“The only difference between us and anyone else is that we play music,” said lead singer Goran Kralj. “There’s no big rock star attitude.”

Cecilia Hrobsky, public relations manager at the Pabst Theater in Milwaukee, noticed the band’s down-to-earth quality through its frequent performances at the theater.

“It’s great to have artists with integrity that can stay grounded and don’t forget the people that got them to where they are,” Hrobsky said.

Hrobsky, a UW-Oshkosh alumna, got her first glimpse of The Gufs when Kralj and lead guitarist Morgan Dawley performed at Oshkosh in 2001.

In addition to Kralj and Dawley, The Gufs include Kralj’s younger brother, Dejan, on bass and Scott Schwebel on drums. Kralj said the band is committed to giving back to the fans for supporting them by hanging out with fans after shows and doing meet-and-greet sessions.

“They won’t turn a fan away from an autograph or a picture,” Hrobsky said. “It makes the show experience that much more special, if you know the artists or entertainer.”

Kralj said The Gufs’ success as a band may be due to their honest and simple lyrics. He said their songs are universal in theme, and that many people have gone through what they’ve experienced.

“People embrace music with meaning and songs that they can relate to and help them get through a tough time in their life, or even have them identify a happy time in their life,” Kralj said

The band’s sound has been associated with Kralj’s recognizable voice.

“I think Goran’s melodies make (the songs) stand out very much,” said Andrew Jonathan, the lead singer for Northern Room. “He has a gift for combining the ‘every-man’ lyric with melodies that shake the human condition.”

Northern Room has played with The Gufs at several shows. Jonathan said he noticed that Gufs fans are committed to the band, and fly from everywhere around the nation to see them and sing to the band’s lyrics. Kralj described their live shows as “one happy cult.”

The band originated on the east side of Milwaukee in 1988, when Kralj and Schwebel were attending UW-Milwaukee. They were roommates and soccer teammates and had the same interest in music. Kralj said they recruited his younger brother, who went to high school in northwestern Indiana, and high schooler Tony Luna to complete the band.

“When we first started, Dan and Tony were basically making trips from Indiana to come to Milwaukee to play shows, and it became hard for Tony,” Kralj said.

In 1990, Luna left to pursue a career in sound engineering, and returned after school to be their “sound guy.” Soon after, they met Dawley, a Milwaukee native who became Luna’s replacement.

Originally the band went by the name “China Cat Sunflower,” based on a Grateful Dead song of the same name. However, it was short-lived.

“That name was short-lived because we had Grateful Dead fans coming to our shows thinking we were a Grateful Dead cover band, but we didn’t know any Grateful Dead songs,” Kralj said.

The name “The Gufs” came while they were watching the ’80s Demi Moore film “The Seventh Sign.” In the movie, the “Guf chamber” was the hall in Heaven where souls were stored. Each time a child was born, Kralj said, a soul came down from the hall.

Kralj said they joked that they started the band for the girls and to meet people, but it turned out to be more and has evolved into a slew of albums and a lot of touring.

The Gufs recorded several independent albums, getting a boost from their album “Staring at the Sun,” the first full-length CD by an independent artist in Milwaukee. They soon signed with Atlantic Records to record two successful studio albums in 1996 and 1999.

During the ’90s, The Gufs found radio play with “Smile” and “Crash (Into Me)” and in turn grew a fan base in the Midwest. They also toured nationally for their first and second albums with well-known bands such as Matchbox 20, Jars of Clay, Hootie and the Blowfish and Tonic. However, Kralj said they’re more of an “upper-Midwest phenomenon” now.

During the recording of “Holiday from You” in 1999, the Gufs were going through a challenging time. Many of the band members were going through divorces and it became evident their musical ambitions had hurt their relationships.

“Here we are trying to make it as musicians, trying to do something that we’re passionate about, but it was destroying other parts of our lives,” Kralj said.

The album, which Kralj refers to as “the angry breakup album,” gave The Gufs a chance to vocalize their discontent with how their relationships went. produced by Arnold Lanni (Our Lady Peace, Finger Eleven), the album featured the hits “Last Goodbye” and “Give Back Yourself.” The latter featured singer Rob Thomas, as the band was touring with Matchbox 20 at the time.

After they released the album, the Gufs quickly dropped Atlantic’s management because they felt they weren’t getting fair representation.

“Unfortunately, the label didn’t push us as intensely as we hoped,” Kralj said. “There’s only so long that you can jump in a van and slop your gear and play all over the country.”

