Mental Journey

post from May 24, 2024

Happy Friday! This week is a bit different for me from the working format perspective. I have expected to be in the US and hackathon with my team mates. But something went wrong and I was not able to go. So I’m hacking remotely. But nothing could stop the music journey! So let’s go to the US musically.

I want to talk about one of this year's openings for me. The Dogstar band! If you have never heard about them, that’s ok. But you definitely know their bassist - the famous, one and only Keanu Reeves! I watched him in numerous films, I knew some biographical details, that he is a motorcycle enthusiast and co-owner of a motorcycle production company, but I never knew he plays in a band! A talented person has many talents.

In a podcast ‘Conversations with Charlie’, Keanu told a story about how the band was started. When he got his first actor job in LA, after several initial years of his actor career in Canada, he moved to California. He crossed the whole United States alone in his car, an old Volvo with holes in the floor. He just moved into the house and went outside to look around. There was a guy in a grocery store in a t-shirt of Detroit hockey team. Keanu played hockey in Canada and LA. They chatted, and Keanu got invited to a game. It turned out this guy was a musician, and had another musician friend. They started to jam in Keanu’s house. Sometime after their texts and music were born, they decided to go live!

I am not sure what they did later, but certainly there was a big gap, or many gaps because of Keanu’s filming career. He is a busy guy, you know. But when Covid hit in 2021 and everybody escaped people in their own basements and studios, Dogstar reunited and recorded a new album - Somewhere between the power lines and palm trees. 

The album was supported by live gigs when Covid stepped back. Guys released music on streaming platforms and did a number of small concerts even in Europe. But mostly in the US of course. Then the Californian movie production union got some strikes from actors and writers, so Keanu had a gap in his acting career… and Dogstart went on tour in the US.

Ok, that’s a nice story, but what about the music? You know, some would say it’s average. Good rock music, quite simple sometimes. But it’s all soaked in Californian vibes, relationships, and feelings, as well as guitar riffs and bass solos. I really feel good about it. This music is like sunshine on a sunset between the ocean and clouds on a rainy day. It is energetic, but not draining you. It’s filling you with something good. 

Give it a try. Some also say that the band itself has some commercial success only because of Keanu. Maybe. But the music is gonna prove it wrong!