Indienational VLOG VI - Spain!

so I'm back in Helsingborg. just played the homecoming show at the tivoli last night. it felt warm and fuzzy and stomach soothing.

the tour has been long and we've been battered up a few times. but we have met so many great people and musicians and have had so many great shows all over the place. i will write more about this soon when all this is over...

tomorrow we will go to Stavanger, Norway which is really far from here..no rest..

this is the video log from Spain. us traveling with Pol Martin, a beautiful day at Tirta and his friends. my brother magnus and his lovely,soon to become wife, Marta.

talk soon,
g.

INDIENATIONAL VLOG PART V - "awww like volcano!"

letters from barcelona

I'm right now sitting in my brother Magnus apartment in Barcelona. With dos cafes con leche and a lot of pan con tomata I'm feeling satisfied and full. Me and Helena started the day by looking at the Swedish classic Sällskapsresan 2, so good.

The new video log is not done yet but I felt inspired to write a bit. Patrik, the Seasick Sailors drummer called me today and was disappointed that I didn't write more. The funny thing about that is that Patrik would have been the last one I would expect to follow a tour on the internet.

We have our last Spain show today in Barcelona at a place called Heliogabal. It seems like a cool place and a lot of good acts has played there. I could stay longer in Spain, we've met some great people here and it always seem possible to stay a little longer, and little more and so on.

At the show at Contraclub in Madrid two days ago I was surprised to find an old friend Tirthakirti at the show. He's from my hometown but has been living in Spain for 15-20 years. On my first album we did one song together called 'Lovely G' and he got on stage to play that live with me. After the show we all went to his house and met his wife Laksmana and their son Goranga. Good times. Thanks again, Cow people. The Spanish people knows Tirtha from bands like Undrop and Dhira.

but now ... indienational videolog part V!


Newsfeed:

We recorded some songs on BBC Radio in England, they are now up online.
BBC

Currently listening : Uprooted By Undrop Release date: 29 October, 2002

INDIENATIONAL VLOG PART IV - "Indienational has gone noble"

hi friends,

this is the latest clip from our vlog, UK was expensive and cold but they had a lot of friendly people there. we even made a bunch of polish friends, went on ferries, got to know the MG, found out that there is a Hampstead in Birmingham too and so on....below is also a collection of Youtube live-clips that has been gathering up and tonight we are playing in Barcelona.

g.

INDIENATIONAL VLOG PART IV





GUSTAV HAGGREN - "HOMESICK" (Desmet Live, Amsterdam)






HELENA ARLOCK - "IN RETURN" (Cafe Carnot, Kruibeke)





CHRISTIAN CUFF - "SILO" (Cafe Carnot, Kruibeke)





LLOYD HOTEL, AMSTERDAM

INDIENATIONAL VLOG PART III - "good morning sister"

11 October,
Hamburg, Germany

finally we left Sweden. not that I don't like Sweden but a tour doesn't quite feel like a tour until you leave your own sandbox. After a short boatride over to Rodby-Puttgarden we drove to Hamburg. The venue was called 'Astra Stube' and was a fun little spot on a corner of a big crossing. it was really nice sitting on stage while strong lights from all the cars flashed by outside. Thank you Wolfgang who encouraged me to play "Homesick", it's in the setlist now, promise.
We found a new friend in Nils who was responsible for us that night. he even took Christian to an old slaughterhouse to have Schnitzel 4 in the morning. i would have gone but I don't eat meat. it was a great night and it felt like a great "start" of the tour. hopefully we will pay another visit to hamburg on our way back in december.

12 October
Krefeld, Germany

in Krefeld we finally met our friend Peter who drove 70 km to go and see our show at 'Kulturrampe' in Krefeld. Thanks Peter, it was a real pleasure meeting you.
We slept in a little hotel room and we were desperately trying to find some original German dirty tv-shows....we found a wheel of fortune - only topless..

13 October
Amsterdam, Netherlands

after a great breakfast at III&70 we said goodbye to Kristian and Nils and started driving towards Amsterdam. I tell you, German highways are slow...auto-bahn my
a...traffic everywhere, moving 10km an hour.
While in amsterdam we met up with our friend Alma, a modern dancer from Sweden. together with all her dancer friends we hung out for the night and passed out in their attic.

14 October
Amsterdam, Netherlands

We met three great girls in Amsterdam. The first day we met Alma Söderberg and the second day we met Signe Tollefsen, a great singer/songwriter from Amsterdam - click the link and listen to her songs. We played a show at a place called 'Skek' and Signe jumped in to play a song with us.

15 October
Amsterdam ,Netherlands

This was quite a busy day. We had a show at 'Lloyd Hotel', an old big building that used to be a youth prison during the war that they had turned into a hotel. They had kept the rooms authentic with how they used to look then. creepy but charming. Anyway, before we played that show we went to 'Desmet Studios' to play live in dutch radio and web-tv. we played the following songs:

Seasons of Guessing - Gustav Haggren
Fragile me, fragile you - Helena Arlock
Frying Pan - Christian Cuff
Sing it out - Gustav Haggren

The show at 'Lloyd Hotel' was one of the best so far, 4 opera singers were singing before us, the room acoustics was beautiful, we got a grand piano, Vincent - the guy who ran the show was a great guy, free parking instead of 4.60€ an hour, we played for a mix of people from all over the world..although I think one japanese woman in the front row fell asleep towards the end. and we also met Larae, our third Amsterdam girl.

16 October
Amsterdam, Netherlands

We played a second show at Desmet Studio, tracklist was:

Silo - Christian Cuff
Bow Low - Helena Arlock
Homesick - Gustav Haggren
Pretty Floor - Christian Cuff

some of the desmet live songs are up on Youtube -
www.youtube.com/marilynrecords

After the show we had a big night out with Larae before we passed out at her living room floor. that red light district is interesting. Amsterdam is interesting, I'm going to sell a million records so i can buy a house boat in Amsterdam, next to Richard Branson's boat..

17 October
Kruibeke, Belgium

Our beloved gps "Jim" told us that it would take 1:45 to get to Kruibeke, Belgium from Amsterdam and I'm sure he was right...although there was a big accident so the lines were endless. 5 hours later we arrived otside of 'Cafe Carnot' where we would play the next day. The owners Jerome and Veerle were kind enough to let us come one day early since we had this day off. They told us that they opened Cafe Carnot two years ago and the reason they called it 'Cafe Carnot' is because that they met one night in France at a place called Carnot when they were drunk and in love. I liked that story.

18 October
Kruibeke, Belgium

This was a big day for the Indienational Tour. Our first show in Belgium was Sold Out! Opening for us was AHCH
this was a gorgeous night with a heavy afterparty. Me and Jerome started talking about playing a show at the Cafe Carnot 1,5 years ago and finally we did it and I knew that it would be great fun but this was over the top. Thanks Kruibeke for all the KWAK beer.

19 October
Kruibeke, Belgium

Unfortunately our show at 'Penny Lane' in Lille, France got canceled for no apparent reason. We had some great friends there we were hoping to meet but there was nothing we could do. Someone changed his mind without letting us know..
We shook the bad news off and ended up having another great night with our new friends Veerle and Jerome. Me and Helena made some famous Swedish vegetarian mashi-mashi for everyone and we all watched the mighty classic movie "Willow" gorgeous stuff.

Currently listening : Music for the Motion Picture Into the Wild By Eddie Vedder Release date: 18 September, 2007

Say you’re in the mood for a power ballad.......!

Sometimes people email me stuff, i thought this was really funny, especially since 'patience' was one of my favorite songs as a kid... this is an article about Internet radio, in this case the radio thingy called PANDORA.


