Tod Ashley (born November 30, 1965), better known by the stage name Tod A, is an American singer, songwriter, and bass guitarist. He founded the rock music groups

Cop Shoot Cop Cop Shoot Cop was a noise rock group founded in New York City in 1987. They disbanded in 1996. The band were frequently classified as industrial rock, but were often quite different from many bands so dubbed: having a distinctive instrumental l ...

and

Firewater Firewater may refer to: Liquid * High-proof beverages, particularly illegal moonshine * Firewater (fire fighting), the polluted water remaining after fire fighting * Fire water, water stored in tanks for wildfire suppression Art and Entertainment ...

. Ashley also spent time while in art school in a band called Shithäus with Jon Spencer, later of The Blues Explosion. Ashley was living in

Bushwick, Brooklyn Bushwick is a neighborhood in the northern part of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It is bounded by the neighborhood of Ridgewood, Queens, to the northeast; Williamsburg to the northwest; East New York and the cemeteries of Highland Pa ...

when he decided that he wanted to travel the world. In 2005, putting his musical career on hiatus, Tod spent most of the year traveling the Far East, including

Calcutta, India Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, commer ...

and

Bangkok, Thailand Bangkok, officially known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estimated populatio ...

. He has published a written account of his travels in a blog, which he calls ''Postcards From the Other Side of the World''. He lived in Bali for three years until 2010. In 2019, Ashley published his first novel, ''Banging the Monkey'' based on his experiences abroad.

Discography

;Cop Shoot Cop ;

;Other appearances

References

External links

90.3 WCPN Cleveland – Podcast interview with Tod A.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ashley, Tod American male singers American rock bass guitarists American male bass guitarists Songwriters from New Jersey American industrial musicians Cop Shoot Cop members Firewater (band) members Noise rock musicians Singers from New Jersey People from Bushwick, Brooklyn People from Middlesex County, New Jersey Living people 1965 births Guitarists from New Jersey Guitarists from New York (state) 20th-century American bass guitarists 20th-century American male musicians American male songwriters