Seeing a band in a bar in the 1990s meant a haze of smoke precluded people who were not right in the front from seeing the band, a bottle of Zima was about $1, or a pitcher of domestic beer was about $2, and eyes were on the band as people moshed on the floor. The grunge-rock wave featured guitars played in a lower key, with lots of distortion and reverberation and hard drum beats.
Aug. 27 at The Astro Theater felt a lot like the mid-1990s at a smoky, boozy dive bar—but the smokers had to go outside, a can of hard seltzer was closer to $10, and a lot of people’s eyes were behind the screens of their phones. A grunge-and-punk-rock sound prevailed in a tight, clean set by the band Dogstar.
Before the main band, however, the band with THAT member concentrating on playing his bass, the crowd in a mostly-full Astro theater was treated to the band Sons of Silver. The LA-based band set up the crowd for a night of retro-sounding rock ’n’ roll. Lead guitarist and singer Peter Argyropoulos noted in a video interview with former MTV VeeJay Matt Pinfield that he listened to a lot of Depeche Mode and The Smiths while recording the single “Tell Me This.” His voice is reminiscent of Mark Knoepfler of the Dire Straits, and the lyrics were engaging and hard-hitting: “Strap a love bomb to my chest. Serenade me with the Smiths, we could be friends.”
As Sons of Silver left the stage, however, the energy shifted. The anticipation was palpable. The three piece band came on right at 9 p.m. and busted into the song “Blonde”—with its upbeat tempo combined with harder-hitting guitar riffs.
Unlike many bands, however, the guitarist wasn’t the person who had all eyes on him. That privilege was reserved for the bassist—Keanu Reeves. It was apparent from the crowd that his name is what brought many people out to see the band.
“I’ve never been to a Dogstar show,” said Tiffaney Durr of Nebraska City, who came with significant other Brady Weddle. “We are John Wick fans.”
“I came across it on Facebook because I follow Keanu Reeves, and I said we should go,” Weddle said.
From the moment the band stepped on stage, phones went up—not with flashlights, but with cameras and video. Anyone who wanted to know where the bassist was playing on stage need only look at one of the phones in front of them. In fact, at the beginning of the song “Glimmer,” someone (possibly a tech) behind drummer Rob Mailhouse held up his own phone with the flashlight on and began waving it side-to-side. It took.a moment for the crowd to switch from video to flashlight and wave their phones along to this psychedelic-inspired, mellow song reminiscent of Pink Floyd.
The band seemed to be used to this, and it didn’t seem to phase them onstage. They sounded well-rehearsed and tight. The band consists of only three people—guitarist and lead vocalist Bret Domrose plays with Mailhouse and Reeves—meaning that each person needs to hit their notes to make a cohesive sound, and they did.
The trio played for exactly one hour, delivering music from their 2023 album such as “Blonde”and “Everything Turns Around,” putting on a good selection of their music for the mesmerized crowd. Reeves didn’t speak one word. When introduced by Mailhouse, he put his hand over his heart and gave a nod. And that’s OK, because the band was there to play, and they performed well.
“I didn’t know what I was walking into, but the spinoff was a bit like U2,” Durr said. She hadn’t listened to any of the music ahead of the show because she wanted to be surprised.
She was certainly among many who didn’t know the band’s songs well. When Dogstar encored with The Cure’s “Just Like Heaven,” they finally got the majority of people dancing and grooving along to a song they knew. Everyone, however, seemed to feel they got their money’s worth—whether in music or proximity to an A-lister.