The next few years, many of the band members pursued other projects both musical and not. Many fans and those who knew the band missed their presence.

“We felt like there was a hole in a music scene that could only be filled by the Gufs while they were on hiatus,” Jonathan said.

This hiatus continued for seven years. But in 2006, The Gufs, featuring the same members, recorded a new album called “A Different Sea,” which featured the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra on several tracks.

“It’s so wonderful to get a community involved and I think the Gufs did it beautifully,” Hrobsky said.
Kralj said that the fans have been the best part of being a musician.

“To see people come up after shows and say ‘Thank you for writing that song, it really helped me get through a hard time in my life’ makes me feel really good about the band and what we stand for and what we continue to do,” he said.

Sometimes you just have to know when to call it a night, and when you suspect your equipment may be on fire is usually that moment. Fever Marlene were only part way through their set opening for the Gufs at the High Noon Saloon on Thursday when guitarist/vocalist Scott Starr’s guitar began acting up.

Despite the duo’s attempts to remedy the problem, and to lighten the situation — “It’s a power problem” Starr asserted, “A higher power?” drummer/vocalist Kevin Dunphy questioned — once they saw the smoke curling out of the amp they rightly surrendered.

Fever Marlene get their puzzling moniker from the first song they ever wrote together, even before they were a band. “It’s about wanting something even though you know it is bad for you,” Starr explained to me after their tragically shortened set. Even though the fictional Marlene may be trouble, everything about her namesake is good.

Dunphy’s angelic backing vocals and Starr’s Richard Butler-esque lead make for a pretty irresistible pairing. They just finished recording their debut Civil War at E Lab Studios here in Madison and hope to be celebrating their CD release the next time they are in town (April 19 at the Orpheum with Cloud Cult).

Let’s hope so, because after seeing them tonight I want those songs now. “Some Saturdays” features a bouncy tune and an irresistible chorus. “She’s living on the sun/ She says I’m not the one” they repeat over and over. “When Daniel Goodings Made it Rain” could have come from a happier Psychedelic Furs if they had believed in the power of the “oooh oooh” backing vocal.

Headliner the Gufs seemed poised to be the next big thing for a number of years, even signing with Atlantic Records. After their second major label album Holiday from You fared poorly, they asked to be released from their contract. The hiatus that followed, in addition to a solo record from lead singer Goran Kralj, made it appear the band was done.

A Different Sea came out last year, and it did inject some new life into a set that hasn’t changed much since I last saw them at Summerfest sometime back in the ’90s. But for the most part, I felt like I could have been standing precariously on a picnic table in Milwaukee. The bulk of the songs are still drawn from just two of the band’s releases, Collide and Holiday. They still inject a verse of the Police’s “Walking in your Footsteps” into their own “Listen to the Trees.” And they still encore with the closest thing they ever had to a hit, the admittedly catchy “Smile.”

In fact, sometimes I wondered why they are still doing it, and thought maybe they don’t know when to call it a night. And that’s when I looked around. I was the only person not singing along to every word of every song. And maybe, even though they were playing for just a hundred people instead of thousands, that’s enough.

After a seven-year hiatus The Gufs have returned with A Different Sea and it’s arguably the best record of their career.

The Milwaukee four-piece’s previous effort, Holiday From You was a terrific album but the band have clearly used their downtime to good effect because A Different Sea is a modern rock masterpiece.

Explosive opener “Beautiful Disaster” picks up where the rather pessimistic Holiday From You left off, but proof that The Gufs are a more upbeat band these days comes on the glorious rocker “Extraordinary” and the energetic “Lifetime”. So far, so good, but the highlights of an incredibly strong and consistent record come in the shape of “Free” and the superb pop-rocker “Stars”, which morphs spectacularly from a delicate piano intro into an anthem of truly epic proportions.

Frontman and main songwriter Goran Kralj sounds as good as ever, Kevin Sucher’s production is first rate and the band is clearly re-energized and refocused, having taken their music and career into their own hands following their split with Atlantic. A Different Sea is a triumphant return hopefully The Gufs won’t leave it another seven years before making the follow-up.

Friday night made me realize something. There’s just something special, something so Milwaukee about The Gufs.

Sure, I’ve been a fan for a long time. But, think about it. The Gufs, four friends who started the band nearly 15 years ago (basically to get chicks) are still friends today, still passionate about music and appreciative of their success and of course, their stuggles and all of their hard work.

The Gufs, in many ways, mirror our city. Successful, yet not too successful. Proud, but not too proud. Good, but (sorry, guys), not good enough — for some crazy reason — for the rest of the country to truly take notice. Ah, Milwaukee. I love it. And Milwaukee loves The Gufs.

