The words "super group" can strike fear into the hearts of music aficionados. Thoughts of Asia (the band, not the continent) can raise worrying ideas of overblown production and no small amount of pomposity.
Drink the Sea is the antithesis of this. Yes, technically, the band members are well known in alt-rock circles thanks to their celebrated work with other bands. It's a group, and by golly it's super! But these old friends, and they clearly are old friends, don't have one iota of pomposity about them. This is authentically emotive, mood-driven, no-frills art-rock. Gothic, but not in a "white make-up," cheesy way. Dusty and romantic, like Tom Waits in black and white.
The band includes guitarist Peter Buck (R.E.M., pictured left), drummer Barrett Martin (Screaming Trees, Mad Season), multi-instrumentalist Alain Johannes (Eleven, Queens of the Stone Age, pictured right), and vocalist/guitarist Duke Garwood (Mark Lanegan Band, pictured center). Percussionist Lisette Garcia and bassist Abbey Blackwell complete the group. There are two albums, I and II, on the shelves and they played a lot of those songs at the Lodge Room in the Highland Park area of Los Angeles on a Saturday night in early February.
With no opening band, Drink the Sea stepped onstage at 8 p.m. and played for over two hours. 26 songs, with four of them covers of their own work elsewhere. That's 22 songs taken from the Drink the Sea albums and, to be honest, we weren't familiar with any of them prior to the show.
The great news is that the original Drink the Sea material is wonderful. Garwood's deep growl is trance-like and ever so slightly Nick Cave-esque. Songs like "Sip of the Juice" and "Spirit Away" have an addictive, hypnotic quality, minus any new-age, Burning Man nonsense.
The covers are spectacular. R.E.M.'s "The One I Love," with Johannes singing Michael Stipe's lead, is gorgeous, while Mad Season's "Long Gone Day," and "Making a Cross" from the Desert Sessions, are both given new life here. The set closer is "Hangin' Tree," originally a Desert Sessions song and later recorded by QOTSA. Again, that's handled expertly by Drink the Sea.
We don't know how long Drink the Sea will remain a going concern. But the band members appear to be having a great time in their own understated way. There's genuine affection between them, subtle smiles in quiet moments, and it makes for an affecting evening.
