New York based band Firewater, built around former Cop Shoot Cop bassist Tod A., play what A. calls punk. But when you listen to the music you will find something different -- sometimes subtle, sometimes in your face -- but definitely not straight out of the "I-wish-it-was-1977-handbook".

"I always thought World Punk summed it up pretty nicely," says A. "We are inspired by music from all over the globe, but it's always filtered through a punk rock sensibility."

The band formed in 1995 and released Get Off The Cross (We Need The Wood For The Fire). In 1998 they followed with The Ponzi Scheme. These records featured a herd of musicians including Duane Denison of Jesus Lizard, Yuval Gabay of Soul Coughing, Kurt Hofmann of the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion and Jennifer Charles of Elsyian Fields. In 2001 Firewater released Psychopharmacology and in 2003 The Man on the Burning Tightrope.

Even though he focuses on his vocals now A. talked to us about the bass.

"I played a Fender Jazz for a long time because that's what Tracy Pew from the Birthday Party used to play and I loved that sound. Now I'm letting better people than me play the bass in the band, mostly because I'm lazy," he says. "But it's also because I'm the kind of guy who has difficulty walking and chewing gum at the same time -- and I figure my singing can use all the help it can get."

On the new record (to be released by Chicago's Bloodshot in March 2008) they decided to go with an amped acoustic to get a different sound.

"It was a Fender BG29, if memory serves, which it usually doesn't." says A.

In this case his memory served him just fine. The BG29 is a cutaway acoustic/electric. The bass goes for around $500. One thing to remember is that the natural finish bass and the black version will sound drastically different. Why? The natural finish has mahogany back and sides and a spruce top. The black is all maple. The pick-up is a Fishman Acoustic Matrix.

A. did use some other basses in Cop Shoot Cop.

"I played a Fender Mustang, which I liked because it was so light and had a bright, searing sound, without much low end -- more like a guitar than a bass, which is how I played it. CSC had two bass players, so it helped that the two sounds were very different," he says. "It was also really light, so I could throw it around, which I did quite a bit. I had two of them just to be on the safe side, but they rarely broke, and they went through a lot of abuse."

A. is less of a fan of some of the more foofy and esoteric basses floating around out there.

"The Chapman Stick and those other multi-stringed things just look retarded," says A. "They should leave those things in music school where they belong."

When it comes to amps there is one for sound and one for use in the real world.

"Ampeg SVT is my sound of choice, but they are heavy as hell and prone to breakdowns, which means you wind up lugging TWO of the bloody things around," he says. "Gallien Kruger's not as natural-sounding but they weigh considerably less than a house, and I've never had one fail on me. Not yet, anyway."

When it comes to gear he doesn't have A. is not interested in another bass.

"I'd like a calliope, please. And a Mellotron," says A. "And if it's not too much trouble, could I also have a Mexican funeral band with a sound knowledge of the compositions of prolific Bollywood composer R.D. Burman? Thanks!"

If and when he finds the latter they will probably be the band on the next Firewater CD.

Every musician -- from professionals to guys who tinker in their basements -- has bought something that they later look at and say; "Why the hell did I buy that?" A. has a story, although the word "buy" doesn't necessarily apply.

"I always seem to buy computer stuff right before it becomes obsolete -- my cross to bear, I suppose. But as far as bass equipment goes, that would have to be the ancient Ampeg SVT I stole from a NYC club called World where I used to sweep the floors for awhile back in the stone age," he says. "The boss was a cokehead and always neglected to pay me. So one day I put the house amp in a garbage bag and took it out with the trash, then came back later and grabbed it off the street. The damned thing was cursed. It never did work properly. After months of struggling with this thing, one night it finally spontaneously combusted on stage - flames, smoke, the whole nine yards. It took a fire extinguisher to put it out. Let this be a lesson to you. Don't steal from cokeheads."

The new Firewater record The Golden Hour comes out on Bloodshot in March 2008. The band will also tour for the first time in three years