With a new album on the way, and its first single, ‘Nothing New’, already charting well, Sleddogs look set to make waves in 2010. Save Your Vinyl promises to be a guitar driven vocal feast that, if previous albums are anything to go by, will feature big melodies, rich harmonies and good, old fashioned, raucous rock.
Indie Suite caught up with the powerhouse band’s lead singer and bass player Kenny Byrka and found out more about the threesome that are rocking Canadian soil.
Vocally Driven Classic Rock
Suite 101: How would you describe your sound?
KB: I hate this question …only because I find it so hard to answer, even after 7 years! Here goes…. “A vocally-driven, melodic, classic rock sound with an alternative British influence.”
Suite 101: What would you say to convert new listeners to your music?
KB: We’re real players that play these records! No backing track crap for Sleddogs. We can do everything live that we record. We use a few triggers on GTR processing but other than that it's the real thing. What you hear online is what you get live!
Suite 101: Who are your main influences?
KB: I was raised listening to everything from Ella Fitzgerald to Iron Maiden. Some of my favourites are: Led Zeppelin, Rush, Fleetwood Mac, Simon and Garfunkel, XTC, Rainbow (Blackmore), The Police, Pearl Jam, any Steve Lilywhite productions. War is still one of my faves. And Michael is a huge Police/U2 fan.
Save Your Vinyl
Suite 101: What’s going on for you at the moment? What are you working on?
KB: We are still mixing the new album titled ‘Save Your Vinyl’…just released the first single 'Nothing New' to Canadian radio. It's charting very well for us.
Suite 101: What can we expect from the new album?
KB: There is a bit of a different vocal sound on this album. Producer Richard Chycki had me sing most of the songs up a full step because he liked my tone in that range. I’m diggin’ it too! Also, drummer Johnny Fay from the Tragically Hip plays drums on the whole album.
Suite 101: You’ve described your second album Take Me Away as being more reflective of your live sound. What differences will listeners hear between this and your debut album?
KB: The guitar sounds are MUCH bigger on the new album, but still the album is very reflective of our live sound. We wouldn’t do it any other way! We spent weeks on pre-production in my basement and playing the tunes live both full out and unplugged to see how they sat. We went in the Armoury Studios in Vancouver with 14 songs and recorded 11 that we felt were cohesive.
Further Reading
Find out more about Sleddogs in these further exclusive interviews, Playing the Stages. In the meantime check out the Sleddogs' website.
Lisa Sutlieff - Lisa is a freelance music journalist and copywriter from Reading, UK, with a penchant for indie bands and an ear for shiny new ...
