Firewater
Encyclopedia
Firewater is a US indie rock
group founded by Tod A.
in 1995. He describes them as a
"wedding
band
gone wrong".
After Tod left his previous group, Cop Shoot Cop
, he quickly regrouped and formed Firewater to explore the styles of music Cop Shoot Cop had only hinted at, including klezmer
, cabaret
, ska
, jazz
, and gypsy forms. More than one source described the original Firewater lineup as an "indie rock
supergroup
", based on members such as Duane Denison
of the Jesus Lizard
, Yuval Gabay
of Soul Coughing
, Jennifer Charles
of Elysian Fields
, and Hahn Rowe
. This original lineup proved unable to tour, and Tod recruited new musicians for the band's first tour. While the lineup has changed over the years, with many different musicians appearing on different albums and tours, Tod remains the singer, songwriter
, and bassist
/guitarist of Firewater.
Firewater has released six albums, and has seen some success, especially in Europe
and on United States
college radio stations.
Their album, Songs We Should Have Written (2004), is a collection of cover songs. It includes songs written by Robyn Hitchcock
, The Rolling Stones
("Paint It Black" reinterpreted as a crawlingly slow raga
which "shove(s) a few downers down the song's throat to counter the original version's adrenaline-fueled fire"), and a "dark and sweet" take of Sonny and Cher'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
anthem "Folsom Prison Blues
".
After recording Songs We Should Have Written, Singer Tod A took an extended, three year sabbatical, travelling 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 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 in USA and Noise-o-lution in Europe.
Album appearances
Indie rock
Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include lo-fi, post-rock, math rock, indie pop, dream pop, noise rock, space rock, sadcore, riot grrrl and emo, among others...
group founded by Tod A.
Tod A.
Tod Ashley is a musician better known by the stage name Tod A. He founded the rock music groups Cop Shoot Cop and Firewater, and is a singer-songwriter and bass guitarist ....
in 1995. He describes them as a
"wedding
Wedding
A wedding is the ceremony in which two people are united in marriage or a similar institution. Wedding traditions and customs vary greatly between cultures, ethnic groups, religions, countries, and social classes...
band
Band (music)
In music, a musical ensemble or band is a group of musicians that works together to perform music. The following articles concern types of musical bands:* All-female band* Big band* Boy band* Christian band* Church band* Concert band* Cover band...
gone wrong".
After Tod left his previous group, Cop Shoot Cop
Cop Shoot Cop
Cop Shoot Cop was a rock music 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, with a distinctive instrumental lineup that encompassed twin bass guitars, found metal...
, he quickly regrouped and formed Firewater to explore the styles of music Cop Shoot Cop had only hinted at, including klezmer
Klezmer
Klezmer is a musical tradition of the Ashkenazic Jews of Eastern Europe. Played by professional musicians called klezmorim, the genre originally consisted largely of dance tunes and instrumental display pieces for weddings and other celebrations...
, cabaret
Cabaret
Cabaret is a form, or place, of entertainment featuring comedy, song, dance, and theatre, distinguished mainly by the performance venue: a restaurant or nightclub with a stage for performances and the audience sitting at tables watching the performance, as introduced by a master of ceremonies or...
, ska
Ska
Ska |Jamaican]] ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s, and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. Ska combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues...
, jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
, and gypsy forms. More than one source described the original Firewater lineup as an "indie rock
Indie rock
Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include lo-fi, post-rock, math rock, indie pop, dream pop, noise rock, space rock, sadcore, riot grrrl and emo, among others...
supergroup
Supergroup (music)
In the late 1960s, the term supergroup was coined to describe "a rock music group whose performers are already famous from having performed individually or in other groups"....
