So, why are they in a band? Brio wanted to find out. We talked with them in Nashville, Tenn. Here what these guys from Seneca, S.C., had to say.

Brio: Bear, how did you go from football to music?
Bear: It was intertwined. I started playing football as a young child, and I started playing guitar when I was 16. I helped lead worship at my church, where my dad’s the pastor. I started writing songs in the youth group, and that’s how I got started.

This group of guys played all through college. We all grew up in the same hometown. Joe and I were even college roommates at Furman University our freshman year and started this band. While we were doing about 100 to 120 shows a year, I was also playing football.

We took a period of time to give this band a shot and to see if this was what we should do.

Tell us about the name needtobreathe.
Joe: The name comes from a story I heard on a youth retreat. It’s about the philosopher Socrates. He taught several students by a small body of water. One of the students asked Socrates, “How do I know when I’m truly seeking wisdom in my life?”

Instead of answering the student, Socrates walked over to him and shoved the student’s head underneath the water. Socrates held him down until the student tried to force his way up for a breath. Then he let him up.

As the student tried to regain composure Socrates said, “When you desire for wisdom as much as you need to breathe, that’s when you know you’re seeking it.”

We need to seek God in that way, which is why we chose the name needtobreathe for our band.

Because you signed with Atlantic first, who does that mean you’ve toured with?
Bear: We’ve been on a Collective Soul tour with Rob Thomas and Train. This gives us the opportunity to travel and play with secular bands.

Are these bands receptive to your faith?
Bo: It’s awesome because the lifestyles we lead in that environment get noticed quickly. It only takes one or two nights before another band asks us what makes us so different.

Give us an example of this type of interaction.
Bear: A drummer from a band we toured with noticed the difference in us. He asked, “What’s the deal? Do you go to church or anything?” Then he responded to us with, “You probably won’t believe it, but I did, too. I’m trying to find my way back to that.” After being in that environment for so long, he slipped into a lot of things he knew he shouldn’t. I was glad we could be an encouraging influence on his life.

How do you handle the criticism?
Bear: We believe we’re called to do exactly what we’re doing. I don’t think we’d be true to ourselves if we didn’t do what God has asked us to do. He’s opened the doors and drew us in to this market on purpose. You don’t just stumble into getting signed by Atlantic Records. We hope we will reach people that maybe some people inside the walls of a church building would never reach.

What keeps you grounded?
Bear: We still live in Seneca, S.C., so when we go home we’re around the people who know how cool we really are. Which is not that cool. We still have a home base and family who keep us accountable.

We’ve played our number of churches and youth groups. Now, anywhere we go, there are fans who have seen us play at their church. We can’t live a double standard. We seek to be consistent whether we’re playing in a club or at a Christian venue.

How do you become the best artists you can be?
Joe: We study other artists and have intense self-evaluation. We make ourselves better by being completely open to criticism and evaluation from anyone.

I think it’s also making the most of this huge blessing that we have. It’s amazing to be able to do what we’re doing as a career. There is absolutely nothing else we’d rather be doing. To not give it everything we have, to not give it our absolute best is like an insult to God who has given us this blessing.

Bo: All of us have had options to do other things. Seth is a recording engineer. Bear played football and could’ve gone to the NFL, and I did acting. And Joe is just a genius. He was going to be some kind of business guy. All those things we felt like all along were second best to doing this. This is definitely what we love to do.

Bo, what opportunities did you have to act?
Bo: I was in the movie Radio. I got in because I was the same height and weight as one of the actors, who played the star athlete. I got to be the stunt double for him.

While I was there I acted like an idiot on the set, showing that I was comfortable in front of the camera. The director took notice of that and started putting me in as a bad guy in the movie.

At the end of the movie there was supposed to be a scene where I become a good guy, but it got deleted. Now I’m forever known as this horrible person.

Later, the casting lady called me to be a part of the show “One Tree Hill” on the WB, but it was right in the middle of when the band took off. I couldn’t see this TV opportunity happening. I thought, The band is what I want to do. Now I find out that the guy who got the part ended up making $100,000 an episode. [laughing] Oh well!