Biography
Firewater was birthed in a Brooklyn basement in the long, hot summer of 1997. Depressed, broke, and desperate, ex-Cop Shoot Cop
leader Tod A tossed away a major label deal and a free meal ticket to
launch what--at the time--was a crazy proposition: a punk band fueled
by gypsy and klezmer tunes. Tod had stumbled upon a dusty box of
records and cassettes in a Russian junk shop on West 14th Street, and
had fallen in love with the happy/sad conflict embodied in Eastern
European melodies. He wanted to combine the mystery and melodrama of
these tragic-comic sounds with the energy of his first love: punk rock.When Firewater's first record, Get Off The Cross (We Need the Wood for the Fire),
came out, critics and fans were excited--and confused. The press was
enthusiastic--but between the lines lay a lot of questions: How can we
pigeonhole this? What is this all about?However, ten years (and five records) later, Tod's crazy idea doesn't sound quite so crazy anymore. Bands as diverse as Gogol Bordello, Balkan Beat Box and Beirut
owe a debt to his early adventurousness. In the meantime, the Internet
has opened the ears of millions of people to music from around the
world. Firewater's music has never fit very well into pre-fabricated
boxes. A compulsive traveler, Tod has always been inspired by the
stories, people, and music of the places he has visited. The records
that followed (The Ponzi Scheme, Psychopharmacology, The Man on the Burning Tightrope, Songs We Should Have Written)
were musical mash-ups that threw together flavors as seemingly
disparate as spy jazz, ska, classic Bollywood, salsa, cabaret, Mexican
banda, and Russian folk--to create a distinctive brew that was always
100% Firewater.Every interesting development in music has been
the result of clashing cultures--of mash-ups: the Rom (‘gypsies')
migrated from India through Eastern Europe to infuse Balkan music;
Iberian ideas fused with indigenous South American tunes to form tango
and mambo and meringue; the American shotgun marriage of Saharan blues
and English folksongs gave birth to rock'n'roll - these are but three
of many examples. Firewater has always fed on these strange
amalgamations. "It's a bit like being a mad scientist," Tod says. "You
mix a bit of this with some of that. You're never sure what's going to
happen". Not every experiment is successful. "But I'd rather blow up
the laboratory than keep reinventing the wheel." Some songs have been
flawed, over-the-top, even brutal. But they always seem to capture some
humor and beauty. Through Firewater's canon runs a jagged line of
lyrical intellect and unrelenting emotional honesty.Never one
to rest on a gimmick, Tod is constantly challenging himself and his
fans by musically re-inventing the band. Neither strictly "solo
project" nor "rock group", Firewater could best be described as a loose
musical collective. A steady stream of diverse talent has flowed
through Firewater's open doors. Members over the years have included
Duane Denison (Jesus Lizard), Jennifer Charles (Elysian Fields), Oren Kaplan (Gogol Bordello),
and Tamir Muskat (Balkan Beat Box). Firewater will never revert to a
mere formula. "I think there will always be people that would rather be
surprised, instead of just satiated."(From Bloodshot Records, 5/27/09)
leader Tod A tossed away a major label deal and a free meal ticket to
launch what--at the time--was a crazy proposition: a punk band fueled
by gypsy and klezmer tunes. Tod had stumbled upon a dusty box of
records and cassettes in a Russian junk shop on West 14th Street, and
had fallen in love with the happy/sad conflict embodied in Eastern
European melodies. He wanted to combine the mystery and melodrama of
these tragic-comic sounds with the energy of his first love: punk rock.When Firewater's first record, Get Off The Cross (We Need the Wood for the Fire),
came out, critics and fans were excited--and confused. The press was
enthusiastic--but between the lines lay a lot of questions: How can we
pigeonhole this? What is this all about?However, ten years (and five records) later, Tod's crazy idea doesn't sound quite so crazy anymore. Bands as diverse as Gogol Bordello, Balkan Beat Box and Beirut
owe a debt to his early adventurousness. In the meantime, the Internet
has opened the ears of millions of people to music from around the
world. Firewater's music has never fit very well into pre-fabricated
boxes. A compulsive traveler, Tod has always been inspired by the
stories, people, and music of the places he has visited. The records
that followed (The Ponzi Scheme, Psychopharmacology, The Man on the Burning Tightrope, Songs We Should Have Written)
were musical mash-ups that threw together flavors as seemingly
disparate as spy jazz, ska, classic Bollywood, salsa, cabaret, Mexican
banda, and Russian folk--to create a distinctive brew that was always
100% Firewater.Every interesting development in music has been
the result of clashing cultures--of mash-ups: the Rom (‘gypsies')
migrated from India through Eastern Europe to infuse Balkan music;
Iberian ideas fused with indigenous South American tunes to form tango
and mambo and meringue; the American shotgun marriage of Saharan blues
and English folksongs gave birth to rock'n'roll - these are but three
of many examples. Firewater has always fed on these strange
amalgamations. "It's a bit like being a mad scientist," Tod says. "You
mix a bit of this with some of that. You're never sure what's going to
happen". Not every experiment is successful. "But I'd rather blow up
the laboratory than keep reinventing the wheel." Some songs have been
flawed, over-the-top, even brutal. But they always seem to capture some
humor and beauty. Through Firewater's canon runs a jagged line of
lyrical intellect and unrelenting emotional honesty.Never one
to rest on a gimmick, Tod is constantly challenging himself and his
fans by musically re-inventing the band. Neither strictly "solo
project" nor "rock group", Firewater could best be described as a loose
musical collective. A steady stream of diverse talent has flowed
through Firewater's open doors. Members over the years have included
Duane Denison (Jesus Lizard), Jennifer Charles (Elysian Fields), Oren Kaplan (Gogol Bordello),
and Tamir Muskat (Balkan Beat Box). Firewater will never revert to a
mere formula. "I think there will always be people that would rather be
surprised, instead of just satiated."(From Bloodshot Records, 5/27/09)
