Luna was opening for The Sundays many moons ago, and I was standing in line with three friends… trying to grab two additional tickets for the sold-out show that was about to begin. No one else recognized Dean Wareham as he walked past the line in a parka, and I mumbled: “Good luck with the show tonight.”

He cracked a little joke with a smile, “Uh, how do you know who I am?”

I explained how I had seen Galaxie 500 play years before at age 16, during a tour with The Cocteau Twins. (And you’d never guess how nasty Cocteau Twins fans can be, when Galaxie 500 is the opening act.) “I went specifically to see you guys play. Glad I was able to catch that show… it was a big influence on me.”

It was a very brief interaction, which is why I was very surprised when he came out a few minutes later offering us spots on the guest list.

Now I remember a lot of chatter back in the day about how much of an asshole Dean Wareham was — but who goes out of their way right before a show to give some kids the rest of his guest list spots? An asshole?

Not in my book.

I was really trying to draw a more personal connection between how I perceive the band and how that matches how I perceive the typeface. I should have made more clear that these are personal connections on my end, and not any kind of bold statements on what the designer intended. It just seemed apropos that fIREHOSE were that type of band, and their logo is as unflashy as it gets. An added wrinkle is that fIREHOSE crossed my path in the late 80s well after that album came out, so my whole take on this is me looking backwards and making connections with my memories. I hope that makes sense.

Appreciate the feedback, man.