Keanu Reeves Got the Band Back Together

Dogstar played their first show since 2002

Dogstar
Dogstar played their first show in quite some time this weekend.
Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images

The release of John Wick: Chapter 4 earlier this year was evidence of the endurance of what’s been dubbed the Keanussance for its leading man’s return to the spotlight. It’s one of two ongoing pop culture moments that recently converged on a Napa Valley stage this weekend — the other being the tendency of countless bands that formed in the 1990s to make unexpected reunions.

As you might recall, Keanu Reeves spent some time playing bass in a rock band called Dogstar, who formed in 1990 and released two albums in 1996 and 2000. And now, like so many other groups that debuted in the 1990s, they’re back. Entertainment Weekly reports that the trio of Reeves, Robert Mailhouse and Bret Domrose took to the stage at the BottleRock Festival in Napa Valley. It was the band’s first show since 2002, Pitchfork reports.

According to EW‘s report on the set, Dogstar — who resumed playing together during the pandemic — played a mix of songs from their back catalog and from their forthcoming third album. Pitchfork has some details about that as well — including the fact that the group recorded using guitars previously used on some of Elliott Smith’s recordings, via producer Rob Schnapf.

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Not that “rock bassist” was ever far from Reeves’s resume, but — assumably we can now add that back to the list of his creative endeavors, beside acting, creating comics, building motorcycles and publishing art books. Can a book about time management be far behind?

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