BUCK-ING THE FAME SYSTEM : VETERAN ROCKER SAYS HE JUST WANTS TO MAKE MUSIC HE CARES ABOUT.

Byline: Fred Shuster Daily News Music Writer

When R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck stepped on stage at Seattle's tiny Crocodile Cafe last Thursday to kick off a monthlong club tour with an instrumental band called Tuatara, he was turning his back on his God-given right as a rock superstar - to sit in fancy restaurants signing autographs while the faucet back home drips hot and cold running groupies.

Like the other three members of R.E.M., though, Buck has never exploited his fame. He says he just wants to make music he cares about even if he does end up in small clubs alongside a ragtag bunch of obscure musicians.

The shaggy-haired guitarist, who most recently added strange underwater guitar noises and other resonant sounds to R.E.M.'s current album, ``New Adventures in Hi-Fi,'' is on the road with Tuatara, Mark Eitzel and the Minus 5, a joint trek nicknamed ``The Magnificent Seven vs. the United States.''

The seven-man lineup, featuring famously depressive singer-songwriter Eitzel (American Music Club), Buck, Scott McCaughey (Young Fresh Fellows), Barrett Martin (Screaming Trees), Skerik (Critters Buggin'), Justin Harwood (Luna) and percussionist Mike Stone, will play three-hour sets in each city, with musicians dropping off and on stage like a jam session. Surprise guests also may appear when the tour hits Los Angeles on Tuesday for five nights at the Gallery Theater and the Ash Grove.

``I've always managed to maintain a steady level of work,'' Buck said. ``I was always looking forward to doing something else after the tour.''

That tour was 1995's yearlong ``Monster'' trek that was brought to a sudden halt in Switzerland when R.E.M. drummer Bill Berry was treated for a brain aneurysm. Further European dates were canceled when bassist Mike Mills underwent abdominal surgery and singer Michael Stipe was diagnosed with a hernia.

``Actually, `Monster' was the easiest tour I'd ever done, aside from Bill's almost dying, which was mind-boggling,'' Buck said. ``But the doctors said it was one of the quickest and fullest recoveries they'd ever seen. We were hanging out with him in Switzerland and told him, `Don't worry, it's only a rock 'n' roll tour.' But he wanted to get back on the road.''

As for his involvement in the ``Magnificent Seven'' tour, McCaughey, who has known Buck for 14 years and was a sideman on the ``Monster'' tour, had asked his old friend along with Martin and a couple of members of Seattle's Posies to play on the Minus 5's new album, ``The Lonesome Death of Buck McCoy'' (Malt/Hollywood).

``I would have recording time booked and not ask anyone until the last minute and they would show up,'' McCaughey said from his home in Seattle. ``They're my buds. There's a lot of people in Seattle who like to play and we've become friendly.''

The 13-city monthlong tour initially was arranged to promote ex-American Music Club (AMC) leader Eitzel's new solo effort, ``West'' (Warner Bros.), in which Buck co-wrote nearly every song, and Tuatara's ``Breaking the Ethers'' (Epic). Since many of the players overlap, McCaughey's Minus 5 was added to the touring lineup.

``It seemed tailor-made that if I was going to go out with them, I should support my new record, too,'' McCaughey said. ``Most of us will be on stage most of the time.''

Members of Screaming Trees, R.E.M. and Luna came together to record as Tuatara. The resulting album, ``Breaking the Ethers,'' is an instrumental collaboration that uses various exotic percussion and stringed instruments, cello, flamenco guitar and avoids rock cliches. Guests at the sessions included Pearl Jam's Mike McCready, Los Lobos' Steve Berlin and McCaughey.

``It was very unclear what they were going to do originally,'' a vacationing Buck, 40, said from Hawaii a few weeks ago. ``It was soundtrack music with unusual instrumentation like marimba, vibes and sitar. They invited me down to see what might happen. I fit in really well and within a day or two, it became clear I was in the band. But I never signed anything or shared blood with them or anything like that.''

Eitzel led San Francisco's critically acclaimed AMC from 1983 to 1994, during which time the band cut seven albums and toured plenty. A longtime AMC fan, Buck attended an Eitzel solo show in Seattle and later convened at Eitzel's home in the Bay Area. They wrote 11 songs in three days.

``We had no idea it would work as well as it did,'' Eitzel said. ``Peter was originally just going to play bass on some tracks. We really didn't decide to do this. He picked up the guitar and started playing something, and I picked out some lyrics and that was it. It all sort of came together very quickly after that. I can labor over songs like nobody's business, but I refused to allow myself to do it this time.''

Buck explained that the co-written songs are ``a combination of my kind of songwriting and Mark's. And given that Mark's singing them, you wouldn't think it sounds anything like R.E.M. I've written with people in the past, but never this quickly. I mean, suddenly, we had these songs, like gifts.''

As for an AMC reunion, forget about it.

``We weren't achieving any kind of success,'' Eitzel said. ``After 15 years, you kind of have expectations. You have kids and rent to pay and nobody wants to sleep on the floor anymore. I wanted to find different management and other things. And it just imploded. I broke it up in the end. It was a great band, but it was time to end it.''

R.E.M., however, are simply taking a break, even though the band never toured behind the ``New Adventures'' release.

``I think it's cool to go out and play the songs,'' Buck said. ``That said, I don't feel we have to do that with every album. We thought it would be good to step away from it this time.''

Still, the members of R.E.M. recently gathered to compare demos and talk about the future.

``Michael has his movie company, and I'm in three bands now with a tour through May,'' said Buck, who lives in Seattle. ``At the same time, our faces aren't on the record covers, and we've avoided the talk-show thing. I can get a good table at a restaurant, and if I go to a rock club, people come up and say they enjoy my work. It's the best of all worlds.''

THE FACTS

Who: Mark Eitzel, Tuatara and the Minus 5.

Where: Gallery Theater, Barnsdall Park, 4800 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood; Ash Grove, 250 Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica.

When: Tuesday through May 15 (Gallery Theater); May 16-17 (Ash Grove).

Tickets: $15.50.

Information: [phone].

CAPTION(S):

3 Photos

Photo: (1--Cover--Color) BUCKING THE TREND

Superstar R.E.M. guitarist PETER BUCK takes to small clubs in L.A. and 12 other cities.

(2) Peter Buck, left, and Scott McCaughey have known each other for 14 years. McCaughey asked his old friend to play on the Minus 5's new album, ``The Lonesome Death of Buck McCoy.''

(3) R.E.M.'s 1995 ``Monster'' tour was brought to a sudden halt by band members' various health problems.