Brett Newski & the Bad Inventions, Max & the Fellow Travelers

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Kelly Bolter

Brett Newski and the Bad Inventions sitting on a couch.

Brett Newski and the Bad Inventions

media release: Folk-Grunge. Alt-country. Garage Americana. Whatever you call it, BRETT NEWSKI has carved his own lane at the crossroads of scrappy rock n roll, freak folk and comedic storytelling. Out May 1, 2026, Newski returns with a new album (and companion pocket book) Have a Thing, Miss Your Moment, Wait for the Revival,  arriving via Nomad Union. 

“Recording to tape is the only way to keep music purely human,” says Newski. “You can’t fake a tape recording. Currently, AI has no way to get onto analog tape. 

The book/music will NOT be on Amazon. The title track will NOT be on any streaming. Pre-order: https://www.brettnewski.com/merch

Have a Thing blends '60s era Bob Dylan's freewheeling lyricism with the crunch, grit, and melodic bite of 90s alternative rock, showcasing NEWSKI's production style of a lost Velvet Underground tape. “In Love With Everything Except People” features Lou Reed’s band leader, Kevin Hearn (Barenaked Ladies, Violent Femmes) on piano. 

Recorded straight to cassette in Milwaukee, the project leans into the imperfections that make analog charm so enduring. 

• NEW BOOK! Pre-order the album’s companion pocket BOOK, or “FIELD GUIDE”, if you will, featuring journals, drawings, lyrics, and road pics from 2023-24 when Have a Thing was being written. (Only 350 copies, first 50 copies are signed). 

Alongside his band BRETT NEWSKI & the Bad Inventions, NEWSKI has been regarded as one of the most relentlessly touring DIY artists of the decade. He’s spent a decade spent touring the backroads and underground venues of Europe, South Africa,  North America, and even less-trodden circuits like Vietnam, Japan, Iceland. 

Newski writes great songs and sings em like a champ. He could entertain Russian mob members in a Siberian prison and still come out on top. He’s that good. -Steve Poltz

Performing alongside bands like Pixies, Violent Femmes, Courtney Barnett, Gin Blossoms, Manchester Orchestra, Better than Ezra, Barenaked Ladies, Guster, Toad the Wet Sprocket & Nada Surf, Newski heads back on the road with Steve “Mr Bicep” Vorass on drums, Sean “Bad Man” Anderson on bass and Chris Haise on piano. 

His 2024 book Piss in the Wind, tells tales of his weirdest shows across Vietnam, Thailand, and Hong Kong before moving to Saigon, Vietnam for two years. A must-read for fans of Hunter S Thompson, Chuck Klosterman, or Henry Rollins.

Newski also authored humor-meets-mental-health book Its Hard to be a Person; Defeating Anxiety, Surviving the World, & Having More Fun,receiving international acclaim & landing on CBS, NBC, NPR, American Songwriter, SiriusXM, & Billboard. 

Newski’s podcast Dirt from the Road, dives into musicians lowest moments on the road, featuring guests like Dashboard Confessional, The Lumineers, Butch Vig, Nada Surf, Guster, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Verve Pipe, Frank Turner, Heartless Bastards, Charlie Berens, Cloud Nothings, Barenaked Ladies, & All American Rejects.

"I like the sound and the way he is forcing the world to contend with him." -Brian Ritchie, Violent Femmes