DAVID ADAMS speaks with NEEDTOBREATHE’s Bear Rinehart…
For Bear Rinehart, lead singer, musician and founding member of US band NEEDTOBREATHE, Rivers In The Wasteland is a very personal album, reflecting the journey the band has been on in recent times.
Describing their fifth studio album – which debuted at number three on the Billboard charts – as “tough” to make, Rinehart says a lot of personal things “came to a head” during its creation, including in the relationship between him and his brother – and fellow band founder – Bo.
“We’ve always fought a little bit – I’d say, sort of in a healthy way – but it had gotten to a bad place,” says the 34-year-old. “We actually almost broke up in the middle of the record. And when we got back together we basically said ‘We’re not going to do it that way anymore; we’re going to be brothers first before the band’. “
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NEEDTOBREATHE – Bo and Bear Rinehart and Seth Bolt/PICTURE: Sally Sullivan “(W)e sort of lost our way a little bit, I think, really just playing for success and trying to make it even bigger and those kind of things. We really lost what was important about what we do and lost our appreciation for each other. This record is really about getting that back. Rivers In The Wasteland is about something new happening in a dry place…”– Bear Rinehart |
“It really did change everything for us. We’ve been on the road for 120 shows a year for the last 10 years; just never going home and putting pressure on ourselves. I think after this little break we were like, ‘We’ve got to do it a different way’, and, amazingly, the creative part really flourished after we made that decision.
“We spent a little bit less time on the road, a little bit less time in the studio and we wrote more when we were at home. And we’re so thankful we still get to do this because we really thought it was coming to an end.”
The band are coming to Australia in February along with fellow US act Third Day as part of World Vision’s eight city Make a Difference tour (local act Levi McGrath will also be taking part). It will be their first time in Australia – after which they’ll be touring in the US and UK – and Bear says while they “have no idea what to expect”, “we’re pretty excited about it.”
He says he’s also looking forward to supporting World Vision – it’s the first time the band have toured for the organisation. “That’s just an added bonus for me – being able to come to Australia and tour for the first time and do it with some friends like Third Day and being able to support a great organisation like World Vision.”
Rinehart, who is named for an American football coach Bear Bryant, and his brother Bo, whose middle name is Bryant, grew up in a small town called Possum Kingdom in South Carolina. His father, a pastor, ran a Christian camp there and Bear says it was a great place to grow up.
“It was out in the middle of nowhere and it was fun for us. We got to live on a campground until I was 10-years-old…(with) a river and a pool and all that fun stuff that goes along with a campground…We kinda felt like we ran the place.”
Rinehart was still a freshman in college when he and Bo formed the band, and he says that while they’ve always had a faith, “I think we’ve been sorting it out, you know, ever since we’ve been in the band”.
“We’ve grown up a lot over those years – 14 years. It’s a big portion of my life and how our faith impacts our music has changed over time (along with) our faith in general,” he says.
He believes the recent tough times the band has faced has only strengthened their faith.
“(G)oing through this process together – this really tough time – I think strengthened our faith more than it was and brought it back to the forefront. I think we had gotten a little bit messed up really with our priorities – we’d put success and things over our purpose and when we did that, the wheels started falling off. And we knew we had to make a change.”
“I think it’s a wake-up call really…We really lost what was important about what we do and lost our appreciation for each other. This record is really about getting that back. Rivers In The Wasteland is about something new happening in a dry place…”
While Bear and Bo write all the songs, Bear says they generally have them only about half or three quarters completed when they bounce them off the band’s other members who currently include bassist Seth Bolt, keyboardist Josh Lovelace and touring drummer Randall Harris.
“The band plays a huge part in that. I mean, we’re definitely a rock band so a song is never really a song until you get it with the band and get it sorted out.”
Rinehart says the band – whose music has featured on film and television, including in the Hilary Swank film, P.S. I Love You, and which recently performed at New York City’s annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade – also remain committed to reaching a wide audience.
“When we first started talking to record labels, some Christian labels wanted to sign us and we really felt, so strongly, that’s not what we were supposed to do – mainly just because we didn’t want to limit ourselves. And we felt like our audience was going to be people that didn’t know about Jesus…” he recalls.
“So we waited two or three years until we got a secular or mainstream record label in Atlantic. It’s something that we’ve always felt strongly that we were called to do, and it’s been really good. It’s been amazing the doors that get opened for us which, I think, are completely different to most Christian bands…I think it’s just given us opportunity to speak to people who maybe wouldn’t come into church or wouldn’t consider listening to Christian music.”
For tour dates, see www.makeadifferencetour.com.au.
