“Can’t wait to perform for everyone when the record comes out Spring 2023,” the band wrote on Instagram
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Bret Domrose, Robert Mailhouse and Keanu Reeves of Dogstar. PHOTO: SGRANITZ/WIREIMAGE
Fresh off the John Wick 4 promotional cycle, Keanu Reeves is returning to music!
The actor’s alternative rock band Dogstar recently took to Instagram and shared a new photo of Reeves, 58, with fellow members Robert Mailhouse and Bret Domrose, teasing a comeback — 23 years after they last released an album.
“Last set up on the roof in Lincoln Heights for @dogstarband photo shoot. Exciting news coming soon. Thanks for being so patient,” read the post’s caption, accompanying a new black-and-white photo of the band.
Dogstar was formed in the mid-’90s with Reeves as bassist and backing vocalist, Mailhouse as drummer and percussionist, Domrose as guitarist and vocalist. Gregg Miller also played guitar and sang with the band until his departure in 1995.
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Keanu Reeves. JIM STEINFELDT/MICHAEL OCHS ARCHIVES/GETTY
The band’s first EP Quattro Formaggi was released in 1996 and followed by two albums, 1996’s Our Little Visionary and 2000’s Happy Ending, as well as a one-off cover of Mr. Big’s “Shine” in 2004.
During Dogstar’s initial run, the band appeared in films including 1999’s Me and Will and 2005’s Ellie Parker. They also opened for David Bowie and Bon Jovi on tour and performed headlining shows with then-upcoming opening acts Rancid and Weezer.
After the band stopped touring together in the mid-2000s, Reeves and Mailhouse joined forces with guitarist Paulie Kosta and The Real World alum Rebecca Lord as the band becky (stylized in all lowercase). The trio recorded the theme song for Disney Channel’s JoJo’s Circus.
Dogstar’s Instagram account has been active since July 2022, documenting the recording process for a new album. “Can’t wait to perform for everyone when the record comes out Spring 2023,” read a caption posted in December alongside a photo of the band at a private concert.
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In a 2019 GQ cover story interview, Reeves spoke about Dogstar and noted that he felt bad for his fellow members, as they faced criticism for The Matrix actor’s turn to music.
“I guess it would have helped if our band was better,” he told the outlet at the time.
“We played Milwaukee Metal Fest. Got killed. I think we played close to [belligerent New York hardcore-punk legends] Murphy’s Law. Imagine. So we played a Grateful Dead cover, at Milwaukee Metal Fest,” recalled Reeves.
“We were like, ‘They hate us. What are we doing here? What can we do? Let’s do the Grateful Dead cover,'” he continued. “They were just like, F— you, you suck. I had the biggest grin on my face, man.”
