Sonny and Wuv stood up in front of the executive staff at Atlantic Records and shared about their faith and vision to continue bringing their message to the world.In the meeting Sonny said, ‘I believe in Jesus Christ. I will never back down from my faith... We know that no matter what happens, our name is good on the streets. You can ask anyone and we are good with the people in the streets. We do this in a way that even our own kids will look back and be proud.’ - INFOMAN E-mail, June 29 2005

"You know, I don't want people to remember me because I played rock music, but because I love God with all of my heart, mind, soul and strength... We work with the record label, but what's really important is that we have to put our trust in God." - to HM Magazine, 20th Anniversary Edition, summer 2005

"We're Christians 110 percent, without a shadow of a doubt. We're not trying to hide anything...but we make our music for everybody." -Sonny January 2001 CCM

"Others might say, 'Ahhh! P.O.D., the sellouts!' Sell out to what? We never had your support in the first place!" -Sonny

Excerpt from Revolver Nov/Dec 2001: "Much has been made in the media of P.O.D.’s Christian faith... it is impossible to discuss songs like 'Christ' [now called 'Portrait'], "The Messenjah" and "Anything Right" without mentioning the band's spiritual beliefs - or more specifically, the hammering that they've taken on both sides of the Christian/secular divide for daring to articulate their love for Jesus Christ in a hard-rock context. 'We get the people who say, 'oh they're Christian rock, dude, don't listen to them,' ' says Sonny. 'And then we get people who say we're not Christian because our beliefs don't match perfectly with theirs.' 'We go around the country and meet all these Christians who expect us to be like them,' adds Wuv. 'And we're not -- we're just people who love God. We're not holier-than-thou. So, with the song 'Christ' it's like, 'here's our picture of Christ.'" "

The lyrics talk about what we've come to know in our faith in Christ," Sonny explains, "and also the hypocrisy we see in a lot of people who call themselves Christians."

"It's a healthy sign that P.O.D. can joke about shoving Christianity down other people's throats; these days, if someone isn't accusing the band of doing just that then they're accusing them of not being Christian enough. 'We're not going out there with a cause' insists Wuv, 'we're going out there to tell our life story-who we love, and what makes us people. That's what we do. But people really wanna make an issue out of it. They always do.' " -Revolver, March/April 2002

The God that P.O.D. worships, as expressed in the band's music, is a loving and benevolent Creator, as opposed to the god of wrath so popular with tele-evangelists, right-wing politicians, and those who represent heaven by firebombing abortion clinics.

"We’ve always thrown love into the picture," says Sonny. "Ultimately we believe that God is love, and if we can just get people to grasp the foundation of love, they're gonna make it - you know what I’m saying? They’re gonna be alright."

Our songs are very passionate about what we believe in, says Bernardo...We talk about Jah, we talk about love, we talk about being better people. How do we do that? We love God, and we try to live that way...We have fun, but we also use the biggest mic we can to tell people our story. And our story is, 'dude, if you hit the dumps, we've got something that might give you some joy.' - Blender Oct/Nov 01

I don't care what Christian groups think of me. I just want to represent who I am: a guy who at one point fell on his face and asked God for direction (says Sonny). We don't fit in with the conservative values of Christian America, Bernardo adds. For us, its all about a relationship we have with God. Its about what God has done for us individually, not what he's done for our church. -SPIN Oct 01

"Yeah, we have spiritual beliefs, but it's an individual thing. We never said anybody has to like us. We've had to work twice as hard to come this far, and we're as bad and heavy as anybody." - Traa to Bass Player, Dec 2003

"Sometimes as hard as I want to be on people that are questioning our faith, I know that deep down inside there's a genuineness to it," Sandoval added. "They go and interview a hundred bands, and its the same old rock n' roll handbook story. We just tend to stand out in this genre of music. All of the people that we're playing with are depressing, they're angry, they're searching, they hate the world or its 'sex, drugs and rock 'n roll.' Then you have P.O.D., and its all about good vibes. I just think we tend to stand out on our own whether we're labeled 'Christian' or not. ... It's God who's blessed us." - Relevant Magazine, Nov/Dec 2003

liveDaily: So much seems to get written about the Christianity angle, but you guys aren't preaching to everybody. Sonny : We've never denied our faith or anything--that's something that's with us, with or without rock and roll. All of a sudden people were making an issue out of it. If you are genuine and you want to sit down and talk heart-to-heart, and you care, then we could talk about it. I truly love that. But I don't want people to not give the music a chance and go, "Oh, I'm not a Christian," or "I don't believe the same, so I can't listen to it." No, it's rock-and-roll music. We've proven ourselves in the past 12 years, I don't know what else to say. If anything, it doesn't help. It hinders people from buying the music. You never hear the Beastie Boys as Buddhist hip-hop. They were wild party guys, and all of a sudden they find something that's real and shoot it in there--you never heard, "Oh, now they're Buddhist hip-hop." We've never used our faith to market anything. I don't know who said there was "rock" and then there's "Christian rock," but I think you should give credit and respect to the people who are singing about what they feel, and not just what everybody wants to hear.

