Former American Music Club leader Mark Eitzel, who has just recorded an album

with R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck, will be hitting the road with his friends in

Tuatara beginning May 1 according to a source working with the Seattle-based

supergroup.

Tuatara, who's members include Buck, Screaming Trees drummer

Barrett Martin, Young Fresh Fellows' Scott McCaughey, Luna bassist Justin

Harwood, Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready and horn man Skerik Walton from

Critters Buggin', will take the stage first on the double-bill, after which

they will stay put and act as Eitzel's backing band on the powerhouse tour,

tentatively titled "The Magnificent Seven.

The sound of Tuatara's debut,

Breaking the Ethers (April 1) has been described as "global jazz," and,

at the very least, is a far cry from the straight-ahead rock most of its

members are known for. The tour will start on May 1 at the Crocodile in Seattle

and continue through May 31, with the band playing multiple nights in larger

cities.

So far, the tour is slated to hit Seattle, Portland, San

Francisco, Los Angeles, New York (five nights at the Mercury Lounge), Boston,

Philadelphia, D.C., Chapel Hill and Atlanta. Eitzel's solo record, West,

produced and co-written with Buck, with instrumental assistance from a majority

of the Tuatara crew, will be released on May 6.