Keanu Reeves’ band Dogstar—which last performed in 2002—has announced they will reunite on stage at the BottleRock music festival in Napa Valley, California, on May 27. They’ll perform songs from “new music from a forthcoming album,” the follow-up to their 2000 sophomore effort Happy Ending.
The band, which features Reeves on bass, Robert Mailhouse on drums, and Bret Domrose on guitar and lead vocals, has been teasing the reunion since as early as July 2022, when their Instagram account announced “We’re back.” They also shared that they were working with producer Dave Trumfio and engineer Ruddy Lee Cullers at Kingsize Soundlabs in Los Angeles. Producer Rob Schnapf, who worked frequently with Elliott Smith, lent the band guitars that Smith had recorded with.
Dogstar formed in 1991 after a chance meeting between Reeves and Mailhouse in a supermarket. Original lead vocalist and guitarist Greg Miller joined in 1992 and left after their 1995 tour; Domrose joined in 1994 as a guitarist and backup vocalist, assuming lead vocals after Miller’s departure. Weezer famously performed their first-ever live set in support of Dogstar in 1992.
