Prince Daddy: Prince Daddy & The Hyena is an American emo / punk rock band from Cohoes, New York. Formed in 2014, the band currently consists of Kory Gregory, Cameron Handford & Daniel Gorham. Prince Daddy and the Hyena was formed in 2014 when Kory Gregory, Alex Ziembiec and Zakariya Houacine were inspired to start a band after seeing Rozwell Kid live. According to Gregory, Rozwell Kid was a substantial influence on much of his early songwriting. The band’s name is derived from a game that Gregory played with the band’s “merch guy” at recess in elementary school. They began in 2014 with the release of an EP titled Skip Cutscenes! Blow Loud!. In 2015 they followed the EP with another, titled Adult Summers. They later released their first full-length album titled I Thought You Didn’t Even Like Leaving in 2016 on Broken World Media. In 2019, the band released its second full-length album titled Cosmic Thrill Seekers on Counter Intuitive Records, and embarked on several extensive tours in support of the album. In 2021, the band released the single, “Curly Q”, and announced their singing with Pure Noise Records. Later in 2022 their third studio LP was announced and followed by the singles, “A Random Exercise in Impermanence (The Collector)”, “El Dorado”, and Shoelaces.” The bands self-titled album was released April 15, 2022.
Origami Angel: If there’s one word that defines Origami Angel, a spritely Washington, D.C.-bred act that excels in exploratory fusions of pop-punk and fifth-wave emo– not to mention the seemingly dozens of other genres they keep in their back pocket– it would be friendship. The duo, consisting of vocalist/guitarist Ryland Heagy and drummer Pat Doherty, makes its bones by fostering an almost-ethereally intimate relationship with its community of fans and listeners, bolstered not just by Heagy’s highly idiosyncratic style of lyricism but also by their bottomless well of addictively unorthodox hooks. Gami’s latest record, the mammoth double-album Gami Gang, sees Heagy and Doherty reaching their respective peaks as musicians, stacking each of the album’s songs with fizzy, frenetic interplay and choices as bold as they are exciting. Heagy and Doherty are songwriters of sheer heft and momentum, their intimidatingly high-quality musicianship only trumped by their melodic know-how and knack for brilliantly relatable, self-deprecating lyricism. Origami Angel want to be the best like no one ever was, and so far it seems like very little is going to be able to stand in their way.
