Wax Trax! Records Retrospectacle -- 33 1/3 Year Anniversary: Time to break out the jack boots and bomber jackets, the label that put “industrial” on the musical map is back for a celebration of its late founders, Jim Nash and Dannie Flesher, with proceeds going to charity. Among the former Wax Trax bands and artists scheduled to play are Front 242, My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult, Rights of the Accused, Luc Van Acker, Ministry’s Paul Barker and Chris Connelly, 8 p.m. Friday-Sunday at Metro, 3730 N. Clark St., Friday-Saturday sold out, $41 or $350 VIP table for Sunday (at time of publication); etix.com.

Mike Watt: The bass-playing, Popeye-cheeked epitome of all that is good and righteous about indie-rock will headline a doubleheader. He’ll host a showing of the documentary “We Jam Econo: The Story of the Minutemen,” about his first great band, then perform with his current trio, the Missingmen, focusing on the terse punk blurt of its latest release, “Hyphenated-Man” (Clenched Wrench), 7 p.m. Friday, “We Jam Econo,” $10; and 10 p.m. Friday, Watt and the Missingmen, $15, both at Schubas, 3159 N. Southport, schubas.com.  

greg@gregkot.com

As the Wax Trax! Records Retrospectacle: 33 1/3 Year Anniversary concerts approach on April 15-17 at Metro, here are some of Wax Trax’s greatest hits, arranged chronologically.

Ministry, “Everyday is Halloween” (1984): Before transforming himself into a rabid, technology-fired pitbull, Al Jourgensen dominates the Chicago clubs with Euro-influenced synth-pop singles such as “Everyday is Halloween” and “Cold Life.”

Front 242, “Official Version” (1987): Brutal beats, stentorian vocals and sample-heavy sound collages turn this Belgian outfit into one of electronic music’s defining groups.

Laibach, “Opus Dei” (1987): Goose-stepping stomps merge harsh Germanic vocals and even harsher rhythms as part provocation, part fascist satire.

The Young Gods, “The Young Gods” (1987): Swiss bombast-mongers add rock crunch and classical grandeur to their electro attack.

The KLF, “Chill Out” (1990): A landmark of so-called ambient house music, a perfect companion for the 5 a.m. comedown after a night of frantic dancing.

Revolting Cocks, “Beers, Steers + Queers” (1990): Life as an out-of-control toga party for this Jourgensen side project, the hedonistic flip side of Ministry’s dark grind.

My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult, “Sexplosion!” (1991): A campy romp that would be the perfect soundtrack to any number of grindhouse exploitation movies.

Chris Connelly, “Shipwreck” (1994): The early-‘70s glam-rock influences make this an anomaly in the Wax Trax catalog, but its songcraft is undeniable.

Various artists, “Black Box – Wax Trax! The First 13 Years” (1994): Superb three-disc overview of the label’s embrace of twisted exotica, from Divine’s “The Name Game” to 1000 Homo DJs cover of Black Sabbath’s “Supernaut,” with Trent Reznor on lead vocals.

KMFDM, “Nihil” (1995): The German band’s seventh album is one of Wax Trax’s commercial highpoints, putting a polished pop spin on industrial’s characteristic harshness, with club hit “Juke Joint Jezebel.”

greg@gregkot.com

Throwing a party in honor of Jim Nash and Dannie Flesher, the founders of Wax Trax Records, is a daunting task. There were parties, and then there were Wax Trax bacchanals. But Jim Nash’s daughter is giving it a try.

“They were great guys – crazy, but great,” says Julia Nash, who is spearheading a series of tribute concerts dubbed the “Wax Trax! Records Retrospectable” April 15-17 at Metro for the two gone-but-not-forgotten life partners (Jim Nash died in 1995, Flesher in 2010).

“After Dannie passed, we thought, ‘This is it, the end of an era,’ ”  Julia Nash says. “It was time to celebrate what they had done. But I’ve gotten overwhelmed with how huge it has become. It started out kind of intimate and small, and it’s become this huge thing that I am trying to reel in before I lose it completely.”

The revered Chicago record label Wax Trax! Records will throw itself a party April 15-16 at Metro, bringing back many of the artists and bands that put industrial music on the international map in the ‘80s and ‘90s.

In an announcement expected later Tuesday, the lineup for the “Wax Trax! Records Retrospectacle: 33 1/3 Year Anniversary” will include Front 242, My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult and Rights of the Accused. Luc Van Acker, Chris Connelly, former Ministry member Paul Barker and guests will perform the music of the Revolting Cocks. En Esch, Guenter Schulz and Raymond Watts will focus on the music of KMFDM.

Tickets ($60 two-day pass; $500 VIP tables) go on sale at noon Saturday via etix.com and will benefit Center on Halsted.

The Wax Trax! record store (originally on Lincoln Avenue ) and later label were founded by a couple of former Denver residents, Jim Nash and Dannie Flesher, in the late ‘70s. Their store, stocked with imports and cutting-edge music, became the world epicenter for boundary-pushing artists who bridged disco, electronic music, rock, and the avant-garde. Some dubbed the sound “industrial disco,” an umbrella term that included Ministry, Front 242, Underworld, KMFDM, and My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult, underground acts who went on to sell millions of records.

The label went bankrupt in the mid-‘90s and Nash and Flesher have since died, but they left behind a towering legacy. The “Retrospectacle” looks to be the first major public tribute to the Nash-Flesher era.

greg@gregkot.com