Firewater is an American band founded by American singer/instrumentalist Tod A. in New York City in 1995, after the breakup of his previous group

Cop Shoot Cop Cop Shoot Cop was a noise rock group founded in New York City in 1987. They disbanded in 1996. The band were frequently classified as industrial rock, but were often quite different from many bands so dubbed: having a distinctive instrumental l ...

. A self-described "world punk" band, Firewater incorporate diverse elements of world music with punk rock rhythms, including

cabaret Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music, song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, a casino, a hotel, a restaurant, or a nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or d ...

ska Ska (; ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a walki ...

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fol ...

and most notably Eastern European influences such as

klezmer Klezmer ( yi, קלעזמער or ) is an instrumental musical tradition of the Ashkenazi Jews of Central and Eastern Europe. The essential elements of the tradition include dance tunes, ritual melodies, and virtuosic improvisations played for l ...

and

gypsy The Romani (also spelled Romany or Rromani , ), colloquially known as the Roma, are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group, traditionally nomadic itinerants. They live in Europe and Anatolia, and have diaspora populations located worldwide, with sign ...

music, which has led to their inclusion in the gypsy punk genre. , Firewater had released seven studio albums and seen some success, particularly in Europe and on United States

college radio Campus radio (also known as college radio, university radio or student radio) is a type of radio station that is run by the students of a college, university or other educational institution. Programming may be exclusively created or produced ...

stations.

Biography

After Tod left his previous group,

, he quickly regrouped and formed Firewater to explore the styles of music Cop Shoot Cop had only hinted at, including klezmer, gypsy, jazz, and ska forms. Labeled a

musical collective Musical collective is a phrase used to describe a group of musicians in which membership is flexible and creative control is shared.Liisa Ladouceur"Collegjthk ctive Souls" ''This Magazine'', November/December 2004. The concept is distinct from th ...

, Tod has remained Firewater's only consistent member, acting as singer-songwriter and bassist/guitarist. Throughout their fluctuating line-up, the band has occasionally featured numerous notable musicians, including

Duane Denison Duane Denison (born January 21, 1959) is an American guitarist best known for work with the avant-garde rock band The Jesus Lizard. He is also a founding member of super-group Tomahawk. Biography Denison began his musical career by studying c ...

the Jesus Lizard The Jesus Lizard is an American rock band formed in 1987 in Austin, Texas and based in Chicago, Illinois. They were "a leading noise rock band in the American independent underground… hoturned out a series of independent records filled with s ...

Yuval Gabay Soul Coughing was an American alternative rock band composed of vocalist/guitarist Mike Doughty (also known as M. Doughty), keyboardist/sampler Mark Degli Antoni, bassist Sebastian Steinberg, and drummer Yuval Gabay. Soul Coughing developed a ...

Soul Coughing Soul Coughing was an American alternative rock band composed of vocalist/guitarist Mike Doughty (also known as M. Doughty), keyboardist/sampler Mark Degli Antoni, bassist Sebastian Steinberg, and drummer Yuval Gabay. Soul Coughing developed a d ...

David Ouimet David Ouimet (born 1965) is an American artist, author, and musician. He was a band member of Cop Shoot Cop, Motherhead Bug, Firewater, and Sulfur but has since moved on to interests other than music. He grew up in Memphis, Tennessee, in a ...

of Motherhead Bug and

Foetus A fetus or foetus (; plural fetuses, feti, foetuses, or foeti) is the unborn offspring that develops from an animal embryo. Following embryonic development the fetal stage of development takes place. In human prenatal development, fetal develo ...

Jennifer Charles Jennifer Charles (born Jennifer Asher Zipken; November 15, 1968) is an American singer, songwriter, poet, writer, and actor. Along with Oren Bloedow, she co-founded the New York band Elysian Fields. Her work is known for its emotional intensity ...

of Elysian Fields,

Hahn Rowe Hahn Rowe is an American violinist, guitarist, composer, and engineer/producer, involved in a wide range of projects. He also performs using the stage name Somatic. Career Originally a violinist and guitarist with New York City dream pop, dream- ...

Tamir Muskat Tamir Muskat (in Hebrew תמיר מוסקט) is an Israeli musician/producer-sound engineer who was born and raised in Petach Tikva, Israel as son of a Romanian immigrant. His father was the manager of Anzeagi Conservatorion for music in Petach T ...

and

Ori Kaplan }, born October 1, 1969) is an Israeli jazz saxophonist and a music producer. He moved to the United States in 1991. He has worked with many artists including Shotnez Tom Abbs, Firewater, Gogol Bordello, and Balkan Beat Box (of which he is a fou ...