Taken from KREN CW NEWS in RENO, USA

Say you're in the mood for a power ballad and enter Guns N' Roses' "Patience" as the seed song. Pandora will begin streaming similar songs that are slow, heavy on guitar, and cool sounding: "Distant Mornings" by Gustav and the Seasick Sailors, a Swedish rock band with slight folk influences, and "Hell Just Ain't the Same" by Theory of a Deadman, a Canadian band. It delivers surprises--you're tempted to dismiss Cat Stevens's "Hard Headed Woman" immediately, but then you find that it does sound kind of like "Patience." You also can direct Pandora. If, for instance, you want more power and less ballad, you can give Cat the thumbs-down or add another seed--say, Aerosmith's "What It Takes." Now the mix changes to Meat Loaf, U2, and, surprisingly, Guided By Voices and Dinosaur Jr., a pair of postpunk bands that fit in well.
-------
hamburg friends, don't miss our show at Astra Stube tomorrow!
-------

Currently listening : The Shepherd’s Dog By Iron & Wine Release date: 25 September, 2007

INDIENATONAL VLOG PART II - stuffed bird strikes back!

ok...Sweden tour is done. some good shows some not great..but it's been a gorgeous reunion so far for these Indienational kids.

thank you Swedish friends who came out to the shows. Germany is next and from now on we will sleep in the van, the bed will be built. yesterday we went to "Överskottsbolaget" to shop a bunch of cans with beans, sleeping bags, c-vitamin, and so on..we got some Swedish press...

Göteborg City
Helsingborgs Dagblad

September 28,
Kafe De Luxe, Växjö.

What we thought would be a slow and intimate coffee shop gig turned out to be us entertaining a nightclub crowd with our acoustic instruments. we pulled it off like troopers though. and the DJ was the best I've heard ever. thanks Kristoffer! the genius about this place is that they have backstage with beds just up the stairs from the stage.

September 29,
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Ronneby

Sadly enough, Helena left us this day to go and play Loppen with Shooting John. With tears in our eyes we waved her off and she got the train while we went to Ronneby to meet up with singer/songwriter Malin Andersson from Växjö who joined us for the night. It turned out to be a fun night and I got to play a lot of harmonica.

October 3,
Best Wishes, Göteborg

Rikard greeted us when we got to Wishclub in Gothenburg with a smile. a beautiful night, great food, everything was good until we started driving to Stockholm that same night. We had agreed on that myself and Helena were allowed to drink and Cuff would stay sober and drive. I don't know why but I was positive that it was an easy 3 hour drive...I was wrong and this tour could have ended that night...

October 4.
Patricia, Stockholm

We finally arrived to Stockholm six o' clock in the morning, my childhood friend and composer Fredrik Wallberg let us in to his familys' summer house in Rönninge and we slept for a while until it was time to soundcheck at this boat called Lady Patricia..apparantly they famous for their gay parties at weekends. now we're back in Helsingborg, preparing for the big departure on Thursday..

INDIENATONAL VLOG PART I - caviar in a tube

finally we are back on track, back in the pit reaching for dawning skylines again,

Christian Cuff flew over from the US and landed in Helsingborg, Sweden somehow. Isn't that just fantastic? Me, him and the girl with the cello Helena Arlock have just started our European Tour. We played our first 2 shows in Sweden. We still don't know how we are suppose to support ourselves or how we can make this tour work but on the other hand we didn't know that before either so...there is still a bunch of dates to fill out so right now we are back in Helsingborg as I'm writing this, drinking coffee and sipping whiskey. three poor musicians with three poor laptops trying to act money and professional. it think it is funny...

at a show the other day a guy comes up and asks when my next blog will be posted..I almost cried. he really seemed to care so now I'm back on track. I will join the society of bloggers! and great news is that Helena has started to make Video logs too so now you get more out of it, making the effort to open this page. so here is Indienational Tour Video Log part 1.

September 26
The first show was at Hallands Nation in Lund, Sweden.
Good show, the audience was amazing. i played here once before but this time was just brilliant.

September 27,
The next day we played at The Tivoli, Helsingborg, Sweden.
Also a magical show, surrounded by friends and family. Childhood friends i managed to look up on facebook came out and heard me from the first time. I guess I needed a beautiful woman and an american to make it happen! No offense sailors, you are pretty too..

We will be back at both these venues in December.

it feel great to be back in the game of bloggers,

yours,

G.

INDIENATIONAL TOUR 2007

hi guys, let me tell you a little in detail of this touring project I am a part of in Europe this fall. any musicians want join somewhere, anyone with suggestions on venues, sponsorship, places to stay and so.....let me know. love. Gustav

----------------------------

This is a project that started with three songwriters, Gustav Haggren (SWE), Helena Arlock (SWE) and Christian Cuff (USA) who met in Manhattan, New York City in February 2007. Gustav and Helena had come to USA to tour and Christian wanted to join and he himself had a lot of ideas of places to play. 3 months and 3728 miles later, this trio of three separate songwriters had performed 52 shows!

4 months later, the trio is will be doing the same kind of tour in Europe this time. The tour has been named "The Indienational Tour", because it features independent artists from all over the world. The tour will be centered around a small 9 passenger mini-bus, and the one American songwriter, and two Swedish musicians who founded it. In each country the three will play a series of acoustic shows focusing on two acoustic guitars and a cello, afterwards they will host a small gathering of local musicians and pick someone from the group to join them for the rest of that country's shows.
The goal is to bring independent music back to life. It is getting more and more difficult for an artist to support themselves and tour without giving in and signing with a label, and unfortunately, that can be a slippery slope for a songwriter.

Musicians book shows for other musicians and the goal is to create an exciting and vivid atmosphere when it comes to live-shows. One important thing is that musicians from different countries and cultures get to meet and can perform together. Next step is to host clubs at good venues in different cities, two Club Indienational will open up this fall, one in Helsingborg, Sweden and one in Barcelona, Spain. Once a month people can go through us to hear who is out touring and when they can come and play. Everything is very independent and non-profit based, we want to be a good alternative to money-dependent booking agencies.

The European tour will start in Sweden September 26 in Sweden. Stockholm, Hamburg, Glasgow, Paris and London and many more shows are already booked.

--------------------------------------------------------
The ' INDIENATIONAL tour' 2007 presents:

GUSTAV HAGGREN ( Gustav and The Seasick Sailors)
Vagabond folk-rock with guitar, vocals, cello
Sounds like... "Bright Eyes, Bob dylan, Tom Waits in a drunken gypsy pirate boat"
MUSIC,INFO,VIDEO, PHOTOS: www.myspace.com/gatss
BLOG: www.blog.myspace.com/gatss

HELENA ARLOCK
Acoustic trip-hop with cello, vocals, loop-pedal, guitar
Sounds like... "Bjork meets Joanna Newsom in the secret forest"
MUSIC,INFO,VIDEO, PHOTOS: www.myspace.com/helenaarlock
BLOG: www.blog.myspace.com/helenaarlock

CHRISTIAN CUFF
Singer/songwriter with guitar, vocals
Sounds like... "M Ward, Damien Rice and a sip of Ray Lamontagne"
MUSIC,INFO,VIDEO, PHOTOS: www.myspace.com/christiancuff
BLOG: www.blog.myspace.com/christiancuff

Me- the non smoking silver drinker

GATSS are back in Sweden after 10 days in the land of "bigger and better's"..

