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Navigating the ‘Christian band’ tag, learning from Taylor Swift, and their ongoing quest to make ‘big’ music.
FOR 22 YEARS these Grammy-nominated South Carolinian rockers have built a serious following with their singalong heartland rock and hard-touring work ethic. They’ve regularly topped the US Rock, Alternative Rock and Christian Albums charts, and now opulently produced, anthem-heavy ninth album Caves is doing the business. Singer Bear Rinehart talks ambition, the “Christian thing”, and lessons learned from Taylor Swift.
You’ve said Caves is an “ambitious album”. In what way?
These days in music, cheap is the new expensive – everything is deconstructing to nothing. But we love records that were big, where bands put everything in there, so we thought, what if we just went all the way and just made ourselves happy? Listening back to Caves it feels like that, feels big. We really went for it.
You’ve always had a catchy edge, and that has really been amped up on the new record.
Yeah, we’ve always wanted people to like the music. We built ourselves up as a live band, and didn’t want people looking at their shoes when they’re at our show. But this record’s less about the commercial success and more about allowing ourselves to do it. I always hear the song How Wonderful We Are and think Steven Tyler’s singing it, you know? We thought: “What if we just did this like Aerosmith?”
That track and Temporary Tears are both testimony to the band’s southern soul vibe.
That stuff just seeps in. We grew up in a very small town in South Carolina, my dad was a preacher in a diverse church with loud music, where I learned to play. The gospel thing with rock’n’roll elements added, that’s always been what’s turned me on. Early on my favourite band was The Black Crowes, and favourite singer was Joe Cocker. That ‘feverish’ thing is what we’re after.
The Christian angle must be tricky for a rock’n’r
