Gunkcast 57 – Humming Tunes On The Deck As The Ship Lay In Tatters: The Menthol Story (An Interview With Balthazar de Ley) (February 2020)
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1:33:28 – Join Smidge as he brings in 2020 for Gunkcast with another all-out music extravaganza! Fot this one he meets with very special guest Balthazar de Ley in the studio. Balthazar was the frontman for (as some have referred to them) the greatest band you’ve never heard! Menthol came from the humble origins of a college town in Champaign-Urbana, IL. Originally know as Mother, they were part of the wave of bands on the scene following the explosion of grunge… when the likes Indie Rock, punk, & shoegaze all were finding a home together under the umbrella of “Alt Rock.” Balthazar relates a fascinating tale of how the very unlikely chance that his band’s demo ended up on a record label executive’s desk in LA changed everything for the band. Suddenly Menthol found themselves thrust into the spotlight! Signed to a major label they released their big budget debut LP as Menthol and were off on a whirlwind tour for a few years (supporting some big name bands from that era)! Then came time for their follow-up LP, and Menthol (who were by then evolving as a band) went into the studio and fully finished an album inspired largely by a retro 80’s New Wave sound. Hear the unbelievable account of what happened next. We don’t want to give away too much here… so you will just have to listen!
This episode is packed with many cool & interesting tales of what Balthazar encountered on his music journey. From taking music lessons from one of the members of REO Speedwagon in his youth, to playing bass in the band Hum, developing crazy guitar tunings as his signature sound, playing at the legendary CBGB’s in NYC and running into a big-name actor in quite the unlikely spot in the famous punk bar, & working for Billy Corgan to maintain the studio equipment that the Smashing Pumpkins were doing their best to destroy! And just how could a series of bizarre events & Courtney Love have had an impact on how things played out for Menthol in the end? Yes, you will just have to tune-in to this episode for all these details & much more!
Balthazar later became a sound engineer, played in another band called La Scala, was a studio repair tech, and presently designs and builds custom guitar amps with his Chicago-based biz called Balthazar Audio Systems. Also, the BIG news here is that Menthol are reuniting on May 24th this year for a reunion show! To find more on Menthol online you can find their music on Discogs, Amazon, & iTunes. Also check out a Facebook Page as well as and another really cool podcast a guy named Marc with a C did several years ago! Cheers!
Also, please share the love and listen to some of our favorite podcasts at: Onsug, Static Radio, Insignificast, The Hustle, Rock Solid, The Not New Review, & The Real Congregation.
License for this track: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/). Attribution: by Smidge Kurdlebaum – more info at onsug.com or trashcanrock.com.
Released February 2020 on The Overnightscape Underground (onsug.com), an Internet talk radio channel focusing on a freeform monologue style, with diverse and fascinating hosts.
3:50:54 – Frank in New Jersey and New York City, plus the Other Side. Topics include: Going to see an H.P. Lovecraft movie later, new colors, Barsoom, new recorder (Roland R-07), engaging the hydraulics in the morning, beeping, Dreamcast Magazine, coat of many colors, perceptual systems, Huey Lewis dream, the 80s, percussion, Inland Empire (2006), New Coke, The Swords of Lankhmar by Fritz Leiber (1968), Friz Quadrata, pressure from the future, vision of another place, ramen, CBD oil, Brady Arnold update, Apple Music Favorites Mix, The Alan Parsons Project, madness, the building of Kathy Ireland office shelves for the living room, Third Man Records, Sleep – Dopesmoker, 70s kid weirdness, heading down to IFC Center to see Color Out o8f Space (2019), The Furniture Leak, Mr. Peanut, MacDougal Street, Copper Branch, Bleecker Street, Nefista, Doganay Fermented Black Carrot Juice, talking with my brother John, the movie was good, Crispin Glover, the robot’s birthday party, Legends of Runeterra, Wallpaper Troubadour, theme parks at night, New Orleans Square, Disneyland, Jack Burns dead at 86, Rampo Patcho, and much more… plus the Other Side (at 3:10:12)… Amor de barrio by Nize Sanchez [Archive.org, CC BY 2.5], Chauffeur’s Training School (Commercial, 1983) [FuzzyMemories.TV], Advert for Chillin’ FM 3 [via Webm8 productions], The Three Shades by Vukovar [Archive.org, CC BY-NC-ND 3.0], Happy Jester by Loretta Jacobs [Jamendo, CC BY 3.0], Malibu Beach Trailer 1978 [YouTube], The Easy Winners (Scott Joplin, 1901) by Steel Drum Ragtime [Onsug, public domain], Porcho Patcho 1 (1/11/20) [Onsug, CC BY-NC-ND 3.0], Leafless Quince Tree by Rolemusic [FreeMusicArchive, CC BY-NC-ND 3.0], Surrounded By The Sound by The Sunshine Factory [Archive.org, CC BY-NC-ND 3.0], H8 U by LukHash [Jamendo, CC BY-NC-ND 3.0], The Melancholy Pool by Clark Ashton Smith [LibriVox, public domain], 1981 Atari Promotional Video “Inside Atari: The Next Decade” [YouTube], Night Hole Breakers by Tree Bag Ask [Onsug, CC BY-NC-ND 3.0].
License for this track: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License (
3:44:50 – Frank in New Jersey and New York City, plus the Other Side. Topics include: Psychedelic bloodshot eyes, kite invention dream, Gayla Sky-Spy, Jarts, lucid dreaming, dreamland evidence, late bus, concourse definition, the Wuhan flu, Nocturnal Playground by Russ Freeman (1986), Skittles incident, Goffee, Turmeric CBD Oatmilk Latte, The Other Side by Nektar (2020), The Other Side, the story of Brady Arnold – a prog rocker who deleted all his music off the Internet, Sea Window by Brady Arnold [Archive.org, CC BY-NC-ND 3.0], Brady’s Epilogue, second trip to Hudson Yards, Terry Jones of Monty Python dead at 77, Vessel, The Shed, Sherman Hemsley, Gong’s Radio Gnome Invisible Trilogy, exploring the mall, Basic Strategies, July 1994, Hamster Wave, and much more… plus the Other Side (at 3:04:20)… Trance Dance [via Webm8 productions], Launch CD-Rom Magazine Ad from 1997 [YouTube], Nite-Owl [FuzzyMemories.TV], Heart of Medieval by Butterfly Tea [Jamendo, CC BY-NC-SA 3.0], WFLD Channel 32 – The Six Million Dollar Man – “The Bionic Woman: Part 2” (Commercial Break #2, 1978) (excerpt) [FuzzyMemories.TV], Spybreaker by Phantom Operators [Jamendo, CC BY-ND 3.0], I won’t forget you by The Sway [Archive.org, (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0], Porcho Patcho 5 (1/11/20) [Onsug, CC BY-NC-ND 3.0], Elimination of Danger by Studebaker’s Blacksmith Shop [Archive.org, CC BY-NC-ND 3.0], The Beatles Interviewed By Kenny Everett – Chat #3 (BBC Radio, The Kenny Everett Show) (6/6/68) [collection], b6 [textfiles.com], G39-16-Bugle Call by craigsmith [Freesound, CC0 1.0], Powerlush by Sluttrigger [Jamendo, CC BY-NC-SA 3.0], King Kong Man by MrJuan [Jamendo, CC BY 3.0], welcome to our fairy world [Freesound, CC BY 3.0].
License for this track: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License (
