By Tiffany Razzano

ong Island's Wired is poised to take over the world. And they're going to brainwash everyone they can into becoming a fan of their catchy pop-punk along the way, said Wired lead guitarist, Justin Alexander.

The group is well on their way to achieving their goal. Their debut, full-length album, Your First Time, which came out in August 2005 has been distributed nationally through Sony Records and Koch Records Distribution. It can be found across the country at places like Tower Records and Best Buy.

Before they even had a record deal for this album, the group's single, Every Little Thing, was the No. 1 requested song on WLIR for 20 straight weeks. With recent stints at SXSW and National Lampoon's Spring Vacation, and upcoming dates on Vans Warped Tour, the band has been on an upward climb since they first formed three and a half years ago.

"It's crazy. We've been doing this for three and a half years," Alexander said. "I've been in other bands before but they never really went anywhere. We usually just played for our friends at shows."

He added, "There were 1,700 people at our Downtown CD release party and when we started we were playing to 10."

Alexander formed Wired with drummer Adam Schoenfeld after their band Porter Two broke up. They put out ads in local music publications seeking musicians for the band they wanted to form.

"We got over 1,000 responses," Alexander said. "It was crazy. We broke up in April and didn't put the band together until September. Every night we were auditioning. It was horrible and I never want to do it again." But from these thousand plus applicants, Alexander and Schoenfeld were able to find their three new bandmates, knowing almost immediately that they were right for the band. "We all meshed well together," he said.

The CD sent to lead singer Joe Bridgwood before his audition was lost in the mail. Rather than have a new one sent out to him, he drove over an hour from his home in Medford to meet Alexander in western Nassau. He brought along a CD of his old band. "We popped in the CD and we knew after three seconds that he was our singer," Alexander said. "That's how we got Joe." Sebastian Pica also joined the group on rhythm guitar and about a year and a half ago, after losing their bassist, Nick Atria came on board.

All songwriting is done as a group. The five have the same root inspiration in punk rock, but branch off from there, each bringing to the table their own particular influences from rap and hip-hop to '80s metal. "We all like all different genres that bring different ideas to the table," Alexander said. "Not one song sounds the same. There are five writers and that helps."