Milwaukee alt rock outfit The Gufs -- Goran Kralj, Morgan Dawley, Dejan Kralj and Scott Schwebel -- will gig together in Brew City for the first time in almost two years on Sat., April 1 at Shank Hall at 8 p.m. The opening act will be announced at a later date, and tickets go on sale this Friday, Jan. 13 at 10 a.m. at all TicketMaster outlets and online.

The Gufs' last public appearance was at the first and only Summerfest Encore event in September 2004. The band has been on hiatus while members focus on family, careers, other projects and tracking for new music for a possible CD to be released this June. The Shank Hall appearance is expected to showcase some new songs along with the classics like "Smile" and "Crash" that still occasionally spin on local radio, mainly 102.1 FM.

After eighteen years together and with all of the original members still in tow, The Gufs have established a bit of a legacy among Milwaukee rock bands by making simple and honest music, and maintaining a significant group of dedicated fans. Their first full-length CD recording "Staring into the Sun" hit in 1990, and their major label debut was the self-titled 1996 release on Atlantic Records.

Six years since the release of their last album, The Gufs have now returned to Milwaukee to begin work on their seventh studio recording. Led by frontman Goran Kralj, the Gufs are back and ready to continue to build. Goran, who has a solo album and career, will play a free all ages show at 9 p.m. on Feb. 2 at The Gasthaus on the UW-Milwaukee campus.

The Gufs' Web site is thegufs.com.