Image Courtesy of Nick Walker From Vance Joy to Milky Chance, 2014 has seen the emergence of many young alternative acts. With their hit single "Weekend," you can add Portland duo Priory to that list. The single contains lyrics like "Hell yeah, I just got paid" and "Forget that I was ever your whipping boy" making it the alternative version of Loverboy's "Working for the Weekend."
Guitarist and vocalist Brandon Rush tells ABC News Radio that the song is for anyone who's felt the ire of an authority figure.
"[Guitarist and co-vocalist] Kyle [Sears] and I worked day jobs forever, and so we identified with [the lyrics to "Weekend"], and we took a risk and quit our day jobs two and a half years ago to build out our studio and start writing music," Rush says. "So it's kind of an ode to our transition from working a day job to performing music full-time."
Priory performed "Weekend" on ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live! last week, but Rush and Sears still remember the first time they saw an audience singing along to the song in concert. They remember it happened at the Wiltern in Los Angeles when the band was opening for The Kooks.
"We had the whole audience kind of join in singing 'Weekend.' It's the first time that's happened to either of us. It was this very daunting [experience]," Rush says. "We have in-ears, and we're listening in our in-ear, and I'm like 'Wow, the guys are like sounding really strong right?' All the background [vocals] sounded really strong! Then I looked out at the audience and everyone's mouthing it, and I'm like, 'Oh, god!'"
"It sounded like three-thousand girls!" Sears jokes.
The feeling of celebration that's present in "Weekend" is a running theme throughout Priory's EP, also titled Weekend. Rush explains that he and Sears enjoy combining upbeat music with more serious lyrics. For example, the song "Put 'Em Up" tackles the issue of marriage equality with lines like, "Now's the time for changing / So keep the hate from creepin' in / 'Cause the bed that you're building / is the one you gonna sleep in."
"The way we write musically is celebratory. The way we write lyrically is we try to be honest. So there's some darkness in it, and we appreciate that dichotomy," Rush says. "It's this feeling like, 'Yeah, these things are happening, but we can all overcome together.' So the overriding theme of the record is life is a big ole party."
"We're all invited," adds Sears.
Priory will look to expand upon the combination of celebration and honesty with their forthcoming full-length album, Need to Know. Rush points to the new record's title track as a particularly good example.
"There's this dichotomy in the theme of the album," he says. "["Need to Know"] is about withholding and trying to portray 'put your best foot forward,' as a form of self preservation."
Need to Know is due to be released in March 2015.
Follow --ABCNewsRadio Copyright 2014 ABC News Radio