‘The Payoff’ well and truly lives up to its name.
The Sunshine Coast trio Hyena Smyle doesn’t enter a room so much as they blast through the wall, wielding a sound that marries 90s alt-rock grit with urgent, modern pop.
Formed in 2024, the band channels the seminal energy of 90s alt-rock titans like Garbage and Smashing Pumpkins, filtering it through a fresh, female-fronted lens.
Frontwoman Annie commands with soaring, fierce vocals and driving bass; guitarist Josh slings razor-sharp melodic hooks; and drummer Dale provides a thunderous, precision heartbeat.
It’s a chemistry built for high-energy catharsis, a promise fully delivered on their blistering debut single, ‘The Payoff.’
Forged in the fire of modern exhaustion, ‘The Payoff’ is a punk-rock anthem that hits with the force of a truth bomb.
Produced at Brisbane’s Airlock Studios, the track is Annie’s raw confrontation with the relentless drain of giving, to work, to family, to everyone but oneself.
The lyrics are an unfiltered manifesto: “I’ve got one life baby, and all the world’s a stage.” It’s a declaration of reclaiming one’s spark, delivered with a raw femme ferocity that’s instantly captivating.
Josh’s guitar work is all edgy, melodic riffs that carve themselves into memory, while Dale’s drumming is an unrelenting engine driving the track forward with punk-rock precision.
The production perfectly balances a raw, live-wire energy with crisp clarity, allowing every snarl in Annie’s vocal and every chord’s bite to land perfectly.
It’s a “hook-filled sonic grenade,” its chorus designed for shouted catharsis in a crowd or solitary defiance in headphones.
‘The Payoff’ announces Hyena Smyle not as nostalgic revivalists, but as vital contemporary voices armed with the tools of rock’s golden era.
With a Battle of the Bands win already under their belt and a 2026 tour looming, the trio’s trajectory is skyward.
This single is the explosive first chapter: a compelling, catchy, and fiercely authentic payoff for anyone waiting for rock with both heart and teeth.
Turn it up, and let the world hear you no longer give a f**k.
