INTERVIEW: Prince Daddy & the Hyena are slacker punk for the soul
When it comes to origin stories, most bands engage in some sort of long-winded ramble about how their previous bands fell through, or how their members just started playing together for fun and it developed into something serious. There isn’t anything wrong with those sorts of answers, as the reality of most band formations is rather boring. But it’s a question that must be asked for the sake of background detail even though it doesn’t produce as many interesting anecdotes as one might think.
At least in my experience with interviewing bands, the question of “How did you guys form?” usually triggers some sort of reaction in the interviewee’s brain, in which he/she believes it’s time to get serious and deliver some sort of thesis-like explanation that neither of us really care about, even though we’re both pretending we do. Hell, it’s that unspoken execution of faux professionalism that dampens the atmosphere of entire interviews and results in both parties leaving unsettled.
However, when a band speaks of their formation with the unfiltered honesty of “We all think it’s really cool to go to strangers’ houses, smoke weed, and look through their videogame collections,” it immediately flags them as something special.
Along with that beautiful string of words, the members of Prince Daddy & The Hyena- vocalist/guitarist Kornelious P. Jenkins, guitarist Cameron Handford, bassist Zakariya Houacine, and drummer Alex Ziembiec- eagerly talked about alien abductions landing them a record deal, hiding out in the back room of a wild house party to play Smash Bros, and the lore behind their obsession with California Pizza Kitchen’s Spicy Chipotle Chicken Pizza. The gang was sprawled throughout the dark confines of a “well-worn” utility van after their set in Rochester, NY in late December.
Soon after forming in late 2014, the band self-released their debut EP “Skip Cutscenes! Blow Loud!” and began playing house shows around the East Coast, building a reputation in their home city of Albany, NY for high energy performances. Less than a year later, the band released their first proper EP “Adult Summers” via the rising Connecticut label Broken World Media, which is owned by Derrick Shanholtzer-Dvorak of The World is a Beautiful Place & I am No Longer Afraid to Die. Broken World Media has released a slew of notable emo/punk/indie albums over the past few years by bands such as Sorority Noise, Rozwell Kid, Old Gray, Soda Bomb, and many of TWIABP’s own releases.
P. Daddy said Broken World has really helped their band by “hooking us up with really nice people” and “showing us the people who don’t know who Prince Daddy is, but know who Broken World is,” said Houacine and Jenkins, respectively.
Jenkins, lounging in the passenger seat of the van while packing what might be a contender for the world’s smallest one-hitter, also described the unusual manner by which they became a part of the Broken World roster.
“Derrick was getting abducted by aliens and there were four of us, and only one of them, so us breaking free wasn’t a sign of us being stronger, ‘cause there’s four of us. But we broke free and got them out and they were like, ‘I really owe you guys for getting us back to earth. I really like it here and I think Broken World can really use a band like P. Daddy.’”
In regards to the release of “Adult Summers,” Handford gave an equally straight-faced response. “We hadn’t had music in so long and we knew the album wouldn’t be coming for a while ‘cause we wanted to record it really nice. So we just recorded the EP with our friend Drew to hold people over.”
“We wrote our full length before we wrote Adult Summers. We wrote Adult Summers in like 2-3 days,” added Jenkins.
The long-awaited full-length, set to be released this Spring via Broken World, was recorded by Joe Reinhart, guitarist of emo alums Algernon Cadwallader and up-and-coming indie rockers Hop Along. The record will be titled “I Thought You Didn’t Even Like Leaving.” For a band who described their sound as “Fuzzy Weezer with influences of early-2000’s broken Gameboy Advance noises” and “Cereal on the couch watching Ed, Edd, n Eddy” rock, they all had less-than-ridiculous things to say regarding the album.
“It’s winter versus summer. If ‘Adult Summers’ is summer, then imagine this is winter. It’s still fuzzy and punky but it’s way darker,” said Houacine.
“Besides a couple songs, it’s more straightforward and less sporatic,” said Ziembiec.
“It’s more of a pop record but it’s still crazy and loud and energetic,” said Jenkins
“There’s a few songs where we actually have choruses. It’s crazy,” said Handford.
Like “Adult Summers,” P. Daddy agreed that fans should expect their Weezer, Green Day, and Jeff Rosenstock influences to bleed through. Their knack for humorous self-deprecation is something that set “Adult Summers” apart and the new record is sure to contain a similar approach lyrically, but with a darker edge to it.
Jenkins said that “Adult Summers” is about “Partying, smoking weed, beaches and aliens,” whereas “I Thought You Didn’t Even Like Leaving” tackles “Depression, anxiety, my couch, dependency, laziness, and manic depression.”
“I feel like it’s just a lot of shit that everyone deals with. Growing up and turning into a different type of person. Realizing everything does not work out perfectly,” said Houacine.
P. Daddy capture their vivacious live aesthetic on recording and pair that with lyrics as laughable as they are worryingly relatable. That itself is enough to make them a worthwhile checkout on both Bandcamp and the live circuit. In their eyes, however, the real distinction between them and other bands is their unearthly ability to munch.
“No one can eat like we can eat. It’s pretty embarrassing actually,” said Jenkins.
Check out the band’s own original recipe for what they call “The McCluster” and be sure to catch them on their upcoming tour with Oso Oso at a venue near you!
McDonald’s mozzarella sticks
“It’s like McDonald’s is hugging this mozzarella, gooey center”- Zakariya Houacine
