The sleddog concept had originally been nothing more than one prairie born, singer/songwriters roadmap designed to escape the monotonous world of day to day solo projects and artist targeted songwriting. By the early winter of 2004 the current musical foursome was assembled for the first time in an underground garage on the south slopes of Kelowna, activating the initial plan; the electrifying chemistry was instant. In a relatively short time these small town Canadian boys have put together an extensive catalogue of vocally driven tunes, with catchy hooks and intelligent lyrics. Growing up with the airwaves and turntables of the 70’s and 80’s, the band is influenced by a wide variety of artists with a stronger than normal Canadian makeup. A typical sample of a sleddog CD collection looks like this: The Guess Who, Bowie, The Hip, The Eagles, Rush, Tom Cochran, April Wine, Harlequin, Simon & Garfunkel, Sheryl Crow, U2, Neil Young, Bruce Cockburn and Sam Roberts. The sleddog sound is vocally dominated, supported by driving retro-grooves and innovative sculptured guitar riffs. Principle songwriters, Kenny Byrka and Arlen Park continue to churn out material for the band to work into their growing repertoire. Having spent a number of years writing for publishing, being prolific is not a concern for these guys.

“About 2 in every 5 songs is a sleddog song, the rest might be reworked at a future date but it simply easier to create something fresh and more appropriate for the sleddogs sound which has been evolving as we continue to experiment with our sound…there is currently enough material for at least 4 albums. When Arlen and I present a song to the guys we know whether it will happen or not within a few minutes…Mike is great at assessing the new material and finding ways to help in term of arrangements and overall dynamics…Eric always supports the song…no worry about ego trip drum fills with him”

With the first CD now completed, the sleddogs have been unleashed into the entertainment marketplace. Their contagious set list of radio friendly originals, their highly skilled musicianship, wit and charismatic stage appeal have been the main reason for their ever increasing fan base and much talked about performances. The four piece band consisting of Kenny Byrka (bass, vocals and Keyboard), Arlen Park (rhythm Guitar and vocals), Michael Donley (lead guitar and backing vocals, and Eric Funk (drums, percussion and backing vocals), credit their rising popularity with their prolific writing abilities and their cohesive band chemistry.

“We are on the same page in every way…we just wanna keep writing great songs and performing our material any where we can so that people get a chance to make a decision on this whole project…at the end of the day your fan base will tell you if you Rock or you suck…you can’t turn rock fans onto your sound if you sit in your basement waiting for the musical God’s to make things happen…we don’t need to be kicked in the ass, all of the dogs are extremely ready to dig into this thing and make it happen ” The sleddogs are a highly marketable commodity on their way to becoming a national and international success in the music world.