Photo by Mark Hines
Mike Benign Compulsion
Mike Benign Compulsion: Joe Vent, Paul Biemann, Mike Benign, Michael Koch
Their 2019 album was a clue. Revealingly, The Mike Benign Compulsion called it Bygones. “We had a sense that it would be the last,” Benign says. They were planning their last show for 2020 but then … events overtook everyone’s well-laid plans. With the world inching back toward normal, the Compulsion will finally call quits on Nov. 6 at Anodyne in Walker’s Point.
It’s been a 10-year ride for a band that originally wasn’t going to be a band with a lineup that fell in place in part by happenstance. “It was going to be a recording project” says Benign, songwriter, vocalist and guitarist. “[Guitarist] Joe Vent offered to help. We brought in other people to help record the songs and that’s how the band became a band. I met [drummer] Michael Koch on the train to Chicago. He was getting a PhD in German literature at Northwestern and I was going to Chicago for work.”
The lineup has been almost steady with only one change. Paul Biemann replaced Brian Wooldridge on bass. Wooldridge will join the band for their final show.
Benign became well known on the Milwaukee scene in the ‘80s with the smart alt-rock of Arms & Legs & Feet, followed in the ‘90s by the more soulful, larger ensemble that brought him gigs across the Midwest, Blue in the Face. The Compulsion’s focus was simpler. “Two guitars, bass and drums, occasional keyboards,” Benign says. “It’s not an original idea. Hopefully the songs were.”
Even early on, words were Benign’s ambition. He was one of the city’s most accomplished lyricists, drawing initial inspiration from Elvis Costello. “The subject matter has changed as I got older—and I’m writing more simply. I loved Elvis Costello but I got a lot of him out of my system.”
Power Pop Gem
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The Compulsion released five albums. Their second, 2012’s Martha, included one of the best power pop singles ever recorded, “My Michelle,” a gem at under two minutes long.
By the time the Compulsion debuted in 2010, its members had already given up dreams of “making it” in music, It was about the art (and fun) of performing. Friendship and affinity kept them going. “We have the same musical references,” Benign says. “It was easy for us to communicate because we loved the same kinds of music.”
Fond memories of the past decade include opening for many of the bands they love at Summerfest, Shank Hall and Turner Ballroom including Squeeze, The Baseball Project and The Alarm. As a soloist, Benign opened for Black Francis, Bob Mould and Marshall Crenshaw. The future, once bygones are said? Benign plans to write and record with Milwaukee’s Louie Lucchesi. “I’m open to possibilities,” he says.
The Mike Benign Compulsion will perform at 8 p.m., Nov. 6, opening for Eagle Trace at Anodyne’s Walker’s Point Roastery, 224 W. Bruce St.
