In 1990, Social Distortion was enjoying the success of what remains their most popular album. Creatively titled Social Distortion, it features the classics, “Ball and Chain,” “Story of My Life,” and their cover of Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire.” The album raised them from the ranks of punk rock legends to modern day rockabilly icons. When Wax Trax was asked to host an in-store with them, we jumped at the chance.
Prep for the event was lowkey, and focused on the logistics of moving a sizable crowd through the store. We may even have gone so far as to buy new markers for the band to sign records, posters, etc.
As expected, a crowd of a few hundred people turned out. The band was super nice and chatted with fans while still managing to keep the line for autographs moving. They played an acoustic set from behind the counter perched on our wobbly wooden stools. The fans loved it and I suspect some of our more jaded staff enjoyed it as well. I know I did. Kara, the only other female staffer at the corner store at that time, was a rockabilly gal and I remember the two of us trying hard not to act like giggly school girls when Mike Ness signed a big poster “To the foxy ladies of Wax Trax.” That poster still hangs in the store.
The band also made a great impression on Rose, who worked for decades at our Oldies store (now the Used store). In keeping with her role as a mom outside of work, Rose invited the band to her house for spaghetti and they took her up on the offer. On a few subsequent tour dates in Denver, Social D returned to Rose’s house for dinner and remained as down to earth as ever.
Fast forward to the mid 90’s and the rise of shoegaze band Mazzy Star. The single “Fade Into You” had hit the charts a year after the release of their second album So Tonight That I Might See. This in-store was offered to Wax Trax as more of a gig than an autograph session. We of course said yes, and then came the list of expectations.
As a chunk of the prep fell to me, I came to think of it as a list of demands. The fluorescent lights had to be covered with blue cellophane. As no stranger to the store’s 12-foot ladder, I didn’t have an issue with the task itself. It was more of where to get blue gels (remember, this was before Amazon). Somehow, we located some and I taped them over our freshly dusted fixtures; the tape wouldn’t stick otherwise.
I knew the band had obviously never been in our store, but was still annoyed that we also had to cover the windows with dark sheets. Even on a sunny day, little natural light filtered through the layers of posters and 13th Avenue grime. The moody effect rendered the store dark enough that we worried about people robbing us blind while the band played.
During the preparations, fearless owner Duane had told Jerry, our label rep, that he wanted to ask singer Hope Sandoval, “What do you want me to do, strip naked, paint my butt blue and run up and down 13th holding a sign saying ‘Mazzy Star is here?’” Jokes about supplying the band M&Ms with the brown ones removed and other infamous rockstar backstage demands circulated among the staff.
Despite the chip on our shoulders, the staff and crowd of about 60 fans enjoyed the set. I don’t remember the band spending much time signing things, but that is more likely due to holes in a decades-old memory and not snobbishness on the band’s part.
All things considered, being a part of in-stores is definitely a perk of working at Wax Trax. And working here again (after two decades of being a teacher) means even more good, bad, and ugly in-stores. I’m looking forward to them all.
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