Prince Daddy & the Hyena

About Prince Daddy & the Hyena

Prince Daddy & the Hyena started in Albany, New York, around 2014, which makes sense given how much their music sounds like it was written in a basement in upstate New York. The band formed when Kory Gregory started writing songs that didn't quite fit into typical emo or punk boxes, even though they borrowed heavily from both. What began as a solo project quickly became a full band once people realized these songs worked better with more people playing them.

Their 2016 debut album "I Thought You Didn't Even Like Leaving" arrived with the kind of scrappy energy that defines DIY emo. The production was rough in that intentional way, and songs like "I Lost My Life" captured something specific about being in your twenties and feeling like everything is simultaneously very important and completely pointless. They weren't reinventing anything, but they were doing it with enough personality that people paid attention.

"Cosmic Thrill Seekers" in 2018 changed things. This was where they figured out how to make their chaos sound deliberate. The album bounced between frantic punk ("Curly Q," "Black Mild"), genuine vulnerability ("Library"), and the kind of theatrical weirdness that shouldn't work but does. The title track sprawls across nearly ten minutes and somehow never gets boring. They signed with Counter Intuitive Records for this one, which put them in front of the exact audience that would appreciate songs about depression wrapped in math-rock guitar parts and shouted vocals that occasionally veer into genuine screaming.

What makes Prince Daddy & the Hyena interesting is how they handle tonal shifts. They'll go from a song that sounds like a panic attack to something almost pretty, and it never feels like they're showing off. It just sounds like how thoughts actually work when you're spiraling. Kory Gregory's lyrics toggle between specific and abstract in a way that gives you just enough to hold onto without spelling everything out.

They released a self-titled album in 2021 that found them cleaning up the production without losing the rawness. Songs like "Shoelaces" and "A Random Exercise in Impermanence" showed a band getting more comfortable with space and dynamics. The music still hits hard when it needs to, but they're not afraid to let things breathe now.

The band has gone through lineup changes over the years, which is standard for any group that tours as much as they do. They've built their reputation the old-fashioned way, playing basements and small clubs until enough people showed up that they had to move to slightly bigger rooms. They're still making music that sounds like it comes from a deeply specific emotional place, which is probably why people keep listening.

Their shows are physically demanding affairs where the pit gets legitimately intense but never unfriendly. Kellen rarely leaves the stage without looking completely wrung out. People sing every word.

Known for Torment, Waste, Come Together, Shape Shifter, Cosmic Joke

See Prince Daddy & the Hyena Live