To kick off the concerts of Spring 2012, the Campus Activities Board will be introducing South Carolina-based rock band Needtobreathe, on Tuesday, Feb. 21 on the Benson stage.
With its fourth album released recently last year, “The Reckoning,” which reached No. 6 on the Billboard 200, the band is on its way to wider recognition and should make for a great show.
According to the band’s website, brothers Bo and Bear Rinehart, who play lead guitar and sing lead vocals respectively, started Needtobreathe with fellow South Carolinians Seth Bolt, bassist, and Joe Stillwell, percussionist. The band signed its first record label in 2005 and has toured with well-known artists such as Train, Collective Soul, Will Hoge and Taylor Swift.
Needtobreathe has had its songs featured in films such as “P.S. I Love You,” “Employee of the Month,” “To Save a Life,” “When in Rome,” and TV shows “The Hills” and “Hart of Dixie.”
The band said on its website that its major influences come from U2, Wilco, Tom Petty and Pearl Jam. They definitely have a smooth rock sound similar to the vocals of The Fray and Lifehouse, with a tune reminiscent of Jars of Clay. However, Needtobreathe certainly established its own unique style and powerful messages.
“We considered every note, every sound and every lyric that went on this album,” Bo said about their fourth album, “The Reckoning,” which the band co-producted. “Everything was put through the ‘Do we really believe in this or not?’ filter. We never settled. We were looking for a spark. Sometimes in the studio you’ve got to keep searching until something happens that feels magical. We were waiting for that moment to strike on each song before we called this album finished.”
Its most popular song on iTunes is “More Time,” which was featured on the “P.S. I Love You” soundtrack and the next most popular is “Something Beautiful” from its third album, “The Outsiders.”
Opening for Needtobreathe will be Ben Rector, a pop-rock artist from Tulsa, Okla. Rector, whose music career started to take off during his college career at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, has been playing music on the road since his graduation. He has toured with Dave Barnes and Five for Fighting. He was the youngest songwriter to win the John Lennon Songwriting Contest for his song, “Conversation,” according to www.jlsc.com. “After All” was used in the shows “Pretty Little Liars” and “Castle.”
According to the PR Newswire, “Into the Morning,” his 2010 record, reached No. 10 on the overall iTunes music chart and his next record, “Something Like This” reached the No. 4 spot for overall albums.
Doors will open for Needtobreathe and Ben Rector at 7 p.m. and the show starts at 8 p.m. Tickets can be purchased online at www.hardingcabtickets.com. Tickets are $15 for students, $20 for the public and free with the Pass.
