The Winery Dogs' Triumphant Return
Mike Portnoy, Richie Kotzen, and Billy Sheehan are back together with new album "III."
Thank you for spending part of your day with Michael’s Record Collection! When setting out on this endeavor, I of course had some musicians in mind who I hoped to interview. Some of those are far less likely than others, based on a variety of factors. Icons like Paul McCartney, Phil Collins, and Elton John are on the dream list (also known as interviews I’ll never get), of course. The more famous someone is, the harder it is to get past gatekeepers. Even their gatekeepers have gatekeepers in some cases, and a little outlet like mine isn’t going to move the needle for them. There is just far too much demand for their time.
Others are a bit less famous but still aren’t likely to have time for folks like me. I felt like Dennis DeYoung would have fallen into that category, but I managed to interview him, so there is always hope.
Some artists just don’t do many interviews, and given how few they do, it would be unlikely that they’d talk to me instead of some major outlet. Others don’t do them because they’re curmudgeons and I’m better off not talking to them anyway.
But there are folks on the list who seem gettable if you can get the timing right. Those are the ones who at least project an image that they are genuine people who are just as big of a music nerd as I am. Drummer Mike Portnoy is one of those. I always felt like I could land an interview with him if I could time it right. I managed to do that just prior to him hitting the road for a massive world tour with The Winery Dogs — one of at least nine active bands with which he is involved.
Portnoy is a supremely talented guy with a wide range of musical tastes. He has recorded with dozens of bands, projects, and artists. Mike was always near the top of my dream guest list. My interview window was brief, and I had to cover Mike’s latest release with The Winery Dogs, so I wasn’t able to get into all the questions I wanted to ask. However, it was still an honor to interview a musician whose work has floored me and enriched my life over the years.
Let’s get to this week’s story.
Supergroup The Winery Dogs formed in 2012 and became an instant success. The power trio consists of guitarist/vocalist Richie Kotzen, bassist Billy Sheehan, and drummer Mike Portnoy. The three musicians have played in numerous notable bands and with well-known solo artists, including the likes of Smith/Kotzen, Poison, Talas, Steve Vai, David Lee Roth, Mr. Big, Niacin, The Neal Morse Band, Dream Theater, Flying Colors, Transatlantic, Sons of Apollo, and more. Portnoy alone has performed with dozens of bands across an eclectic career, playing in everything from Beatles tribute Yellow Matter Custard to heavy metal bands like Twisted Sister and Avenged Sevenfold.
The Winery Dogs became a blues rock trio by getting into a room together and playing. With a rhythm section of Sheehan and Portnoy, the band could have gone in just about any direction, but it became a blues-based rock band due to Kotzen’s vocals and guitar work.
“Even when we first got together, the very first time Billy, myself, and Richie sat down and played together, there was no discussion,” Portnoy said of the kind of music the three musicians make together. “We literally got behind our instruments and just started jamming, and this is what fell out of us.
“But I think, inevitably with The Winery Dogs, you’re going to get that kind of bluesy, soulful, funky, R&B vibe because that’s such a big part of what Richie does. As the guitar player and singer, inevitably it’s going to bring a big, big part to the sound. But Billy and I also are big, big fans of the power trio sound and all the classic rock bands of the late 60s and early 70s — you know, Vanilla Fudge and Grand Funk, and The Who, and Zeppelin — so Billy and I kind of bring that to the equation.”
The Winery Dogs provided Portnoy with a way to express his drumming differently than how he had typically presented his work with bands like the technically incendiary progressive metal masters Dream Theater, or the grand, sweeping epic works of Transatlantic and The Neal Morse Band.
“This was a style of music that I always loved, but I didn’t really have an outlet for that with everything else I was doing,” he said. “Everything else was either prog or metal. So, when we got together to start The Winery Dogs, it was really refreshing for me to be tapping into this side of music which I really didn’t have in my arsenal, but it was a big, big part of my listening styles. I listen to all kinds of music, but I hadn’t really had a band creating this kind of music, so I was really happy that we kind of went in this direction.”
