Any tour plans for Firewater?
We’re going to be touring in the fall. It’s kind of a bass-ackwards way of doing it. Maybe it wasn’t very thought out, but we’re putting out a record of covers called Songs We Should Have Written and it’s coming out in the fall. Probably should have come out in the summer and had (Man On The Burning Tightrope) come out in the Fall, but whatever. We’re going to be touring the States and Europe. We seem to be doing pretty well in Europe.

Can you give us a preview of some of the covers you’re thinking about?
Yeah, actually they’re all recorded. Some of them will sound kind of absurd until you hear how they’re done. We really fucked ‘em up, ripped ‘em apart, put ‘em back together and made ‘em our own. We did “Hey Bulldog” by the Beatles, “Is That All There Is” by Peggy Lee. Actually, I guess that’s Leiber & Stoller, but Peggy Lee recorded the version that’s famous. Um, “Some Velvet Morning” by Lee Hazlewood & Nancy Sinatra, “The Beat Goes On” by Sonny & Cher, “This Town” by Frank Sinatra—he performed it, anyway.

Do the songs get the Firewater treatment that one would expect?
Yeah, but it’s a bit more raw. Leaning more towards the punk-rock style of things that we do. Oh, also “Folsom Prison” by Johnny Cash, “I Often Dream Of Trains” by Robyn Hitchcock and “Diamonds And Gold” by Tom Waits. Kind of all the big heroes.

People are constantly comparing you to Tom Waits. Do you find that tiresome or flattering?
It’s still flattering, just because I’m a huge fan. I don’t care so much about revealing influences in the music. I certainly hope no one thinks of it as plagiaristic in any way, but in terms of the work that he’s done and how he’s unlearned songwriting ... I find it really admirable how he’s kept his sense of play about making music and doesn’t really think about it too much.

You have a lot of exotic sounds in Firewater. Do you envision these things going in, or do you just have these multi-talented guys that just come in and do their thing?
For the most part, with the instrumentation, there’s sort of a vision in my head of what the final result should wind up sounding like. On this record, though, there was a lot more collaboration. There would be a rough sketch of the song that we’d try in five or 10 different styles and see which one would seem to stick. So there’s a lot more experimenting this time around. “Too Many Angels” started out as an upbeat, Beach Boys-style pop song and wound up being a dirge.

I can’t possibly imagine that.
[Laughs] I can play you the demo. A lot of stuff was drastically hacked apart and reworked when we were rehearsing for the record. In the past, I’ve been a bit more of a dictator. So I’m loosening up in my old age.

So is Firewater a band, or is it a Tod A. solo project?
I’d say six and one-half dozen of the other. We have like a revolving-door policy in terms of membership. You know, I’ve remained friends with everyone I’ve worked with. Our paths crossed for a while and then people go on to other projects.

Is that what happened with Duane Denison?
The first record was a “project.” I called all these people that I really respected and asked them if they wanted to come to New York and make a record. We had two weeks to rehearse and two weeks to record and we did it. At that point, Soul Coughing was really taking off and the (Jesus) Lizard were touring all the time, so those guys couldn’t go on tour. So I just tried to get a group of musicians from New York to be the live band. That’s stayed fairly constant. Scott was on the first tour. He’s kind of come and gone, but now he’s back. Paul Wallfisch was on that first tour, as well. Oren Kaplan, too. The horn players have sort of come and gone. Horn players are just sort of mercenaries anyway.

Let me ask you about some of the songs. There has to be a good story behind “The Truth Hurts.”
Yes, but you’re not going to hear it today.

Is that an actual phone message, or is it made up?
Um, it’s a recording.

Going to be cagey on that, eh?
Sorry, it’s still too fresh.

OK. I do like the follow-up song, “Secret.” Seems to be fairly straightforward for a Firewater song, though.
That was actually one I wrote and was ready to consign it to the deep. The band convinced me to do it. I felt it was bit melodramatic, but not in a good way. I still think it may suffer a bit from that, but they seem to like it. They sort of talked me into it.

It just seems like a good rock ‘n’ roll song.
It’s a bit rock ‘n’ roll, it’s a bit anthemic. The working title was “Anthem” for a while. The basic underlying idea of the lyrics I still like, which is no matter how many people are trying to own you or tell you what to think or tell you what to do, at your job or at home, wherever, you can still be alone inside your head. That’s kind of the underlying feeling behind it. No one can take that away from you. You always have that private place inside your skull.

Tell me about the title track.
It’s kind of about me and George Bush. Hopefully it’s vague enough to be applied to whatever you want to apply it to.

It’s kind of unsual to hear contemporary issues framed against an old world musical backdrop.
There’s a whole kind of circus vibe on this record. To me, this country is becoming more and more absurd. There’s a fucking clown in the White House and I feel like everyone’s just sitting there watching. I feel less and less in control of my own life and less and less that I have any effect on anything. It just seems patently absurd that this man is the most powerful man in the world. He’s a complete idiot. Sorry if I’m saying anything offensive to you.

Not at all.
OK. Yeah, it’s just that most of the country is happy to go along with that. Maybe that’s where the circus element comes from.

So you’re the man on the burning tightrope, or is it George W.?
Both of us, but for different reasons.