Menthol (formerly Mother) was a Champaign, IL trio formed in 1991. They were Balthazar De Ley on guitar and vocals, Joel Spencer on bass and background vocals, and Colin Koteles on drums. Their sound combined clever lyrics with distorted, melodic rock music. They released one single and one album, Gold Record LP, on Mud Records in 1993.

They relocated to Chicago, signed with Capitol Records, and renamed themselves Menthol. They released their major-label debut, Menthol, in 1995.

In 1998, Danger: Rock Science! was to be Menthol's sophomore release on Capitol but was shelved by Capitol. In label limbo, Menthol struggled to get back their recording rights. Finally they gave up and re-recorded the album at one-tenth the cost, although "Q102" and "Bavarian Girl" were replaced with "Future Shock." Danger: Rock Science! was released in 2002 on Hidden Agenda Records.

Before founding Mother, De Ley founded and played guitar in Honcho Overload and played bass in Hum. He was also in Bad Flannel. In 1996, Mark Baldwin joined Menthol but left later that year. Henry Frayne and Wes Hollywood played with Menthol for a few years.

Menthol's last show was at The Highdive in Champaign on May 25, 2008. Honcho Overload, The Moon Seven Times, Dick Justice, Corndolly, and Driver Has No Cash also performed. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.