DOGSTAR / ARCHER OH – LIVE AT THE FOXWOODS RESORT CASINO
By Kat Gullage
Dogstar brings their “Summer Vacation Tour 2024” to the Great Cedar Showroom at Foxwoods Resort Casino with Archer Oh as support.
Full transparency, when I was considering this assignment I did, for a moment, envision Keanu Reeves’ John Wick character. On top of me. I agreed to review the gig while under that spell. Afterwards, I listened to some Dogstar, as I always do research for my articles. It didn’t match the heaviness of my musical preferences. I was hoping I didn’t fall asleep during the concert. Read on to find out if I stayed upright!
The theater, that can seat around 4600, was about sixty percent full before the opener, Archer Oh, took the stage. The pre-song was Rage Against The Machine’s “Take The Power Back” which had me optimistic and boppin in my seat, although the crowd remained silent. The band hails from the Inland Empire area of Southern California and is made up of Arturo “Archie” Medrano – vocals/guitar, Juan Cabrera – bass, Pedro Hernandez – drums, and lead guitarist Diego Jacuinde.
Most of their eight song set was made up of tracks from their 2022 LP Gradients. The singer displayed drunken like garage band moves and the bass player held his axe like it was too big for him as they performed tracks like “Sophomore City”, “The Loneliest Surface”, “Easy Eyes”, “Red Clouds” and “Love Anymore”. They had an on-stage photographer gettin all up in their business. Their sound was indie garage laced with light punk. Archie addresses the audience with “We’re Archer Oh from California and we’re opening for Dogstar tonight.”
Archie never stops moving. At one point he ran off stage, then ran back, chugged water and tuned his axe. During the third song he chugged water while playing. There was a weird fart gunshot jungle sound, then they blasted ya like a horror movie jump scare with “Drawings of Nothing”. Archie shooed the distracting photographer off the stage, in a nice enough way. The beginning of “Dianthus” sounded a bit out of tune but was corrected. Archie chugged more water (guy was thirsty as fuck) and messed with his guitar again.
“How’s it going everyone?” he asked as they led us into “Passiflora”. “Everybody excited for Dogstar? Is Everybody Excited for Dogstar? How we doin?” They get a decent response. They continue with gritty vocals and decent bass riffs. The crowd shows some excitement when Archie whips out the harmonica. They allow the photographer back on stage. The bass and lead guitarists switch it up by trading axes. “Thank you so much! Two more songs to go.” The set ends with the bass player just laying his guitar next to the amp and walking away. Classic garage band maneuver. You can check out their sound for yourself at archerohband.com
I had a theory that people attend Dogstar shows more for their infamous bass player, Keanu Reeves, than for their actual music. I decided to ask a few fans. Lo and behold the first fan I asked responded “Keanu who?”. She was only kidding. “I’m friends with the drummer, Robbie Mailhouse, so I’d be here with or without Keanu”. Robbie is an actor in his own right, having several film and television series guest roles as well as appearing on Days Of Our Lives. The next few fans I approached confirmed my hypothesis. Especially the drunken lady that was shouting out random Keanu character names. “Johnny Utah!” “Neo!”
As Dogstar took the stage on the sixth night of the tour, Keanu the rock star threw the crowd a quick bass line and a wave. Expectedly, the crowd went nuts. Robbie took a seat at his kit and frontman Bret Domrose, vocals and guitar, took the lead. They opened their set with “Blonde”. The sound was good, but slightly tinny or muddy. The Dogstar members don’t move around much, but their music translates well live. The majority of their set were tracks from their 2023 LP, Somewhere Between The Power Lines and Palm Trees, their third studio album after a twenty-three year hiatus.
Bret was the only one to speak for the band. “Good Evening Connecticut! How you guys doin? If you have the new record, you know this song.” They serve up “Lust”, “How The Story Ends” and “Everything Turns Around”. Their sound is reminiscent of another alternative trio, a rough around the edges Goo Goo Dolls. Bret declares “We decided October (2023) when we released our new record, it feels like such a long time ago, so we’re working on new music and trying out new songs.”
That gets a rise out of the crowd and they throw some unrecorded cuts into the mix like “Out Of”. Some guy behind Robbie signals for people to wave their cell phone lights in the air, a measly ten percent oblige. “Glimmer”, “This Is What Math Is For” and “Shards of Rain” keep the audience engaged. At this point there is one lone fan up front standing and dancing in this seated only venue. Some random girl walked up front and someone took a picture of her standing in front of Keanu. I thought this was tacky.
The band announces that this is Robbie’s home show as he grew up in Branford CT and there were plenty of local devotees there to support him as he drummed, sang backup vocals and played harmonica! Bret states “We’re doing a few new songs tonight, taking you through the new album. Don’t tell anyone!” There’s a handful of fans that applaud after every song, new or not.
Bret switches out guitars and tinkers with his amp. “Overhang” had the worst sound, way too loud and tinny, my least favorite track of the night. Moving on to “Sleep” a different rando went up front to get his photo taken in front of Keanu. (insert loud eye roll) The set wrapped with one of their better tunes “Breach” but it contained some annoying feedback. Bret thanks the crowd with “Thanks for the energy we needed tonight! Thanks for breaking the rules (and standing up)!” (he points to a section in front of Reeves that was on their feet).
Dogstar returns for an encore with minimal coaxing. Bret again “Thank you so much! We didn’t want to return to our lonely hotel rooms. Thanks to the fans that came out for the meet and greet!” The encore made the whole concert worthwhile. It kicked off with a cover of The Cure’s “Just Like Heaven”. I’m not necessarily a Cure fan, but they did a decent job of it and got the fans excited.
I was thrilled when the next song was another cover, this time “I Wanna Be Sedated” by The Ramones. Such a fun song, almost impossible to fuck up. The final track was pretty rockin, “Jackbox”. Keanu even threw up a high kick attempt during that one. I wish the main portion of the show matched the heavier encore, but this is merely a personal preference.
Check out the trio that is Dogstar for yourself. They’re on tour through the end of September and new music is on the horizon.
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