(very much under construction; excuse our mess)
Tod Ashley left Cop Shoot Cop, and started Firewater. They've toured. Released some CDs. Burned some bridges. The main page likely has more overall info than this page (this page has the discography tho).
Firewater's on tour in November/December 2003. See the The Tod Hole for more information.
Get off the Cross, We Need the Wood for the Fire - CD. Jetset (TWA04CD). 1996. There is also a promo copy of this disc that comes in an oversized equilateral triangular sleeve, 9 inches to a side, with the smoking/drinking Jesus from the cover of the normal CD on it with one side saying "Firewater" and the other "Get Off the Cross…"; the disc itself has variant printing, as it lacks "TWA04CD" and instead has "For Promotional Purposes Only. Not For Sale" . 1) Some Strange Reaction 2) Bourbon and Division 3) Refinery 4) When I Burn this Place Down 5) The Circus 6) I Am the Rain 7) Balalaika 8) The Drunken Jew 9) Mr. Cardiac 10) Snake Eyes and Boxcars 11) One of tThose 12) Hold On, Slow John
Tod A.: Vocals, Bass, Acoustic Guitar, Bazouki
Duane Denison: Electric guitar
Yuval Gabay: Drums, Djembe, Tambourine
Kurt Hoffman: Saxophone, Clarinet, Accordian
Jim Kimball: Drums
Dave Ouimet: Piano, Organ
Hahn Rowe: Violin
Jennifer Charles: Vocals on The Circus and Mr. Cardiac
Jane Scarpentoni: Cello on Refinery, the Circus, and Balalika
The Ponzi Sceme - CD. Jetset (TWA11CD). 1997? The Jetset release seems to be copyrightless; it mentions the winter of 1997, and the Capitolversion is © 1998, so I'm going with 97 for the Jetset version. The CD comes in a tin with matte printing on it. One edge says "Going Down Like a Pederast in a Girl's School", which is not quite a quote from a song on the disc. There is a promotional tin for the disc which is shiny silver with clear stickers with black printing on it; the art differs from the real version, in that the cover is the chalice from the first 2 pages of the booklet, and the back says various clever things that are all scratched up on the copy I have; it definitely says "For Promotional Purposes Only. Not For Sale You Bastards." It might say something like "Steal it From the Man, Not From The Kids", but that bit's really scratchy, and the original is away from me right now so I'm working from a scan. I've heard there's a triangular promo like for Get Off the Cross, but I've never seen it. 1) Ponzi's Theme 2) Green Light (Mono Mix) 3) Dropping Like Flies 4) Caroline 5) Whistling In the Dark 6) Isle of Dogs 7) El Borracho (Ponzi's Relapse) 8) Another Perfect Catastrophe 9) So Long, Superman 10) I Still Love You Judas 11) Knock 'Em Down 12) Drunkard's Lament
Tod A.: Bass, Vocals
Oren Kaplan: Guitar
Hahn Rowe: Violin
Tim Otto: Saxophone
George Javori: Drums
Paul Wallfisch: Piano, Organ
Tamir Muskat: Drums on 2 and 8
Duane Denison: guitar 11, 12
Jim Kimball: Drums 11 12
Kurt Hoffman: Sax 11, 12
Dave Ouimet: Piano, Organ 11, 12
Jane Scarpantoni: Cello 3, 4, 10, 12
Birgit Staudt: Accordian 6
Tim Otto: Saxophone 7
Pam Fleming: Trumpet 7
Susan Graham: Alto Sax 7
Paula Henderson: Baritone Sax 7
Jenny Hill: Sax Piccolo 7
Dave Ouimet: Trombone 7
Joe ben Plummer: Alto Sax 7
3 Shots of Firewater - CD. Universal/Cherry (U5P-1397). 1998. 1) Green Light 2) Some Strange Reaction 3) Dropping Like Flies. White cardboard sleeve with a red and black on white sticker, with the primary design element from the cover of the album. It also says "Relax, It's Okay Daddy-O… The First One's Always Free." and "Not for sale, you bastards!"
