Former Umbrella Man, Arms & Legs & Feet and Blue in the Face frontman Mike Benign releases his solo debut single today.
"All The Married People" is available through iTunes, Amazon, Napster and other digital sources.
According to Benign -- who recently organized a Blue in the Face reunion at Shank Hall -- the tune is already getting spins on WUWM and WMSE.
Benign has put together a new band -- The Mike Benign Compulsion -- while he records his first full-length solo disc, "Rollicking Musical," due in March 2010.
The band includes Brian Wooldridge on bass, Joe Vent on guitar and the ubiquitous Mike Koch on drums.
You can see the band live on Saturday, Jan. 23 at the Pablove Foundation benefit show at Turner Hall and Friday, Feb. 26 at Shank Hall, opening for Twilight Hours, the latest band featuring John Munson (of Semisonic) and Matt Wilson, both of whom were in Trip Shakespeare.
Benign plays a solo gig Saturday, Feb. 6 at Sugar Maple with The Lackloves' Mike Jarvis and The Rip Off Artists' Nick Pipitone.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
