NEEDTOBREATHE Play Their First Pilgrimage Festival, Talk Philanthropy, Collaborations, and Who They’re Listening to (Exclusive)

NEEDTOBREATHE has been in the music business for almost 25 years, but they recently played their first Pilgrimage Festival in Franklin, Tennessee. Despite muddy and rainy conditions that weekend, the band played a killer set and also took time to meet with American Songwriter for an exclusive interview presented by George Dickel.

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Speaking with lead vocalist Bear Rinehart and Josh Lovelace at Pilgrimage, we first wondered who they were excited to see at the festival. “Stephen Sanchez is up right now, he’s a buddy of mine,” said Rinehart. “I saw him before he had anything going.” [The other one] mentioned Noah Kahan, explaining that “We actually got to see him at Ascend [Amphitheater] just a couple months ago, and he’s awesome.”

As for their own music, NEEDTOBREATHE has a knack for blending genres and coming out on the other side with something brand new. How do they do it?

“I think it’s above our head,” Rinehart laughed. “Most of the time, we’re just not thinking about where the music is going in terms of that, the categories. We just do what we like. And over the years, sometimes that’s been acoustic or rock and roll or more spiritual … but rarely do we go, ‘we’re going to aim at this’ … it ends up being sort of a playlist of what all of us like.”

[RELATED: The Socratic Meaning Behind the Band Name NEEDTOBREATHE]

NEEDTOBREATHE On How Philanthropy Fits into Their Work

“[Philanthropy has] been a big part … we started with an organization called OneWorld Health a long time ago doing sustainable medical clinics [in] Uganda, Nicaragua,” said Bear Rinehart. “I went over there and just kind of saw [that] the problem was solvable in a lot of ways.”

Rinehart continued, “and we suck at golf but we do a golf tournament, we do a dollar [of] every ticket at shows. We’ve raised, I think, over $10 million with them so far.”

Giving back to at-risk communities is important to NEEDTOBREATHE. Rinehart explained that a lot of that work comes down to their fans and their support of the causes the band has partnered with.

“[It’s] mostly our fans,” Rinehart said. “I think we see it as, ‘let’s put the cause in front of our fans and see where it takes us.’ And our fans just happen to be those kinds of people … they care about their communities, and they’re awesome.”

Has the Act of Crafting Music Changed for the Band in Almost 25 Years?

With NEEDTOBREATHE approaching 25 years of making music, there’s a lot of space to grow and change. “I think we still try to kind of shoot from the hip in some ways,” said [The other one]. “Whatever we’re feeling, we want to portray that in our music and how we tour and all that stuff. But it has changed a lot. We’ve put out nine records now, so it’s like, from the first couple of records to now, just how you put out music and how people are listening to it.”

He added, “It’s a game that we’re still trying to figure out how to play, but I’m proud of our band because we’re not a band that’s ever going to quit. We’re going to still keep figuring out how to do it at the highest level that we can, and we’ve been able to do that for 25 years.”

As for their collaboration process, Rinehart explained that a lot of the time collaborations happen on a whim. “Most of the time it’s organic,” he said. “Most of the time it’s a little bit of a whim. Like, you’re in the studio and you’re listening to a song and you’re like, ‘oh, this person would be amazing on this, let’s call them.’ So when it works out, most of the time it’s somebody that we know a little bit.”

He continued, “I go back to Gavin DeGraw, who we did a song with very early on, that song is called ‘Brother’ … and it was like ‘hey man, you got to hear this song, if it means something to you let’s do it.’ So those kinds of things I just feel like [are] very natural and on a whim.”

What Bands Are NEEDTOBREATHE Listening to Right Now?

When asked about the artists they’re listening to now that they want everyone to know about, Rinehart and [The other one!!] didn’t disappoint.

“There’s a band that just opened for us in Europe called Mosa Wild,” said Rinehart, “that are very young and just starting out. And I had heard their song randomly [and] called them up and said ‘hey can you do some of these shows.’ So that’s one for me.”

[The other one] answered, “One of my favorite bands is a band called Dawes, [I’ve] been a fan of theirs forever, seen them many times and every time I’m like ‘why isn’t the whole town here to hear you guys.’ They’re awesome, and I still think they should be the biggest band in the world.”

Featured Image by Alex DeBuhr/Billboard via Getty Images

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