The Ponzi Sceme - CD. Universal/Cherry (UD-53161). 1998. Promo. Same track listing and lineup as the Jetset version, except 2, which here is "Green Light (In Stereo)". This is a digipak, the insert is glossy and glued to the packaging, the CD has Fs in the circles in the corners instead of the album name (and has different company indicia), there is an added emblem of the all seeing eye from the dollar bill on the first inside page (also appearing behind the CD itself), the font is smaller in the insert, the image in the middle is larger and the indicia has been removed from the insert, and presumably the back of the booklet has no art, but it's glued in so I'm not sure. The back cover art of the pamphlet from the Jetset version appears in expanded form minus the quote but full of the who plays what indicia, and under it is the other indicia, but is changed a bit from the Jetset indicia. The inner front cover of the digipak contains a quote in Latin from the Archpoet, a 12th century German poet. It translates more or less (probably less, as I've altered another translation to my own liking for this, often without textual support) as "I myself propose to die in a bar, that wine may be near my dripping gob at death. Then choirs of angels will sing happily: "Let God grace this drunken ass."" 2, 3, 4, 8, 9 and10 appear to have different mixing credits, meaning they are probably different mixes than on the Jetset versions, but I'm horrible and determining that kind of thing…
Dropping Like Flies - CD. Universal/Cherry (U5P-1343). 1998.Promo. I suppose this should go before 3 Shots based on its number, but it just doesn't feel like should. The "Not For Sale, you Bastards" line is on this too. I'm sick of it now. The Archpoet quote is here again. The back cover uses most of the design elements of the backs of the Ponzi Scemes. The front cover uses the design elements of the back cover of the tin booklet/the indicia page of the digipak. New art involves a pulpy looking bit of art with a gun being pointed at some surprised looking guy with the line "When Grace is Lost". 1) Dropping Like Flies. That's it.
Psychopharmacology - CD. Jetset (TWA37CD). 2001. I think. They left out the damn year again. 1) Woke up Down 2) Psychopharmacology 3) Fell Off the Face of the Earth 4) Get Out of My Head 5) 7th Avenue Static 6) Car Crash Collaborator 7) Bad, Bad World 8) The Man With the Blurry Face 9) Black Box Recording 10) She's the Mistake
Tod A.: bass, vox & melotron
Oren Kaplan: guitars
Tamir Muskat: drums & percussion
Paul Wallfisch: organ and piano
Tim Otto: bari & tenor sax 6
Hahn Rowe: violin 5
Ori Kaplan: alto sax 6
George Javori: drums 6
Jennifer Charles: vox 7
Oren Bloedow: sitar 3
C. Kelley: toy piano 10
D. Blume: slide guitar 8, tremelo piano 10
Alex Cadvan: cello 9
Get Out of My Head - CD. Jetset (TWA37.PRO). 2001. Promo (and the band has sold it on tour). 1) Get Out of My Head (Ritalin Mix). Mixed by Jamey Staub at Greene Street Recording. The packaging cites the defunct www.fireh2o.com and the mysterious www.firewaterworld.com.
The Man on the Burning Tightrope - CD. Jetset. (TWA54CD; promo was TWA53CD). 2003. 1) Fanfare 2)Anything at all 3)Too much (is never enough) 4) Too many angels 5) Dark days indeed 6) the man on the burning tightrope 7) The truth hurts 8) secret 9) The vegas strip 10) Ponzi's revenge 11) don't make it stop 12 The Notorious and Legendary dog & pony show 13) The song that saved my life 14) Dark days revisited 15) Before the fall 16) Descent.
