“Brother” by NEEDTOBREATHE, Tuesday, December 7, 2021
When I was reading about NEEDTOBREATHE last month, I couldn't help drawing parallels between another band with a raspy-voiced lead singer, Kings of Leon. Both bands have Southern, faith-based roots. Both frontmen were raised by pastors who were involved heavily in ministry. Like the Killers, the record label of both bands tried to break them in the UK before taking on the American charts. Both bands were composed of at least two family members. In Kings of Leon, the band is composed of three brothers and their cousin. For NEEDTOBREATHE, the band's line up originally consisted of brothers Bear and Bo and their friends. But before they could release their 2015 record, Rivers in the Wasteland, a sibling rivalry nearly ended the band.
LIKE A BULL CHASING THE MATADOR. NEEDTOBREATHE's breakthrough hit "Brother" topped Billboard's Christian Songs and was the band's first entry on the Hot 100, peaking at #98. It also rose to #8 on Billboard's Rock/Alternative Radio Play charts. The radio single, recorded after the album's release, features singer-songwriter Gavin DeGraw, best known for his 2003 hit "I Don't Want to Be," the theme song for the WB/CW teen drama One Tree Hill. According to the director of the music video, Jerod Hogan, the band filmed the video before recording the single version, and thus DeGraw's verse had to be shot and added to the video. The collaboration possibly pushed NEEDTOBREATHE's popularity in the rock and adult contemporary charts and set them up for collaborations later in their career, including with Carrie Underwood earlier this year. I prefer the original album cut because I don't particularly care for Gavin DeGraw's voice. I didn't like his whinny 2003 hit, and I didn't even remember it until researching for this post. Besides Bear's absence on the second verse, the single version cuts out a very quick jam session of a piano playing some blue notes between the verse and the bridge. All in all, the song is quite catchy, and it's a song that makes me remember how important family relationships are. When you're with family, there's no fooling them. You may be able to present yourself in a certain way, but family remembers who you are. They remember your stupid mistakes, and they see you in your most unfiltered light.
I AIN’T MADE FOR RIVALRY. There's a pretty epic Rolling Stone feature on Kings of Leon I referenced back in June. The article gives some vivid description about a fight that ensued between brothers Caleb and Nathan Followill after a night out drinking in Nashville. The Relevant article about NEEDTOBREATHE's big fight isn't quite as colorful, but we learn that that fight has shaped both 2015's Rivers in the Wilderness and 2016's H A R D L O V E. And, although the brothers put their hard feelings aside, Bo ended up leaving NEEDTOBREATHE in 2020. The younger Rinehart brother didn't share his reasons for leaving in the band's statement released to The Christian Beat, but the 39 year old currently creates visual arts and is working on new music, according to his Instagram page. Whether or not the family rivalry was a reason for Bo's departure, working with family can be tough. We can get into a big argument with a family member and solve the problem only for it to come back years later. Bear will always be Bo's older brother, and with that relationship comes love, responsibility, and resentment. Sometimes "Hard Love" means loving that person in smaller doses. The music video brilliantly depicts the brothers confined in a small space, and sometimes that space is smaller to the point where they have to sit down. With two brothers constantly fighting each other, they need to give each other some breathing room.
Cover by Supernatural star Jensen Ackles:
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