after the rocking horse studio experience we went to NYC and was there for 3 days. hot as hell..me on Malissas floor in front of the air condition while the other kids were out playing. damnit. 2 shows, first one at Leila Lounge went smooth, I was still feeling ok but our show at Matchless did not work very well for me unfortunately. a great night though and both Malissa and Christian Cuff did awesome performances. After that night I completely lost my voice, took a cab back to the floor while the others went to Empire State Building..2 times in NYC in one year and I missed it both times.

after a few hours of sleep we left our great friends Erica, Malissa and Christian and headed for upper west side by subway to meet these 2 crazy guys Mikael and Desmond who was going to drive us to Jamestown and the Scandinavian Folk Festival. We met them 5 am to leave that beautiful city, avoiding traffic. i was not on the top of my game, i couldn't speak so i had to write notes to poor patrik who sat in the backseat with me. 10 hours later we we're in Jamestown and I was sent to the ER.

this was a weird trip for me, sick as a dog the whole time. passed out. mike and desmond drove me to the ER and the doctor said: "it's going to take until next week to know for sure but since you look like shit I will give you a prescription" i loved that. he looked at the x-rays of my lungs and had a long talk with me, no details but yeah after 10 years I think I have stopped smoking.

although thanks to my very good friend Desmond I got a better option, we went for alternative medicine, i drank a lot of silver, cough syrup and in a few hours I started feeling better. I was lying in the ER waiting for the doc when I realized my show was going to start in 4 hours and I could hardly speak...madness...

we had 6 shows in three days..long shows too..all of them were 2x45 min sets and 2 of those a night...and yeah I could still not speak...but Desmond who sings in a choir showed me Singers Saving Grace...awesome stuff, like really bad booze..you spray it down your throat and then you dance...hmm..finally some drugs in this honorable band. the shows were a lot of fun and we found a great soundman in Graham.

this festival was funny as hell though...everything dedicated to Scandinavia...swedish folk music, they sold things like "korv" and "lingonberries" and I don't know what. I learned a lot of my home country by going to Jamestown, NY. Thank you Mikael, Desmond, Nick, Greg, Amelia, Graham and the rest of you half american half swedes..

......we even went sailing.......

sorry if this post doesn't make any sense. I am all cramped trying to book shows for a european solo-tour coming up in september..I said it before and yes I will say it again. if you guys have any suggestion on friends or venues somewhere in Europe that might be fitting for us, please let me know. i need all the help i can get...check out the project here http://myspace.com/indienational on that tour schedule it says in what countries we will be and when.

-g

the return to NYC + news x 3

the seasick sailors has hit the town with our friends Malissa and Erica who we are staying at..the queens of queens.

im still at the apartment with a vicious fever, damn airplanes...trying to gain strength to do a show tonight, I'll make it though, it always works out..we have a lot of shows ahead of us this week so I need to get better real soon..

we arrived in Boston a couple of days ago and Christian Cuff picked us up in our old friend, the blue toyota previa "Sealess". Thanks to a fu$%ed up booking agent called Shred we were not able to play our show in Boston since the venue "are not open mondays".....thanks man..

Cuff had a plan b though, we all drove up to Rocking Horse Studios in Pittsfield, New Hampshire to record for 2 days with our new friends Brian and Michelle. The studio was awesome and so was the sound. Cuff did a recording of one of his tunes together with gatss backing him up. patrik on drums, jon on bass, kristian on keys and me on electric guitar..it really worked out great.
we also recorded a bit on one of mine, recording drums, bass and mellotrone on a track called Tigers and Kittens that will probably end up on the new album..

a little bit of news feed:

1. The Post Journal in Jamestown, NY wrote an article about us coming to the Scandinavian Folk Festival this weekend:
Post Journal Article
2. Here are some pictures from our show at Sommarock i Svedala last week.
Svedala - Pictures
3. Helsingborgs Dagblad wrote another article about the us-tour:
Gatss - article (swedish)

Damn, I'm really excited about this week's shows. See you soon,

/gustav with jon, kristian and patrik

VLOG - making the new record #2 + guitar chords!

oh yes, here it is....a glimpse of us boys fooling around.....so far we have recorded drums, bass, double bass and some acoustic guitar..I think we are doing alright but soon we need to take a break to go on tour so the deadline is not looking great...we'll find a way though..

bunch of new shows added to tour schedule...

I've been getting a lot of questions from people who wants chord sheets for our songs so I decided to make one.....I will probably make more..
download here: Devil When You Cry

ok back to gatss making the record - part 2.

Updates and Top 5 myspace bands

greetings,

I have been spending a lot of hours in the studio and I hope to put up a video clip here soon. the problem is the video stuff is IN the studio and every time I try to sit down and edit it we have to leave. it's coming though. a bunch of new shows is added on the tour schedule, I am hoping for a hectic year.

all the drums are recorded for the the upcoming album that is going to be called....damn have to come up with a title soon...we've also done all the electric bass, some of my acoustic guitars and next week we'll record the double bass tracks...

i would really want you to download stuff on this page but some bastard took away my download buttons, if anyone know how to get them back, let me know please.

today we celebrate midsummer in sweden so I want to take this opportunity to stop talking about myself and highlight 5 great bands here on myspace in no specific order..

Artist: Shooting John
Title: Love and will
myspace.com/shootingjohn
brand new song from this amazing band.

Artist: Scott Brown
Title: Sculptural
myspace.com/sharkhelmet2
a young guy who opened for me in Clinton, NY. Couldn't believe it when I heard him perform.

Artist: Helena Arlock
Title: Walk me home (Live)
myspace.com/arlockelger
my partner in crime, the unique Helena Arlock playing live on cello and loop-station.

Artist: Pancake and Andrea
Title: Ds
myspace.com/pancakeandandrea
beautiful landscapes from two swedes lost in barcelona

Artist: Christian Cuff
Title: Frying Pan
myspace.com/ccuffsolo
in the fall, mighty Cuff will make his debut in Europe.

-----------------------------------
if you need to get it all out, smash a dobre guitar into the wall.

-gustav

Summer tour official/Review in Listen Naked

the record is moving along great and I will post some new video clips here soon.

this review came in my mail today. short but kind. SIRKUS, Review Naked Lunch

the tour for this summer is now planned and we will visit Helsingborg, Röstånga, Svedala, Falkenberg, New York, Jamestown, Boston and a couple of more I think. See you there, ok?

Currently listening : Sky Blue Sky By Wilco Release date: 15 May, 2007

Making the new record, #1

Hi friends, it has been a while. I've gotten so into this blogging thing so today I am going to take the next obvious step. Ladies and boys, I am going to Vlog. Yes, that is correct. Yesterday we started the work for our next record and it was such a ride to play together with Patrik and Jon again - the extraordinary rhythm section. So you will be able to follow GATSS in the studio, I will try to catch the fights and the tears too - promise.

Also, there will most likely be a return to the US in the July and this time I am going to travel with the Seasick Sailors. I am really excited about that. We will do a band show at Bar Matchless in Brooklyn, NY (557 Manhattan Avenue & Driggs) on July 19th. More shows coming.

Don't miss the live version of Vagabonds Polka on the myspace, live from Swedish Radio P3.

ok, back to my VLOG. enjoy people.

USA/CANADA tour completed. Thank you.

Sweden is the same, nothing has changed, I need to get back out there as soon as possible, rumours says that I'll be back in USA in July, some festivals are being planned in Sweden, new record is going to be recorded, do I need a job(?), big coco bingo tour in Europe in the fall,

the track "desperate man meets desperate life" is the 5th song on my Myspace, free for download.

to keep up with my story, we did a great show in Toronto before we crossed the border to Buffalo where we met a bunch of wonderful people. we did a third and last show at melodic revolution and I got a birthday cake in the middle of my set, love you guys.

we ended the the tour where it had begun, in New york city at Bar Matchless. That show was unbelievable, the perfect ending. The last day Christian drove us to the airport and then in a seond it was all over.

