i think you can get them from here now:

http://sites.google.com/site/waxwirevstplugins/

Mild-mannered primary school teacher by day, JOEL SAUNDERS dons a guitar at night and becomes a superhero bandleader that redefines the term 'noise-pop'. If the term ever had a definition to begin with. MITCH ALEXANDER is going to double-check that later.

Making conversation or small-talk while waiting for service at a cafe was never my strong point, but I felt like I needed to give it a shot. "So you said you're on holidays? What do you do?" I ask.

"Oh, I'm a school teacher, grade seven" replies the wee, bearded man next to me, known to his friends as Joel Saunders. But that's Mr. Saunders to his students, or Sir. I dunno what the kids do these days.

"Aaahhh", I reply, knowing all too well the plight of the underpaid and undervalued teacher. My Mum's the teacher, not me. Cripes, the only thing I teach is tangential music journalism, and no one needs to learn that.

During the course of our interview, Joel and I touch on many subjects, him stirring a cup of Earl Gray while I destroy the biggest flat white they could serve without putting it in a soup bowl. Pawn shop guitars get a mention, as does the weather, particularly badly Brisbane audiences deal with rain.

For the uninitiated, there are two distinct sides to Joel's music. There are his original compositions, full of distorted drum loops and peculiar samples to accompany what he describes as his "awkward country songs". And then there are the covers, which began with one or two songs thrown into a set-list and quickly grew in popularity.

"But really, the covers just come together quicker… mainly because the lyrics and original arrangements are generally so straightforward", he says.

The selected songs range from classic Motown (the disco-destruction of Stop In The Name Of Love) to recent Top 40 hits from The Pussycat Dolls or Nelly Furtado. But it's Furtado as you've never heard her before (that is, it doesn't make you want to claw your ears off and feed them to a stray dog).

There are no '80s hits ironically played by your old high school ska/punk band to bop your head along to. Nor are they played under the insidious trend of 'guilty pleasure' music, where you're no longer allowed to like music just because it's a good song.

No, with patience, sincerity and love, he rips the song down to its primal essence before slowly building it back up, aided by keyboards and walls of wailing guitars, as well as programmed and organic beats. It's confronting and chaotic, but somehow it all makes sense, as well as being extremely danceable.

But performing the role of musician slash mad scientist to an eager audience is not without its risks, Joel explains as I polish off my last mouthful of dirt slash bad coffee.

"Someone filmed me playing some music and put it on YouTube, then a whole bunch of kids at school saw it… It's very hard for 12 year-olds to see their teacher singing 'dontcha wish your girlfriend was hot like me'", he explains with a smirk. "I think it would make more sense to them if they thought I hated it and listened to Metallica all day".

Wait, who the hell is Googling or YouTubing their teachers?! What kind of a world are we living in? Actually, wait here a minute…
… nope, I got nothing. No Mr. Pitman, no Ms. Phillips…rip off!

January 27, 2008 from Rave Magazine

INTERVIEW - Time Off

MANGLED BEATS courtesy of vintage computers and other noise improvisations with trumpet, cheap synths and domestic turntablism afford Brisbane's Joel Saunders a platform on which to perform what he describes as awkward country ballads.

"The summer of 2003 I got into hip-hop and country music almost simultaneously," he explains. "Starting with more noise-hop/glitch-hop and indie-country stuff, I explored until I ended up listening to hop-pop/R'n'B stuff and real country music. The two genres have so much in common. Both are tough-as-nails, gangsta, American genres. I have never shot anybody, nor been arrested, so it made perfect sense that I should warp the two styles together."

However it was his love of pop and noise that works as some sort of mediator between the two disparate styles.

"I have a little free EP," smirks Saunders. "Hand-coloured-in with felt pens, machine-sewn and stencilled. I am working on a 3-inch EP called Girly Music. It is going to be covers of songs by Pussycat Dolls, Nelly Furtado, The Supremes, Rihanna and Sophie Ellis-Bextor. It is currently being produced."

Saunders, who also plays in the band Ambitious Lovers, plays a rare solo gig this weekend  -  and going by what he says, we're in for a treat.

"I stand with a guitar slung around my neck and a microphone. I press play on the computer and then struggle to keep up with my beats. As I get more and more out of time/tune I compensate with more dancing. I can barely play guitar, or any instrument for that matter. So I make up for it with dancing and other forms of at-risk behaviour. I play lots of other people's songs, because pop music is so good and fun at the moment. I just dance and sing and mime whilst a computer does all the hard work."August 13, 2007 from TimeOff Magazine