Liverpool to host exciting new 'supergroup' with R.E.M. and QOTSA members

An exciting new ‘supergroup’ featuring members of R.E.M. (Peter Buck), QOTSA, Mark Lanegan Band, Screaming Trees and Duke Garwood will be performing a gig in Liverpool as part of their new UK tour.

Peter Buck is the founding guitarist and songwriter for R.E.M., and his collaborations with other bands and singer-songwriters spans dozens of albums across 40 years, including over 40 albums with Drink The Sea member, Barrett Martin.

Duke Garwood is a revered British singer-songwriter and guitarist who has made multiple solo albums, and has collaborated on albums with Screaming Trees singer, Mark Lanegan.

While Alain Johannes is a Chilean-American producer, multi-instrumentalist, and singer songwriter who founded the band Eleven. His virtuosic skills have been tapped by several artists including Chris Cornell, PJ Harvey, Queens Of The Stone Age, Them Crooked Vultures, and many others.

Barrett Martin is a Grammy-winning producer who was also the drummer and a songwriter for the Seattle band Screaming Trees, as well as the supergroup Mad Season. He formed the instrumental group, Tuatara, with Peter Buck and has worked on over 200 albums as a producer and session musician, playing on albums for R.E.M., Queens Of The Stone Age, Brazilian superstar Nando Reis, and various singer-songwriters.

While Lisette Garcia is a Mexican-American percussionist who has played on multiple albums from around the world, and has worked as a song-translator for albums made in South America.

The new ‘supergroup’, Drink The Sea began in 2022 when Alain and Barrett jammed at Barrett’s studio in Olympia, WA to see what kind of magic they could conjure together.

Two years later, Barrett and Duke toured together across England and Iceland, before recording additional songs in Reykjavik.

Barrett, Duke, and Peter met in Sao Paulo to record more songs after this, which continued with Alain joining them in Joshua Tree, and then some additional recording at Alain’s studio in Santiago, Chile.

Final production happened at Barrett’s studio in Olympia, WA, and mixing took place in Barcelona, Spain. The two debut albums the band recorded were literally recorded around the world.

The albums takes their name from a lyric that Duke wrote, are produced and mixed by Barrett and Alain and reflect the members vast experience as songwriters, arrangers, and singers.

It also showcases a strong world music influence that permeates the music, because although the songs are built around traditional guitar, bass, and drums configurations, the songs also shimmer with the sounds of Arabic oud, Indian sitar, Indonesian gamelans, and various exotic percussions like Brazilian surdo, frame drum, vibraphone, marimba, and kalimba.

Drink The Sea will be performing at Liverpool Arts Club on December 12. To book your tickets, click here.