In the mid-1990s, three LA-based alternative-rock musicians came together and recorded a four-track EP titled “Quattro Formaggi,” followed soon thereafter by a full LP titled “Our Little Visionary.” The songs included “Nobody Home,” “Bleeding Soul,” and “Denial”—appropriate terms for a decade, and an entire generation whose cynicism preceded them. The group didn’t receive a lot of airplay on the radio, but they toured quite a bit, opening for David Bowie and performing at the 1999 Glastonbury Festival in Somerset, England. They recorded another album in 2000, and then they didn’t return to the studio for over 20 years.
As often happens with people in their thirties, the members of this band were busy building other careers. The guitarist was a composer and actor, the drummer was an actor who played characters on several TV shows. They also got into real estate and The bassist? Well, he was an A-list actor before he played in the band.
Now, the trio known as Dogstar (guitarist/lead vocalist Bret Domrose, drummer Robert Mailhouse, and bassist Keanu Reeves) has recorded another album—2023’s “Somewhere Between the Power Lines and Palm Trees”—and is touring again. The band is coming to the Astro in La Vista Aug. 27. Omaha Magazine talked (via phone) to Mailhouse.
The album was recorded during 2022, when the band, which had been getting together a few times a year and jamming, decided to set aside about 20 days and just record. What came out of it was more upbeat and fun than the grungy lyrics and music associated with their 1990s albums. Gone were the lyrics of “I don’t want to be here, but I need to be here.” In their place were lyrics such as “You’re a dream but I’m not dreaming.”
Add to that the variety of musical interests from the various band members. Mailhouse said he gravitates towards 1980s British influences such as The Smiths and grew up listening to earlier British invasion music. Reeves prefers post-punk bands, and Domrose enjoys singer-songwriters such as Elton John. The result is an album on which one song sounds like the psychedelic-era while another will harken back to the days when flannel shirts and work boots were ubiquitous. The shows, and the music, are fun.
“I think we get so much joy out of the music, you know, it’s sort of a form of communication,” Mailhouse said. “I think we communicate more through music than we do verbally sometimes. I feel like we have sort of a telepathy going on now.”
It makes sense that a band comprised of three musicians with no backing tracks or vocalists would be able to communicate through their music. And it also checks out that three musicians over age 50 would look at their musical career as a way to make people happy.
“You know I’m happy to playing the music,” Mailhouse said. “[That] is, for me, is the most important, and and I just want everyone to be happy and have a, you know, a good life, and realize how, you know, lucky we all are to be here and take nothing for granted.”
He also said that people attending the show in Omaha can escape from the problems of the world for a while and bond through music.
“I think it’s what’s bringing people together…in a world that seems sometimes a little upside down,” Mailhouse said.
More information on the band can be found at dogstarofficial.com; tickets ($59-$129) are available at ticketmaster.com.