No, They are Christians...

"...It's not Rastafarianism, its being around so many different cultures & styles, for example...we grew up in south S.D. where there are many different nationalities & religions also heavy drug use & etc... so our perspective about life & God is seeing it first hand ….We've seen God change our parents' lives & our friends' so there is nothing that can take that away & its as if our up bringing has given us a foundation in what we believe cause we seen it first hand!" - Wuv's sister

GW: Did reggae music influence your approach to presenting a spiritual message through music? Sonny: I think it definitely had a lot to do with it. For me, reggae music was always peaceful. So I think, growing up, reggae music always kept me a peacemaker. I never listened to "kill your mother" and pimp and ho" type of music. Like today, a lot of that kind is out there for kids to listen to. And they imitate a lot of what they hear. But back then I'd listen to a lot of reggae music, and it was 95% scripture-based. Just stories from the Bible about God watching out for you. So I always had a good mentality that kind of sunk in. When I started making music, it was just an expression of that.

GW: Can you reconcile Christianity with Rastafarianism? Sonny: With Rasta, a lot of it is scripture-based. People walk around singing Bob Marley lyrics, but they don't even know he got that from Psalms or Proverbs or something. The Rastas just kind of twist scripture their own way. But as far as morality, it's the same. And they believe in Jesus Christ just like we do. But they believe that the Second Coming of Christ was Haile Selassie. They believe the Second Coming already happened. So there's differences. (*shrugs*) They smoke a lot of herb, you know? It's a spiritual thing. -GuitarWorld, Nov 2001

Checkout.com: How do you compromise the gentle side of your spirituality and the aggressiveness of your music? Sonny: Our faith is what drives us to be even crazier. That's what motivates us. When we get on stage, it's so personal that we've been given that opportunity to praise God on stage. Even if the crowds don't get into it, that's 30 minutes on stage between God and us. And it pushes us even more. At the same time, our message isn't about complaining or whining or you do this, you do that. It's about love. It's all about positivity. There is a balance in there, we take what God's done with us and we use that on stage.

The band wanted a long name since so many bands at that time had short names. Wuv's girlfriend-now-wife worked at a bank, and suggested the name. It is a banking term that means when someone passes away, their belongings go to their heir. To the band it means that our sins were paid for on Jesus' death and He gave eternal life as an inheritance.

CH1: Tell us about your beginning in music. When did you start playing? Wuv: Actually, Marcos and I started the band. We played together before P.O.D. -- I met him through a friend in high school. I played drums with all the kids, and my dad played, too. We just got together and started having fun. Sonny -- he's my cousin -- was always coming to shows and hanging out and just doing his thing. Around that time, his mom passed away with cancer. She was 36 years old and he was 18 or 19, and I kind of saw how depressed he was getting so I just said to him, "Hey man, if you want to get your mind off your mom, if you want to come try out and sing in the band, that'd be cool." He was like, "Yeah, maybe I'll try that." And that was 10 years ago. So it's funny. He never tried to be a singer, but through all the years of just plain having fun together, he's developed into who he is today, and I think it's amazing. Just awesome.

Teenmag.com: Tell me, when you started the band, was it just kind of for fun or did you always plan on making music a career? Wuv: We just started out having fun in the garage. Me and Marcos met through a friend in high school. I was in eleventh grade, and he was like in tenth grade. So we just had fun, just playing, and even when my cousin joined the band, it was still the same thing. It was never like, 'Dude we got a shot at this, man. I can tell we got something.' It was never like that. I mean, ever. I still think it's not like that. It just turned into that, over the years. Like I said, everything that happens now is like a bonus.

Wuv: "My dad was one of the biggest drug dealers in south San Diego," Wuv reveals. "He was living on the streets for three years before God actually touched his heart. After that, he would bring me to church and I started to see God change my dad's life. Also, God totally restored my parents' marriage."

