Brandon Rush and Kyle Sears are the guys of Priory, whose song "Weekend" is probably stuck in your head as you read this. They hail from a town called Portland, Oregon, which is now home to their very own recording studio where they created the music that you can hear on their EP Weekend, which is available on iTunes now. Brandon and Kyle stopped by BuzzFeed so we could get to know them a little better, and here's what we learned.
1) What was the first album you bought?
Brandon: The first album that I officially got was MC Hammer, Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em. It was Christmas and I got a yellow Walkman. I had that, and my mom edited it, the tape, because there was a song called "Soft and Wet," and you could put tape over the little sound holes to censor it. So she edited over "Soft and Wet," and I'd be jamming to the chorus and then it would be gone for 30 seconds, then the chorus would come back.
Kyle: My first was Foo Fighters, the one with the gun on the front. And I actually stole it from the store. My buddy showed me a way to slip CDs out of the case, from underneath. I actually felt bad about it and I took it back and paid for it.
2) What's the last concert you went to?
Kyle: I saw Royal Blood.
Brandon: That was mine too. That was in New York. Those guys kill.
3) Brandon, you used to have a home brewery, tell us something we don't know about beer.
Brandon: Something you might not know... Belgian, one of the defining characteristics of Belgian beer is that it has top fermenting yeast, and the yeasts are actually wild. So in different areas in Belgium, there are these indigenous yeasts that will float into the beer. So you know what kind of beer it is based on the flavor caused by the indigenous yeast.
4) What's your ideal Friday night?
Brandon: For me, I like going into the city. We live in Portland and recently moved about 10 minutes outside the city because we purchased our own recording studio. So I like to go into the city and see my buddies. There's this place called Ground Kontrol there, which is video games for adults and they serve beer. That's one of my jams. Maybe get a Voodoo Doughnut if the line's not insane, because now it's a tourist trap. But they are legitimately the most badass doughnuts in Portland, or anywhere.
Kyle: Ideal Friday night... it's hard since I stopped drinking a little bit. But it is go to the bar, have two shots of something really nice, and then go home and watch a movie after. Pretty mellow. We tour, so at home my ideal Friday night is pretty low-key.
5) And Sunday afternoon?
Kyle: Mine is super lame, I would hang out and watch football.
Brandon: We've lived on the road, so days have zero meaning whatsoever. So Sunday is like, "What do I do?!" But I would say it's preparatory, getting ready for the week. I'm weird about clothes and stuff, so making sure my jackets are ready and steamed.
6) What's your go-to tour food?
Brandon: I'm a vegetarian, so I eat fresh fruit and fresh veggies.
Kyle: I do like salted meats.
Brandon: He buys a lot of jerky!
Kyle: I'm trying to get better, like buy localized jerky, so it's not as much sodium.
Brandon: There are two foods that make me sick when people bring them on the bus. One is jerky, the other is Corn Nuts. Corn Nuts will linger in the air for like four or five hours.
Kyle: We don't eat Corn Nuts.
Brandon: Because we vetoed it! We created that rule.
7) What do you do when you are bored on the bus, to kill time?
Kyle: Eat beef jerky.
Brandon: We have a big-screen TV and video game system. I'm playing the original God of War. There' a mini fridge, and audio books.
8) What's a hidden talent that you have besides being really good at music?
Brandon: You might know this, but I used to be a ferrier. I was a blacksmith. I went to college in Oklahoma and studied horse breaking and horseshoeing. So I did that professionally before I was a musician.
Kyle: I like to draw. Comic-y stuff, weird scribbly lines and stuff.
9) If things hadn't have worked out with music, what would you be doing instead?
Kyle: There's no backup.
Brandon: We got to a certain point when it was, like, obvious, when we quit our day jobs and were like, This is what we are going to do; we focused on that. But there was a time, and that's why I purchased a commercial brewing system, when I wanted to open up a brew pub. And I signed up for school. I was an assistant already, but I was going to go through this program which makes you certified and all that stuff. But once there was an opportunity, my wife was the one who told me, "This is what you love, this is what you've always loved, music is it. If you do anything else you're going to be dissatisfied and unhappy in a matter of months, so pursue your dream."
Kyle: I have a degree in psychopathology. So I used to do early intervention Austism awareness training and stuff. So I'd probably still be doing that, or working at a nonprofit.
10) Do you believe in aliens?
Kyle: Yes. I do.
Brandon: I believe that there's something else out there for sure. I believe in ghosts or apparitions, but I believe it's more like residual energy.
Kyle: Life on other planets would be an alien, and anything not from this planet would be an alien, so I definitely believe in aliens. And I will watch this show Ancient Aliens, because there's this guy with spiky hair who calls everyone "ancient astronaut theorists," which cracks me up.
11) What's the most "Portland" thing you've ever done?
Kyle: Mine would be building a fixed gear bike. And putting a little handlebar on it with a cup for my coffee on the front. And it's called a barista.
Brandon: I grew up in downtown Portland. I think Kyle is like a walking billboard for Portland.
Kyle: I have 10 barista jobs on the side.
12) What do you think is the most popular stereotype about Portland that is actually true?
Brandon: Portlandia is all accurate. Like it's all accurate, the free-range chicken and stuff. Here's the thing: Everybody moves to Portland to pursue art. But what it really means is they get an $8/9-an-hour job, work like 15 hours a week and then sit at bars talking about their art the rest of the time. Everyone wants to be an artist, so the hardest job to get is a bartender or a barista. It's like winning the lottery.
13) Reveal a secret about the other person.
Brandon: Kyle loves comic books and comic characters. Like Marvel and DC. More graphic novels I guess.
Kyle: Brandon will never walk outside and not say hi to someone. Like a neighbor or something.
14) Now one about yourself.
Kyle: You just took my comic book thing. I get very anxious about really dumb, remedial tasks. Like doing the dishes, or moving someone in my fantasy football league. All the music stuff doesn't make me anxious, but all the small things make me go a little crazy.
Brandon: I have an inability to sleep in. So even if I go to bed at 4 in the morning, I'll wake up at 6. On the bus it's great for everyone else because everyone else wants to sleep in, and I'll take the morning shift and have that alone time.
15) Bacon or Nutella?
Brandon: Nutella. Bacon flavored, if it's artificial?
Kyle: Bacon for me. Nutella would kill my wife, she's allergic to hazelnut. So bacon.
16) Puppies or kittens?
Both: Puppies.
