NewYearsDayProject | a song a day blog

  Working with family can be difficult. Starting a band is like starting a business. You need to have the right people to work with to do the best at their jobs. Chemistry, mastery of an instrument, and stage presence is also important for band members. Family members as bandmates makes sense for young bands. Tim and Jonathan Foreman in Switchfoot are an example of a brotherhood creating a lasting band. There are other bands like Kings of Leon and NEEDTOBREATHE in which family is a source of strife. There are many examples of when family members don’t work out in the band, sometimes it’s clear from the early days like when the Hype ’s second guitarist Dik Evans —brother of David “The Edge” Evans —was dropped by the group that became U2 and the bass player of The Fray , Caleb “Cable Car” Slade —brother of former lead singer Isaac Slade —was kicked out of the band. I NEVER KNEW THAT EVERYTHING WAS FALLING THROUGH. The Fray’s debut single, “ Over My Head ” (Cable Car) gained radio

Brothers " Bear " and  "Bo" Rineheart  were born in Possum Kingdom, South Carolina, and raised in a church camp that their father, a pastor, managed. Forming  NEEDTOBREATHE   with  friends  Seth Bolt  and  Joe Stillwell , the band signed to  Atlantic Records  and released their sophomore record in 2007.  Opening for  Taylor Swift  on her  Speak Now Tour  in 2011, winning many  Gospel Music Association's Dove Awards , and receiving a Grammy nomination, NEEEDTOBREATHE   has gained acclaim both in the Christian Rock and secular markets. The band's 2016 record,  H A R D  L O V E , debuted at number 2 on the Billboard 200 albums chart list and is the band's bestselling record. The folksy lyrics of NEEDTOBREATHE speak of faith, love, and family. YOU'RE THE CATALYST OF HIGH HOPES.  The theme of the band's 2016 record comes from a long-seeded rivalry between brothers Bear and Bo, which escalated in 2014 into a fistfight that ended with a trip to the hos

After pursuing a music career together as founding members of  NEEDTOBREATHE   beginning in 2001, guitarist  Nathaniel Bryant "Bo" Rinehart  departed from his band. The band's biggest hit, " Brother ," dealt with the tension of being family members in a band and their following record,  H A R D L O V E   furthered that theme. In 2020 the band released  Out of Body ,  their first record without Bo. Replacing Bo on the record was future band member  Tyler Burkum , a working Nashville musician who first cut his teeth in the '90s Christian Rock band  Audio Adrenaline  and had been a part of bands such as  Leagues  and a touring musician for  Mat Kearney .  I WANNA HEAR YOUR VOICE IN THE WIND AND RAIN. After listening to several recent NEEDTOBREATHE albums, I thought about a playlist that nobody asked for: Dad Rock Essentials. It's a little bit country and a little bit rock 'n' roll. The songs chosen are loosely based on fatherhood and groups that dad

After pursuing a music career together as founding members of NEEDTOBREATHE beginning in 2001, guitarist Nathaniel Bryant "Bo" Rinehart departed from his band. The band's biggest hit, " Brother ," dealt with the tension of being family members in a band and their follow record, H A R D L O V E   furthered that theme. In 2020, the band released Out of Body , their first record without Bo. Replacing Bo on the record was future band member Tyler Burkum , a working Nashville musician who first cut his teeth in the '90s Christian Rock band Audio Adrenaline and had been a part of bands such as Leagues and a touring musician for Mat Kearney .  I WANNA HEAR YOUR VOICE IN THE WIND AND RAIN.  Today, we're loading up our iPods and heading back to school. The tracks included are some new and old tracks that deal with elementary, middle, high school, or college. These songs are for study and play. Enjoy!   Read “Child Again” by NEEDTOBREATHE on Genius.

