The Winery Dogs

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The Winery Dogs are an American rock supergroup formed in New York City, New York, United States, in 2012 by Mike Portnoy, Billy Sheehan and Richie Kotzen.

Background

The whole band started out as a project. Mike Portnoy and Billy Sheehan ended one project and were about to start a new one. They needed a lead singer/guitarist to fill the spot. Eddie Trunk heard about this and suggested Richie Kotzen to them. Billy Sheehan and Richie Kotzen have played together before in Mr. Big, so Billy Sheehan knew that Richie Kotzen could potentially fill the spot.They got together at a studio in Los Angeles and at the end of the jam session, they had a few skeletons of songs that would appear on the debut album. The band members all felt there was a chemistry between each other so they decided to record an album together. After their first album having success, they released a live concert DVD called "Unleashed in Japan 2013: The Winery Dogs."

Dog

The domestic dog (Canis lupus familiaris or Canis familiaris) is a domesticated canid which has been selectively bred for millennia for various behaviors, sensory capabilities, and physical attributes.

Although initially thought to have originated as a manmade variant of an extant canid species (variously supposed as being the dhole,golden jackal, or gray wolf), extensive genetic studies undertaken during the 2010s indicate that dogs diverged from an extinct wolf-like canid in Eurasia 40,000 years ago. Being the oldest domesticated animal, their long association with people has allowed dogs to be uniquely attuned to human behavior, as well as thrive on a starch-rich diet which would be inadequate for other canid species.

Dogs perform many roles for people, such as hunting, herding, pulling loads, protection, assisting police and military, companionship, and, more recently, aiding handicapped individuals. This impact on human society has given them the nickname "man's best friend" in the Western world. In some cultures, however, dogs are a source of meat.

Billy Sheehan

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William "Billy" Sheehan (born March 19, 1953 in Buffalo, New York) is an American bassist known for his work with Talas, Steve Vai, David Lee Roth, Mr. Big, Niacin, and The Winery Dogs. Sheehan has won the "Best Rock Bass Player" readers' poll from Guitar Player Magazine five times for his "lead bass" playing style. Sheehan's repertoire includes the use of chording, two-handed tapping, right-hand "three-finger picking" technique and controlled feedback.

Career

Early years

Billy Sheehan's first electric bass was a Hagström FB, which was soon joined by a Precision bass similar to Tim Bogert's. After acquiring the Precision bass, he removed the frets from the Hagström. Over the years, he heavily modified the Precision bass as well, adding a neck pickup and additional support for the bolt-on neck, which Sheehan considers its greatest weakness. The neck pickup was added for what Sheehan referred to as "super deep low end" modelled after Paul Samwell-Smith of the Yardbirds. The Gibson EB-0 type pickup in the neck and the original split Precision bass pickup each have their own separate output jacks on the bass itself, allowing for control of the tone via the bass. This bass has been retired, but he affectionately refers to it as "The Wife". Sheehan's signature Yamaha bass is patterned after this instrument. Sheehan also uses two amps to achieve his signature tone (as do Chris Squire of Yes and Doug Pinnick of King's X), one with full distortion and notch filtering to sound more guitar-like for solos, and one super-clean for the low end of the neck pickup.

Mike Portnoy

Michael Stephen "Mike" Portnoy (born April 20, 1967) is an American drummer primarily known as the former drummer, backing vocalist, and a co-founder of the progressive metal/rock band Dream Theater. Known for his technical skill as a drummer, Portnoy has won 30 awards from the Modern Drummer magazine. He co-produced six Dream Theater albums with guitarist John Petrucci, starting from Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory through Black Clouds and Silver Linings. From A Change of Seasons onwards, Portnoy had been writing a significant amount of Dream Theater's lyrics. He is the second youngest person (after Neil Peart) to be inducted into the Modern Drummer's Hall of Fame (at 37 years of age).

Besides his work with Dream Theater, Portnoy is known for his many side projects and tribute bands. He is a founding member of Liquid Tension Experiment, an instrumental progressive rock band featuring fellow Dream Theater members John Petrucci and Jordan Rudess along with bassist Tony Levin. He is also a founding member of Transatlantic, a progressive rock "super-group" featuring former Spock's Beard keyboardist/vocalist Neal Morse, Flower Kings guitarist Roine Stolt and Marillion bassist Pete Trewavas. Portnoy has also recorded and/or toured/performed live with Neal Morse, OSI, Hail!, Stone Sour, Fates Warning, Overkill, G3 and played on Avenged Sevenfold's album Nightmare in place of their late drummer, The Rev. Over the years, Portnoy has also created tribute bands to The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Rush, and The Who, which has allowed him to perform the music of his four favorite drummers.

Richie Kotzen

Richard Dale "Richie" Kotzen, Jr. (born February 3, 1970) is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter and producer. Currently he is touring with The Winery Dogs with Mike Portnoy and Billy Sheehan, supporting an album they recorded in Los Angeles in August 2012. Kotzen is signed to California-based Shrapnel Records.

Biography

Richie Kotzen began playing piano at the age of five. At the age of seven he was inspired by the band KISS to learn the electric guitar. He started his career in a band named Arthurs Museum. Kotzen was eventually discovered by Shrapnel Records' Mike Varney, and he recorded his first solo album by the age of 19. He created the video Rock Chops for REH video in 1989, highlighting many of his formative techniques, including using wide-intervals and fluid sweeping.

In 1991, at age 21, Kotzen joined glam-metal band Poison, co-writing and performing on the album Native Tongue. This album produced two top twenty singles which Kotzen co-wrote, "Stand" and "Until You Suffer Some (Fire & Ice)".