Steve+vai

"The evolution of guitar is firmly secure in the hands of these kind of players… it's just a new level, the tone, the touch, the notes!" - Steve Vai

HTP 2 is the second album by the Hughes Turner Project, a collaboration between Glenn Hughes (Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, etc.) and Joe Lynn Turner (Rainbow, Yngwie Malmsteen, etc.); it was released in 2003 on MTM Music and Pony Canyon Records. The second album followed 2002’s HTP and the Live In Tokyo recording. Between the two releases both Hughes and Turner had issued solo albums, Hughes’ Songs In The Key Of Rock and Turner’s JLT. HTP 2 follows similar musical territory to the debut; a retro hard rock sound infused with AOR and some funk, with vocal trade-offs between the two singers.

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.