What goes into a Dogstar song? Simple stuff.
Start with lyrics that invite you into a secret, personal world. Words that tell a story about a relationship on the rocks, about dishonesty, about how lovers hurt each other.
Bring those words to life with soulful vocals, powerful guitar playing, and hard rhythmic drive, and you've got a Dogstar song. The band got started in 1991 when Keanu and Robert met in a supermarket. Keanu noticed that Rob was wearing a Detroit Redwings hockey sweater. Keanu is an avid hockey player, so he asked Rob if he needed a goalie. He did, they did, and the two became friends. Before long, their love of music led them to private jam sessions. Rob asked his friend Gregg Miller to play too. He stayed in the band until 1995. Bret was the last to join (in 1994).
Jamming turned into such fun, they decided to play for a live audience, "which," Keanu said later, "was a huge mistake." At first they called themselves Small Fecal Matter, which gave way to BFS (Big Fucking Shit, or slightly more politely, Big Fucking Sound). Finally, they settled on Dogstar, the colloquial name for Sirius, the brightest star in our sky. Keanu has written a couple of songs for the group, 'Isabelle', about a friend's three-year-old daughter, and 'Round C', a love song whose title was inspired by a cheese.
Unfortunately, Dogstar hasn't had the chance to become its own star, given the presence of its bassist, movie hunk Keanu Reeves. What's even more bewildering is that drummer Rob Mailhouse used to be a familiar face on one of TV's most popular soap opera, Days of Our Lives, and guitarist/ frontman Bret Domrose spends his free time writing screenplays as well as songs. The three joined forces during the summer of 1994, building on the musical bond previously forged by Keanu and Rob. Bret, on hold to tour as Sheryl Crow's guitarist, became the final member of the pop-rock trio. The group put out a modest EP in early 1996 distributed by BMG's now-defunct Zoo Entertainment: "Quattro Formaggi" (defined as "four cheeses" in Italian) was a tasty four-track preview of what was to come the following year on the band's first full-length album. Although their official debut LP, Our Little Visionary, was distributed only in Japan, Dogstar played a sold-out tour thanks to its Western culture-loving fanbase. The band continued to play another sold-out U.S. spring tour and covered England, Australia, and India. They attracted a foreign audience of 7,000 to the equivalent of the Academy Awards in India, the ZeeTV Cine & TV Awards, and were also honored by being requested to play at England's prestigious Glastonbury Festival.
Amazingly, the three rockers managed to create and record their second U.S. album, Happy Ending, intermittently in 1999 despite conflicting schedules and employing two producers. Michael Vail Blum (Suicidal Tendencies, Goo Goo Dolls) worked on eight of the 10 tracks, while producer/recorder/mixer Richie Zito (Cheap Trick, the Cult) tackled the rest, including the group's late addition of a cover of the Carpenter's hit ballad Superstar, a favorite during their live shows. Domrose calls the music on the new record more "pop-aggressive" than the band's earlier work. Although Dogstar's music is often eclipsed by the presence of its bassist, movie star Keanu Reeves, perhaps stunting the band's growth, the talented trio is extremely committed to its music and its growing fanbase. Sounds like just the beginning of a Happy Ending.
