Milwaukee musician covers the first song he ever heard on a CD as an 8-year-old.
For immediate release via Nomad Union.
The first song Brett Newski ever heard on a CD was “Devil’s Haircut” by Beck.
“Before CD’s I would just sit around the boombox and wait for Green Day to come on the radio. I’d wait 3-4 hours sometimes,” says Newski.
“I was 8 years old and my mom took us to get haircuts at this nice ladies house outside Milwaukee. Her teenage daughter had all the alternative CDs: “Smash” by the Offspring, “Dookie” by Green Day, and “Odelay” by Beck.
“I put ‘Odelay’ by Beck on the Discman and ‘Devil’s Haircut’ tore the foam off the headphones. It was a funny coincidence that I heard this at the haircut place,” says Newski.
8-year-old Brett then convinced his Dad to join the Columbia house mail-in CD catalog. It was there that Brett’s musical foundation began to form: Violent Femmes, Offspring, Sheryl Crow, Barenaked Ladies, Better Than Ezra CDs followed in the mail.
“The Beck CD jumped out at me because it was so weird. It was impressive that an album that took risks and strayed from the formula could be so popular.
It’s a perfect case study of why you should go your own way and not be a carbon copy of something else,” says Brett.
The Columbia House CD Catalog eventually threatened legal action on 8-year-old Brett and his Dad for not ordering a sufficient amount of CDs.
“When you sign up, you get 40 CDs for one penny. After which, you’re legally binded to buy a certain number of CDs at $29.99 or whatnot. My Dad hadn’t ordered enough CDs so we started getting serious legal notices in the mail regularly. My pops eventually threw down and bought a bunch more CDs before the loan shark types came knocking,” says Brett.
Now as a grown adult, full-time touring artist Brett Newski covers the first song he heard on a CD as a kid. Hear “Devil’s Haircut” by Brett Newski & the No Tomorrow. Engineered, mixed and mastered by Spatola.
*This song is part of a 3-song mini EP titled 90’s Kid, where Brett Newski covers songs that shaped his childhood. One song will be released each month for three months.*
*recorded by Matt Spatol at Studio Fleetwood.