The trip went better than we could expect and it is because of these people:

Castaways' & William, Alina, Shi-shi, Alex, Frankie, Oscar Widerberg, Arda Beskardes, 'Melodic Revolution' & Nick & Jennifer, Vince, Karen Taylor, Rocky Graz, Ryan Blakeman, Damien, Erica, The Burrito Boys of Clinton, 'Cafe Domenico', 'Franklins Tower' & Mother Judge, The friendly bus-driver, 'Red Square", Ralph Spill & Benni, John, Tiffany & Francis,'Flavour cafe' & Kelly & Carmen, Peg, Gina, 'Positively 4th street', John Ostwald at Hudson Valley College, 'Wonderland Ballroom' & Federal Reserve, Jesse & These United States, Josh & Laura w/ dogs, John Bustine, 'IOTA Club and cafe' & Mike Maloney, Taylor Davis, Mike, Thom, 'Muddy Cup Catskill' & John, Joy & Joe, Cathleen & family, 'Jitters Club' & Shirley, Norm & Family, 'Muddy Cup Kingston' & Nikki, 'Mezzanotte Lounge' & Shawn, 'Rockwood Music Hall' & Tommy, Christian Cuff, Ramsey, Malissa, Erica & Josh, 'No. 43 Stage' & Chris Cuzme, 'Goodbye Blue Monday' & Steve, 'The Bitter End' & Larry, Linus, 'Brown Dog Studios', Nancy & Earl & the Cuff family, Olivia, 'World Live Cafe' & Laura, Birdie Busch, 'Pickers Supply' & Bob & Mary-Lou Gramman, Doug Hoekstra, Rachel Cross, 'Baja Bean' & Sarah, Corrie, 'Juggling Gypsy' & Bash & the fire-family, Marie & Emma, Frederick, 'Folks Cafe', 'Port City Java', Jake Melnyk, 'Soap Box', 'Paizanos', 'Costellos' & Jane, 'Bootleg Magazine' & Brian, 'Rime' & Anna, Ben, Leila & Katie, Mike, The Towers, 'Ocean Island Lounge' & Matthew, Theresa & Felicity & Melody, 'Duncan Garage' & John Longevity with all the eleven dogs, 'The Cambie' & Marcus & Paperboxes, 'Radio Malaspina' & Big G, 'The Superior' & Lisa, 'The Stetson' & Isaac & crew, Günther, 'Chinese National League' & Trevor-James, 'The Slice' & Jesse, 'Mondragon', Paperbacks, Chris & Christa, 'Journo' & Michael, 'Rare Window Radio', Myles, James & Erin & Phillip, 'Allen Street Hardware' & Scott, Pete & Deirdre, 'Radio WUNY', 'Bar Matchless' & Local Correspondence, and all you wonderful people that came to our shows.

this was the entire tour:

February 08 - Castaways, Ithaca, NY, USA
February 10 - Melodic Revolution, Clinton , NY, USA
February 16 - Cafe Domenico, Utica, NY, USA
February 20 - Franklins' Tower, Albany, NY, USA
February 21 - Flavour Cafe, Troy, NY, USA
February 22 - The Red Square, Albany, NY, USA
February 23 - The Red Square, Albany, NY, USA
February 24 - Flavour Cafe, Troy, NY, USA
February 28 - IOTA, Arlington, VA, USA

March 01 - Wonderland Ballroom, Washington, DC, NY, USA
March 02 - Muddy Cup, Catskill, NY, USA
March 03 - Jitters Club, Southington, CT, USA
March 04 - Muddy Cup, Kingston, NY, USA
March 07 - Mezzanotte Lounge, Syracuse, NY, USA
March 08 - Cafe Domenico, Utica, NY, USA
March 09 - Melodic Revolution, Clinton, NY, USA
March 10 - The Red Square, Albany, NY, USA
March 12 - Rockwood Music Hall, New York City, NY, USA
March 13 - West End Cafe, New Brunswick, NJ, USA
March 15 - Goodbye Blue Monday, New York City, NY, USA
March 16 - No. 43 Stage @ Jimmy's, New York, NY, USA
March 18 - The Bitter End, New York, NY, USA
March 21 - Brown Dog, Bath, ME, USA
March 29 - World Cafe Live, Philadelphia, PA, USA
March 30 - Pickers Supply, Fredericksburg, VA, USA

April 01 - Baja Bean, Staunton, VA, USA
April 05 - Juggling Gypsy, Wilmington, NC, USA
April 06 - Folks Cafe, Wilmington, NC, USA
April 06 - Port City Java (Barclay), Wilmington, NC, USA
April 07 - Port City Java (Downtown), Wilmington, NC, USA
April 07 - Soap Box, Wilmington, NC, USA
April 08 - Paizanos, Wilmington, NC, USA
April 08 - Costellos, Wilmington, NC, USA
April 12 - Rime, Vancouver, BC, Canada
April 13 - Rime, Vancouver, BC, Canada
April 14 - Denman Island Hall, Denman Island, BC, Canada
April 15 - Ocean Island Lounge, Victoria, BC, Canada
April 16 - Duncan Garage, Duncan, BC, Canada
April 17 - The Cambie, Nanaimo, BC, Canada
April 18 - The Superior, Victoria, BC, Canada
April 20 - The Stetson, Calgary, AB, Canada
April 21 - Chinese National League, Calgary, AB, Canada
April 23 - The Slice, Lethbridge, AB, Canada
April 25 - Mondragon - Winnipeg, SK, Canada
April 28 - Journo 207 - Toronto, ON, Canada
April 29 - Higher Grounds, Buffalo, NY, USA
April 30 - Allen Street Hardware, Buffalo, NY, USA

May 2 - Melodic Revolution - Clinton, NY, USA
May 3 - Matchless - New York City, NY, USA
______________________________________



man, that was fun..thank you Helena and Christian

/Gustav

Birthday in Toronto

Saturday, 28 April

Hey, today is my birthday and I'm driving around in Toronto on my way to a College radio station. I guess the plan is to go in there and convince them to let us play a few tunes on air. Otherwise they'll at least plug the show at Journo 327 tonight. Toronto is cool and there are trams everywhere, although I don't get why the trams and the cars are on the same road...traffic is terrible.

This morning I got a coffee and a wrap with a candle in it from Helena and Christian. Isn't that nice...and they sang to me in Swedish. Christian gt a couple of words right, especially the hurra part.

I can't believe we're back east again..Sealess is the best car ever. The last show we played was in Winnipeg. We didn't have anything booked but we arrived and thought we could get a show so we split up and finally we went in to this place called Mondragon where a cool band called Paperboxes were playing. These guys were kind enough to let us play the last 40 minutes of their set and the venue that was closing decided to stay open longer. Unbelievable. And if that wasn't enough, we met this gorgeous people, Chris and Christa. Chris was housing his friends beautiful house and he let us stay there too. Later that night we went with our new friends to a bonfire and had a great, slow night with a couple of beers by the fire.

Tomorrow we're crossing the border to USA again, hopefully they will let us cross it. Probably we're playing Syracuse before we head for our Home away from home again, Clinton.

/G

Currently listening : Heart Full of Wine By Angus and Julia Stone Release date: 08 March, 2007

Hardcore, Ghosttown and the last dates of the tour!

Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada

So here I am in the ghost town of Lethbridge. No it's not that bad but when we pulled in yesterday there was no one on the streets and we could only see signs of Liquor Stores, quite depressing. Another glorious night in the car. We have a show at the Slice tonight but since we found out that if you play hotel bars you get hotel rooms we're probably gonna play another show tonight as well. The guy said that if Calgary would win yesterday it would be no use for us to play since everyone would be celebrating but if they lost he thought we would fit right in! Haha, I guess he found our shoe gazing depressing. Hopefully we'll get a show there tonight as well since Calgary actually lost the game, the hotel seemed great with a BIG water slide!

After Duncan we played the Cambie in Nanaimo and The Superior in Victoria. Both shows were great and we had to say goodbye to Thereza, Felicity and Melody, our Victoria friends. Oh yeah, at the Superior I actually forgot my artificial pic thing but they found it for me. Kind of cool since I only have one and I can't make a copy of it...

Then we had to leave Vancouver and its islands and head for Calgary, long winding roads up in the glorious mountains where terrifying truckers tried to pass us in 130km/h. In Calgary we played a really funny show at The Stetson. It used to be a country/western bar but it had become a rock n roll bar. On the bill was one popband, one metalband and one band playing german pop..then there was us: Two acoustic guitars and a cello. It turned out great though and even the heavy metal rockers liked us.

The day after we played in China town with a big picture of the Chinese president as backdrop. This time we performed together with Hardcore bands - of course. After the show we went home to Colin's place - the guitar player of the great band GÜNTHER (http://www.myspace.com/guunther) and had a great GIN-party.

This is the rest of the tour:

April 23 LETHBRIDGE The Slice
April 28 TORONTO Journo 297
April 30 SYRACUSE tba
May 1 SYRACUSE tba
May 2 CLINTON Melodic Revolution
May 3 NYC Matchless (Greenpoint, Brooklyn - 'goodbye USA show')

We'd love to see you there,
If you have any suggestions to venues we could play in Toronto area between 26, 27, please let us know.

/G

We made the drive.

So we made our drive, unbelievable. We all said to each other that we were going to make it but none of us really thought we would. 3300 miles in 2,5 days. The first day we hadn't even left North Carolina when a tire exploded on the highway. Two new tires later we were off again. We had a mattress in the back, one drove, one kept the driver awake and one slept - then we rotated. South Dakota was not very fun, one straight road with two turns but Wyoming and Montana was really beautiful up in the mountains.

We had some issues by the border, they seemed to think that Christian was smuggling 2 Swedes over the border. They questioned us for a long time, three different persons were staring me in the eye before they gave up.

We arrived in Vancouver Thursday morning and we got a place to stay at this great house where Mark the bass player took really good care of us. Thanks Mark.

The 2 shows we did at Rime was awesome and I couldn't have had a better time in Vancouver. Thanks to all of you who came out and to Ben and his crew. We'll miss you.

From Vancouver we went on this beautiful boat ride to Nanaimo before we took the next one over to Denman Island. On Denman we met up with Kevin Mitchell and the venue was amazing, wooden floors, fireplace etc. Kevin also got us a place to stay at this gorgeous house on the beach, everything was just perfect, Canadians surely know how to treat their foreign roadrunners!

The next day we headed south again to reach Victoria where we met our good friend Theresa and her two daughters Felicity and Melody. We played that night at Ocean Island Lounge at Backpackers Inn. I ever did a show at a hostel before. We showed up and no one seemed to be there but after everything was set up and Helena started playing her first song, the little room was packed.

Yesterday we played at one of the coolest venues I've ever seen, Duncan Garage Showroom run by John Longevity. It's a mix between an old theatre and a cinema and they are serving Coffee combined with popcorn. John has eleven dogs and we got to meet all of them, now I'm writing from a pull out coach in his rehearsing room.

Life is good although it's too bad this tour is about to end. It seems like we are just getting started. Although I just extended it with 10 more days because we want to have a little bit more time to drive back to NYC from here. Right now we are looking tfor shows in Calgary, Edmonton, Ottawa, Lethbridge, Regina, Montreal and Toronto. If someone has suggestions please let us know.

I just uploaded two Swedish festivals on the tour schedule that me and The Seasick Sailors will visit this summer.

Much love / G

Wilmington NC to Vancouver BC in 2,5 days!

Wilmington NC to Vancouver BC in 3 days!

We got stuck in Wilmington, NC over easter since we needed to repair the breaks on Sealess, our van.. we've played a bunch of shows here, 7 actually and hopefully today our car will be ready..our next show is in Vancouver BC, that's 3300 miles that we're going to complete in 3 days..we are 3 drivers with one mattress, it could work right?

Last night we had an awesome show at this gaybar and I sold a lot of cd's after saying that my song Sweden Slow is about Swedish Intercourse,,,they loved that!

I've been sick with a fever and stuff but I'm feeling better now..

/G

Wilmington NC to Vancouver BC in 3 days!

We got stuck in Wilmington, NC over easter since we needed to repair the breaks on Sealess, our van.. we've played a bunch of shows here, 7 actually and hopefully today our car will be ready..our next show is in Vancouver BC, that's 3300 miles that we're going to complete in 3 days..we are 3 drivers with one mattress, it could work right?

Last night we had an awesome show at this gaybar and I sold a lot of cd's after saying that my song Sweden Slow is about Swedish Intercourse,,,they loved that!

I've been sick with a fever and stuff but I'm feeling better now..

/G

We have a car!!

Fredericksburg, VA, USA

Finally it's warm outside, can't believe how beautiful it is down here in Virginia. We finally got a car and we call it Seyless after the kitten that didn't make it. Seymour is ok though and will probably find a home soon. If you don't know what I'm talking about check the past posts. The car is a 91 Toyota Previa and we can fold down the seats and sleep on a mattress which will save us a lot of money.

It was not easy getting that car, after 4 days of DMV visits trying to get plates for it we found out we had to drive up to Maine for Christian to get his insurance since he has his address there. They said it would be enough for us to cross the border so we left by midnight so we could be there in the morning, getting it done quickly so we could drive home quickly again since Christian was going to work later that day. When we got there they said that we had to drive to Cs' hometown, it wasn't enough to it in the state of Maine...we we're so disappointed but we decided to drive to Bath and there we got the plates easily but C had to take the day off.


After we got the plates we drove to a mechanic who told us that the car hadn't been inspected so the guy we bought the car from lied to us. We had to buy a new windshield for it to pass inspection but we couldn't get it until early morning the next day. The plan was to go there 8am, have the window replaced then drive to Philadelphia where I had a show at World Cafe' Live at 7pm..good thing I had brought my guitar in the car just to fool around with because I had all my other stuff in NYC.

The next morning we go there and finds out that the window wouldn't arrive until 10.30 so C and Helena drove me to Boston as fast as they could so I could catch a trian to Philly than they returned to get the car fixed..

I had a great show at World Cafe Live, after my show a girl called Birdie Busch invited me to play a couple of songs on her set later that night. Although I was a bit worried I wouldn't make my Greyhound back to NYC where I was going to meet up with H and C. But I played my 2 songs, ran out of there, caught the bus, slept in an awkward position for 30 minutes, met up with my friends in NYC.

After 3 hours of sleep me Helena Christian and Malissa had breakfast at Neptune Diner and planned our trip. We we're glad to find out that Malissa had decided to come with us. C and M couldn't come yet though, we'll meet them in North Carolina next week.

Yesterday we played Fredericksburg, met new friends and had a great time. It was as folk as it could get and the 4 performers took turns in performing one song at a time..

