Courtesy of Pete Stidman
Audio By Carbonatix
The Northside is getting another jolt of live-music magic. After the revamped Federal Theatre made its debut in September, the new Wax Trax location at 3641 West 32nd Street will open today, October 11, with a stellar local lineup leading up to an extra-special headliner.
Wax Trax marketing director Delaney Schoenfeldt says the shop’s grand opening will tout enticing giveaways for guests, in addition to live music from local bands White Rose Motor Oil and Los Mocochetes. And then there’s the headliner: Ekko Astral. The breakout noise-rock band will also be signing records at the store before heading to its opening performance for PUP and Jeff Rosenstock at Mission Ballroom.
“They do this tongue-in-cheek lyricism, often commenting on their queer and trans experience, but it’s a wall-shaking, hardcore sound at the same time,” Schoenfeldt says. “It’s sort of like a basement riot and a glitter explosion simultaneously.”
Ekko Astral’s debut album, Pink Balloons, was named the best rock album of 2024 by Pitchfork, she notes. “Even with that huge accolade, they’re still relatively unknown,” she says. “But Wax Trax has had this history of discovering what’s next in underground music ever since we opened nearly fifty years ago. We’ve had Violent Femmes, we’ve had the Ramones do an in-store at some point, we’ve had Social Distortion, Mazzy Star. All these folks have played in our shop and made it a hallowed ground. I can’t imagine a better way to kick open the doors than with Ekko Astral, who are, in my opinion, on the forefront of underground music right now.”
The doors will open at 10 a.m., with White Rose Motor Oil performing at 11 a.m., followed by Los Mocochetes at noon. The 1 p.m. set from Ekko Astral will lead into an all-vinyl set DJ Deep Rawk Dave. Throughout, people can browse through vinyls and take part in the giveaways.
“The neighbors on 32nd have been so welcoming. They’ve given us a ton of stuff from their businesses to donate for our giveaway. … We have an absurd amount of things for free, including a ton of concert tickets for shows at Mission, Red Rocks, Lost Lake, the Gothic, the Bluebird, Globe Hall, Ogden — almost all of the venues in Denver,” Schoenfeldt says. “We’ll be throwing some free slip mats for the first fifty purchases, a lot of Wax Trax assorted merch. Basically, I would be surprised if you didn’t walk away with anything if you came to the grand opening.”
This will be the fifth location of Wax Trax, which was founded by Jim Nash and Dannie Flesher in 1975 and has become one of Denver’s best record stores, and certainly the most well-known. The co-owners sold the operation to Duane Davis and Dave Stidman in 1978; Pete Stidman, Dave’s son, took over during the pandemic. The flagship at 638 East 13th Avenue includes a used-record store next door; that was followed by the location at 200 South Broadway, a spot at Stanley Marketplace and a mobile mini-shop that pops up around the city.
The walkability of the Highlands neighborhood made for a natural next location, according to Pete Stidman
“I’m from Denver, but I spent a lot of time in Boston, and I like walkable neighborhoods. So when I started thinking about putting in a store west of I-25, I scoped out all the walkable neighborhoods in the area, and this was the best one,” he says. “It also has a character of having a lot of locally owned businesses, which is nice, too.”
Like the other locations, the new Wax Trax will continue to host events, listening parties and concerts. “We love events, and our shop is built on the ethos of being a community center for people who love music, which is a lot of people in Denver,” Schoenfeldt notes. “We would love it if the new Northside location could echo that ethos.”
Wax Trax grand opening, 10 a.m. Saturday, October 11, 3641 West 32nd Street; it’s free to attend.
