“This was the first time that we tried to write a record that the songs were treated as priority number one, instead of an album priority number one. I wanted the songs to be good by itself, not for its context in the record as a whole,” says Kory Gregory, vocalist of Prince Daddy & The Hyena, about the band’s newest record Hotwire Trip Switch, out April 17 via Counter Intuitive Records. “Every song kind of has its own significance in the canon of the band; there’s a finality to every song.”
This new approach felt especially freeing to Gregory, who, during previous records, felt like he was “censoring” himself to create a song that goes with the album overall. “In the past, there’d be so so much stuff that would be left out that doesn’t have to be left out now because there’s no overall vision outside of ‘This is the way I’m feeling right now in this moment, and I want to capture that.’”
Marking their fourth full-length record, the title for Hotwire Trip Switch comes from a lyric on the track “Crash Taylor” and helps to capture the unstable yet controlled raucous energy that Prince Daddy & The Hyena thrive in. Who better to help create the record than producer, Joe Reinhart, who worked with the band on their first LP ten years earlier—a full-circle moment that hasn’t gone unnoticed by the punk group.
With the release of the Albany-based band’s twelve-track record comes the group’s first headline tour in years. Featuring support from Remo Drive, Restraining Order and Liquid Mike (the latter two on select dates), Gregory teases that this outing will be one that fans won’t want to miss, because the band will be playing deep cuts, as well as familiar favorites and songs from the new LP.
“We haven’t did a proper Prince Daddy headline tour since the last record. If fans were coming to see us a support, in the tours since, they were coming to see more or less the same set with a couple of songs switched out each night,” Gregory says, “We’re so excited to be playing longer sets, so we can change things up a bit more. I think we’re all just very excited to show [Hotwire Trip Switch] off, for lack of a better word.”
The tour will take place from May 3-June 11, so be sure to check out their website to find the closest date to you. The band will take a couple of weeks to recuperate before heading back out on their next adventure: Prince Daddy’s first tour in Australia.
With the band Macseal, Prince Daddy & The Hyena will be taking over the “Down Under” for eight dates in the month of July, playing for an audience the band has never had the opportunity to before. “We’re showing off the record about as far away as we can be from home. I think my mom was telling me that’s there’s no longer flight than flight we’re taking to get there,” Gregory says.
Besides getting to play for an audience that he’s never played for, Gregory is most excited (and hopeful) to see a koala while in Australia.
It sounds like the band will be keeping themselves busy for the rest of the year, so be sure to keep your eyes out on their socials for further tour announcements. Hotwire Trip Switch is out now and can be purchased/streamed wherever you get your music.
Hotwire Trip Switch is out Friday and you can preorder it from Counter Intuitive Records. Follow Prince Daddy & The Hyena on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok for future updates.
Photo Credit: Noelle Steele
