New Song „EL DORADO“
Prince Daddy & The Hyena vocalist Kory Gregory claims their latest single out today, „El Dorado“, is like a „crazy man’s tangent; my attempt at adoring the sun regardless of despising its heat“. Others may say it’s the highlight of the Albany, NY band’s latest masterpiece, their self-titled album due out April 15th.
Weaving between the midtempo sweetness of early Third Eye Blind and the grunged-out alt-rock P Daddy has been perfecting for years, it really wouldn’t be a stretch to say „El Dorado“ is probably the best song Gregory’s ever written. It all came to him while spending time at an in-patient program at a psyche ward years back.
„One of the only jigsaw puzzles they had in the wing I was assigned to was a huge one in a ziplock bag. Not the original box. So it made the puzzle infinitely more difficult not having the full picture for reference“ Kory explains. „The process of working on a puzzle and figuring out what yr supposed to be creating as you go was essentially an entirely different activity and felt more in line with the real-life puzzles of just being human. A lot of my time went into seeing if finishing that puzzle was feasible without the box“.
Kory has always been afraid of death, but a terrible van accident in the winter of 2018 changed that forever. Little by little, his fear became all-consuming, so much so, Gregory had to retreat to an inpatient facility while writing their new album.
Intentionally, then, Prince Daddy & The Hyena – their first self-titled but the third in their growing discography of boundary-pushing indie-punk – feels like a car crash itself. Recorded by Nick „Scoops“ Dardaris at the Barber Shop Studios in New Jersey, PD&TH whiplashes from song to song – on purpose.
Throughout, we unpack his obsessive fear of death through some of the most adventurous Prince Daddy songs to date. At the album’s closing is „Black Mold“, a 9-minute magnum opus that captures the darkness and levity the band has become known for, immediately followed by the sweet „Baby Blue“. It’s like something’s blooming after the lowest point of the record.
„In other words: we’re all going to die, so we might as well enjoy the ride before we do“.
