The Winery Dogs are a supergroup consisting of former Mr. Big bandmates Richie Kotzen and Billy Sheehan, along with former Dream Theater (and a lot of other bands) drummer Mike Portnoy. After the release of their self-titled debut album, the band toured extensively worldwide. The release of "Unleashed in Japan 2013" is a snapshot of the set list that the band played as it only contains 10 of the 13 songs which appeared on the DVD that was simultaneously released. The live show is a testament to the showmanship and virtuosity of the three musicians. Of the 10 songs on the CD, four are not Winery Dogs songs and one was not released in the US. The second song, "Criminal" was only released on the Japanese version of the debut album and did not appear on a US release until "The Dog Years" EP was released earlier this year. Of the other non-Winery Dogs songs, one was a Mr. Big song "Shine", another was a Poison song (which Richie Kotzen was briefly a member of) "Stand", a solo Richie Kotzen song "You Can't Save Me" and a cover of Elvin Bishop's "Fool Around and Feel in Love". Mike Portnoy has stated that The Winery Dogs are his "power trio/straight forward hard rock" band in the vein similar to that of Led Zeppelin or Cream which is one of many reasons why none of his Dream Theater songs are represented. The full concert included another 10 songs and those have been unreleased anywhere. There is a full concert which has been uploaded to YouTube Mr. Big - Live in Japan 2013 which contained the remaining tracks from the debut album, as well as, a bass solo from Billy Sheehan and a drum solo from Mike Portnoy. The Winery Dogs are currently on hiatus and hopefully will reconvene in the future. Until then, "Unleashed in Japan 2013" is a great postcard from a great live band.
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