Gogol Bordello Gogol Bordello is an American punk rock band from the Lower East Side of Manhattan, formed in 1999 by musicians from all over the world and known for theatrical stage shows and persistent touring. Much of the band's sound is inspired by Ro ...

and

Balkan Beat Box Balkan Beat Box (BBB) is an Israeli musical group. Founded by Tamir Muskat and Ori Kaplan in 2003, BBB was later joined by Tomer Yosef who became a core member. The group plays Mediterranean-influenced music that incorporates Jewish, Southeastern ...

. Their album ''Songs We Should Have Written'' (2004) is a collection of

cover song In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song released ...

s. It includes songs written by

Robyn Hitchcock Robyn Rowan Hitchcock (born 3 March 1953) is an English singer-songwriter and guitarist. While primarily a vocalist and guitarist, he also plays harmonica, piano, and bass guitar. After leading the Soft Boys in the late 1970s and releasing the ...

The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the gritty, rhythmically d ...

("Paint It Black" reinterpreted as a crawlingly slow

raga A ''raga'' or ''raag'' (; also ''raaga'' or ''ragam''; ) is a melodic framework for improvisation in Indian classical music akin to a musical mode, melodic mode. The ''rāga'' is a unique and central feature of the classical Indian music tradit ...

which "shove(s) a few downers down the song's throat to counter the original version's

adrenaline Adrenaline, also known as epinephrine, is a hormone and medication which is involved in regulating visceral functions (e.g., respiration). It appears as a white microcrystalline granule. Adrenaline is normally produced by the adrenal glands and ...

-fueled fire"), and a "dark and sweet" take of

Sonny and Cher Sonny & Cher were an American pop and entertainment duo in the 1960s and 1970s, made up of husband and wife Sonny Bono and Cher. The couple started their career in the mid-1960s as R&B backing singers for record producer Phil Spector. The pair f ...

's " The Beat Goes On", described as "10 times more ominous and 20 times more pleasurable" than the original. The album also includes a modern rendition of the

Johnny Cash John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American country singer-songwriter. Much of Cash's music contained themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially in the later stages of his ca ...

anthem "

Folsom Prison Blues "Folsom Prison Blues" is a song by American singer-songwriter Johnny Cash. Written in 1953, it was first recorded in 1955 for his debut studio album '' Johnny Cash with His Hot and Blue Guitar!'' (1957), appearing as the album's eleventh track. T ...

". After recording ''Songs We Should Have Written'', singer Tod A took a three-year sabbatical, traveling through Thailand, India, Pakistan, Turkey and Indonesia and chronicling his experiences on his blog "Postcards from the Other Side of the World." During this time, he wrote and recorded the band's sixth studio album, ''The Golden Hour'', with the help of various local musicians and friends, including Firewater producer Tamir Muskat. The record was released May 6, 2008, through

Bloodshot Records Bloodshot Records is an independent record label based in Chicago, Illinois, which specializes in alternative country. History Bloodshot Records was founded in 1994 by Nan Warshaw, Rob Miller, and Eric Babcock, who knew each other from jobs ...

in the USA and Noise-o-lution in Europe. Firewater's seventh studio album, ''International Orange!'', was released in September 2012, accompanied by international touring.

Discography

* '' Get Off the Cross, We Need the Wood for the Fire'' (1996) – Jetset * '' The Ponzi Scheme'' (1998) – Uptown/Universal * ''

Psychopharmacology Psychopharmacology (from Greek grc, ψῡχή, psȳkhē, breath, life, soul, label=none; grc, φάρμακον, pharmakon, drug, label=none; and grc, -λογία, -logia, label=none) is the scientific study of the effects drugs have on m ...

'' (2001) – Jetset * '' The Man on the Burning Tightrope'' (2003) – Jetset * '' Songs We Should Have Written'' (2004) – Jetset * '' The Golden Hour'' (2008) – Bloodshot * '' International Orange!'' (2012) – Bloodshot Album appearances * ''Live at KEXP Vol.5''- "Electric City" (2009)

References

External links

The Tod Hole – A Firewater, Cop Shoot Cop, and related band depository
* Firewater at allmusic
Firewater on MySpace

Postcards from the Other Side of the World
{{Firewater (band) Alternative rock groups from New York (state) Gypsy punk groups Bloodshot Records artists