Basel in the 1960s: a city on the move. The economy is booming, cultural life oscillates between tradition and modernity. The carnival and Basel's up-and-coming theatres attract an international audience. Rock culture also finds fertile ground in Basel. Cult clubs such as Atlantis and the first rock bands characterise the scene. Claude Pfau, one of Basel's early rock pioneers, stirred up the youth scene with his school band The Typhoons, which later became The Countdowns. The teenage boys even made it into the Swiss newsreel at the time because they were the first Swiss band to have the courage to record a record in a studio in England. This early Basel rock culture inspired the founders of the Baloise Session a generation later to organise large-scale rock concerts in Basel. With the "Rock Session" of that time, they laid the foundations for today's Baloise Session.

In the Baloise Session backline blog, Basel's original rocker Claude Pfau talks to journalist Zeno van Essel about the early days of the Basel rock scene. An opportunity to get to know a Basel original and a fascinating musician who is still active on stage today.