"...some seriously exotic magic was created... proving, yet again, that Tod A is one of the most criminally under-appreciated artists in the American underground. The alt-music veteran delivers his finest hour." – No Depression

“Firewater is a longtime world-punk favorite… exuberant but profoundly seedy, hard-nosed, and sardonic. The Golden Hour once again perfectly balances the catchy and the cynical.” – Village Voice

"A superb, disturbing slab of desperation and creativity." – Paste Magazine Online

FIREWATER was birthed in a Brooklyn basement during the long, hot summer of 1997. Depressed, broke, and desperate, ex-Cop Shoot Cop leader Tod A tossed away a major label deal to launch what was, at the time, 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 both excited and confused. The press was enthusiastic, but wondered what Firewater was all about. However, ten years (and five records) later, Tod's crazy idea doesn't sound that crazy anymore. Bands as diverse as Gogol Bordello, Balkan Beat Box and Beirut owe a debt to his early adventurousness. 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.

In 2005, Tod embarked on what would become a three year sabbatical through the Middle East, the Indian Subcontinent and South East Asia. He had recently split with his wife; George W. Bush had just been re-elected; New York, his home for the last 20 years, had become a cold and foreign place. He wasn’t even sure he wanted to make music anymore. “I was extremely depressed. The NYC skyline looked like bad wallpaper to me. It was either kill myself or hit the road,” he says. He put everything he owned in storage and left NYC with a few clothes and a laptop. The journey Tod undertook would challenge him creatively in ways he couldn’t have imagined in its planning stages. “I traveled overland starting in Delhi, India, across the Thar Desert, then through Rajasthan, onward through the Punjab, and into Pakistan,” he recounts. “I had originally planned to continue overland through Afghanistan, Iran and Turkey, ending in Istanbul.” But things didn’t go exactly as planned. Along the way he was drugged, robbed, detained, and later struck down with severe intestinal problems. Travelers were disappearing along the road to Kabul. As Tod puts it, “I was forced to end my trip at the Khyber Pass on the Afghan border, due to general ill health and the unnerving likelihood of kidnapping.”

Recording with a single microphone and a laptop in his pack, Tod captured performances with a vast array of musicians across India and Pakistan - and eventually Turkey and Israel. Bhangra and Sufi percussion would form the basis for the songs he wrote along the way - songs about the world he left behind (“This Is My Life,” “Electric City”), politics (“Borneo,” “Hey Clown”), and dislocation (“6:45,” “Feels like the End of the World”). Tod’s acerbic wit shines on Firewater’s latest album, THE GOLDEN HOUR, elucidating both the beauty and the absurdity of the world. Firewater drummer Tamir Muskat (now also of Balkan Beat Box) produced, mixed and played on the album, along with a strange cast of characters from 5 different countries. Tod tells the story of The Golden Hour in a documentary that is included in enhanced format on the album. He also chronicled his experiences on his travel blog.

Never one to rest on a gimmick, Tod is constantly challenging himself and his fans by musically re-inventing the band. Neither strictly a “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) and Oren Kaplan (Gogol Bordello). Firewater will never revert to a mere formula. "I think there will always be people that would rather be surprised, instead of just satiated," says Tod. The group has been on tour in Europe this spring and will launch a North American tour later this month that will kick off with a show at the Paradise in Boston. Firewater will be making festival appearances worldwide throughout the summer. As for Tod, he’s still homeless, living out of a suitcase, and he likes it that way. The Golden Hour has just been released on Bloodshot Records and is available for purchase in stores now.