"Black Taxi Car" Video Premiere + "Hi-Fi D.I.Y." Mini-Album Announced

The lead video/single Black Taxi Car was shot in Cape Town, ZA by my pals in the rock outfit, Shortstraw (Johannesburg). I'm pretty obsessed with South Africa. Vibes are chill and people don't live to work. Initially going there truly opened my eyes to the "rat race" back home. America can be great, but one must leave it to realize the unhealthy hyper-speed at which it operates, especially in the music industry.

I wrote the song with Eric McFadden (George Clinton/Parliament Funkadelic) after my van was stolen in Detroit. It is not literally about one's van getting stolen, but it is about questioning your life entirely, which tends to happen after your van gets stolen. Other musicians on the record include Nicole Rae (Traveling Suitcase), Leroy Deuster.

The Hi-Fi D.I.Y. Mini Album

Hi-Fi D.I.Y. is dedicated to any band who's ever played a crap show, on a crap night to 4 people that didn't give a crap. This album is about taking matters into your own hands, waiting for no man, and not becoming a victim of "the American Dream". There are no rules anymore. "Success" & "failure" are just words created by old dead white guys. Time is not money. We waste time chasing money and adhering to old dead white guys. Record labels come and go, Hi-Fi D.I.Y. is about self-sustaining when the musical apocalypse hits.

Hi-Fi D.I.Y. is a mini-album produced by Milwaukee hero & Violent Femmes co-founder Victor DeLorenzo & will be released October 15 at the Ramones Museum in Berlin, Germany.

-Brett

Please share this post if you dig the new video, it really helps us spread the word.

"Hi-Fi D.I.Y." World Tour Announced

Pleased to announce our fall schedule on foreign soil, some 100+ shows across Europe, Oceania, and America. The adventure begins in October, starting in the UK, Germany, Scandinavia, Austria, Switzerland & BENELUX, ending with Spain & Italy in December. In January, we saddle up our Wombats and head for Australia, Tasmania & New Zealand before a brief huddle back in the States. The third leg of this tour takes us across the southern states in March–including SXSW in Austin, TX–and the west coast throughout April & May.

With the help our bearded Euro booking agent Olaf the great, we'll be booking many shows ourselves for a full-flavor, D.I.Y. experience. It'll be a grind, no doubt, so I'll be bringing my band psychologist/hype man, "Danimal," on the road to keep it real. We'll be squatting in the squattiest squats, eating in the localest joints, and playing classic venues as well as bizarre makeshift ones.

If you'd like to support us on tour, grab a shirt or an album from the Garage Sale and help us spread the word by sharing this video below. It helps heaps and we definitely couldn't do it without you.

Excited to see you out there,

-Brett

Booking planet Earth & taking over your living room

Last week, we hit show #860 since I began touring. Back problems have ensued from much floor sleeping and massive hours behind the MacBook sorting out admin for the fall. But it seems I’ve gone too far down the rabbit hole to turn back. Booking is in full effect for Europe in Oct, Nov & Dec, with the calendar rapidly filling up. It’s complete mayhem. Three months of straight touring across Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Benelux, Italy, Spain and Scandinavia. Along with a little help from our Euro booking agencies, we’re booking many shows ourselves, but we still have a small handful of open dates we'd like to fill, so we're bringing the show to your living room for you and your friends.

House shows usually host 30-60 people, held in basements, attics, boats, rooftops, patios, backyards and garages. We’re open to mixing things up and bringing an easy-going, alternative show to your home.

HOST A HOUSE SHOW

Tour manager and mad scientist Dan-O Stoffels (“Danimal”) will be touring with me across foreign lands, crushing excel spreadsheets and webmastering from the road. Tag team supreme... Excited to see you out there,

Brettski ☺

Getting Bullied, Eating Dirt & Signing Record Deals

Everyday I am grateful I was pushed into lockers, bullied, and choked out in the halls of New Berlin West High School...because there is nothing worse than peaking in high school.

Arriving back home after three years of incessant touring and some 500 shows across North America, Europe and South Africa, I feel I’ve finally acquired a “license to chill”, a reason to lounge against the machine.

When music became my only source of income 3 years ago, I knew I'd have to take matters into my own hands. I didn’t have much for contacts, resources or marketing dollars, so inevitably it’d be D.I.Y. to the core. I booked my own shows, played for $41, and slept in pube-infested rat holes to save money on lodging. My morale consistently got crushed. I even remember crying once while driving alone across Kansas after playing three shows in a row to a total of 31 people and making $97. “What the hell am I doing with my life, I should just go back to work at McDonalds.“

But the highs always follow the lows, and the tiny speckles of glory in the buckets o' shit were enough to keep me motivated. After two years of pushing thru the gauntlet, attendance was rising. I signed two small but sturdy record deals, and was selling enough records to quit all other odd jobs. I no longer had to sleep in pube-infested rat holes, or if I did, there were far less pubes.