After two stellar albums and tours, Kotzen announced that The Winery Dogs were taking a hiatus in 2017, but the trio has reconvened for the 2023 release III, an aptly titled third album that dropped on Feb. 3 from Three Dog Music.
“I think we always knew that we would come back together and regroup after a few years,” Portnoy said. “It was just a matter of catching our breath. And I think that was a good idea because when you start doing album, tour, album, tour, album tour nonstop, it starts to get a little redundant.
“You start to lose your inspiration. And I think taking a step back, taking a few years off, really ignites the flame and it makes you miss it, and it makes it that much more special when you do come back together. I found that with Transatlantic as well. That’s why there was always so many years between albums. Once (The Winery Dogs) came back together to start this new album, it felt very fresh and inspired because it had been a few years since we had played and written together.”
The new record splits the difference musically between the first two albums, with the blues rock hooks found throughout The Winery Dogs (2013) and the bigger dose of technical prowess the band displayed on opening track “Oblivion” from Hot Streak (2015). III finds the sweet spot in between.
As with previous Winery Dogs efforts, III wasn’t created by sending bits and riffs to each other over the internet the way so many other albums get made today.
“It’s got to be the three of us in a room,” Portnoy said. “All three albums it was the three of us at Richie’s house, at his studio. The first two albums it was his older house and this latest album was in his newer house that he’s been in for a few years now. Whether it be a guitar part, a bass part, a drumbeat — somebody will throw something on the floor and then we all react to it. We all join in, we all add to it, we make suggestions. try taking it in different directions, and all three of us are really open to each other’s direction or ideas. There’s a lot of mutual respect and trust between the three of us.”
The Winery Dogs typically flesh out a new song in a matter of hours, building the structure of the song — the “blueprint” as Portnoy called it. Once that blueprint is in place, the band starts tracking Portnoy’s drums right away, while it’s still fresh in the mind.
Once the band has enough songs for an album arranged and the drums tracked, the guitar and bass can be recorded and the three musicians go their separate ways. Kotzen then works out lyrics, vocals, and vocal melodies. Portnoy said that process took several months. Portnoy and Sheehan added their backing vocals later and additional percussion was added as well.
The album kicks off with the blistering first single, “Xanadu.” The intricate and fast playing is immediately up front but not at the expense of melody. At its heart, the song is a blues rocker but there is enough going on in the playing of the three musicians to keep it far more interesting than what you’d get from a garden variety Zeppelin-influenced band.
Kotzen’s soulful vocals take center stage during the verses and chorus, but the intensity of the guitar and bass runs, combined with Portnoy’s inventive drumming, elevates it. “Xanadu” was the first song on III to have lyrics written and the band knew they had something special.
“The first one that Richie laid vocals to was ‘Xanadu.’ That was the fourth piece of music we were working on,” Portnoy said. “At the end of the night, Richie went up to his studio after we had left, and he started working on vocals and melodies. And then the next day, he showed it to me and Billy. And that was the first one that really jumped out with vocals this time around. As soon as we heard it with vocals, we knew it was really a winner and knew that it would probably be one of the first singles.”
Second single, “Mad World,” follows and is more straightforward than the opener, but it has perhaps the most infectious chorus melody on the record. That isn’t to say the musicianship is sacrificed. A killer Kotzen solo near the end gives way to a thundering Sheehan bass solo.
If “Mad World” isn’t my favorite on the album — and it might be — “Breakthrough” probably gets that distinction. The verses are midtempo with the band kicking it up a notch for the great sing-along chorus and Kotzen provides another standout guitar solo. The song also includes my favorite lyrical passage from the album in the chorus.
And now I’m having a breakthrough
And now I know what I’m facing is the truth
We’re falling and breaking yeah yeah yeah
Now I realize because we’re who we are
We’ll never be what we were
Sheehan grinds through the bottom end on his bass in the verses of “Rise,” another standout track that includes…wait, is that a lyrical reference to Journey’s “Still They Ride?”