I’ve written about the parallels between Christian Rock band NEEDTOBREATHE and Alternative Rock band Kings of Leon . But despite the bands’ similar origin stories, members growing up to ministers in very conservative backgrounds, Kings of Leon left their Christian upbringing and NEEDTOBREATHE embraced it. While NEEDTOBREATHE has had general market success, their fan base is mostly from Christian Hit Radio, to which the band does their duty to push the limits on songs like "Let's Stay Home Tonight" and "Clear" but ultimately keep the fires of sexiness under control. TRADIG PUNCHES WITH THE HEART OF DARKNESS. “ Hard Love ” is a sequel to the band’s hit “ Brother .” The song “Brother” was birthed out of a family conflict between founding members, brothers Bear and Bo Reinhart . The sibling rivalry came to a head during the recording of NEEDTOBREATHE’s record Rivers in the Wasteland . Like the Rolling Stone interview with Kings of Leon, the conflict between the

The Beautiful Letdown was the peak of Switchfoot 's career. When lead singer Jon Foreman was reflecting on his career on The Load Out Music Podcast last year, he said that the band decided to follow up their most successful pop record with one that critiques the American Dream, a somewhat controversial topic with Christian listeners. The opening track, " Lonely Nation ," warns listeners about consumerism and how it just creates social fragmentation and a desire for more. "Lonely Nation" is the representative song for my Independence Day mix called American Dreams: Hope for a Better Future. This playlist is far from perfect. Certainly it needs more diversity in style and artists' voices. But I hope that the songs on this playlist offer an alternative to blind patriotism. After all, patriotism shouldn't be blind nationalism, but rather a peaceful discourse between conflicting ideals. In a world where everything seems to be falling apart, it's so mu

Signed to Columbia/CBS Records   in 1984 under the "tacky" and "tongue-in-cheek" moniker The Baseball Boys, the London-based band quickly changed their name to The Outfield . The band's chief lyricist and guitarist John Spinks got the idea for a baseball-themed band when watched the movie The Warriors . The band's American manager convinced the band to change their name. Spinks was a fan of both American sports, particularly baseball and football because those sports were "far more business, far more spectacle, than British sports." The "American-sounding band" found their earliest success in America, not the U.K., starting with 1985's hit " Your Love ." NO SECOND CHANCE, NO GIVING UP. The Outfield has a string of hits after "Your Love" between 1985 and 1990, but their popularity faded with the rest of the New Wavers. Most of their album titles are named after baseball references, starting with their debut Play De

On a cold winter's day, in the middle of the stress of house-hunting, I thought I'd make a playlist for those bad days that aren't quite depressing and not quite angry. Today's featured song is " Beth/Rest " by Bon Iver. I resisted putting this song on my Pseudo '80s Playlist  because, despite the soft-rock keys and saxophone, the vocal distortion sounds more of a product of its time than a retro track. Some of the songs on today's list will be a little sad, but something about them gives me strength rather than pushes me further into a despair. As always, I'll put the links for each song. I'm going to stick to tracks I've written about and add to this list as I feel the song is appropriate. First, I'll share my Spotify playlist: 1. "Beth/Rest" by Bon Iver is the representative song of the day.  2. "Tell Me How" by Paramore is a sad song, but the resolve at the end leaves the power in Haley Williams' hands. 3.

As the music world has moved on to Adele 's next single, " Oh My God ," I wanted to revisit her first single from 30 today, simply because it's so damn catchy. The inspiration for this comes from watching Rick Beato 's reaction to the song (see the video section below). I wanted to revisit this great song since my initial post back in October . "Easy on Me" is easily  one of the best songs of last year and it has made my 2021+ and 2022+ playlists. When so many Adele haters say that all of her songs sound the same, I can't help but scream, "Are you listening to that piano?" Finally delving a little bit more into 30, the feeling is so different from her previous work. It's literary in the sense that nobody writes an album about trying to convince their young child that divorce was the right decision. GO EASY ON ME, BABY.  Rick Beato started a YouTube channel in 2016 and has had a career in music, producing and recording with bands suc

When I was reading   about   NEEDTOBREATHE for the first time , 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

An album set in a fictional universe, the EXO -planet boys came back with their fifth studio album in 2018, Don't Mess Up My Tempo .   The 2018 was the Korean/Chinese boy band's most successful record in the United States, reaching number 23 on Billboard's Hot 200 album sales chart.  Closing the album is the R&B track " Oasis ." The music was composed by a young American-Lebanese songwriter named Andrew Bazzi , or just Bazzi . The groove of the 808 bass loops, staccato instruments, and the EXO boys' smooth vocals make "Oasis" an infectious track. I'M ON THE ROAD.   The young songwriter Bazzi has written for Nelly, Camila Cabello, and Lil' Wayne. So far, his biggest hit, 2017's "Mine" became famous as a SnapChat filter. Before this hit, though, he promoted his music through Vine. Besides "Oasis," Bazzi wrote "Oh La La La," which also appears on Don't Mess Up My Tempo as well as a track on the band'