The Winery Dogs – Hot Streak

By: Jamie Steinberg

Q) How would you describe your sound?

A) Well, I guess it is a classic kind of sound that has its roots in a lot of bands that came before us. There are some subtle variations on it, but it is unique (I believe). Mike’s particular drumming style, Richie is playing finger style guitar and I do my thing, which (love it or hate it) it’s its own thing.

Q) Who are some of your musical influences?

A) There are too many to list and it continues to grow! I have had a long time [many, many years] as a player. I’m also a huge fan of a lot of music and it always affects me as a fan and a musician. The music I listen to always has an effect on me. I have a very extensive collection from my life of all kinds of genres. There are about two terabytes of music in my collection. Usually every day it goes up a little bit more as I add more things to my collection. It’s an incredible thing to have all that music at your fingertips. There is a lot of classical music and almost any band you can imagine. Most of my collection cuts off at about 1980, but there are some things that are newer records. As far as musical influences go, it’s almost an impossible question to answer as they are so varied and so many.

Q) What do you think it is about your song “Captain Love” that fans are connecting to?

A) Well, it is the second song on our set. As soon as we launch into it the place is a roar of approval and recognition of the song. So, I think people have really taken to it and I’m very pleased about that. They sing along and go crazy for it. Nothing could make me happier!

Q) How does the video for the song play into the message behind it?

A) Well, we didn’t want to spell out the message so blatantly. I believe one of the problems with having a video for music is that when you first hear music you make up in your head a visual of what it looks like, sounds like, what the story is in your mind, who it refers to or what the band would look like playing it and what the song is the theme for. It really allows the listener to contribute a lot and to have that song become a part of their lives. When you do a video, it cuts a lot of that out. That was one of the problems of doing a music video so heavily as it didn’t allow for imagination. There was a famous band years and years ago that had this great up-tempo wonderful song that I thought was fantastic and then I saw the video where they were all glum, no one was happy and no one was enjoying it. And it was a fun, a riot, jump around song. It ruined the song after that for me! I thought, “Jesus, this is not what I expected to see.” I figured the song would be jumping and having a fun time. It isn’t like that at all. So, you have to be careful sometimes when you film something because it is not always what the listener has in their mind. We just perform to the track so that it syncs up to the video and add what we can to spell out what we are doing and allow the audience to make up their minds as to what things mean. I trust the audience of The Winery Dogs to use their imagination to come up with what we are trying to say.

Q) Your album Hot Streak was self produced. What made you decide to take that on?

A) We probably could have brought someone in to produce, but we’ve all made so many records for so long (dozens, maybe hundreds). The combined total number of records we all have played on or been involved in is well over a hundred I’m sure. So, we know what is required and we also were pretty self-regulated. So, we don’t necessarily need someone to tell us what to do and what not to do. The three of us work well together so putting that together was pretty easy and enjoyable. When it comes down to production and decisions have to be made about a lot of things such as sonically, the way things are recorded and how they work in that matter, song arrangements, lyrically things, etc. we all pretty much land on the same page and we all trust each other’s opinion. If someone has an opinion about something we voice it. “The guy has made over a hundred records so I’m sure he is not off on this one. I don’t think he made a bad decision.” So, we listen to each other and it is actually quite easy.

Q) Was there anything challenging about recording Hot Streak?

A) I think the real challenge is just as writers and coming up with new ideas musically that express the way we feel. That’s always a challenge. It’s not a difficult challenge to meet, but it is always a challenge. There are some songs on the record that are difficult to play live as they require a lot of expertise (for a lack of a better word) and the command of your instrument. The ability to do that live on stage consistently live night after night…A lot of people go on YouTube and play their little thing and that’s real nice, but try doing it fifty nights in a row on tour. That’s another story. It separates the men from the boys. So, in order to play that live and perform live constantly all over the world is the challenge. But we rise to it and we nail it when we have to it. The audience seems to back us up on that point.

Q) Your song “Oblivion” made it to the Top 30 of the Billboard “Mainstream Rock Tracks” chart. How did that make you feel?

A) Great! Billboard doesn’t mean as much as it used to, but still symbolically it indicates there are a lot of people out there that were interested about it and excited about it who laid down their hard earned cash, to whom we are forever grateful. That’s a very good sign. It just inspires us to deliver the goods when we play live. We are very, very close with our fans. I don’t refer to them as “fans.” I refer to them as friends. I’m always out after shows hanging out and seeing my friends. That they were kind enough to buy the record and push it up the tracks, we’re very, very grateful.

Q) Do you have a favorite song to perform live?

A) That’s a tough one. Every one from the record that we perform is great. The rest we haven’t gotten to I hope we will put into the set soon. “Hot Streak” is fun to play and exciting. There are some extra stuff in their live. “Ghost Town” is a riot. It is a real dynamic piece and people love it. The opening track for the record is “Oblivion” and people really respond to that, too. It’s hard to pick my favorite.

Q) What can fans expect from a live concert of The Winery Dogs?

A) When we play live it is a hot and sweaty night. We play live and people have a blast. Everybody gets a little spot to do their own thing, but we specialize in ensemble where we work together and work off each other. I live to play live and playing live is the most important thing to me in my life. So, when you go to a live show for The Winery Dogs, I’m extremely pleased to play this material in front of our audience. It’s incredible!

Q) What do you hope fans take away from listening to the album?

A) Just that it is something unique and new. It’s a new thing. Any time someone hasn’t heard a record, even if that record is ten years old, to them it is brand new. They have never heard it before. Nowadays the record business is a little different. It takes a little longer to find out about it because you don’t have a centralized location to listen to records or buy them. About every day I get two or three emails from someone who has just gotten the record just now and they are all freaked out and excited about it. It’s kind of cool that no matter how long it sits out there that if you haven’t heard it then it is new to you. You get that same “new car smell” when you listen to the record. I’m really pleased to see that people are just discovering it and just finding out about it. I am excited about it as I was when it first came out.

Q) Is there anything else you want to be sure fans know about your current tour?

A) We’re excited to be playing more cities and more in the US. We’ve already done Japan, South East Asia and Europe we did twice. We did South America, which was out of control. We did some US shows already and I hope people just come out, hang with us, have a good night and enjoy this live music. That’s the one thing they can never take from me. You can’t download a live show. You can see a video tape of it, but to be in the audience with your friends and or with people of like minds and connect with the band live – there is nothing like it. I’m looking forward to seeing a lot of people out there and hanging with us.

Q) What would you like to say to everyone who is a fan and supporter of you and your music?

A) Like I said before, I consider them my family, not fans. I consider myself very well connected to them and them to me. I do my best for them. When I go out to play, I want people to leave extremely pleased and happy that they will remember it for the rest of their lives. I know the shows that I have seen in m life as a fan, they generally stick with me forever. We don’t take that responsibility lightly when we do a show. Whether it is the first time they are seeing us or the twentieth, we want to leave an impression with them. We always do our best when people come see us play.

All Questions Answered By Bassist Billy Sheehan