Born in Oslo, the son of two Peace Corps workers and later vocational teachers, Eirik Svela picked up the guitar for the first time at the age of 9, and then for the second time at the age of 16 when he, having discovered an article about solo jazz guitar in a guitar magazine, of which he understood absolutely nothing, decided that he was going make a living as a jazz guitarist. He moved abroad in 2005, to Leeds, and continued studying and working abroad until he moved back to Oslo in 2014 where he currently resides. In addition to his work as a guitarist and a composer, he co-runs the music label Smia Records with longtime collaborator Håkon Bjørgo.