"I think live music is incredibly valuable," said Matt Keeble.
"It's not only an opportunity for artists to get out and meet their audience and really feel connected with them - and vice-versa, really, for the audience to feel connected with the artist - but also for people with like minds to come together and form friendships, community and relationships.
"There are lots of people out there with stories about how they first met at a gig of this band or that band.
"Music scenes all around the country have been damaged by what feels like an attack on the hospitality industry over the last few years by various Governments, and it's going to take some brave - or potentially stupid! - people to dive in and try and do something about that."
Matt took the keys to The Rolleston Arms and Level 3 on 5 February and opened the former on 15 March. He aims to reopen Level 3.
"It's a bit loose at the moment. Early Summer, I would say. That's the goal. Basically we've just got to finalise all the lease details and investment details."
And the pub, itself an iconic Swindon venue?
"We will be rebranding away from the Rolleston Arms.
"Again, it will all happen at around the same time as Level 3 reopening, so early Summer probably, but we are going to be renaming the pub to the Rolly.
"Everybody calls it the Rolly; I don't think I've ever heard anybody call it the Rolleston Arms in the 40-plus years I've lived in Swindon, so it makes sense to me to rebrand it."
The move, he says, will also help to differentiate it from previous incarnations.
Matt is originally from Chippenham, but has lived in Swindon since he was about 11 years old.
"This is the first pub I've had so I'm a bit of a novice at it! But as a musician I've played in bands since the Nineties. I was trained as a light and sound engineer on an apprentice scheme when I was about 17 or 18, and spent three or four years as lighting engineer at Cairo's [legendary Shaw Ridge venue] over in West Swindon in the early Nineties, so I've got some background in the whole scene and always had a bit of a hankering to run a live music venue and see what I could do with it."
Although Matt modestly describes himself as something of a novice in the pub business, his previous career includes a stint running a bar in Spain.
"I still have my day job, and that's as a software engineer.
"Over the last 25 to 26 years I trained myself for my career in that area. I played in a few bands, played in The Knott, played in Coach, Ditch the Puppet and currently with Rain City Project who are a grunge tribute band.
"To be fair, it's Level 3 catches my eye more than the pub! That's the jewel in the crown. The Rolly's a great pub, don't get me wrong, and I've had many, many enjoyable evenings here over the years, but likewise at Level 3 or The Furnace or Underground or whatever else it's been called over the years.
"The philosophy for this place [The Rolleston] is to bring it back to being a core part of the community. It's always been a community pub.
"Obviously we're building it quite slowly, but the idea is to make it a proper community pub again, that does live music of an alternative bent - although 'alternative' to me just means no pop music, no electronic dance music, that sort of thing.
"Basically anything else is fair game. We've had a few rock covers bands play already, a piano bar-style pianist and singer, we had an Irish band in called The Publicans, we had a jam night for a friend's birthday.
"We're going to be opening up during the day although I don't have a timescale for it yet, and offering teas, coffees, lunches and hopefully bring back the Rolly Roast as well on Sundays, which I know is a solid favourite in the town!
"We're going to be introducing a quiz night in the next few weeks with lots of amazing prizes, and an open mic night on Tuesdays.
"We're trying to be very conscious about not competing with the rest of the music venues in town but rather complementing them and enhancing the music scene together. I think that's really important."
The public response is encouraging.
"The feedback has been really positive. The social media reception has been incredible.
"Those people who've actually made it through the door have also been really, really positive, but we do need more traffic!
"The feedback that I've received from people who've come in, they've been so happy to see that the place is open again. They've been very supportive, very encouraging and very keen to hear about when Level 3 is going to open again.
"I think just about everybody in Swindon, certainly everybody I've spoken to, seems to have memories of this place at some point in their earlier lives, which is a good thing, and it's encouraging for me.
"What I really want to do is put Level 3 and Swindon back on the map in terms of live music, and offer it as a viable touring venue for major names - major label names."
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