One of my favorite memories of being in a band, aside from the occasional Bacchanalia you’d imagine, was the evening we were visited by Wax Trax! Records. The VP of A&R, the owner and his boyfriend flew up to Minneapolis to check us out, speak with us and take us to dinner. Our music was a little on the light side for them, as Ministry and Thrill Kill had just left them for greener pastures and KMFDM was the main act they were pushing, along with a NIN wannabee called Sister Machine Gun. The first sign that things weren’t likely to be entirely synchronous between us was when we were sitting down at a nice Italian restaurant – an old favorite of mine called Pronto – and the lead singer started having a knowledgeable discussion about wine with the main keyboard programmer.
The owner looked at the VP and said: “geez, are we signing a band or a bunch of wine critics?” The best part, though, was when we heading back from the clubs later and we drove past the homosexuals gathered en masse outside the Gay 90’s, as was their wont at closing time. Fortunately, we were in two taxis, so only the VP was in the car with the drummer and I when our astoundingly clueless drummer said: “holy cow, look at all those faggots.”
The VP looked a little concerned, cleared his throat and said, “Mike, you should probably know that Jim and Danny are partners.” The drummer, who was quite young, perhaps 18, said “business partners?” The VP put his head in his hands and just about died laughing. Good times, good times.