In about 1970 Todd joined up with a bunch of tallented and very innovative musicians calling themselves, Methyl Ethyl and the Ketones. Amy Madigan was "Methyl Ethyl" and making a word play on chemistry and chemical names, the band that backed for Methyl Ethyl was named "The KeTones"

The band consisted of Jessie Roe(keyboards), John Billings(guitar and steel), Brian Perotti(drums) Todd Galanter(bass) Mark Kapov(percussion and vocals) and Amy Madigan(yes the famous movie actress on vocals and percussion).

Much of the music was very "off the wall" original compositions with unusual themes such as "Sin Song" and "Fire In the Dump" MEK often played at a local Milwaukee East Side venue called Hump'N Hanna's. Milwaukee's East Side was steeped in the 70's counter culture and MEK was right at home in this environment. Hump'N Hanna's was located in a building in E. Locust St. on the basement level. There was no elevator and we had to carry all the band equipment (including Jessie's heavy Hammond Organ) down a long flight of stairs. The building was torn down sometime in the 80's. A small park is now on the site and serves as an open air produce market in the summer months.

Methyl Ethyl and the KeTones used space in the rear warehouse of Joseph's Beauty Supply Company, that was owned by Todd's father. MEK used this space for practice and to make recordings of their original music. Many of the music tracks below, were recorded at that location. The building is located at 1116 W. Lincoln Avenue in Milwaukee. The building was sold in the late 1990's to a company that makes commercial store awnings

You can follow this LINK to the MEK audio player page where you can listen to 16 tracks of Methyl Ethyl and the KeTones.

I would like to thank Jessie Roe for contributing the photographs for this section of Todd's web site, and to Mark Kapov for an audio CD with the 16 audio tracks.

Click the thumbnail below to see the full size image