Brett Newski shares single ‘I Should’ve Listened to Ferris Bueller’

Brett Newski has shared his new single I Should’ve Listened to Ferris Bueller, which features Steven Page formally of The Barenaked Ladies. The song is lifted from Brett Newski’s album ‘It’s Hard to Be a Person’, which is out June 22. The album is the soundtrack to Brett’s book, ‘It’s Hard to Be a Person: defeating anxiety, surviving the world and having more fun’. Watch the video for I Should’ve Listened to Ferris Bueller via YouTube below.

You can also listen to the song on Spotify here: https://ffm.to/r8vl1ee

Pre-order the book and album here:
https://brettnewski.com/merch/its-hard-to-be-a-person-defeating-anxiety-surviving-the-world-and-having-more-fun-book-amp-album

More about the song + album

At age 13, Brett Newski’s dad “The Vin Man” suggested Newski get a job at Mcdonald’s in order to buy his first guitar. Newski was uncertain because his hands were still tiny and square, like goat hooves. But after seeing Barenaked Ladies to a sold out Milwaukee Amphitheatre, Newski felt the fire and walked down to fill out an application at the nearest Mcdonalds. He was hired. At $5.15 an hour, it took a bit to acquire the guitar, but he did, and became obsessed by learning BNL and Better than Ezra songs. Barenaked Ladies frontman Steven Page became Newski’s first musical hero.  Last year, Newski uncovered old notebooks of song ideas from two decades ago while still in high school, including early lyrical ideas for the “coming of age” tune I Should’ve Listened to Ferris Bueller which is now the lead track to ‘It’s Hard to be a Person: the Soundtrack to the book’. (The book is a collection of Newski’s quirky illustrations making fun of his own anxiety and depression, offering hacks and ideas to feel better in your brain.) While Newski and his collaborator Spatola were finishing the song, Newski reached out to Steven Page to see if he would guest-vocal on the track. Page replied within 10 minutes and had vocal parts done within 48 hours. 

More about ‘It’s Hard to be a Person’ book

Years ago, somewhere on the Internet, I posted a few dumb drawings making fun of my own anxiety and depression. The response to them was warmer than anticipated, and people kept asking for more. Blending humor with pure depression seemed to strike a chord with a decent amount of people. So I kept going, and after about three years of drawing, I had enough dumb drawings for a book called ‘It’s Hard to be a Person: defeating anxiety, surviving the world, and having more fun’. Humour has always been a primary mode of therapy for me. I still make fun of my own anxiety and “depresh” as catharsis. I sing about it on tour, talk about it on my podcast, and draw pictures of it here in this book. Putting my formerly-private-feelings out into the world has been tremendous therapy for me, and I wish I would’ve done it sooner. Over the span of many years, I’ve been illustrating the “hacks”, “strategies”, or “exercises” that have worked best for me in combating the struggles in my head. More than anything I want this book to be useful for people. I’m not a doctor, just a person who spends too much time in my head. The objective of ‘It’s Hard to Be a Person’ is not to give unsolicited advice, but to hopefully save you some headaches on the long n’ winding road of life in your brain.

More about Brett Newski

Brett Newski is an alternative songwriter, illustrator and podcaster based in Milwaukee, WI, USA. He has been featured on Rolling Stone, NPR, American Songwriter, SiriusXM, Boston Globe, and Paste. 

Newski has played alongside acts like Pixies, Violent Femmes, Courtney Barnett, Manchester Orchestra, Better than Ezra & New Pornographers. He continues to tour over 100 dates per year. 

Newski’s podcast Dirt from the Road also dives into mental health boosts. Guests include The Lumineers, All American Rejects, Dashboard Confessional, Guster, Heartless Bastards, Verve Pipe, Toad the Wet Sprocket and Frank Turner.  Tune in here: https://brettnewski.biglink.to/dirtfromtheRoad