Drink The Sea is a new supergroup of world-renowned musicians who are considered to be some of the best songwriters in their bands from the 1990s. They include:
Peter Buck, the founding guitarist and songwriter for R.E.M. His collaborations with other bands and singer-songwriters spans dozens of albums across 40 years. His collaborations with Drink The Sea member, Barrett Martin, includes work on over 40 albums to date.
Duke Garwood, a revered British singer-songwriter and guitarist who has made multiple solo albums. He has also collaborated on albums with Screaming Trees singer, Mark Lanegan.
Alain Johannes, 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, 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. Lisette Garcia, a Mexican-American percussionist who has played on multiple albums from around the world. She has also worked as a song-translator for albums made in South America.
Drink The Sea began three years ago in 2022, when Alain and Barrett jammed at Barrett’s studio in Olympia, WA just to see what kind of magic they could conjure together. Two years later, Barrett and Duke toured together in England and Iceland, before recording additional songs in Reykjavik. After that, Barrett, Duke, and Peter met in Sao Paulo to record more songs, 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.
Taking their name from a lyric that Duke wrote, the albums are produced and mixed by Barrett and Alain and reflect the members vast experience as songwriters, arrangers, and singers. It also shows 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.
The band will begin touring in October of 2025, and the first single will be released on May 23rd with new singles following every two weeks. The two albums will be released on September 19th and October 3rd, respectively.