NEEDTOBREATHE is definitely a rock band, and its members are indeed Christians. But there are a few good reasons why they don’t like to call themselves a Christian rock band, even after a Grammy nomination in that category.

“People hear that and assume that it (stinks),” says frontman Bear Rinehart. “There are a lot of very big bands out there that you could just as easily call Christian bands, and for us it really comes more from the business side — like ‘Is this song going to make it on Christian radio?’ There have certainly been songs where my faith gets into them in a natural way, and I wouldn’t say I shy away from that. I just don’t feel that every one of my songs derives from that place.”

If he does write a spiritual song, he’ll probably keep it non-specific. “I decided a long time ago that I can’t tell people what to think of my songs or how to interpret them. And I think we intentionally write songs in ambiguous way. To my mind that gives people a way to connect, so they’re participating in the song as a co-writer. That goes back to one of the things I love about Springsteen: You hear a song and think ‘Wait, is this really about a car?’”

NEEDTOBREATHE, who headline the MGM Music Hall on Saturday night, have already played for all sorts of audiences — including Taylor Swift fans, after they were invited to open her “Speak Now” tour in 2011.

“It happened pretty naturally back then, she was a fan of the band. And I remember getting the call and thinking, ‘Should we do this?’ We were playing to a thousand seats at (famed Nashville theater) the Ryman, and we really had no clue how to relate to her audience, it seemed a little pop for us. But I will say, the band got a ton better in that situation. We used to be more like shoegazers, and we’d never talk between songs. But we learned then that the audience is there to have a conversation with you, they need a real interaction, and the music is there to do that. So it gets better the more vulnerable you are with them, reminding the audience that you’re present for them that night. That’s another thing that always works with Springsteen.”

The new album “Caves” is largely about personal relationships, and not only the positive kind. Despite the album’s arena-ready sound, it was all written and rehearsed during a band getaway in the mountains of Utah.

“Everyone has families now, and we’re not playing 250 shows a year anymore. So when we get together it’s like going to camp. It’s a catch-up time, to talk about what we’ve been going through and what life is like. We were there for ten days and didn’t leave the house that entire time. But we also knew we were making something that was going to play in a bigger place. So there was a lot of closing our eyes and imagining being in arenas. It’s funny but you really can turn that on and off, and we were keeping the switch turned on.”