Benson finally finds fame

The Alternative to Love has won much awaited critical acclaim for Brendon Benson. Benson's photo profile

Brendan Benson expected his big breakthrough to happen almost a decade ago.

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That's when he released his first album, One Mississippi, on Virgin Records, which expected him to be the next big thing, as did Benson. But the album flopped, and the label dropped him. It took six years before he made another album, Laplaco.

He spent much of his time out of the spotlight producing other artists and bands in his native Detroit, he even waited tables for a bit.

Now, he's released The Alternative to Love on V2 Records, also the home of buddy Jack White's White Stripes, and he's finally getting the recognition he's sought for years.

The album has garnered him critical acclaim, he's touring around the nation by himself and with Keane, and he's already finished another album, a joint effort with White.

The Alternative to Love has won much awaited critical acclaim for Brendon Benson.

The AP talked to Benson before his sold-out show at New York's Bowery Ballroom.

AP: You produced The Alternative to Love by yourself and played all the instruments, are you a control freak? Benson: It wasn't my plan to make it myself, it just kind of happened that way. It happened with Lapalco too. I get anxious, if I write something, I want to record it immediately. It seems silly for me to make a demo. I don't have a regular band so if I wanted to go into the studio I'd have to plan for it and schedule the time while I can play all the instruments at my house well enough to kind of just get the point across. I mean, there are much better musicians than I am, better drummers, better guitar players. But I have fun.

AP: You've said you don't want to be classified as a singer/songwriter, do you think it has a negative connotation? Benson: It's not so much negative as it is wrong. I mean, strictly speaking, I am a singer/songwriter, but I wouldn't say David Bowie is a singer-songwriter. He wrote music to be played and performed by a band. I always imagined the stuff I write to be performed by a band and it's written that way, too. I'm not trying to showcase lyrics, my voice or anything like that. It works more with lyrics as a whole, like a band does.

Q: You're getting a lot more attention now with this new album. How does that make you feel?
Benson: It's totally exciting. I have noticed in the past I've been so underground that I hadn't seen or heard many bad reviews of me or the music. But now although I haven't seen any bad reviews, I have run into a few little things. It seems the more popular you get the more chance there is to hear some pretty nasty things. ... So it's a little frightening.

Q: You've dealt with depression, does that tie into your fear of rejection?
Benson: Yeah, probably. I mean, I'm just as depressed as the next guy, but I can get pretty depressed and I'm sure it all goes hand in hand. I mean it's depressing to hear someone say `I don't like Brendan Benson' since it's a solo thing and when people say they don't like my music they say they don't like me. Whereas if I was in a band, if I was in the Strokes and people said `the Strokes suck' I can take refuge, like I am part of the Strokes but they don't hate me. But in this case it's `we hate Brendan Benson.' Conversely when it's `we love Brendan Benson,' that's kind of nice but still a little strange. I always think, `No you don't love Brendan Benson; you love the music.'

Q: A lot of artists use their depression to fuel their songwriting, do you?
Benson: I can't write, I can't do anything when I am depressed. I write songs when I feel good.

Q: What is the alternative to love?
Benson: I don't know. Everyone seems to think it's a riddle and they want an answer. I mean there is, but I would rather people think about it. ... I guess `The Alternative to Love' begs the question. But I thought it was more of a suggestion, sort of there is potential for it to mean really whatever, and that's what I liked about it. Now everyone wants to know the answer.

Q: Do you think this album is more radio friendly than your last ones?
Benson: I guess so, yeah. But I never know; you're asking a guy who said to
Jack White once that his songs would never be played on the radio.