Firewater is an American indie rock group from New York City, formed in 1995. Singer and bassist Tod Ashley founded the group following the dissolution of Cop Shoot Cop. The band released the debut album Get Off the Cross, We Need the Wood for the Fire in 1996. The music combined punk rock with elements of cabaret, ska, jazz, klezmer, and gypsy music. Subsequent releases included The Ponzi Scheme (1998), Psychopharmacology (2001), and The Man on the Burning Tightrope (2003).Musicians who performed with the group included Duane Denison of The Jesus Lizard and Yuval Gabay of Soul Coughing. In 2004, the band released the cover album Songs We Should Have Written. Following a sabbatical in Asia and the Middle East, Ashley recorded the album The Golden Hour (2008). The group released its seventh studio album, International Orange!, in 2012.
