Drink The Sea is the supergroup you didn’t know you needed. Consisting of Peter Buck (of REM) on guitar, Alain Johannes (of Eleven, Queens Of The Stone Age) on vocal and guitar, Barrett Martin (of Screaming Trees, Mad Season) on drums, Duke Garwood on vocals, guitar, and soprano saxophone, Kelsey Mines on bass, and Lisette Garcia on vibraphone, the band has just released their double album debut and are touring the USA.
The music is an intoxicating blend of world and alternative music and it was on full display at The Hamilton Live recently.
Check out the official music video for “their song “Pour Your Glow On” by Drink the Sea on YouTube:
There was no opener at The Hamilton Live on Feb. 18. The band took the stage and thanked everyone for coming out. From the start, the evening’s narrators were Barrett Martin and Alain Johannes. That’s only fitting as the band began with those two gentlemen. Before the show began, as people were still making their way in, I overheard someone saying “it’s going to be like an evening with REM.” Well…not exactly.
The show began with “Shaking For The Snakes,” which also happens to be the first track on the first side of the debut album.
The music has a vibe. If you’ve ever heard Barrett’s band Tuatara, consider that the foundation for the music. Some of the players have been in both groups!
The band are all masters at their instruments. Peter Buck is brilliant, of course. But Alain Johannes brought out some really interesting instruments like his signature cigfiddle. It’s basically a cigar box guitar. Barrett Martin is a master percussionist. For this band and tour, he mainly stays behind the drum kit with an occasional trip over to the vibraphone. And once Duke Garwood begins to sing, you notice a similarity to the late, great Mark Lanegan, who is mentioned several times throughout the show.
The show, visually, is very atmospheric. The lights were dim and a video played behind the band. The video was put together from recording session trips and had a very personal feel. It matched the music very well and enhanced the global feel of the music.
At times either Barrett or Alain would tell a story about how one of the songs was written. Sometimes it was WHERE a song was written that made a huge impact. The show took place a few days before the 4th anniversary of Mark Lanegan’s death. About two-thirds into the set, Barrett took a few moments to talk about him and the impact he had. The band eased into Mad Season’s “Long Gone Day” with Duke singing Mark’s part and Barrett singing Layne Staley’s part. It was a haunting rendition that I won’t soon forget.
They wrapped up the main set after about two hours, playing their entire debut album. After the final Drink The Sea song, “Tuareg Asteroid,” Alain announced that this would be the encore portion of the evening.
Peter Buck asked everyone to come to the front of the stage and much to the delight of the “evening with REM” folks, the band burst into REM’s “The One I Love” with Alain handling vocals. The encore continued with one of Alain’s songs from the Desert Sessions, “Making A Cross.” The entire show wrapped with a cover of “Hanging Tree” from the Queens Of The Stone Age album, Songs For The Deaf.
The tour wrapped up over the weekend and as I’m writing this, they’re stuck in Boston with blizzard conditions keeping them from going home. If you caught a show this tour, you saw something special. If you missed this tour, grab the album and hang on because they’ve already started writing for the next one.
Here are some more photos of Drink The Sea performing live at The Hamilton Live in DC on Feb. 18, 2026. All pictures copyright and courtesy of Marc Shea.