Good times,

G

2 Kittens found and they need a home!

Dear possible animal lover,

We saved 2 kittens today trapped underneath a fence at a subway stop and we call them Seymour and Seyless since Seymour has one eye open and Seyless has none of them open. They are right now living here in Queens NYC with us but they would like a permanent home so please let me know if you find someone who could be interested. If we turn them in to pet reciever they wil put them to sleep so please et's show what myspace can do!

Seymour is a boy and Seyless a girl. They are around 3-4 weeks old and are cute as hell. They have eye-infections though. The top pic is Seaymor, the one below is Seyless and bottom is of of course on them both..

Maine, Brown Dog Studios and Car vacuum.

I just did my laundry, felt good. These last couple of days has been great but also a pain.

I did a show at the Bitter End in New York City last Sunday. It was a great show and I really enjoyed it. We managed to gather almost all the friends we made here at one single place. The atmosphere was great but we had to run to take a greyhound up to Maine. Me, Helena, Malissa and Christian jumped on the night bus around midnight and arrived in Bath, Maine in the morning. Christians friend Olivia was kind enough to pick us up in Portland and drive us to Bath where we had breakfast at Family Cuff's diner, thanks Graham for the delicious avocado sandwich!

We came to Christian's parents house and there we found Earl and Brown Dog Studios. We were exhausted from a night on the bus that didn't stop us to record, jam and write all day long. Those 3 days I recorded demos for 5 new songs, co-wrote a song with Christian, played bass, banjo and slide. Damn that was fun. We rounded it up with a show in the studio in front of an audience that consisted of Christian's high school buddies. I hope to put up a live-track or two on my profile soon, just waiting for the mix.

We're still car-hunting and it seems like me, Helena and Christian are going to cross this huge country soon. We thought we would have a car by now but the plan didn't work so we never made it to Washington DC today and I'm really frustrated about that. Hopefully this car issues will be solved soon, I really really hope so becuase it's wearing us out. Today I will probably write less but post pictures!

Slow day..tunes in my head

/G

Currently reading : Travels with Charlie By John Steinbeck Release date: 1963

Burlesque, Sugar and Madness

New York City.

I've had a great week in this big apple and it's a bit sad that it's coming to an end but we have more great adventures that is out there lurking in he bushes..

Today is St Patrick's Day..have to hit the town soon I guess and join the crazy parade. Malissa, Christian and Erica were nice enough to let us sleep on a huge airmattress in their apartment in Queens! This is the first time for a while that we can relaxe so we just sleep all the time. This place is filled with guitars and laptops..I passed out on the coach after I ate 4 French Toast and some sort of Jelly-shortbread..this american lifestyle is hard to keep up with!

We celebrated Malissas birthday the other day and it was quite a wild evening, we found this bar and the owner went nuts and poured like 20 straight whiskey shots then he barricaded the door so we wouldn't get out, he lifted poor Josh and swung him in the air and it was all madness... after that we had Falafel and dessert at Sugar - thanks Sammy. ...we also saw central park that day I think. a bagel and a coffee sitting on rocks on a beautiful spring day. I can truly say that I haven't felt that good in a looong time...

Oh well, then came the snow again.. F*^K! I couldn't believe it..

We've played two more shows since I last wrote to you. 3 days ago we played a place called Goodbye Blue Monday in Brooklyn with two other great acts: Darren Hayes and The Radio Roots. I have to find this guys on myspace now when I think of it.

I have to talk about yesterday as well, we were going to play this show that our friend Chris Cuzme set up for us at the No. 43 Stage 2 Jimmy's. Before we were gonna play our show there was this Burlesque show and it was madness all over...huge women showing me what they were good for..I swallowed those chocolat stouts so fast I wobbled up on stage when it was time for us to go on. The show was fun though, we managed to gather a number of New York-friends in our small but decent crowd. Thanks guys.

After the show a couple of us went for drinks. Christian (with the hazelnut eyes, haha) took us for a tour that of course ended up with dessert at Sugar. I had an excellent mushroom soup at 5 in the morning. Take that, kebab eaters!

I'm not sure what I'm talking about, I'm just exhausted..sorry..

/G

Goldschlager, Rockwood and Helsingborg

I just had some great coffee that I got from my new friend Linus who is staying at the same guesthouse as me in NYC. We came here 4 days ago after doing our last leg on our Upstate New York Tour.

The highlights last week was Clinton and Albany – two shows that we played a couple of weeks ago and the now came back to do a second show. In Clinton we recorded it all live, the audience was brilliant and we all felt happy somehow...after the show me, Helena, Nick, Jennifer and Rocky shared a big bottle of wine and goldschlager! It was very sad saying goodbye to all of them; we'll come back though – somehow.

The next day, we woke up with only a couple of hours sleep and we took the greyhound to Albany where we met up with the king of Albany, Ralph and his dog Benny. We went to see this instrument-guru that had a look at Helenas cello but he said it was too much work to do in one day so Helena has to find someone to repair it in NYC today.. Ralph is also an amazing guy and we'll miss him a lot! We gave him a book about how to speak Swedish from 1976 and he seemed happy about it.

We played our third show at The Red Square and it was really great! The audience was brilliant; we met great musicians and great people. Tiffany who owns the bar let us stay at her house, the morning after we took the next greyhound, finally back to NYC. The reason why I say finally is that we were planning to go here much sooner but we've ended doing more shows in New York State but now it was back for the return. If I didn't tell you guys before, for you who never been here, this city is magnificent (!)

We did our first NYC show at the Rockwood Music Hall, a cool little venue where some of the best acoustic performers hang out, at least that's what I've heard. I'm so glad we did that show because I met a couple of new friends who had very interested things to say! Christian Cuff invited us to come up to a house in Maine and record for a couple of days next week and I just can't wait. We did a show with him and his friend Malissa at the West End Café in New Brunswick, NJ yesterday. Meeting new people really is inspiring.

Otherwise we've been cruising around this big apple together with our friend Linus who is half Swedish half Korean and raised in Australia but born in Helsingborg! What's the odds, I come to a guesthouse in Queens NYC, meet up with this great guy who left MY hometown when he was 3? I mean, I come from quite of a small town. He know some Swedish so we've been encouraging him to speak more. Hopefully Linus and our paths will cross soon again.

I haven't done any sightseeing yet, but I've turned in my laundry for 8 bucks.

/G

3 NYC SHOWS!

Hi guys!

Check us out in the city next week,

ROCKWOOD MUSIC HALL
03/12/2007
12:00 PM
196 Allen Street, New York, New York 10002
Cost: N/A
Description: Together with Helena Arlock. between E. Houston and Stanton take the f and v subway to 2nd ave

GOODBYE BLUE MONDAY
03/15/2007
09:00 PM
1087 Broadway, Bushwick, Brooklyn, New York, New York 11221
Cost: N/A
Description: Together with Helena Arlock.
VENUE INFO:
http://www.myspace.com/goodbyebluemondayinc
http://www.goodbye-blue-monday.com/

THE BITTER END
03/18/2007
10:30 PM
147 Bleecker Street (between Thompson and LaGuardia)
New York, New York 10012
Cost: $5
Description: write me if you want tickets! Together with Helena Arlock on cello & vocals

Ta-ta!

/Gustav

Home away from home

Monday morning, Clinton USA.

Friday, March 2

I have to tell you a little bit about the weekend and how I ended up in Clinton again. Last Friday we played at Muddy Cup in Catskill. After I got my brain-freeze (for you who have been reading) me and Helena passed out on their couches while people were having coffee around us. Then we went to the library to print map quests, posted some stuff, had lunch and then back to the venue. All this time we were feeling lousy for the lack of sleep. We laughed at each other how ugly and worn-out we looked. The show at Muddy Cup was really nice, thank you John for inviting us! We we're suppose to sleep on the same couches that night but Joy and Kathleen who were sitting in the audience wouldn't have it. We went back to Kathleens house and got a BIG bed! I can't explain how good that felt.