On Friday, Goran Kralj, Morgan Dawley, Dejan Kralj and Scott Schwebel took The Pabst Theater stage for the first time in their careers. You could tell with the first strum of their intro tune, “Leave this Life,” that they were thrilled to be there. Milwaukee, after all, is home. After the easy listening first new song, they cranked out “Last Goodbye,” “Listen to the Trees,” and “Happily Ever After.”

With the faithful fans singing every line, the band basked in the hometown love while welcoming Northern Room lead singer Andrew Jonathan to the stage for a beautiful version of “The Chosen.”

The house lights were on in the first 20 or so rows all night as the band was, not only releasing a new CD, but also recording a new live DVD. The light added something. It helped show the fans faces, their sing alongs and their strong appreciation for the band that’s finally back after nearly 7 years.

Watch for a full review of The Gufs new album, “A Different Sea,” next week.

They were Milwaukee’s pre-eminent alt-rock band of the ’90s, but disenchantment with the business side of the music world eventually put The Gufs on the shelf.

Now older and more optimistic, the Gufs are returning to the fray with their first new disc in seven years, “A Different Sea,” and a CD release party Friday at the Pabst Theater.

All four original members are still in the fold: Goran “Gordy” Kralj on vocals, guitar and piano; his brother Dejan “Dan” Kralj on bass, Morgan Dawley on guitar and Scott Schwebel on drums.

Although they’re now living in three different cities – Minneapolis, Chicago and Milwaukee – and have followed divergent career paths, Schwebel says the band members have always stayed in touch.

“The interesting thing about our band is the four of us are really good friends, ” he said. “Even though we weren’t actively working on music together, we were still seeing each other on a regular basis.

“During the time out, three out of the four of us got married and started families. So we’re buddies, we’re seeing each other at birthday parties for the kids even though we’re spread out these days in three different cities. . . . It wasn’t like we were off each other’s radar. We just intentionally stayed off the music radar as a group.”

Their individual circumstances have shifted dramatically in the years since the Gufs released a major-label album in 1996, then were dropped by Atlantic Records as part of the label’s massive artist purge.

Dawley is the father of twins. Goran Kralj is a practicing doctor, Dejan Kralj is finishing up his doctorate, and Schwebel is working as a marketing executive in music. Even with all of that, all four remained interested in music and active on a lesser scale. That changed in the summer of 2005.

“We knew that we would do another record at some point,” Schwebel said. “It was just a matter of when, not a matter of if.

“The actual moment where we all just looked at each other, we were at Dan’s house in Chicago celebrating his son’s first birthday. We were all talking about music – as we always do – and listening to some things that Dan had been working on. . . . We all just looked at each other and said, ‘Maybe we should do another record.’ It was literally that simple.”

The guys spent about six months writing new material and went into the studio this January to begin recording. The final mixes were wrapped up at the end of September. Schwebel predicts fans will hear a new side of the band on “A Different Sea.”

“This record is very optimistic in terms of content and tone,” he said. “The Gufs, we’re a pop band that’s been able to rock. Obviously if you look back, you’re able to see trends. The last record, which we’re all very, very proud of, was definitely darker, was definitely a sadder record.

“This record is so much more optimistic sound-wise. All of us are in really good places in our lives. I think the record definitely reflects that.

The record, he said, is “different than any” the Gufs have ever done. Local musician Warren Wiegratz and the Milwaukee Symphony Ensemble perform on five of the tunes.

“So we’re exploring some of the more modern textures you hear in music these days,” Schwebel said.

When a band is away from the scene for a period of years, there’s always some doubt as to whether the audience is still there. In that respect, a pair of sold-out shows earlier this year at the east side’s 300-capacity Shank Hall proved reassuring.

“We just leaked the shows at Shank on the Internet, and both shows were sold out within a matter of hours,” Schwebel said. “That was a very wonderful feeling. It sort of validated us. As an artist there’s always insecurities, . . . do we still have relevance within the music environment? That gave us confidence as we were finishing the record.”

Besides the Pabst show, the band is working a string of dates this fall and then intends to come back for a more ambitious concert schedule next spring and summer. All of the musicians have work schedules that allow them the flexibility to remain active in music.

After their unhappy experience with Atlantic Records, The Gufs are no longer interested in pursuing a major-label deal, but the changes in music marketing allow them to pursue their goals as an independent band. Schwebel promises it definitely won’t be seven years before they record again.