KMFDM is an inustrial rock band and the brainchild of founding member Sascha Konietzko which sold well over 2 million records world-wide. KMFDM was founded in Paris, France on February 29, 1984 as a joint effort between Konietzko and German painter/multi-media performer Udo Sturm to perform for the opening of an exhibition of young European artists at the Grand Palais. Sturm had no lasting musical aspirations, and Konietzko was more interested in studio recordings than the occasional art performance, so he began collaborating with then-Hamburg-based studio owner Raymond Watts and drummer Klaus Schandelmaier, who adopted the stage name En Esch. After working the Hamburg underground music scene and releasing three albums on European labels, the band began its long-standing relationship with Wax Trax! Records when their 1988 album Don't Blow Your Top was licensed to the label for US distribution. After touring with Ministry in 1989–1990, they signed directly to Wax Trax! and quickly became a part of the industrial music scene in Chicago that included Ministry, Front 242 and My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult. Konietzko then moved to Chicago in early 1991, and Esch followed a year later. After close friend and president of Wax Trax! Records Jim Nash died of an illness complicated by AIDS, KMFDM relocated to Seattle, Washington.