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