When NEEDTOBREATHEs Bear and Bo Rinehart set out to write the songs that appear on the bands new album, The Reckoning, they felt something bigger awaited them. It wasnt just commercial success either. The bands last album The Outsiders hit No. 9 on Billboards Rock Albums chart, went Top 20 on the Top 200, saw the band sell out venues such as Nashvilles Ryman Auditorium and Chicagos House of Blues, and score an impressive number of placements in blockbuster films and numerous prime time television-shows. Bear explains There was always this creeping reminder that we needed to show what the last ten years on the road had taught us. If we couldn't do that, everything we had worked for was meaningless. With their reputation as a must-see live act built from non-stop touring, the Rinehart brothers, pastors sons who hail from the rural South Carolina town of Possum Kingdom, along with drummer Joe Stillwell and bass player Seth Bolt, were determined to create a statement-making album that truly captured the magic behind this genuinely appealing rock band. We considered every note, every sound, and every lyric that went on this album, Bo says of their fourth album The Reckoning, which was co-produced by the band with Rick Beato (who worked with the band on their records The Heat and The Outsiders), and was recorded over seven months mostly at their Plantation Studios in Charleston, SC. 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 youve 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. Bear adds, At one point, we had done 10 different versions of the same song, but that process is what the record came to be about. We felt like no one could take this moment from us. I think you can feel the pressure we put on ourselves in every note of this record. The songs and the album became something much bigger than us ... something we had to live up to. Lyrically, all roads lead from the albums title, which Bear says has several different meanings, one of them being the justification of accounts. I like the idea that you put in all this work and at some point it comes to a peak -- thats the reckoning time. What the band emerged with is a timeless-sounding album rooted in classic American rock and roll, unafraid to veer off into unexpected directions. Songs such as Maybe Theyre On To Us address the paranoia of wondering whether people know too much about the band. It also asks, Are we still driven in the same way? Were always questioning ourselves, Bear says. Even the songs that may sound light-hearted on the surface, like White Fences, Slumber, and Drive All Night, explore serious themes. White Fences is about the American dream of growing up in a big house with a white picket fence, but when the dream is broken and things dont pan out the way you planned, asking whos going to fix it, Bo says. Slumber is meant to be about how beauty is all around you but you just cant see it because of the funk youre in, Bear says. It speaks to something that we really care about which is giving yourself a chance. And theres Drive All Night, a galloping barnstormer that Bear sees as a statement on the false idea that one can run away from ones problems. The truth is, the more you run away, the worse it gets, whereas if you embrace the things around you, the more joy youre going to have, he says. With their intriguing melodies and bright choruses, the songs on The Reckoning are certain to translate in the live setting, something that is crucial to the band. The worst thing that could happen is you get done playing and people dont think about you again. Well do whatever it takes to force people to make a decision about our band, whether they love us or not. It makes for more passionate fans. We've always bought into the fact that anything worth having is going to cost you a lot, so I think we were prepared to lose everything. The Reckoning is our investigation into everything we believed to be true and a justification for everything we still do.

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