About Me
Wax Trax! Records was a record label in the United States. Wax Trax! began as a record shop in Denver, Colorado opened by Jim Nash and Dannie Flesher. They sold the store in 1978 and, in November of that year, opened a new one under the same name at 2449 N. Lincoln Avenue in Chicago, Illinois. This store would become the center of the punk rock and industrial music worlds in Chicago.
The record store became a record label slowly at first, releasing a few limited edition records, then some EPs. Their first release was Strike Under's Immediate Action, in 1980 or 1981. Their re-release of Cold Life by Ministry, along with their licensing of Front 242's "Endless Riddance" EP, set the stage for them to become America's preeminent industrial music and dance label of the 1980s and 1990s.
They sub-licensed a number of recordings from Play It Again Sam of Belgium, and eventually helped to open a U.S. unit of PIAS, although the relationship between the two labels was acrimoniously severed in 1990.
Following a bankruptcy filing, Wax Trax! was bought by New York-based TVT Records in 1992 or 1993, with Nash and Flesher retaining creative control over the label.
Among the most prolific artists released by Wax Trax! were Front 242 (including 242 side-project C-Tec), KMFDM, Pig, Front Line Assembly, Young Gods, Sister Machine Gun, Cubanate, My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult, Meat Beat Manifesto and Laibach. The label also released a handful of side projects by Al Jourgensen and Paul Barker of Ministry, including Revolting Cocks, Acid Horse (a collaboration with Cabaret Voltaire), Pailhead (a collaboration with Ian Mackaye of Fugazi), PTP (short for "Programming The Psychodrill"), Lead Into Gold (a solo vehicle for Barker) and 1000 Homo DJs.