Razzafrazzin credits are on a per song basis... 1: Tod A., Band Organ Bass; Dave Balou, Trumpet; Oren Kaplan, Guitar; Tamir Muskat, Drums & Loops; Asaf Roth, Glockenspiel, Cymbals; Paul Wallfisch, Organ. 2: Tod A., Vocals, Bass, Mellotron; Oren Kaplan, Guitars; Tamir Muskat, Drums & Loops; Paul Wallfisc, Piano; The Muskat Orchestra, Horns. 3: Tod A, Vocals; Oren Kaplan, Guitars; Ori Kaplan, Sax & Recorder; Willy Martinez, Guira; Tamir Muskat, Drums & Loops; Paul Wallfisch, Piano, Organ; Itamar Ziegler, Bass. 4: Tod A., Vocals, Bass, Mellotron; Dave Balou, Flugelhorn; Oren Kaplan, Guitar; Tamir Muskat, Drums and Loops; Paul Wallfisch, Celeste. 5: Tod A., Voals, Bass; Victoria Hanna, Vocals; Yuri Lemeshev, Accordian; Oren Kaplan, Guitar; Ori Kaplan, Sax; Tamir Muskat, Drums & Castanets; "backing vocals by the Ramallah Orphans Choir (VH, TM, IX, Tami) & stomping by the Morgan St. Boot Boys". 6: Tod A., Vocals, Band Organ Loops. 7: Nicole Blackman, Answering Machine; Oren Kaplan, Guitar; Willy Martinez, Percussion; Tamir Muskat, Drums; Paul Wallfisch, Organ. 8: Tod A., Vocals; Oren Kaplan, Acoustic and Electric Guitars; Tamir Muskat, Drums; Paul Wallfisch, Wurlitzer; Itamar Ziegler, Bass; "With Strings and arrangements by the Muskat Orchestra". 9: Tod A., Vocals, Bass; Dave Balou, Trumpet; Joe Fiedler, Trombone; Oren Kaplan, Guitars; Ori Kaplan, Saxes; Tamir Muskat, Drums; Asaf Roth, Marimba; Paul Wallfisch, Organ; "Arrangement by the Muskat Orchestra". 10: Tod A., Bass; Dave Balou, Trumpet; Joe Fiedler, Trumpet; Oren Kaplan, Guitars; Ori Kaplan, Sax; Tamir Muskat, Drums; Paul Wallfisch, Organ; "Percussion by the Willy Martinez Drum Corps". 11: Tod A., Vocals, Bass; Joe Fiedler, Trombone; Oren Kaplan, Guitar; Tamir Muskat, Drums; Paul Wallfisch, Organ. 12. Tod A., Vocals, Bass; Oren Kaplan, Guitars; Tamir Muskat, Drums; Paul Wallfisch, Piano; "Markus Matti (Muskat Orchestra): Tuba" 13: Tad A., Vocals, Bazouki, Mellotron. 14: Victoria Hanna, Vocal; Tamir Muskat, Tambourine; Yuri Lemeshev, Accordian 15: : Tod A., Band Organ Bass; Dave Balou, Trumpet; Oren Kaplan, Guitar; Ori Kaplan, Sax; Yuri Lemeshev, Accordian ; Tamir Muskat, Drums & Loops; Asaf Roth, Marimba, Glockenspiel, Marching Cymbal; Paul Wallfisch, Organ. 16: Oren Kaplan, Guitar; Tamir Muskat, Cymbal; Paul Wallfisch, Celeste.
The promo, in addition to a different release number, has a more lemony beige ink on the CD than the final version, and came in a cardboard sleeve consisting of more or less the graphic back cover of the booklet of the final version, along with some text.
Songs We Should Have Written - CD. Jetset. 2003 (promo is out September 2003, retail release should be October 21st; whoops, it seems to have changed to January 2004). The track listing (with what I'm told are the original performers) shall be 1) The Beat Goes On (Sonny slash Cher) 2) This Town (Frank Sinatra) 3) Diamonds and Gold (Tom Waits) 4) Folsom Prison Blues (Johnny Cash) 5) Storm Warning (Lyn Taitt & the Comets, info thanks to Alex) 6) Hey Bulldog (Beatles) 7) Some Velvet Morning (Nancy Sinatra) 8) This Little Heart of Mine (unsure yet) 9) Paint It Black (Rolling Stones) 10) Is That All There Is? (Peggy Lee) 11) I Often Dream of Trains (Robyn Hitchcock).
Lollipop issue 63 October/November 2003. MP3 compilation CD. Dark Days Indeed mp3, plus the press release info and a press photo of Tod.
CMJ issue 115 August 2003. 12) Anything At All.
Jetset: In-Flight Entertainment 1999. 7) So Long Superman
Universal Records Rock Sampler (1999) 9) Green Light (Stereo)
Clay Pigeons 1998 2) Another Perfect Catastrophe
Teleconned, Vol. 1: We Want the Airwaves 1998 9) I Still Love You, Judas
Universal Records Rock Sampler (1998) 2) Dropping Like Flies
Get Out of My Head
Woke Up Down
Return to The Tod Hole
Copyright 2002-2003 Banna Heavy Industries
