About
Firewater is the brainchild of Tod A., the singer and bassist who previously fronted Cop Shoot Cop, and the band has always been more of a musical collective than a conventional group. Tod is the only constant member, pulling in a rotating cast that has included Duane Denison of the Jesus Lizard, Yuval Gabay of Soul Coughing, and members of Gogol Bordello and Balkan Beat Box. The sound sits somewhere between punk rock and a globe trotting adventure, weaving in klezmer, gypsy music, cabaret, ska and jazz into something they call "world punk." Their cover album Songs We Should Have Written is a highlight, turning "Paint It Black" into a slow, sedated raga and making Sonny and Cher's "The Beat Goes On" feel genuinely unsettling. For their sixth album The Golden Hour, Tod spent three years traveling through Thailand, India, Pakistan, Turkey and Indonesia, writing and recording with local musicians along the way. Seven studio albums deep, Firewater have built a particularly devoted following in Europe and on US college radio.