Warrior Grrrl : How did you come to know the Lord?
Sonny: Ultimately just when my mother passed away. She was a Christian, and just watching God move through her life. Her being sick, and watching her example of being a Christian through all she was going through. And I was basically faced with the decision, I had to make a choice right there whether I was going to trust in God or not. I chose to trust in God and believe in Him, and it's been almost 7 and a half years later and I've just continued to stand strong.

WG: Before your Mom died, did she know that you had become a Christian?
Sonny: Yeah. What actually opened my eyes was that I remember when she was sick, one time she pulled me aside and she said 'you might be fooling everybody, but you're not fooling me. I want to know one thing, I want to make sure that you're in Heaven with me when I die.' I was like 'mom, don't talk like that.' She said 'no, when I die I want to make sure that you and your sister are going to be in Heaven with me.' I just said 'yeah, cool mom. I know.' I just always remember that, and then she got sick and she had to be in the hospital and she was dying. I remember that she was hanging on for a week and the doctor said that she was going to die any moment. He would say that every day and she just kept hanging on. Finally I realized that she was holding on because she knew that if she was to die that she would never see me again, because I wasn't right with the Lord. So I saw that, and, I recognized that and I went out and just prayed and asked God to come into my life. Then I went back into the hospital and I whispered into her ear 'go and be with Jesus, it's cool now; it's gonna be all right.' It was only moments later that she took her last breath and went to be with the Lord. I knew that God was faithful to her prayers, because I knew that she had been praying for me for a long time, and I knew that God was faithful to the very last moment.

"My mother was a Christian in her later years," he (Sonny) says. "She loved God and trusted in God to her very last dying breath. She would sing worship songs while laying there in her hospital bed, and for me, I had never seen a more beautiful thing. She knew that she was going to die, but she always had a song in her heart, and she thanked God for the moments that she had. At first I thought I was practicing just for her, so that she wouldn't worry about her son. But the more I got into it, I realized that there is a love." Kerrang! Jan 12, 2002

Psalm 68:4 "Sing unto God, sing praises to his name: extol him that rideth upon the heavens by his name JAH, and rejoice before him."

An Interview with Sonny
"Do you drink, smoke, do drugs, or swear, for instance?
No, see that’s what I’m talking about. Those aren’t even issues; you know what I mean? But like I said, what if one day I stubbed my toe and said something and all of a sudden somebody said, "Oh my God! He just said the F-word." But it’s like, "Hey dude, I know the word. I’ve said it before." Definitely it can come out, but that’s something that I choose every day not to talk like that.

Sonny: "I think a lot of times when we do Christian shows. Let’s say a Christian festival, and 99.9 percent that come out are Christian. I think there’s a little bit more intimacy, because we are there for the same reasons, the same purpose and there is that intimacy that breaks down the music. Maybe share a story or say what’s on our heart. But when you’re playing at a club, you got 45 minutes. That’s when we don’t want to come down on people. We don’t want people walking away saying, 'Well, I really like those guys, but they talk too much.' or, 'They try to convert me to their religion.' We know that backfires against us. Our goal is that you walk away not just saying, 'Wow, those guys rock.' We hope those guys walk away saying, 'Dude, those guys are cool. Dude, they really rock the crowd, but those dudes are talking about things positive. Those guys are talking about love and everlasting life. They were talking about God of love.' We want them to walk away thinking for themselves. Not necessarily because they were forced. You know, we gotta be careful. 'Cause I can go out there and say, 'Hey man, God bless you guys,' and all of a sudden I have an angry mob at me because I said that. So I have to watch it. But if it calls for it, I’m definitely not ashamed. I’m not afraid to stop a crowd. And it’s up to you what you take [from it]. But at the same time, when we go on the Primus tour, dude, they’re paying money to see Primus and P.O.D., so I’m not going to rob them of that either. I hope that they do enjoy the show. But I don’t want them walking away saying.. 'Hey, I paid for a show. I didn’t pay for a…speech...'

