Richie Kotzen gave Winery Dogs fans a bit of a scare back in 2017 when he announced that the supergroup trio (which also includes bassist Billy Sheehan and drummer Mike Portnoy) would be “taking a break,” a phrase commonly uttered – along with “we’re going on hiatus,” another good one – when a band is close to kaput.
“I probably overstated the point, and it caused some confusion,” Kotzen now says. “We toured pretty hard on our first two albums, and we just needed to catch our breath. That’s really all there was to it. It was a break – lots of bands take breaks. The last thing you want to do is tour to the point that you’re burned out.”
