On The Verge

Needtobreathe

Charleston, S.C.
Soulfully Grandiose
www.needtobreathe.net

Brothers Bear (lead vocals, guitar, piano) and “Bo” Bryant (guitar, backing vocals) Rinehart grew up in the tiny town of Possum Kingdom in South Carolina’s Upstate where their father was an Assembly of God church pastor. (Their parents named them for Alabama’s famed football coach Bear Bryant.) And though they’ve been on the mainstream rock/pop charts and earned a grassroots following, they’ve been most successful on the Christian music charts. They rounded out their “soulfully grandiose” sound with childhood friends Joe Stillwell (drums, backing vocals) and Seth Bolt (bass, backing vocals) in Seneca, S.C., while studying at nearby universities Clemson and Furman. “There’s a lot of chemistry that developed over [13 years together],” says Stillwell. “[For a while, we played] typical college acoustic stuff. Luckily, we acclimated to electrics pretty quickly.” Needtobreathe’s fourth studio release, The Reckoning, “was our most ambitious project so far,” according to the drummer. “We were writing with a bit of a chip on our shoulder for the first three records, trying to prove ourselves.” The group relocated to Charleston about four years ago. “The Upstate informed our music in the sense that it motivated us to be good enough to get out. Nothing against the area,” Stillwell says. The group is looking forward to their fall tour, playing Austin City Limits and working on some demos for the next record.