A Dog's Dream

It would be easy to call The Winery Dogs a supergroup: Vocalist and guitarist Richie Kotzen made his mark with Poison and Mr. Big, bassist Billy Sheehan has been rocking for decades with Steve Vai, David Lee Roth, Mr. Big and others, and drummer Mike Portnoy was the co-founder of progressive metal superstars Dream Theater. But The Winery Dogs are so much more than a supergroup. The proof is in the brew: The Winery Dogs is an eclectic, fully realized group with songs that groove and swing without sacrificing any of the grit that makes great hard rock so inspiring.

The Parlor Mob's bid for rock & roll stardom was initially thwarted by major-label reshuffling (dropped by Capitol, they quickly reemerged with the ostensibly independent Roadrunner), then stunted by confusing musical allegiances (lost somewhere between retro- and indie rock, they followed Wolfmother and the Sword into "hipster metal" purgatory), so it's now up to their sophomore album, Dogs, to turn the band's career prospects around. What's more, the Asbury Park, New Jersey natives have to pray that consumers will listen with eyes closed and minds opened, ignoring the intra-genre politics and critical recriminations ignited by the issues cited above, in order to give said music a fair shot. So, eyes closed now, just listen. Fundamentally, Dogs finds the Parlor Mob aiming to first streamline, then modernize their debut's classic hard rock hallmarks, losing most of their primal hard rock bombast (and reams of colorful keyboard and organ backdrops), but gaining some infectious simplicity in the process.