Interview Wax Trax! and back

Although a dental office occupies the storefront at 2449 N. Lincoln Ave. today, in 1978 it was the home of Wax Trax! Records and the corner of the burgeoning new wave/punk/dance/industrial playground that was part of the Chicago music scene well into the ’80s and ’90s. In late ’78, after selling their original shop in Denver, partners Dannie Flesher and Jim Nash decided to move the operation east where the record store eventually became its own label, at first releasing rare limited editions before gaining the spotlight and furthering momentum with the national attention given to local mainstays Ministry. 

Wax Trax! went on to sign some of the decades biggest industrial/dance acts (KMFDM, Meat Beat Manifesto, and Underworld among them), even after selling the label to TVT Records in 1992 in a bankruptcy settling that allowed Flesher and Nash to retain creative control. After Nash died in 1995, but before partner Flesher passed in 2010, TVT ceased the Wax Trax! imprint—yet the Wax Trax! legacy lives on. This weekend the label will celebrate its 33-1/3 anniversary with three shows at Metro that bring together some of the imprint’s most noted acts in a vast Retrospectacle fest, organized by Julia Nash, who is Jim Nash’s daughter, and Metro owner Joe Shanahan, who had talked about putting together a show for years but only felt the timing was right very recently.

“Shortly after my dad passed away in ’95, Dannie Flesher and Joe Shanahan and I talked about the possibility of doing a show. It felt too early, and Dannie was having a really hard time with the loss of his companion of over 20 years, so the time wasn’t right,” says Nash. “After Dannie passed away in January 2010, Joe called to offer his condolences, and I said, ‘I’m ready now.’”

Each of the shows (Friday and Saturday are sold out; tickets still remain for Sunday) benefits the youth programs at the Center On Halsted, which Nash says has a strong kinship with Wax Trax! from its community efforts: “The Wax Trax! shop was a gathering place for people who didn’t necessarily fit in with society. I have heard so many stories from people about how they couldn’t wait to get out of school or work just to go hang out at the record store. They felt like they were understood and appreciated there. The Center On Halsted does the same for the LGBT community.”

Although Nash explains the organizers made a concerted effort to reach out to “just about everyone” from the Wax Trax! roster (most of the European-based acts and those who don’t perform at all anymore had to bow out), she remains humbled with the lineup they were able to put together: “It’s incredible fans will be able to see all these bands at once. It has never happened, and I can’t say it ever will again.” Let The A.V. Club wax nostalgic and catch you up with some of the label’s acts.

Name: Chris Connelly
Years active on Wax Trax!: 1986-1999
Performed with: Fini Tribe, Revolting Cocks, Acid Horse, PTP, as well releasing as his own solo records
Seminal album release: “It would have to be my solo record, Shipwreck. I had hit my stride as a songwriter and had an amazing band. I also love Beers, Steers And Queers by Revolting Cocks, but the making of it was very piecemeal—it just sort of appeared one day, and it was very successful but a little bewildering.”
Fondest Wax Trax! memory: “A drunken and stupidly dangerous motorbike ride home from the Limelight club at 4 a.m. It was August of 1987, before I had moved to Chicago. Dannie Flesher was driving, and I was on the back with no helmet, like a moron. I remember thinking that this was the beginning of a journey, a fast and dangerous journey, and I was really excited about what was going to happen.”
Most memorable Wax Trax!-era concert: “The inaugural Revolting Cocks concert at Cabaret Metro! It couldn’t have been more ridiculous. I was very, very green, and I was surrounded by a lot of seemingly insane and very loud, yelling Americans, all on different bizarre drugs, onstage and off. Backstage was like a cross between a Fellini film and Robocop; onstage was the same, but with strobes and dry ice.”
Life post-Wax Trax!: “I’m a goat farmer in rural Finland. It seemed to be my calling in life.” [Funny, we heard he manages Reckless Records. —ed.]
Track to download: “Stainless Steel Providers” by Revolting Cocks
(Performing April 16 & 17 at Metro)

Name: Marston Daley (a.k.a. Buzz McCoy)
Years active on Wax Trax!: 1988-1991
Performed with: My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult; also recorded a few tracks with Sasha from KMFDM, which were released under the name Excessive Force.
Seminal album release: “Our first album, I See Good Spirits And I See Bad Spirits. It was basically written and recorded in about 10 days, and mixed in about five days. We had no idea what we were doing—it was just a chaotic magical mess of a moment in space and time.”
Fondest Wax Trax! memory: “I moved to Chicago from Boston in late 1987 and started working at the label shipping records, back when it was located on Lincoln Avenue. Franke [“Groovie Mann” Nardiello] worked downstairs at the record store, and we would have lunch at Peter’s Diner every day and come up with crazy ideas for bands, movies, fashion, etc. We also ended up living across the street from each other, so we started making music. Jim and Dannie heard some of the tracks and were enthusiastic about putting us in the studio to record a few songs, and so they flew us to Belgium to record at Luc Van Acker’s studio. … There were also the barbecues on the roof of the Damen Street building—they were the best!”
Most memorable Wax Trax!-era concert: “I suppose it was our first show at the Riviera. Again we had no idea what we were doing, and we hadn’t put a real band together, so we asked some of our late-night club friends to join in. The show was hosted by Robert Englund [who played Freddy Krueger]. It was a Halloween Wax Trax! showcase.”
Life post-Wax Trax!: “My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult is still active. I write a lot of other material, but I haven’t put together anything cohesive like another project yet. Perhaps soon... .”
Track to download: “Kooler Than Jesus” by My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult
(Performing April 16 at Metro)

Name: Bill Leeb
Years active on Wax Trax!: 1986-1990
Performed with: Front Line Assembly; also Cyberaktif with cEvin Key and Dwayne Goettel of Skinny Puppy
Seminal album release: “Caustic Grip—it’s in the hall of shame of electronic albums, or revered as one of those records. We had two singles of the week in the U.K. from it, and the album is still considered a classic.”
Fondest Wax Trax! memory: “My best memories always revolve around Jim Nash. He was always so supportive, [even] if we wanted to do five projects or make a video and we weren’t that big of a band name. I remember one time when I needed transportation, and Jim lent me his credit card to rent a motor home. It really was such a family atmosphere like that—we all knew each other, and all that music was at the forefront at the time. It felt special, like we were really onto something. There was another time when Jim flew me in to Chicago to record our first official video for ‘Isolate.’ As we were working on it, in the same room on the side, Trent Reznor was working on the video for ‘Head Like A Hole.’”
Most memorable Wax Trax!-era concert: “In New York, there was a two-day Wax Trax! festival with us and Meat Beat Manifesto and Killing Joke.”
Life post-Wax Trax!: “Front Line Assembly is getting ready to do another tour. I was also involved with the group Delirium, we did a song ‘Silence.’ It featured Sarah McLachlan and was recently voted the No. 1 trance song.”
Track to download: “Mindphaser” by Front Line Assembly