Courtesy Atlantic Records.

Faced with a career in either football or music, Bear Rinehart, lead singer of NEEDTOBREATHE chose the latter and still hasn’t looked back. NEEDTOBREATHE will bring their intimate folk sound to the 9:30 club on Nov. 4 in support of their most recent album, “The Outsiders.”

“You have to have that thing in your life…  you just couldn’t live without it,” Rinehart said in an interview with NOVA Fortnightly. “I just wasn’t that way about sports, and I am that way about music.”

The band, which has known each other for over 10 years, consists of Seth Bolt on bass, Joe Stillwell on drums and Rinehart’s brother, Bo, on lead guitar. The members all hail from South Carolina where Rinehart noted that the music scene was non-existent. When their sound caught Atlantic Records’ attention in 2005, Rinehart said the label’s help was a “critical part of the process” by the guidance they provided to help get the band into the industry.

Atlantic also allowed NEEDTOBREATHE an uncommon creative freedom in the artistic control of their record, from the album artwork, to the merchandise designs, to the production of the music. They often produce the albums themselves, only bringing in outside producers to contribute once the band has already laid down the tracks.

When working together, the sibling rivalry between Bo and Bear is “always” present, Rinehart said. “We fight a lot. We say we don’t punch in the face,” he added, “that’s our only rule.”

Their competition is only possible because of their level of comfort with each other and serves to continually push them to make better music, noted Rinehart.

Despite “The Outsiders” release over a year ago, Rinehart maintains that the theme of that record still resounds with the band today. The album’s title doesn’t only refer to a culture difference between their Southern roots and their experience with their record label. “We never really felt like we fit into a niche musically,” he said. “We’re not emo, we’re not hard rock. … I think the record was being confident about that.”

Plans to begin recording their fourth album are in the works, with NEEDTOBREATHE hitting the studios come early 2011, Rinehart said. Add in plans to perform on The Rock Boat, a cruise that serves up a variety of musical performances every night, and a tour in Europe come summer, the boys of NEEDTOBREATHE have a busy road ahead of them.

Rinehart, however, maintains a simple philosophy when it comes to the band’s hectic schedule. “We enjoy what we do,” he said, “and I think people can enjoy [our music] based on how much we enjoy what we do.”

For more information, visit needtobreathe.net.

TJB

By: NOVA Fortnightly Staff

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