Firewater
Undefined / Undefined
"Tod A wanted to be a famous rock star so he could write songs about drinking, sex, and criminals. Or drinking and having sex with criminals. Or being a criminal and having sex with drinks. The possibilities were endless. For Tod, however, the years after Cop Shoot Cop were spent on the wedding band cirtcuit, in the pokey, and in church praying for what was left of his soul.
"I learned a lot in jail," he says, "Especially about the law. I did some divorce work for the boys while I was in stir." After rounding up some cellmates, Tod decided to give rock'n'roll another shot and started the New York collective FIREWATER. Their 1996 debut album Get off the Cross (We need the Wood for the Fire) got the A&R types hot under the pants and the band spent the next year and a half repeating "there is no guest list" and "why should we sign with you? Your bands suck..." The industry lapped it up! Some disinterested rock-gods with reasonable hair.
On Get off the Cross, FIREWATER ripped open the seams of European music and reveled in the klezmer, cha cha, and tango debris to create an unexpected and intoxicating album that became a critics favorite. They toured with Soul Coughing, The Jesus Lizard, Squirrel Nut Zippers, and Skeleton Key, spreading their peculiar gospel to awestruck young kids who walked into the club saying "So this is the guy from Cop?" and left the place dancing the Hora. When FIREWATER saw skatepunks wearing yarmulkes to the gigs, they knew their band had legs.
So is FIREWATER's new album as steamy and narcotically alluring as their debut? "That album wasn't just about sex, it was sex," Hahn Rowe explained to the BBC when the lads finally emerged from Abbey Road. "Pure sex. But we've moved on. We're into pyramid scams now." With The Ponzi Scheme, FIREWATER is still shopping at the world's bazaars, but they wind up spending more time at revival meetings and the corner bars. "It's the long-awaited musical return to Cold War paranoia," Oren reported to Tiger Beat.
The Ponzi Scheme is raucous and irresistible, with lyrics that are already immortalized on the bathroom wall at CBGB. The bad-ass spy instrumental " Ponzi's Theme" sets the tone for the record and sucks you in fast. Top cuts include the gorgeous, destructive lament " IStill Love You Judas," the hard-candy charm of " Green Light,"the grit-bop of " So Long Superman," and the sultry tango of " Another Perfect Catastrophe." From the inebriated gospel of " Knock 'Em Down," to the torn valentine of " Caroline," FIREWATER takes you on a manic-depressive mood swing and leaves you at the train station without a dime. The Ponzi Scheme might be just what you've been waiting for, especially if you're at the end of your rope...
Or you just want to swing a while...
|