For all the small indie bands out there grinding it out, I feel your pain, and I salute you. You keep me motivated and also make me feel like less of a weirdo. ☺ I think it’s important we have a sense of humor about this path/industry. At the end of the day, the game is fairly stupid. Us bands must ignore the “popularity contest” side of the industry and just write quality, short, hooky songs that cater to attention spans in 2015. No one is going to give you a record deal in year 1 unless you’re a rare super-prodigy or have bags of money. Cut your teeth. It’s rewarding to start from the sewers and work up because everything feels like a bonus. For every handful of dirt you eat, there’s a worm that tastes like chicken.

The workload is infinite, and today it’s an honor and joy to sign with ELEVATE RECORDS (Rotterdam, NL). They’ll be handling label and booking duties in Benelux & Scandinavia. I will be traveling with the label to Future Music Forum in Barcelona and Reeperbahn Festival in Hamburg this September to shake hands and administer hand jobs to industry executives.

Thank you for any support you’ve given, it boosts morale more than you’d know.

Brett

Before We All Become Cyborgs / Cassette Release

Let's face it, we're all going to be robots in a few years. The times are moving at hyper-speeds as we Pitchfork each other with our whatsapp & snapchats, seeking endless smart phoner boners in 6G technology. June 18 is a throwback to the analog age, as Breadking releases Brett Newski's "Hi-Fi D.I.Y", a cassette tape with 6 tracks that do not exist online. These songs can only be heard on this tape. They are not available anywhere else; not on Youtube, not on iTunes, not at Hot Topic, but maybe at your neighbors garage sale. So come out and celebrate being a lady or a dude or a lady dude but not a cyborg.

$7 at the door ($10 with a tape)

with opening acts: Ugly Brothers + King Courteen

"The Maths" World Video Premiere

Last year while touring Switzerland, I found myself in a goat barn shooting this music video. Goats were everywhere. Their cowbell necks jingling as they yelled "bahhhhh" across the hay, wallowing in their own shit & licking each others bung holes. Opposite the goats, friends Thomas, Nilo, & Anabel hand painted a beautifully massive art mural that took lord knows how long (respect). We finished the shoot, shared a wee doobie, & went on our way. The video almost never saw daylight, as the editor bailed & the footage was left soaking in an old hard drive for a year. In the knick of time, American bad ass Joe Ramos came on in middle relief to cut the footage & save the day.

The song is originally a balls-to-the-walls folk/punk number written by my South African friend Jon Shaban. He's a Cape Town legend & plays in a band called The Shabeen. We've done several tours in S Africa together & I hold him in the highest regard. As a little indie band, every share of the video helps out. Much respect, Brett

Bummer in Belfast

After a smashing great night in Belfast, we found a load of our merch to be stolen. The irony is that the chump stole a box of shirts that say "Please don't be a wanker" on them. Meat heads will be meat heads... In happy news, I'm eating pea soup in Amsterdam & squatting in a 4th floor attic space (thanks Willems, you legend). Last time I was here I bought a bike off a junkie for 13 euros, so I'm going to go pick that up now & ride around.

The "American Folk Armageddon Tour" trucks on thru the Netherlands this week, then Germany & Switzerland through May with Rocky Votolato. We've been on the road in Europe almost 8 weeks and will finish with a Scandinavia run, ending at Working Class Hero Festival in Norway before flying home to Wisconsin. Keep fighting the good fight out there and we'll see you soon.

-Brett

Please help us boost morale again by grabbing a disc or a shirt below. You can also donate a sandwich if you just want to help us bounce back from our little bummer in Belfast. Every little bit helps! Order Online

DIY Touring: Claiming tiny victories & avoiding soul crushers

It's been a strange couple years. Since moving back from Vietnam & hitting the road permanently, I've had my van stolen in Detroit, puked on myself + shit my pants all while driving a rental car around the world in lonely isolation. But it hasn't been all a bummer fest. During these tours I've hung out with countless local legends, played over 500 quality shows and met a few of my musical heroes including Butch Vig, Jeff Tweedy, Chuck Ragan, & Sean Bonnette of Andrew Jackson Jihad. On 7 May in Amsterdam, I'll tell the tales and help fellow musicians avoid the darker side of touring at PopUp Music Conference.

Rolling Stone & losing your best friend to a girl

Bro·mance

ˈbrōˌmans/ noun informal

The complicated love and affection shared by two straight males.

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The first time you fall in love typically ends in serious damage to your inferior vena cava. In this case I lost my first real girlfriend and dude-friend at the same time. My band also broke up. Total soul crusher.

Here's a song about losing your best friend to the opposite sex premiered by Rolling Stone Germany:

[soundcloud]https://soundcloud.com/brett-newski/i-want-my-best-friend-back[/soundcloud]

Ireland Tour: Full Band of Irish blokes

Back 4 the Attack in Ireland featuring Fox Jaw (Limerick) as my backing band. Honor to be playing with a bad ass rock n roll band that I love very much. Good dudes who have mastered the genre of dick jokes, an entertaining entity for long van rides. Limerick / Cork / Galway / Clonakilty / Dundalk / Dublin / Belfast....

American Folk Armageddon Tour Europe

AFA tour underway. LP available via Make My Day Records Europe and Good Land Records (USA). Love extended to BB Booking and 865 art'ist.