WASTED ENERGY

Blog on all things music. From local show reviews, to crusty opinion pieces, interviews with the stars, and historical content from "Waste Paper," a 1980s zine.
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Resonance #20: Corpses, Weasels, & Torch Singer Fatalism
Resonance #20: Corpses, Weasels, & Torch Singer Fatalism
The article below is from the Wax Trax fanzine Local Anesthetic circa 1982, more than 44 years ago. Ronald Reagan was only a year and half into his eight-year run... Read more...
Resonance #19: Among the chittering glitch machines
Resonance #19: Among the chittering glitch machines
The review of Oval’s Systemisch CD release is from one of Wax Trax's historical zines,  called Wax Trax Fax. There weren’t many separate issues of Wax Trax Fax, maybe 6... Read more...
Resonance #18: A portrait of Denver late-80s fringe
Resonance #18: A portrait of Denver late-80s fringe
By the mid-1980s, Denver was starting to get on the map for second- & third-tier touring bands, driven primarily by the string of label-supported New Wave and Post Punk bands... Read more...
Resonance # 17: Revisiting the pain
Resonance # 17: Revisiting the pain
Roland Barthes argued that true subversion doesn’t annihilate systems – it warps them. You don’t burn the code; you disfigure it until it stutters, misfires, reveals its seams. By that... Read more...
Resonance #16: Black Light, Slow Burn
Resonance #16: Black Light, Slow Burn
2026 intro and 1986 article by Duane Davis Siouxsie Sioux’s voice during her peak in the 1980s was  an immediate presence, cold, hard, supple: coil upon coil, a predatory embrace,... Read more...
Resonance #15: Signal-to-noise
Resonance #15: Signal-to-noise
A night of industrial art-damage bands at The Pirate Art Gallery in 1985 Editor’s note: For those uninitiated, our Resonance article series recovers a music piece from our past (often... Read more...
Resonance #14: A Panicked Eye: The Mekons
Resonance #14: A Panicked Eye: The Mekons
The first Mekons record I heard was 1978’s, “Where Were You?”, a 7″ single on UK indie label, Fast Product. I was already late to the party as this was... Read more...
Welcome to the slaughterhouse: GWAR at the Gothic, 1991
Welcome to the slaughterhouse: GWAR at the Gothic, 1991
[Editor’s note: GWAR stopped by the shop a few weeks ago to reign terror (and murder) on our employees…check out the video to see the horror with your own eyes.]... Read more...
Resonance #13: It beats working for a living
Resonance #13: It beats working for a living
There’s two interesting things about the timing of this feature on Wax Trax Records in the local newspaper, Life On Capitol Hill, from January 2019. First, the article was published... Read more...
Resonance #12: The Dead Kennedys at the Mercury Cafe (on Pearl Street)
Resonance #12: The Dead Kennedys at the Mercury Cafe (on Pearl Street)
This review of the Dead Kennedys show at the legendary Mercury Cafe came out in our rough and tumble pulp newsprint fanzine, Local Anesthetic, in October 1982. These were the... Read more...
Resonance #11: The world yesterday, and as it is today
Resonance #11: The world yesterday, and as it is today
This review of the avant-rock-anarcho-commie UK band, the Art Bears’ 1981 album, “The World As It Is Today” was printed in Events, a xeroxed free handout that listed the New... Read more...
Resonance #9: Speak of the devil
Resonance #9: Speak of the devil
Warlock Pinchers review from 1990 The Warlock Pinchers are long time Colorado legends, partly for their memorable songs that caught the Denver zeitgeist and partly for their on-stage antics ranging... Read more...
Resonance #8: Captains of industry
Resonance #8: Captains of industry
The reviews below are from the March 1990 issue of Waste Paper, a low cost fanzine put out irregularly by Wax Trax Records over a few years in the 80s... Read more...
Resonance #7: The Fluid’s 1989 European tour diary
Resonance #7: The Fluid’s 1989 European tour diary
On December 6, Sub Pop re-issued seven titles from Denver’s legendary grunge/punk band The Fluid. Sounding better than ever, the songs have been extensively worked over by band members and... Read more...
