Pryor was especially inspired by the DIY ethics of bands like Minor Threat, Fugazi and Descendents, which led him to get involved in the local Kansas City underground music scene.

[3] After that was a stint with an avant-garde noise rock band named Secular Theme, reflecting later "I used the guitar more as a weapon of torture rather than something to write melodies on.

"[3] After Secular Theme, Pryor began to drift more toward pop punk, joining the band Secret Decoder Ring, where he met future Get Up Kids collaborator Jim Suptic.

[3] After the dissolution of that band in 1995, the Suptic recruited his childhood friend Rob Pope and Nathan Shay, who he had recently met in art school to form The Get Up Kids.

While making music with The Get Up Kids, Pryor began to gravitate toward different sounds in his free time, listening to Steve Earle and Richard Buckner.

In 2009, between tours supporting the ten-year anniversary of Something to Write Home About, The Get Up Kids entered the studio with longtime producer Ed Rose to record new material, resulting in the Simple Science EP and the band's fifth album There Are Rules.

After There Are Rules, The Get Up Kids went on a brief hiatus during which time Pryor looked to exit the music industry, taking up jobs as a farmhand and working out of a Lawrence, Kansas food truck.

[7][8][9] Pryor's exit from the music industry was short-lived; In 2011, he formed the supergroup Lasorda with members of fun., White Whale and Kevin Devine's Goddamn Band, writing and recording their new album remotely in different studios across the country.