Wax Audio presents WMD ...and other distractions

WMD ...and other distractions is a 21-minute cut & paste audio montage offering a condensed, concise and transparent run-down of the most high-profile political manoeuvres broadcast over Australian air-waves during the first 3 years of this millennium.

Toe-tappingly listenable and scathingly satirical, WMD ...and other distractions reviews media coverage of the US led "War on Terror", the lead up to the un-precedented "pre-emptive" attack & corporate take-over of Iraq by the so-called "Coalition of the Willing" and the farcical (yet disturbingly effective) attempts by the Australian Government to demonize off-shore refugees seeking asylum in this country during the "Children Overboard" affair.

This regurgitated media has been painstakingly re-edited in perfect synchronicity with recycled beats, original samples and a wealth of material taken from multi-track recordings of previous works.

Released in February 2004, it is the very first Wax Audio presentation.


You can download a zip file of WMD ...and other distractions (52MB) HERE. Scroll down for individual tracks.

W M D... and other distractions EP

RELEASED TO SELECTED MEDIA AND ONLINE : FEBRUARY 2004

Download high res CD front cover insert (804kb)
Download high res CD back cover insert (342kb)

ALL MP3 AUDIO FILES ARE ENCODED AT 320kbps
To save tracks, right-click and select "Save As" (PC) /
control-click and select "Download Linked File As" (MAC)

We hear the static of radio frequencies, the dial settles and we are tuned into a steady hip-hop beat & the rhythmic rhetoric of commander in chief, George W Bush, delivering his ultimatum to Saddam :

"Saddam Hussein and his sons must leave Iraq within 48 hours. Their refusal to do so will result in military conflict ...at a time of our choosing"

Following Dubya is John Howard, then Tony Blair. Before long all three are reciting their pre-war mantra in unison -

"Weapons of Mass Destruction, Weapons of Mass Destruction"

A punching bass line drives the rhythm beneath before Dubya returns to the front without missing a beat.

"…we have the terrorists on the run, we're keeping them on the run… one - by one - the terrorists - are learning - the meaning - of American - justice"

- President George W Bush - State of the Union speech, January 28, 2003

A DAY OF HORROR (2:28) - DOWNLOAD MP3 (320kbps 5.7MB)

"He has not developed any significant capability with respect to weapons of mass destruction. He is unable to project conventional power against his neighbours"

- Secretary Colin L. Powell Cairo, Egypt, February 24, 2001

Splashes, beats, scratches and horns get this track underway before we are delivered a couple of infamous sound bytes from our one-time immigration minister:

"A number of people have jumped overboard and have had to be rescued. More disturbingly, a number of children have been thrown overboard"

"I regard these as some of the most disturbing practices that I have come across during my time in public life, clearly planned and premeditated."

- Philip Ruddock, Australian Immigration Minister, October 7, 2001

What follows is a tightly edited montage of quotes from the "children overboard" affair set to a rhythmic musical pastiche. Soon after informing the public of the aforementioned events, the Howard government feebly attempts to maintain credibility as it's lies and PR spin unravel before our ears.

"…You may want to question the veracity of reports from the Royal Australian Navy, I don't"

"…and it is an absolute fact that children were thrown into the water"

- Peter Reith, Australian Defence Minister, October 10, 2001

"… as to the question of evidence as you put it, I'll make some enquiries and see what evidence becomes available"

- John Howard, Australian Prime Minister, October 10, 2001

Once the absolute facts are revealed to be fiction, Admiral Barrie concludes :

"I have now reached the conclusion, that there is no evidence to support the claim that children were thrown overboard..."

- Admiral Chris Barrie, Chief of the Australian Defence Force, February 27, 2002

An Islamic "Call to prayer" follows and the track fades.

Go to Truth Overboard for a detailed chronology

Sitting on a rock, a young Bedouin man named Attila plays his ud in Petra, Jordan early in the year 2000, captured on a dodgy micro-cassette dictaphone. Suddenly he is joined by drums and bass recorded professionally in Sydney 3 years earlier. In defiance of time and space the trio jams out the tune - joined by Roda and her friends, Bedouin girls (recorded a short time after Attila's performance) who, after a timid start, sing along.

Offering respite from the political diatribes of the previous 3 tracks (and the onslaught shortly to follow) - Ramshackle unites musicians from different times and places in a piece none knew at they time they were performing.

Dubya is back, sounding as morose as ever with his vision of impending doom taking on apocalyptic proportions.

Asking rhetorically "How will we fight and win this war?", he promptly answers as over the course of the next 7 minutes we are bombarded with his most infamous "war on terror" declamations:

"Every nation, in every region, now has a decision to make…either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists"

- President George W Bush, September 20, 2001

A vehement sermon emanates from a crackling loudspeaker hanging above a vegetable market stall in the Egyptian desert as repeated rhythmic patterns (drums and bass) take on industrial-like abrasive qualities.

Guitar noises attempt melody but resort to sounds of tortured anguish. "Why do they hate us?" Bush asks as the various musical sources unite in a repetitive drone.

Eventually the band takes over, a guitar solo breaks through Bush's diatribes like flood waters breaking through a dam wall - and a stunning conclusion follows...

"It turns out we were all wrong, probably, in my judgment, and that is most disturbing"

- Dr David Kaye, Retired head of US appointed survey group hunting for WMD stockpiles, statement before senate armed services committee, January 28, 2004.

The sound of white noise concludes the media onslaught as the transmission is abruptly ceased and the receiver is switched off.