Firewater

Firewater, a New York-based ensemble, fused an international array of musical traditions into its volatile and kinetic sound. Built around the lead vocals of Tod A.—born Tod Ashley and formerly the bassist for Cop Shoot Cop—this loosely assembled collective merged Klezmer, Indian wedding music, art-punk, and Tom Waits-style cabaret poetry into a potent brew that proved both cerebral and frequently danceable. Tod A.’s caustic lyrics, steeped in post-apocalyptic imagery and a fixation on mortality, gave the band an immediate, formidable presence.

Formed in 1995, Firewater delivered its debut album, Get Off the Cross, We Need the Wood for the Fire, soon afterward. Guitarist Duane Denison of Jesus Lizard, drummer Yuval Gabay of Soul Coughing, and Kurt Hofmann—saxophone and accordion player from the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion—performed on that record and on 1998’s The Ponzi Scheme, both of which also featured the sultry vocals of Elysian Fields’ Jennifer Charles. Charles returned for the more pop-oriented Psychopharmacology in 2001, joined by saxophonist Ori Kaplan and sitar player Oren Bloedow.

In 2003, Tod A. and his “wedding band gone wrong” issued the stripped-down, razor-wire-wrapped The Man on the Burning Tightrope on Jet Set. The covers collection Songs We Should Have Written followed early the next year. Tod A. subsequently undertook an extended journey through Thailand, India, Pakistan, Turkey, and Indonesia, which he documented on the blog Postcards from the Other Side of the World. While traveling he also recorded with producer Tamir Muskat and local musicians; the results appeared as The Golden Hour, released by Bloodshot Records in spring 2008. After touring in support of the album, A. settled in Istanbul and, during the Arab Spring of 2011, recorded there and in Tel Aviv while reuniting with Muskat. International Orange arrived in September 2012.