", based on members such as Duane Denison
Duane Denison
Duane Denison is an American guitarist. Denison currently plays for Th' Legendary Shack Shakers, The Jesus Lizard, which he recently re-united with after a 9-year break-up, and Tomahawk. He has played for Firewater. He began his musical career by studying classical guitar. Denison and ex-Ministry...
of the Jesus Lizard
The Jesus Lizard
The Jesus Lizard was an American alternative rock and noise rock band formed in 1987 in Austin, Texas. They were "a leading noise rock band in the American independent underground…[who] turned out a series of independent records filled with scathing, disembowelling, guitar-driven pseudo-industrial...
, Yuval Gabay
Yuval Gabay
Yuval Gabay is a Jerusalem-born hip-hop Drummer who currently lives and works in the United States. Gabay is most well known for his work with the Jazz/hip-hop quartet Soul Coughing from 1993 to 2000. He also played drums on Firewater's 1996 Debut Album Get Off the Cross, We Need the Wood for the...
of Soul Coughing
Soul Coughing
Soul Coughing was a popular New York-based alternative rock band. The band found modest mainstream success during the mid-to-late 1990s. Soul Coughing developed a devout fanbase and have garnered largely positive response from critics. Steve Huey describes the band as "one of the most unusual cult...
, Jennifer Charles
Jennifer Charles
Jennifer Charles is an American singer, musician, composer, and poet. Along with Oren Bloedow, she co-founded the New York band Elysian Fields.-Biography:...
of Elysian Fields
Elysian Fields (band)
Elysian Fields is a Brooklyn, New York based band founded in 1995 by co-composers Jennifer Charles and Oren Bloedow . Their music has been sometimes described as "noir rock", due to its sultry, dark and mysterious inflections, be it sonically or lyrically...
, and Hahn Rowe
Hahn Rowe
Hahn Rowe is an internationally renowned violinist, guitarist, composer, and record producer involved in a wide-range of projects. Originally a violinist and guitarist with New York City dream-poppers Hugo Largo, Rowe became a session player in the New York scene.As a musician, he has played on...
. This original lineup proved unable to tour, and Tod recruited new musicians for the band's first tour. While the lineup has changed over the years, with many different musicians appearing on different albums and tours, Tod remains the singer, songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
, and bassist
Bassist
A bass player, or bassist is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass, bass guitar, keyboard bass or a low brass instrument such as a tuba or sousaphone. Different musical genres tend to be associated with one or more of these instruments...
/guitarist of Firewater.
Firewater has released six albums, and has seen some success, especially in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and on United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
college radio stations.
Their album, Songs We Should Have Written (2004), is a collection of cover songs. It includes songs written by Robyn Hitchcock
Robyn Hitchcock
Robyn Rowan Hitchcock is an English singer-songwriter and guitarist. While primarily a vocalist and guitarist, he also plays harmonica, piano and bass guitar....
, The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...
("Paint It Black" reinterpreted as a crawlingly slow raga
Raga
A raga is one of the melodic modes used in Indian classical music.It is a series of five or more musical notes upon which a melody is made...
which "shove(s) a few downers down the song's throat to counter the original version's adrenaline-fueled fire"), and a "dark and sweet" take of Sonny and Cher's "The Beat Goes On
The Beat Goes On
"The Beat Goes On" is a Billboard Hot 100 top ten hit song written by Sonny Bono and recorded by Sonny & Cher. It was issued as a single and appeared on their 1967 album In Case You're In Love...
", 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
Johnny Cash
John R. "Johnny" Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century...
anthem "Folsom Prison Blues
Folsom Prison Blues
"Folsom Prison Blues" is the title of a song written and recorded by American country music artist Johnny Cash. The song combines elements from two popular folk genres, the train song and the prison song, both of which Cash would continue to use for the rest of his career...
".
After recording Songs We Should Have Written, Singer Tod A took an extended, three year sabbatical, travelling 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 Golden Hour with the help of various local musicians and friends, including Firewater producer Tamir Muskat
Tamir Muskat
Tamir Muskat is a musician/producer-engineer who was born and raised in Tel Aviv, Israel as son of a Romanian immigrant. As a teenager, he was already a prominent rock drummer and percussionist...
