Since their beginning in 1990, The Gufs have grown, matured and, like most bands, struggled to find a place in the crowded world of music.

Moving from a series of independent album releases and small club concerts to bigger shows in the Midwest and throughout the country, The Gufs have made a name for themselves.

But if you know The Gufs you know that good times have also been tempered with bad ones. Gufs singer/songwriter Goran Kralj reflected on those ebbs on the band's 1999 album "Holiday from You," their second and last disc for Atlantic Records.

The band -- guitarist Morgan Dawley, bassist Dejan Kralj and drummer Scott Schwebel -- turned out a great album in "Holiday From You," but its commercial success was limited despite a single featuring Rob Thomas from Matchbox 20.

In the year leading up to the recording sessions for the disc, The Gufs had their share of traumatic events, both professional and personal. They parted ways with percussionist Brian Pettit, took on new management (which had familial implications for the Kraljs, whose brother had been guiding the group), and members Goran Kralj, Dawley and Schwebel separated from their significant others.

Yet, The Gufs are still going strong, working on new material and like many bands in their shoes, trying hard to "make it" in the crazy world of music.

After Dawley and Goran Kralj's acoustic show at Bastille Days, OnMilwaukee.com caught up with Goran Kralj for an update on the band.

OMC: What's new this summer?

GK: As far as the band is concerned, we're doing a lot of writing, and demoing, all in hopes of putting out a new album sometime next year. We're still in the process of looking for a home (a new record company).

We're hoping that some of our new demo songs will turn people at record companies on. Otherwise, we're just going to put something out on our own. We're going to do a live acoustic album in the fall and put that out on our own. We recently did two songs with John Gilmore, who did the new Sugar Ray disc and Eve 6 and Lit. (Working with John) will hopefully stir up some major label interest which will help us out.

The Gufs are not doing too many shows this summer. That's why this acoustic thing has been really fun. As a band, we're trying to lay low and figure some stuff out. It's been fun to do something different.

The acoustic shows allow us to keep in touch with people, meet new people and try out some new material. Things our fans will want to hear.

OMC: Going back to the last record, what do you think the general perception was, especially for people who haven't heard The Gufs before.

GK: I think in general, a lot of fans really loved the last album. If anything, it may have been a little too deep. But for the most part, everybody was really into what we were trying to do.

For me, the album -- it was about timing -- there was a lot of s*it happening at the time when we were writing the songs -- stuff was going down. The songs were real stories. What else as a songwriter can you write about? You write about what's happening around you. I put myself out on a limb, and I think people appreciated it.

For people who didn't know The Gufs, I think that they liked the album, it was our strongest ever. I think we got lucky with songs like "Smile" and "Crash" -- it was naive writing. We didn't really know what we were doing. It just goes to show that we're a halfway decent band.

But this last album, we worked with a real producer for the first time and we really learned to play together as a band. I think if anybody was listening to us for the first time I would have them go to "Holiday From You," not a song like "Smile."

That album is more representative of what we're all about. And the newer stuff sounds more like "Holiday From You," but the lyrical aspect isn't as heavy. It's more positive.