On new-years day 2003 Gustav made a bet with his friend Martin Persson that he wouldn't drink alcohol for three months because of a huge hangover. Martin owned a recording-studio and promised Gustav that he would get to record some songs for free if he would win the bet. After three months of only coffee and water on the pub Gustav was ready to record some of his first acoustic songs. Six months later the album Vagabond's Polka was finished.

So, why did the songs end up on an album? After all, they were just demo-recordings. Gustav sent a cd over to his elder brother, Magnus. Magnus was as at that time living in Dublin, working as a hotel-manager. When he heard the songs, he quit his job and moved back home to Sweden to start a record-label.

The 4th of February 2004 Marilyn Records released Vagabonds Polka in Sweden. The reviews were brilliant and the release was followed by a Swedish tour that was covered by Paul Hansen, the award-winning journalist at Swedens most influental newspaper, Dagens Nyheter. The article was published in 2005 as a six-page Photo Special. The two singles Nightlife and Vagabonds Polka were both well receieved by Swedish Radio and TV. The Swedish press praised Gustav as one of Swedens most promising, young singer/songwriters.

In the summer of 2005 it was time to make a new album and Gustav wanted it to sound different than Vagabonds Polka. He discovered that everyone around him was making singer/songwriter records and besides he wanted to capture the energy the band showed on-stage and record it on a record. It turned out to be a big project and the album Sirkus ended up with 15 tracks.

The studio was a big old motorcycle-club that used to belong to Hells Angels. You could still find rifle-holes in the walls. So, it was a big studio with a lot of space so Gustav could go through with his plan to record a live-album.

The sound is, as always with Gustav & the Seasick Sailors, a bit tricky to define because of the various musical influences such as tango, folk, country and pop.
The lyrics on the album is mostly about the strife to survive as a hungry talent and to ignore all the set-backs on the way.

(source: myspace.com/gatss)