Handing over to Wax Trax! Records a healthy portion of the tip money he earned at his bartending job, Shanahan built the record collection he used to start Smartbar. Shanahan fondly recalls making Saturday morning pilgrimages to the store, where Jim Nash and Flesher would tell him what records he needed, and why. They were forging an independent spirit really early on. They came to town with a record store idea that became this community clubhouse. “Jim and Dannie single-handedly changed my perception.
“Without Wax Trax!, there’s no Metro, no Smartbar,” says Shanahan. So began a relationship that altered Shanahan’s life - and, by extension, those of countless concertgoers. Shanahan and a roommate pitched in by painting walls and record bins. Having heard that Jim Nash and Flesher were moving to Chicago from Denver, where the original Wax Trax! store was located, the young music devotee showed up at 2449 N. Metro and Smartbar owner Joe Shanahan’s connection to the shop runs just as deep. The de facto gatekeeper of the Wax Trax! legacy and director of the 2018 documentary “Industrial Accident: The Story of Wax Trax! Records” decided to relocate to Chicago in 1987 from Kansas when she was 18 after she “found her true self” in the store. That welcoming environment left a lasting impression on her. Wax Trax! Records was a “destination” long before the term evolved into a marketing concept. Offering expert guidance and engaging conversation, Jim Nash, Flesher and their staff, largely comprised of deejays and musicians, tipped off customers to cutting-edge artists and must-hear albums that existed on the fringe. So did the people working behind the counter. Huge posters, custom displays, television sets playing videos and a baby-blue neon sign contributed to the creative atmosphere and palpable energy. Offbeat, independent, bootleg and import vinyl LPs filled the bins. The store carried a vast range of genres - dance, soul, R&B, heavy metal, electronic, rockabilly, hardcore, glam, avant-garde and more - and thousands of titles that couldn’t be found anywhere else. A record label of the same name, started by Jim Nash and Flesher in 1980, remains synonymous with industrial music by the likes of Front 242 and KMFDM.
When Wax Trax! opened its doors in 1978 in a building that once housed a funeral parlor, there was nothing like it in the city - or country. The storefront, covered in white porcelain brick, was once Wax Trax! Records.
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