Wax Trax Records

“They had videos, and they had the ‘sonic’.”

Those are the words spoken by Mad Max to the kids waiting for the return of Captain Walker in the 1985 film Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. What exactly was the “sonic”? It was a record. There is no electricity in Mad Max’s dystopian future, but there are records. By manually spinning them, the kids could hear disembodied sounds from the past hinting at “Tomorrow-Morrow Land.”

If you take a walk down Washington Street in Denver to the E 13th Avenue intersection, the past is what you’ll find. You’ll know you’re in the right place when you see Lemmy’s face staring back at you. The sign says everything you need to know. Wax Trax Records. Don’t go in yet; it doesn’t stop there. If you keep walking, you’ll see Kilgore Books, where you can browse through shelves of used books and comics, but after that, you’ll see it again – Wax Trax Records. You might think, “Wait, didn’t I just walk past it on the corner?” 

Why yes. You did. Wax Trax has stores. The corner store is where you’ll find the new vinyl releases, as well as CDs, and the store near the alley is where you can browse for that old New York Dolls record you’ve been searching for.

Now you can go inside. Pick a store. And when you’re done there, go to the other one.

If you’re of a certain age, you’ll remember those “cool” record shops of the past when “sonic” was king, and Tina Turner was riding high on the success of Private Dancer at the same time she appeared in Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. Those record shops had posters on the walls and on the ceiling, some torn and worn with age, while others are newly stapled in place to promote a local band or a new release. That’s Wax Trax Records today. Complete with the feeling of déjà vu. It is a record lover’s dream. It’s also a time capsule that hasn’t changed in forty-four years. 

Wax Trax first opened its doors in 1975. It moved from its original location in 1977 to E 13th Avenue. A year later, it was purchased by Duane Davis and Dave Stidman. If you were a patron of the store back then, you would recognize the last name of its current Co-Owner, Peter Stidman, Dave’s son, who came back to the area in 2020 “to pick up the baton for the next 44 years.”

It’s a pretty big baton to heft. Not only does Wax Trax serve Denver’s vinyl-seeking community, but it also hosts the 13th Avenue Market, where over seventy local vendors sell everything from vintage clothing to art. Wax Trax also hosts live events (which never fails to elicit at least one noise complaint). Past performers included Black Flag. Most recently, it invited local punk bands and crowd-pleasers, Moon Pussy and Quits, to grace the stage. 

If the music of Moon Pussy and Quits whets your appetite, you can find local music inside. Want some Lords of Fuzz or Planes Mistaken for Stars? Wax Trax is there to serve.

While you’re busy dodging The Cramps poster that flutters down from the ceiling, you’ll find endless hours to kill flipping through their collection of t-shirts. 

But it’s the vinyl that draws the locals in.

“Vinyl is by far, and always will be, the best physical object for carrying music,” Stidman says. It’s that physicality that matters, according to Stidman, and it has a leg up on other physical formats. “Now that music is in the air when we want it to be, CDs just don’t have the history.”

New to vinyl? Stidman has your back with some advice. “Buy a decent turntable, amp, and speakers. You don’t have to get crazy, but don’t buy a Crossley or a Victrola—those won’t play modern music without skipping all over the place.”

It’s sound advice. 

“We are grateful that people are turning to vinyl more and more now and hope it’s bringing some comfort to everyone in these crazy times,” Stidman adds.

And when I asked what sets Wax Trax apart from other record stores, Stidman made me laugh…

“A long walk.”

😉