ALBUM REVIEW: HOTWIRE TRIP SWITCH BY PRINCE DADDY & THE HYENA
Reviewed by Cecilia Pattison-Levi
Release date 17 April 2026
With a song subtitled ‘Boulevard of Soaking Dreams’, get your pop-punk dance shoes on and say hello to an homage to early 2000’s pop-punk.
New York based band Prince Daddy & The Hyena (Corey Joseph Gregory, Cameron Handford, Daniel Gorham and Jordan Chmielowski) are about to release their fourth full-length album, ‘Hotwire Trip Switch’. This new 12 song album follows releases from 2016’s ‘I Thought You Didn't Even Like Leaving’, 2019’s ‘Cosmic Thrill Seekers’ and 2022’s self-titled release.
The album is a collection of songs that opens with a rush of energy in ‘24-03-04_Birthday_B4’, that places us at a date in time when punk-pop hit fast and loud, and was full of hook-driven quirkiness. The thumping fast pace drums and chiming electric guitars, and peppy upbeat vocals set the scene for a bounce along, requesting “all I want for my birthday’s to be left alone, if you’re feeling generous, give me a week”, says the “belle of the ball”. ‘Big-Box Store Heart’ starts with chugging guitars and a more mid-tempo pop-punk track about working away from home, “grinding teeth”, and waiting to “get my girl back on Friday”. The guitar work on this revved-up, lovelorn power-pop song is great, from its high points to its delicate riffs. Then, ‘NQA’ follows, it’s a big melodic pop-punk piece that extols the virtues of “hurrying things up”.
The song ‘Sure Could (A Random Exercise in Life-Altering Party Fouls)’, is a song about a “foul mouth song of a bitch” and its fun put down. ‘The Luna Project’ is about liking someone better “when their mouth is shut”. The album title has been taken from a lyric on the song ‘Crash Taylor’, and it captures “rising tides” and “game of spiral roulette” that the band thrives in—living on “borrowed time” while they wait for the “snake is the grass” to bite.
The track ‘30days30days30days’ is a syncopated rocker about bailing out of society by running away from malfunction to live in a cabin in the mountains. Then, ‘SHITSHOW or Boulevard of Soaking Dreams’ with its piano melody melding in with the drums and vocals produces a great song about life not turning out as expected, with no money, questionable relationships as you “walk alone”, but it still “turns me on”. ‘Oh, Donna’ follows is a pop-punk love song of warning to a young lady who has a love of 90’s rock.
The last three songs on the album commence with “don’t feed the birds” advice as power-pop rocker ‘WTEN’ has lyrics about getting even and your cash back, all to thumping drums like a “modern Kerouac without the wit or intellect”. There’s a spooky introduction to ‘Something's Gotta Give’, that gives way to a song about discipline and a tale about not having fun as “your mom will call the cops” to bring home the message to “not scare off the kids”. It’s the male rage about leaving your rock n roll dreams behind after 5 albums to work a desk job and becoming a “spreadsheet” making machine, with a fantastic guitar solo. The album closes out with ‘Pinch Me’, is a fun upbeat song to bring in “curtain call’ with sparkling synths underpinning the song.
If this review, or the album, sparks your interest Prince Daddy & the Hyena with Macseal will make their live debut in Australia on 17 July at The Brightside in Brisbane.
