What do you get when you combine members of R.E.M., The Black Crowes, and the guy fronting the Blowfish?

You get the delightfully named Howl Owl Howl, the supergroup of Darius Rucker (Hootie), Mike Mills (REM), and Steve Gorman (Crowes) who played their first show Monday (11/3) at The Vogue in Indianapolis.

Their set consisted of an impressive array of originals as well as classic covers from their respective past.

Those included The Black Crowes hits “Hard to Handle” and “She Talks to Angels;” R.E.M.'s “I Believe,” “(Don’t Go Back to) Rockville,” “Losing My Religion,” “The One I Love;” and the Hootie & the Blowfish bangers “Let Her Cry,” “Time,” and “Everybody Wants Her.”

The trio were accompanied by Rich Gilbert (guitar/keys) and Sol Philcox‑Littlefield (guitar), multi-instrumentalist Kenny Vaughn, and fiddle player Carmella Ramsey.

Is this what this mixed up world needs right now? Rucker's rich baritone replacing Michael Stipe and Chris Robinson's tenor? Are we best friends now?

Who knew Hootie's howling owl would be the salve to soothe us?

In many ways this band lives and dies by whether you like Rucker's style and if you think it serves the new songs and the favorites you grew up with.

Robinson nailed Otis Wilson's "Hard To Handle" decades ago. Many of the kids today probably know it primarily as a Black Crowes tune. Darius does a fair job on it, but you realize that rock star moves and style matter a little and Rucker is fine, but he's not dangerous. Miss that.

He's more suited for the safer, happier, "I Believe" from R.E.M.'s 1986 gem, Lifes Rich Pageant. It's also a number where we get to hear Mills' trademark harmonies better.

In a perfect world they'd also do "Superman" from that album, The Clique cover.

But the cover that makes you say yes, yes, yes like Meg Ryan in When Harry Met Sally, but for real, is when he gets to belt out the Black Crowes' "She Talks To Angels."

If this isn't a B-side to one of their next singles, they're missing the boat.

Let's not leave out the third member of the supergroup, Steve Gorman, who is probably benefiting from the smaller club dates the most because audiences are able to hear what a smooth timekeeper her is.

Gorman wrote one of the best behind-the-scenes books by a drummer, Hard to Handle, where he documented the Crowe's shockingly fast rise to prominence thanks to their debut album. He also captured how insane it was to be stuck in between two feuding brothers.

The memoir which came out in 2019, seven years after he left the group, might be a reason we may never see him rejoin the Georgian band, in part to one hilarious passage where he told Chris Robinson that the singer had grown out of touch with his Hollywood Hills lifestyle and his excessive weed intake.

"You spend more on weed than most people make in a year," Gorman accused Robinson.

"That's not fucking true," the singer fired back.

And when Gorman asked how much he spends a year on the Devil's lettuce, Robinson allegedly said, "I don’t know, a hundred grand?"

A more current feud is one Howl Owl Howl is slightly less wicked. Apparently Ariana Grande put out a fragrance called R.E.M. and then sold it in a cassette.

Bassist Mills first was cool with the name of the aroma, but when he saw his legendary band's name on a tape - clearly blurring the lines - he wrote a song called "My Cologne" that has the lines “I want to smell like Ariana Grande and I think she wants you to smell like me.”

"This is our new hit single," Mills said before live debuting "My Cologne" to the fans at The Vogue. It was one of eight live debuts of the night.

"It's huge in the UK right now," Rucker joked.

Mills then explained the situation with Ariana and the band broke into the lead single off the album.

Perhaps we can expect all of this to blow over during the holidays when Ari is promoting the second part of the Wicked movie. And if we're lucky perhaps she will cut a remix with the band the way Lorde and Charli did on "Girl, So Confusing."

Howl Owl Howl will be at the Stone Pony tomorrow night, in Boston the next and will eventually wrap up their inaugural tour in Georgia where they're from.

Grab tix on their website.