When I asked Milwaukee singer-songwriter and new dad Brett Newski if he now calls himself “Dadski” and didn’t immediately get a resounding “yes,” I was reflexively surprised by his reticence to fully embody the new identity. Then again, the guy has been busy rolling out a new album and probably not prepared to make drastic creative changes.
As a relatively new parent, Newski is still adjusting to the full-time musician lifestyle while still finding plenty of room for his son. I checked in with him about eight months after that arrival and right before another one: his newest record (and companion pocket book).
Have a Thing, Miss Your Moment, Wait for the Revival (due out May 1) is the latest bunch of songs and stories from Newski, who’s perfected the folk-grunge / alt-country / garage Americana sound. What makes it stick out above the rest is vulnerable, comedic storytelling paired with a unique penchant for globetrot-touring for years and years at a time.
His current band iteration, Brett Newski & The Bad Inventions, delightfully blend ’60s-era Bob Dylan-style freewheeling lyricism with the crunch, grit and melodic bite of ’90s alternative rock, showcasing Newski’s production style he describes as “a lost Velvet Underground tape.”
As he professed during the interview, “I’m just obsessed with the tape machine right now” and creating what he calls “damaged-sounding” songs. The album truly leans into those intentional imperfections of analog, which feels appropriate to Newski’s new life as a Dadski. He’s meeting the messiness with open arms, because sometimes the messed-up stuff is where you find the most beautiful silver linings.
Brett Newski & The Bad Inventions new album, Have a Thing, Miss Your Moment, Wait for the Revival gets its release to Nomad Union Music on May 1. Find the band celebrating the next day with a show at the Argo that includes openers Max & The Fellow Travelers.
Interview highlights
On becoming a Dadski:
Baby boy was born Aug. 5. It was like a day after we played Mile of Music in Appleton. I had my phone on in case I got a call … while we were up there playing, and I would start as just a straight-up bad father playing a festival two hours outta town.
But I got back in time and made the birth, watched the whole thing. My friend Traister’s like, “You gotta watch the birth. It’s psychedelic. It hits harder than any psychedelic drug you've ever tried. You gotta watch it.” And it was crazy. The baby comes out, and you just start crying. Like, you just lose it. It's so nuts.
On balancing fatherhood with music:
Yeah, the baby boy is really fun. … But I was just kinda writing relentlessly [up until he was born], just 'cause I didn't know when I'd have time to write music again for a while. So I wrote a couple songs for the baby boy ahead of time when he was still in the, uh … ”belly aquarium,” and I sang them through like the barrier, you know?
I think he likes them, but since he's been born I haven't written anything. I got nothing. I think I'm just cozy. I'm in the comfort zone at home. I invested a bunch of money into a really cushy couch. I've never had a good couch. So, yeah, I just think when you're in the comfort zone, it can be hard to write anything good.
I work from home, (and) you’ve got that cute little kid there all the time, so I'm taking breaks every 14 minutes to wrestle the baby. It's hard to get into a rhythm of getting stuff done, but it's working out. I've spent enough years being a sad, lonely bastard on the road. I can take some fam time and sit in the comfort zone for a second. I think it's good for morale, and it's a good recharge.
On putting out an album during this transformative time:
I used all my juice the year before and the two years prior, so this is kinda like a best-of record in a sense — at least all my favorite songs of the past three or four years that I recorded on my tape machine at home.
I've talked about this too much, but I’m just obsessed with the tape machine right now. It’s kind of the only way to get around the perfect-sounding AI “fake” music … created on really good technology that sounds too perfect to me. I think it's nice to have some damaged-sounding songs sometimes.
On the new album’s title:
A buddy gifted [it] to me. I just related to that 'cause I feel we've always been able to stay in business as a band, which is really cool. Like, we're still playing, but I never feel like we're cool or I never feel like we're trending, you know? I think probably 98% of bands relate to this. You always kind of feel like, “Oh man, if we could just get on Pitchfork.com, everything would be better.” But that’s not how it goes.
On having a new fan in the audience for live shows:
We got some headphones for him, and the baby crowd surfs; we pass him around. If we believe in you, we like to share the baby.
But, yeah, it'll be cool. It's good to keep doing it. Initially, you feel guilty, going out and playing any shows or touring 'cause you're like, “Oh, I should be at home.” But that's not what the kid wants. The kid wants you to do what you like, whether he knows it or not. So I still love it and I'm gonna keep doing it. I'm a lifer … so there's not really a second option for me. I'm just running on desperation, and I just love it too much.
On what he’d tell any creative trying to balance art and parenting:
You can totally make it work. I think we kind of go our whole lives getting complaints from other parents about all the things that are hard about having a kid. They don't usually share the highlights, so it's not as hard as you think it's gonna be. It's tough, but you can do it. If that's what you love to do, your kid is gonna want you to do it as well; we wanna see our parents do stuff that gets them pumped and vice versa.