On wheels of fire I’m still riding
These gears that I grind keep me climbing
The song is lyrically about refusing to let others drag you down. And, whether it was intentional or not, it’s hard not to tie it back to Journey’s classic from Escape:
Still they ride on wheels of fire
They rule the night
“Stars” is an atmospheric song with Kotzen’s guitar drenched in reverb and echo over the relentless engine room stoked by Sheehan and Portnoy. This is a track I could listen to on repeat for days, which is a rare thing.
And still III doesn’t let up, with “The Vengeance” sinking hooks deep into the brain with its infectious chorus.
“Pharaoh” shows the band’s swagger in multiple ways. It’s a cocksure rocker with Kotzen displaying David Coverdale levels of sass and confidence, while the band performs intricate solos throughout. The song also includes one of the album’s better extended instrumental sections. “Pharaoh” was, according to Portnoy’s recollection, the first track The Winery Dogs worked on for the album.
“That might have been the very first riff that was put on the floor, and we jammed on, and we got the music together,” he said.
If that was the starting point, it’s no wonder III turned out as well as it did.
“Gaslight” starts out like a house on fire with frenetic playing at breakneck speed. It’s not Dream Theater, but this song — about not giving time to someone who hears what they want to hear and makes mountains out of molehills — might be the closest a blues-rock power trio can come to it.
“Lorelei” is a smoldering, seductive, bluesy song that allows Kotzen to shine as a vocalist and display a different side of his delivery. He also shows off his prowess at delivering a more measured guitar solo that may lack the flash of his faster, more intricate solos, but it serves this particular track perfectly.
III closes with the celebratory “The Red Wine,” an enjoyable, midtempo party song. Sheehan and Portnoy lay down a tasty, funky groove that still has some of their trademark flair. It’s the album’s longest track, at almost eight minutes, but its stay seems much shorter than that despite an atmospheric middle section. Lyrically, it’s about setting aside responsibilities for a while, loosening up, and celebrating with the band (and with the red wine).
I couldn’t pin Portnoy down on his favorite track on the album. He genuinely seems to love them all. Many artists claim that, but with Portnoy’s music fandom well documented, it’s easy to believe him.
“I like them all for different reasons,” he said. “Stuff like ‘Xanadu’ and ‘Gaslight’ are more shreddy and more upbeat and energetic. ‘Rise’ is like that as well. But I also like the more improv, jamming songs. The back end of ‘Pharaoh’ has this really cool jam and the middle section of ‘Stars’ has a pretty cool jam. The ending of ‘The Red Wine’ has a jam. And in those cases we were just kind of improv-ing and literally jamming, and what you’re hearing in the final (album) is us just going for it in the moment.”
From start to finish, III is a fantastic collection of songs that not only provides technical thrills and driving blues-rock rhythms that’ll get your head bobbing involuntarily, but it’s also got plenty of infectious hooks that will have you singing along in the moment, then sticking in your mind long after listening. Fans who loved the first two Winery Dogs efforts will find plenty to like on this new record, and I recommend it for those who like those classic blues-based early 1970s bands but enjoy a modern twist.
Learn more about The Winery Dogs at www.thewinerydogs.com and catch them on their worldwide tour.
Tracklist:
Xanadu
Mad World
Breakthrough
Rise
Stars
The Vengeance
Pharaoh
Gaslight
Lorelai
The Red Wine
For my full interview with Mike Portnoy, check out the video below or listen to Episode 99 of the Michael’s Record Collection podcast. In addition to talking about the new release from The Winery Dogs, Mike covered topics such as his musical influences and background (find out why he’s holding up a reel-to-reel copy of The Who’s Tommy in the photo above), his musical chemistry with Neal Morse, how he remembers where he is when playing 30-minute progressive rock epics, and more.
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