Brett Kissel On His Hit “Make A Life, Not A Living,” Musical Influences, Megadeth & More

With 18 CCMA Awards, 10 Gold and Platinum singles and 2 Gold albums in his native Canada — and 32 million streams of his recent independent release “Drink About Me” in the U.S. alone — Brett Kissel has experienced consistent commercial success for nearly a decade. The remix of his 2020 single, “She Drives Me Crazy,” features a collaboration with Nelly, which marks yet another crossover hit for the Alberta, Canada native. Meanwhile, “Make A Life Not A Living” — a song which Kissel discovered on his 30th birthday — from his latest album What Is Life?” recently became yet another #1-charting single.

Last month, Brett Kissel released a brand new Amazon Original song “Wannabes,” which is available to stream exclusively via Amazon Music. Kissel released the new Amazon Original song ahead of the JUNO Awards, where his chart-topping single “Drink About Me” was nominated in the prestigious “Single Of The Year” category. Amazon Music listeners can find “Wannabes” on Amazon Music’s “Fresh Country” playlist, and/or customers can also simply ask “Alexa play the Amazon Original by Brett Kissel” in the Amazon Music app for iOS and Android and on Alexa-enabled devices.

On July 8, 2021, I had the pleasure of speaking with Brett Kissel via Zoom, as embedded below. Beyond What Is Life? we talked about his widespread musical influences, how he wound up collaborating with Megadeth’s Dave Mustaine, whether he is familiar with The Jerky Boys character Kissel, future plans and family life. More on Kissel can be found by clicking here, here, here and here.

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Tags: Alberta, Brett Kissel, Canada, Dave Mustaine, Megadeth, The Jerky Boys, WARNER NASHVILLE

About the Author

Darren Paltrowitz Darren Paltrowitz is a New York resident with over 20 years of entertainment industry experience. He began working around the music business as a teenager, interning for the manager of his then-favorite band Superdrag. Since then, he has worked with a wide array of artists including OK Go, They Might Be Giants, Mike Viola, Tracy Bonham, Loudness, Rachael Yamagata, and Amanda Palmer. Darren's writing has appeared in dozens of outlets including the New York Daily News, Inquisitr, The Daily Meal, The Hype Magazine, All Music Guide, Guitar World, TheStreet.com, Businessweek, Chicago Tribune, L.A. Times, and the Jewish Journal. Beyond being "Editor At Large" for The Hype Magazine, Darren is also the host of weekly "Paltrocast With Darren Paltrowitz" series, which airs on dozens on television and digital networks. He has also co-authored 2 published books, 2018's "Pocket Change: Your Happy Money" (Book Web Publishing) and 2019's "Good Advice From Professional Wrestling" (6623 Press), and co-hosts the world's only known podcast about David Lee Roth, "The DLR Cast."