Resonance #6: Turntablism at the Mercury Cafe
Resonance #6: Turntablism at the Mercury Cafe
The review below was printed in the Jan. 18, 1984 issue of Westword for a Mercury Cafe show the month before. The performance was, I suspect, among the first in... Read more...
Resonance #5: PJ Harvey & the ecstasy of the observed
Resonance #5: PJ Harvey & the ecstasy of the observed
“Sheela-na-gig, Sheela-na-gig You exhibitionist Sheela-na-gig, Sheela-na-gig You exhibitionist…” –Lyrics of “Sheela-Na-Gig” by PJ Harvey “…she turns herself into a pure appearance, an artificial construct with which to trap the desires... Read more...
Resonance #4: Wax Trax discovers punk — 1977
Resonance #4: Wax Trax discovers punk — 1977
Looking back on it, 1977 was a banner year for Punk. Albums by punk and punk-adjacent groups like the Sex Pistols, The Jam, Dead Boys, Ramones, The Clash, Richard Hell... Read more...
Resonance #3: Wax Trax interviews U2 in 1982
Resonance #3: Wax Trax interviews U2 in 1982
In 1981, Dave Stidman and I used to joke that U2’s UK import 12″ single of “I Will Follow” was paying the rent for Wax Trax. Flying across the counter... Read more...
Resonance #2: Charred fingers & burnt ears
Resonance #2: Charred fingers & burnt ears
Two EINSTURZENDE NEUBAUTEN stories, one Waste Paper By Duane Davis & Liz Crow Hughes ‘Music makes mutations audible.’ Jacques Attali, Noise: The Political Economy of Music *** If ol’Jacques is... Read more...
Wax Trax’s founders: human, passionate, and queer
Wax Trax’s founders: human, passionate, and queer
As corporations switch their rainbow-variant logos back to normal at June’s end, I want to take a moment to honor Wax Trax’s queer roots. As a newer Wax Trax staffer,... Read more...
Resonance #1: 1982 Black Flag Interview
Resonance #1: 1982 Black Flag Interview
Story by Dave Wilkins (DA) Introducing the new Resonance monthly series: Now and then we undertake a brave trip to Wax Trax’s dusty depths (a.k.a. basement) to unearth decades-old Wax... Read more...
From the Trax to the top
From the Trax to the top
Wax Trax’s first employee – where are they now? Photos by Duane Davis Steve Knutson, founder and owner of Audika Records and custodian of Arthur Russell’s estate, wasn’t always a... Read more...
A 1986 Sonic Youth Show
A 1986 Sonic Youth Show
The review below was written for SY’s first appearance in Denver. Loud, sweaty and packed, it was a great show with two outstanding local bands, Happy World and Cage of... Read more...
A tale of two in-stores
A tale of two in-stores
In 1990, Social Distortion was enjoying the success of what remains their most popular album. Creatively titled Social Distortion, it features the classics, “Ball and Chain,” “Story of My Life,”... Read more...
A review relic: Minutemen at Blue Note
A review relic: Minutemen at Blue Note
[Editor’s note: Our own Duane Davis unearthed this story he wrote covering a Minutemen show in 1984 at Boulder’s now-defunct Blue Note. It’s a real snapshot of the Denver and... Read more...
Breaking into the Vault: Waste Paper #24, Aug. ’89
Breaking into the Vault: Waste Paper #24, Aug. ’89
New Album Review: Diamanda Galas: You Must Be Certain of the Devil LP (Restless/US/1988) This is the final installment in Diamanda Galas’s “Masque of the Red Death Plague,” a trilogy... Read more...
WAX TRAX RECORDS: THE SECRET HISTORY OF STAYING OPEN
WAX TRAX RECORDS: THE SECRET HISTORY OF STAYING OPEN
After 40 years as one of the co-owners of Wax Trax, I am occasionally asked what the secret might be to keeping a business open that long. My answer has... Read more...