Possum Kingdom. This is the small town tucked away in distant Southern Carolina where brothers Bear and Bo Rinehart first began making music together, and ultimately where NEEDTOBREATHE flourished and established themselves as one of the worlds most promising talents to-date.
The sons of an Assembly of God pastor, Bear and Bo Rinehart had inherited their father’s gift with words, and put it to good use in their songwriting; their mother taught piano, making music a constant part of their young lives. Formed in 1999, NEEDTOBREATHE (with childhood friends Joe Stillwell and Seth Bolt) built an impressive regional following, playing throughout the Southeast. Along the way, they sold more than 15,000 copies of their self-released EP’s, recorded by Seth, who had earned a degree in record engineering.
2006 saw the release of the band’s major label debut, Daylight, and a relentless, national touring schedule. Despite being on the road nearly non-stop, NEEDTOBREATHE returned the following year with The Heat, which went to #2 on the Heatseekers chart and spawned the hit single “More Time,” a top 10 success at Triple-A radio (sitting alongside established artists like Coldplay and Jack Johnson). The group’s penchant for capturing a poignant moment or eliciting an emotion with their music is evidenced by the numerous songs from each of their albums that have appeared in film and television, including the Hilary Swank-starring, motion picture P.S. I Love You and MTV’s “The Hills,” among many others.
On their latest album, The Outsiders, NEEDTOBREATHE has truly come into their own, seamlessly blending ambient, arena-ready soundscapes with a decidedly Southern sensibility. “The ‘Southern thing’ is very scary to some people,“ Bear laughs. “But for us, it’s not so much a sound than a feeling. It’s just about having some soul in the words you write, the music that you play. And it’s something that just comes naturally to us.”
NEEDTOBREATHE now look forward to bringing their new album, The Outsiders, 4,000 miles across the ocean to UK audiences as they play three UK shows this October. Supporting alternative American outfit Lifehouse at the O2 Shepherds Bush Empire on Wednesday October 6th, their own headline show at London’s The Borderline on Thursday October 7th, followed by King Tuts in Glasgow on October 8th. The 4-piece look forward to continued success over on UK shores this 2010.