Bear Rinehart always has something to prove to himself.
If you go
NeedToBreathe with Will Hoge and Matt Hires
Where: 9:30 Club, 815 V St. NW
When: 7:30 p.m. Friday
Info: $16; 930.com
That’s especially true when the Seneca, S.C., native goes on tour with the band he formed about a decade ago, NeedToBreathe. That’s the time for Rinehart, the son of an Assembly of God pastor, to spread his own version of the gospel via the music he and his band have recorded. “It’s really interesting to see how the songs impact the people,” Rinehart said. “It’s exciting to me. Every record we make, I feel like we have something to prove.”
Not that the band hasn’t had its share of successes. After nominations for two 2008 Dove Awards the band won the 2009 award for “Rock/Contemporary Song of the Year” for “Washed by the Water.”
Now the band is back touring behind the 2009 album “The Outsiders,” filled with lush tunes that move from gospel to pop-inspired love songs.
“It’s been exciting to play [in support of this album],” he said. “It seems the reactions to the songs are getting stronger.”
That has led friends to tell friends about the band, so when NeedToBreathe repeatedly plays a venue, they see the numbers of fans grow.
“People come up and say ‘This song saved my marriage,’ or things like that,” Rinehart said. “That is kind of overwhelming for us. It’s impossible to know when you’re writing songs in a room that the hard work will pay off in that way.”
When it does, it’s a real shot of adrenaline.
Perhaps that’s why the band has steadily released new albums every 18 months for the past several years.
Not that it’s always easy. Bear and his brother/bandmate Bo write songs and then work on them together before they introduce them to the band. At that point, the band fine-tunes the songs and decides if they should have what it takes to join the NeedToBreathe catalog.
Although the process seems unrelenting, it’s how the band keeps its music quality high.
“It’s pretty harsh,” Rinehart said. “If we don’t like something we have to say it. We can’t worry about hurting someone’s feelings. The band is our whole life, we value it and we want to keep it going.”
Yet just because the Rinehart brothers do the majority of the writing doesn’t mean other members don’t have full voices in the band’s songs, artistry and direction.
“Our band is like a family,” Rinehart said. “We don’t write a song from one person’s perspective. It’s a collaboration. We value how honest we can be in our music … that’s what makes it work. We value the consistency.”
