Needtobreathe Coming In From The Outside

For the members of Needtobreathe, overnight sensations after ten years together and three releases, the band is enjoying its most successful year to date. Hailing from Seneca, South Carolina, the band’s music has been featured in several films and TV shows including P.S. I Love You, “The Hills” and “Newport Harbor,” as well as Employee of the Month, When in Rome, and “Cougar Town,” but perhaps the biggest achievement has been transitioning from being a band in a van onto a tour bus. 

That’s our crowning achievement,” singer Bear Rinehart (named after the acclaimed University of Alabama football coach Bear Bryant) proclaims proudly. “Our greatest moment was actually getting satellite TV in the van so we could watch sports.” 

In the meantime, Needtobreathe has gone from playing 500-seat venues around the country to selling out 2,000-seat theaters.

“It’s wild,” Rinehart crows. “We actually felt we made it five years ago when we were able to quit all of our day jobs.”

Said to be Taylor Swift’s favorite band, Reinhart and his guitar-playing brother Bo were born and raised in rural Possum Kingdom, SC, where their pastor father ran a church camp. An excellent wide receiver, Bear Reinhart played college football at Furman University and even had thoughts of a pro career.

“Music then became something I couldn’t live without,” he remarks, “and I could live without playing football.” That’s when Needtobreathe was born. Add brother Bo, bassist Seth Bolt, and drummer Joe Stillwell and the band with a penchant for hook-laden songs quickly began to build a loyal following.

When asked if the sons of a pastor ever went through a rebellious stage, the singer smiles and says, “I think we’re still in the rebellious stage. [laughs] Who knows if we’ll ever get out of that?”

Inspired to write songs as the soundtrack to people’s lives, Reinhart explains of his muse, “Probably what keeps us going is seeing how music relates to people and how it affects their lives. People live with your music and that’s something we love. That consistently makes us want to go back in [the studio] and do better. We’re constantly trying to raise the bar in terms of the records we make and the shows we put on. That’s what drives us, definitely.”

Preparing to tour with Train this summer, Reinhart is looking forward to a summer of Needtobreathe’s delivering the goods every night.

“We put a lot of passion into our music and I hope people get what they need,” he offers. “We definitely believe if we’re talking about things that we love and hate, those emotions will translate regardless if someone mis in a similar situation than us. We’ve seen that play out over and over. We’re constantly amazed by what people take away from it.” ▼

For more info on Needtobreathe see www.myspace.com/needtobreathe.