukelele will be played. Between her anecdotes, Markus Werner reaches back and grabs a wonderful specimen. “That almost sounds like... well, like Indian influences!” Little Chevy jokes about the harmonies emerging spontaneously beside her. Then they get going again. From soulful to thrilling, showy to intimate.
The evening continues, while Angelika and Colin help out behind the bar, pouring drinks and serving the kind of food absolutely typical for Basel’s club cellars: sandwiches or a hot sausage. Keller and Kopp are both well contented: the audience is in a good mood, Little Chevy is obviously enjoying herself, and the list of new members is filling up. Where is this escapade with the new association going to lead them? “Oh, we don’t really know at the moment;” says Keller. “We are keeping an open mind and watching out for what else we have to do.” Because in a way, it is a bit like being in Hawaii: first go with the flow, with the rhythm – and, then when the swell picks up, ride the wave. For as long as it suits you.