Saturday, March 3

After we woke up we all went to Joy and Joe's house to have a big American breakfast with a lot of bacon and sausages that we had to turn down since we don't eat meat. I always feel kind of stupid when that happens. Oh well, I won't break my 10 years of no meat-eating for good manners.. These people live around the Catskills mountains and it's so beautiful up there, someday I'll post more pictures.

So we had to rent a car to get to Southington, Connecticut. A Ford Focus with a bad smell and expensive..or maybe not too expensive but I would rather had taken a bus, you know? Now I was a professional so the driving was easy and we got to Norm's place around afternoon. Norm greeted us with orange juice and a college radio station. After a great dinner me, Helena, Norm and his daughter Hannah left for Jitters to play some tunes. The coffee shop was very nice and Shirley, the owner gave me a clam chowder that tasted brilliant. Hannah is a bongo drum player by the way!

Sunday, March 4

After pancake breakfast we drove to Kingston that is quite close to Catskill and very close to Woodstock. When we saw the signs we just couldn't help ourselves. Woodstock was a nice little town with a lot of "spirit-towns" and nice little restaurants. Unfortunately is was sooo cold there but we met a nice guy called 'Paul' that looked like he'd been around the glory days of Woodstock. He said we looked like 2 people he knew: Magnolia and Valentine..he also once sold a painting to Stockholm and wondered if we had seen it. We shook our heads and thanked him.

We found our Muddy Cup in Kingston thanks to my navigator Miss Arlock and the place was stony and echoing in a good way! Great acoustics I'm telling you all road-runners out there. I really enjoyed that show and I tried a lot of new songs. Thanks Nikki, you're awesome.

Joy had been so kind to say that we could go back to her place for the night since we were returning the car in Catskill anyway and since we didn't have a place to stay. So we went back to her place and saw an episode of Desperate Housewives with her before we fell asleep. We were so glad to be back in that big house in the country that Joy's husband built all by himself when they got married. I was amazed. I love that old-fashioned way. Can you do something greater to your love? I mean a house? Man…

Monday, March 5

We drove to the car-rental place to return the car then Joe was going to pick us up to drive to the train-station in Hudson. We had 40 minutes before he would show up so we went and ate disgusting food at Mickey D's. Strangely enough I sold a record to a guy that worked there…never did that before. He just saw our instruments and was determined to buy a record. Thank you, Dan!

Joe pulled up in his daughters pink car and drove us to Hudson. We said our farewells and after 2 hours of waiting and lyric writing at the station we were heading north again! The girl who checked our tickets shook her heads and smiled when she saw we were going all the way up to Utica: "So you're going that way, huh". We had to make a transfer in Albany before boarding the train that was going to take us to our dear friends Nick and Jennifer in Clinton – our home away from home. The snow was blowing and it was ice-cold but damn it was great to see them again!

After some wine, cheese and crackers I fell asleep like a little baby.

Tuesday, March 6, 2007

Today it's cold as hell and I just had some coffee, we have today off but tomorrow it's back to work. 4 shows in a row again. This tour is really expanding and I like it.
……………………………………………………………………………………
I'm going to steal a quote from my friend Alina's myspace:

"The world is a book and those who do not travel read only a page. -St. Augustine"

4 lanes, smoothie, trucker land

Our stay in Washington has been great! Thank you Jesse, Josh, Laura, Hash, Tom, Mike, Justin and rest of you beautiful people! We had the best time.

After the show yesterday at Wonderland Ballroom we got a ride back up north by Kelly, our friend and current mentor. She drove the half first and I drove the second. I think it was about an 8 hour drive. My God it rained and there was so many lines and trucks everywhere. Everyone else in the car was asleep so I just had to guess, halfpipe here, intersection there and so on..now I've arrived in Catskill and both me and Helena are extremely tired - we'll probably pass out at the couches here soon..

Thank you again Kelly for helping us out!

Yesterday Jesse took us to this cool pirate radio station called CPR and we played a couple of songs. It was an honor to share the studio with a band like These United States. At Wonderland we played together with Rose and The Great White Jenkins. Thanks to all of you who came to see us, especially our fan base from IOTA! We're trying to figure out how we are gonna get from Catskill tomorrow, no buses, no trains.....car rental are bloody expensive just because we're not ADULTS(?) 25? C'mon people. what are we dealing with here? Ok, I feel whiny today but the owner of this coffeeshop just gave me a smoothie to cheer me up..I got a bit of brain-freeze and that felt good actually..

/G

Tenley Town

Washington is treating us very well! We're living at this crazy house that are filled with musicians, a studio, a label and so on..

Tonight we played the IOTA and it was a great night, made a lot of new friends and heard some great music. Today I saw the White House, bought a pair of shoes and walked a lot of miles.

Tomorrow night we're playing Wonderland Ballroom and I have a really good feeling about that show. After the show we're driving up to Catskill together with Kelly.

I'm quite tired after several days of constant drinking so I'm going to make this short. Rumours say that we might go to Texas..but I don't know yet.

/G

Washington DC!

Yesterday we left Albany, sat in a car for 8 hours because of heavy traffic before we hit Washinton DC. We were so lucky getting a ride with our newfoundfriend Kelly Maguire! I don't quite know where I am right now but we are somewhere in the Washinton area..going downtown later today. First breakfast and since we don't have a show today we'll go open-mic hunting tonight I guess. We did another show at Flavour Cafe, Troy the other day and found a bunch of new supporters. We are gonna be here until Thursday night and we'll leave for Catskill again after the show at Wonderland Ballroom, don't miss that Washinton ppl! I'll be back with a report soon!

New show added: March 4. Muddy Cup, Kingston.

/G

Flavour Cafe, Hudson Valley College and The Red Square,

Red Square, Albany

I'm writing in a tiny office at The Red Square where we played last night and where we'll be playing tonight. It's a great bar and live venue so I'm really enjoying myself! The Troy gig went great and we made new great friends! Kelly Maguire who hosted the place let her sleep at her house and the day after we played at Hudson Community College. The reason for that was that we met this professor that teaches psychology there and he wanted us to come to his class, talk about our adventure and play a few songs. It was a great experience and we taught them that there's more to Sweden than ABBA and that no, polar bears don't walk on our streets!

After the show at Flavour Cafe we played a couple of tunes at a bar called Positively 4th street, the place didn't really have a Bob Dylan feeling though but it was nice. Kelly is going to Washington DC on Sunday so we got a ride with her, I can't believe the timing!

Ok, I'm tired and I'm going to stop writing now..

/G

Albany, Troy and ABBA

I'm writing from a coffee shop in Troy called Flavor Café and someone is playing Joni Mitchell songs right now. I like Troy; small and friendly and it's filled with art galleries, coffee shops and small independent shops.

I'm trying to fix my tour schedule because the shows just keep on coming! 21 upcoming shows are not too bad.

A lot of stuff has happened since I last wrote you and I don't quite know where to start I've met new crazy and wonderful people here in Albany and Troy. Our hero Nick drove us to the train station last Sunday and we said our farewells agreeing on our return March 9. We had such a great time in Clinton, really..

Anyway so we arrived in Albany late Sunday without a clue on where we we're going to sleep for the night. We found the Yellow Pages and started calling around but all hotels we're expensive and my cell-phone units were running out. For my last units I called Alina and she helped find a cheap Econo Lodge outside of Albany. It smelled of urine and vomit but we were so happy to find a bed because we'd been running around Albany in the cold for hours.