. The record was released May 6, 2008, through Bloodshot records in USA and Noise-o-lution in Europe.
Discography
- Get Off the Cross, We Need the Wood for the FireGet Off the Cross, We Need the Wood for the Fire-Personnel:Firewater*Tod Ashley – vocals, bass guitar, acoustic guitar, bouzouki, production*Duane Denison – guitar*Yuval Gabay – drums, djembe, tambourine*Kurt Hoffman – saxophone, clarinet, accordion*Jim Kimball – drums...
(1996) - Jetset - The Ponzi SchemeThe Ponzi Scheme-Personnel:Firewater*Tod Ashley – vocals, bass guitar, production*George Javori – drums*Ori Kaplan – guitar*Tim Otto – saxophone*Hahn Rowe – violin*Paul Wallfisch – piano, organAdditional musicians and production...
(1998) - Uptown/Universal - Psychopharmacology (2001) - Jetset
- The Man on the Burning Tightrope (2003) - Jetset
- Songs We Should Have Written (2004) - Jetset
- The Golden Hour (2008) - Bloodshot
Album appearances
- Live at KEXP Vol.5- "Electric City" (2009)
Songs We Should Have Written track listing
- "The Beat Goes OnThe Beat Goes On"The Beat Goes On" is a Billboard Hot 100 top ten hit song written by Sonny Bono and recorded by Sonny & Cher. It was issued as a single and appeared on their 1967 album In Case You're In Love...
" (Sonny BonoSonny BonoSalvatore Phillip "Sonny" Bono was an American recording artist, record producer, actor, and politician whose career spanned over three decades.-Early life:...
) – 4:00 - "This TownThis Town"This Town" is the title of a song written by Lee Hazelwood and recorded by Frank Sinatra in 1967. The song first appeared on Sinatra's 1967 album The World We Knew and also on his 1969 Greatest Hits album....
" (Lee Hazelwood,recorded by Frank SinatraFrank SinatraFrancis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
1967) – 4:08 - "Diamonds and Gold" (Tom WaitsTom WaitsThomas Alan "Tom" Waits is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice, described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding "like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car."...
) – 3:52 - "Folsom Prison BluesFolsom Prison Blues"Folsom Prison Blues" is the title of a song written and recorded by American country music artist Johnny Cash. The song combines elements from two popular folk genres, the train song and the prison song, both of which Cash would continue to use for the rest of his career...
" (Johnny CashJohnny CashJohn R. "Johnny" Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century...
) – 4:56 - "Storm Warning" (Lynn TaittLynn TaittLynn Taitt was a reggae guitarist born in San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago, closely associated with Jamaican rocksteady music.-Biography:...
) – 2:59 - "Hey Bulldog" (The BeatlesThe BeatlesThe Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
) – 3:14 - "Some Velvet Morning" (Lee Hazelwood) – 4:22
- "This Little Light of Mine" (Traditional) – 3:38
- "Paint It Black" (Jagger, Richards) – 5:50
- "Is That All There Is?Is That All There Is?"Is That All There Is?" is a song written by American songwriting team Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller during the 1960s. It became a hit for American singer Peggy Lee from her recording in November 1969...
" (Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller) – 4:11 - "I Often Dream of TrainsI Often Dream of TrainsI Often Dream of Trains is the third album by Robyn Hitchcock, released in 1984.After the break-up of The Soft Boys, Hitchcock recorded two solo albums — Black Snake Diamond Role and the experimental Groovy Decay — before hitting an artistic slump mitigated only by some collaborations...
" (Robyn HitchcockRobyn HitchcockRobyn Rowan Hitchcock is an English singer-songwriter and guitarist. While primarily a vocalist and guitarist, he also plays harmonica, piano and bass guitar....
) – 3:57