Dogstar

Dogstar is a Los Angeles alternative rock band formed in 1991. The group features Bret Domrose on vocals and guitar, Keanu Reeves on bass and Robert Mailhouse on drums; Gregg Miller also appears in the band’s early history. The band is active from 1991 to the present and is associated with the labels Zoo Entertainment. Its sound is identified with alternative rock and post-grunge, and it is also tagged as grunge and rock.

Formation and early years

The band begins with a chance meeting between Reeves and Mailhouse in a supermarket in 1991. Mailhouse is wearing a Detroit Red Wings hockey sweater, and Reeves, who is a hockey fan and player, asks if Mailhouse needs a goalie. Their shared interest in hockey develops into friendship, and they start playing music together privately. The band changes line-ups several times before Domrose joins in 1994. Mailhouse finds the name Dogstar in Henry Miller’s book Sexus.

Releases and performances

Dogstar releases a four-track EP, Quattro Formaggi, in early 1996 through Zoo Entertainment. It follows this with its debut album, Our Little Visionary, which is distributed only in Japan, although the band plays to audiences in the United States, England, Australia and India. While in India, the band performs at the Zee Cine Awards. It also appears at the 1999 Glastonbury Festival.

A second album, Happy Ending, follows in 1999 and is produced by Michael Vail Blum and Richie Zito. Domrose describes the record’s material as more “pop-aggressive” than the band’s earlier work. Dogstar opens for Bon Jovi in Australia and New Zealand in 1995 and shares a stage with David Bowie.

Later activity

Dogstar’s last performance in the original run takes place in Japan in October 2002. Reeves and Mailhouse later perform together in the band Becky, and Reeves sometimes still plays with Dogstar. Mailhouse also forms the Swedish band Sparhusen with Todd “Cavedog” Spahr. The band reforms in 2023 and releases a third album, Somewhere Between the Power Lines and Palm Trees.