Tod Ashley, who is better known under his pseudonym Tod A, has been active in New York’s music scene since the late 80s. He first played with a certain Jon Spencer in a band called SHITHOUSE. Then with the legendary COP SHOOT COP, in which he sings and plays one of two basses.

 

Dark folk

He left the band in the mid-90s and started FIREWATER, which quickly became an insider tip. With “Get Off The Cross …”, FIREWATER immediately aroused the desires of the major labels, but Tod gave them the cold shoulder. Tod A relies on a mixture of folk elements, traditional Eastern European music, songs reminiscent of TOM WAITS and a consistently cynical, dark style of storytelling.

Recordings of a great journey

After the tour for “The Man On The Burning Tightrope”, which also took FIREWATER through Europe, things went quiet for the band. The official statement was a “vacation in Thailand”, which is only half the truth, because Tod goes to Asia to separate himself more and more from his homeland. To keep his head above water, he teaches English: “To keep himself in beer and cigarettes”. But more and more songs and recordings are created on a long journey through Turkey, Israel, Pakistan and India with musicians from these countries. The result, “The Golden Hour” (2008), fascinates once again and quickly gets a twin with “International Orange”. A provisional final album from this period is the live album “Live in Portland”, which comes from a radio show that captures the fascination of a show by this multicultural troupe in a high-quality way. A trip through the decades