Next day I phoned Ralph who owns the Bayou Café here in Albany where we are going to play tomorrow. Ralph helped us find a good price for a good hotel room so it worked out well. We probably went from the worst Hotel to one the best. Ralph is an amazing and funny guy who I am very glad to have met! When we showed up he screamed to his staff: "Hey Guys! These two are from Sweden. This guy has been emailing me for a year trying to get a show here and now he just shows up! That kills me!" He got me a show, though…

We've also been hanging out with Ralph's business partner John who has been showing us the Albany Nightlife. He wants to hire us to play 3 ABBA songs for a friend of his! That's funny stuff. He was pissed off at me for not knowing the song Fernando. He just couldn't believe it.

Ok I guess that's enough for an update, feel free to comment – fun to read!

Latte, broken fingernails, aching backs, one dollar buses, disgusting hotel food, ABBA, Russian, fat Tuesday, hangovers, doggy bags……………………………………………

/G

Photo sessions, Utica, New Show and Swedish pancakes

We started this day by making some original Swedish pancakes to Nick and Jenifer and they seemed to appreciate it. I'm trying to learn this Maple Syrup stuff but it's going slow..

In the same house as Melodic Revolution there is a Norwegian photographer named Karen and yesterday she did some shots of me and Helena that I will put up here when I get them.She was very impressed by Helena and said that she should model and stuff...she said I looked moody..hmmm. We had a great time, though.

When we we're done we all drove to Utica where we did a show at Cafe' Domenico. Thanks to all of you who dared to come out and see us although there were snowstorms everywhere! We shared the bill with a guy called Rocky Graz, a great half-Italian musician! Nick at the Revolution helped us out once again and loaned us his PA and mics and everything.

New show added today in Catskill (what a name for a town, love it!) at Muddy Cup, March 2.

Tomorrow we leave for Albany, we're gonna try to get a show there in the beginning of next week.

That's it I think..talk to you soon/

Gustav

Valentines gig cancelled..

Everyone in Clinton is snowed-in so the show won't happen tonight unfortunately. We can't come out so I'm gonna try to write songs and drink toddy's tonight instead..they say it's the worst snow they've had since 1992. I've always had such excellent timing!

We made a snowman today and we agreed that it could be a white BB King!

/ G

Currently listening : Buddy's Blues (Chess 50th Anniversary Collection) By Buddy Guy Release date: 08 April, 1997

Extra show added on Valentines Day!

So I'm out in the middle of nowhere in a town called Clinton. For food you can choose between Burritos, Subs or Pizza. I only have Pizza left to try out. Although our host Nick guided us to a great nature-store we could buy Hummus, bulgur, yoghurt and all that great vegetarian stuff so I think we'll be alright.

I just got my first face-masque ever and I feel kind of funny, think it's time to wash it off soon. My face is burning from the dry air up here.

Anyway, we'll play again at the Melodic Revolution on Valentines Day, on Wednesday Feb 14. I'm gonna find a love-song to play..or are all my songs love-songs? Nah.

It will be a great show with a bunch of great acts! See below for more info. Who would have thought, a week in Clinton! I was walking on the main street yesterday and a guy spotted me miles away, came up to me and tried to sell me a flashlight with a radio in it for $10.

Can you believe there are such kind-hearted people that are willing to let 2 stranger musicians stay at their house for one week? We're having a hell of a time.

Do not forget to check the video I just put up on the main myspace page from the last show in Clinton that we did a couple of days ago.

Thanks guys who showed up at our recent shows.

/G

At least one picture..

Hi guys,

I'm still in Clinton freezing my ass off but Nick and Jennifer are taking care of us. I got a picture from yesterday that I would like to share. We'll be playing the Melodic Revolution here in Clinton on wednesday as well for Valentine's Day. See you there, you crazy Clinton people / G

Melodic Revolution, Clinton NY

I'm in this house, writing from a record store, in the same house is the venue where me and Helena will play tonight. Today, we bought hats and gloves and stuff. They have great stuff in Clinton!

The five of us arrived last night and Nick and Jennifer who runs the Melodic Revolution were kind enough to let us all stay at their house tonight. This morning we had to say goodbye since Alina was driving Frank to the JFK airport and Shawshaank needed to get back to NYC to make an interview for a new job. It was sad actually, we became quite a group these last few days. We'll meet again though for sure when we get back to New York City. So if you've ever heard not to get into a car with a stranger - don't believe it. It can be quite an experience.

I'm looking forward to the show tonight. Helena will make her first show ever as a solo-artist but I know she's gonna do great. I have no idea what we are gonna do tomorrow.

/G

Castaways, Ithaca, NY

From a motel in Ithaca.

So this tour started quite good actually. The show yesterday was great and the people too. Right now, my only concern is to leave this motel without paying extra since it's 5 of us in one room but I guess we'll figure it out. I just had my first american breakfast and I'm sorry to say it was quite lousy.

Yesterday we didn't know how to get from NYC to Ithaca but a newfoundfriend helped us out. Alina, you're the best. She drove us up so we got ourself our own crew. Alina: driver/manager Shawshaank: bodyguard Frank: photographer

It's gonna be sad seperating from them today, they will drop us off in Clinton before continuing to Boston. But first I think we're gonna do a show at the radiostation at Ithaca College. I wonder what songs I should play....

Life is great right now, it's snowing a lot so it feel like home. Since we don't have a digitalcamera I've been taking pictures with my cellphone but I lost the cable that you use to upload them with....patience, friends.

Love and respect

/Gustav


Next show:

Arriving in NYC

Ok folks. Here at last. Confusing, freezing but amazing. We landed in Newark, New Jersey on the 5th and we've been strolling around the streets, eating misou soup, trying to buy a car, get a library card, get to know our roommates, eating pizza and trying to figure out all the details of our tour.

I will try to put pictures up later although Helena and her band Shooting John broke my digitalcamera just before we left. We've been taking cellphones-photos so that's good enough I guess. Maybe I'll try to get a camera somewhere, somehow.

Tomorrow we're leaving for Ithaca to play at this place called Castaways but we still haven't figured out how to get there. We will probably rent a car for this week although we're thinking of buying one next week. I don't remember the brand but it looked good enough and the Romanian car dealer seemed quite honest actually.

I have good vibes and I feel inspired. Good times, Bill.

/G

Photos from the last show...

at Dunkers Kulturhus.

Two shows in Canada!

A bit groggy from the wine-abuse yesterday I'm starting to realize that this is the day I have to go back to work another nightshift. 6 PM to 6 AM.

Oh, well I got more shows on my tour so that's marvellous.

I'm a bit tired from booking a tour to my label-mate Rachelle van Zanten, too bad I'll miss her Releaseparty. Make sure you don't miss it, it's in Malmö February 8. You can order tickets on Marilyn Records homepage. She will share party with Achordian that are also my label-mates. I'm leaving the 5th - excellent timing.

/G

Artist of the week on P4 Malmöhus - come in and listen!

Evening..

Everyday this week you can hear me play live mixed with short interviews on P4 Malmöhus. Mon-Fri between 11.50 and 12.00. The recordings are from December when me and Helena went to their BIG studio to record 10 GATSS-songs with just a guitar and a cello.

LISTEN: MONDAY - ''CHARLIE FAY''
LISTEN: TUESDAY - ''DEVIL WHEN YOU CRY''

LISTEN: WEDNESDAY - 'BLUEBERRY BREEZE''
LISTEN: THURSDAY - "BRING YOUR ARROWS"
LISTEN: FRIDAY - VAGABONDS POLKA & SOMETHING WEIGHTLESS

New shows added on the US-trip.