Interviewer: A lecture?
Sonny: Yeah, exactly. But at the same time it is our heart’s desire that they don’t walk away just thinkin’ 'Wow, those guys rocked.' And toast their beers to us and just say, 'Wow' and go into the pit and knock somebody out. We want them to leave and say, 'Man, those guys are different than all the other bands.' "

Ozzfest from Sonny’s perspective, from the Teen People summer 2002 issue:
"That's all media hype. At Ozzfest there's a line. (Drawn an invisible line on the floor) Here's backstage and here's the crowd. If you stand out there and look up at the stage, you see the demons and gargoyles and all the garbage that they're selling, and you think, 'Ooh, this is some crazy stuff!' But when you're on this side, they're eating gourmet meals five times a day, they've got their personal trainers in the back, their therapists, everybody's lounging. But right here (at the line), that's where they sell it to everybody. It's a joke to me. People who can preach something so negative, so worldly and so lost- and your life's in shambles! How dare you tell these impressionable kids what they should do with their lives? So when kids want to know about my experience, I'm like, 'Hey dude, no one sold anything to me.' I felt something that was real, and 11 years later, no one's proved me wrong. I'm blessed."

A lot of Christian kids have a hard time understanding how we can go out into the world and play our music and get along with all these bands, he (Traa) says. Its because of our love for God, says Wuv. God has been so real in our lives that we are enabled to do that. There is no way any band is going to rub off on P.O.D. more than P.O.D. is going to rub off on another band because, dude, we've already been there. - CCM Jan 01

FamilyChristian.com: How do you respond to people who criticize you for playing with mainstream bands or appearing on MTV?
Wuv: For us, we didn't grow up in the Christian environment or anything like that. A lot of Christian kids who do like P.O.D. did grow up that way and a lot of times they don't understand why we're on the Ozzfest or why we're playing with Korn and why we're on MTV. You know what, we're not trying to play for the Christian. It's been almost 10 years that P.O.D.'s been for the people that don't know God. To get to this point where God puts us in front of millions of people that don't know God, that's a dream come true and it's an act of prayer for P.O.D.

P.O.D. is a band for anyone; they play rock and roll music for all people, not just Christians.

"At first," says Sonny, "we were militant about our faith, really in people's faces. We used to say, 'I don't care if they kick us off the stage, I'm gonna tell them about Jesus!' But what good did that do? They never invited us back to the club. Then God started to tell us, 'You don't have to fight for me. I fight for you. You just go out there and love them. Love them to Me.'" ~ Campus Life Interview

(Sonny) When we first came out, if you had heard some of our old demos, it’s like “Jesus! What’s up!” you know, “Turn or burn!” (in dry lung). You know what I mean? But that’s exactly what we do, and we had a lot of people. And God continued to bring character. God continued to bring wisdom and show us: you know what, you don’t have to fight for me guys. You don’t have to make a Christian stance for me. Because I stand for you guys. I fight for you guys. Go out there and love these people. Every band member, every band you play with; go out there and love them like I would. Every crowd that you play for; go out there and love them like I would. So, I learned - you know what - I gotta do that. I gotta go out there and worship God with the 45 minutes that he has given me, on and off stage. Don’t get up there. Don’t get up in front of MTV and talk the big Christian talk and end up turning away 99% of the people, but you won that 1% of the Christian audience that said “dude, those guys are right on, brother!” - Soulblaze interview

Our faith plays a lot in our personal lives, but we're a rock-and-roll band. This album is about rock and roll, that's it. - Wuv to AP mag, Nov 01

We always say that if people are turned off by our beliefs, then we've got to be that much better," says P.O.D.'s singer Sonny Sandoval. "They're going to come to the realization that, 'dude, I don't care what these guys are saying- this album rocks! this music is dope!' - Revolver Sep/Oct 99

No, not at all...they have just broadened their range of music. P.O.D. can’t be classified under one genre nor do they want to. They have mad flavor and they show it on songs like "Ridiculous" and "Ghetto." But their heavier beats are definitely there...look at "Boom," "Anything Right" and "Without Jah Nothin." Our boys will always be heavy... but they are musicians and can play everything!

April 2001 Hit Parader: "We've always been a band that relied on playing what we felt inside," he said. "We've always admired a band like Bad Brains because you knew they were always ready to try anything if they thought it would work with their music. They were one of the first bands to bust punk, hardcore and reggae, and that was dope. That inspired us a lot. We've tried to take all the music we liked- whether it has a Latin feel, a hip-hop feel or a metal feel- and just do it up the best way we can. On the next album (Satellite) we're just gonna try to push everything along the same way. But we like offering up a few surprises too. If people think they've got P.O.D. totally scoped out, we think they're in for some stuff they don't really expect." -Wuv

A fan of the band who supports their vision and the band in many aspects-

MTV: Let's talk about the Warriors, as your fans are known. Why are they called that?

Sandoval: Because they're loyal. We're thankful for every new fan, but there's a lot of kids [that know us from when] we used to play their back yards. We were playing wherever we could, sleeping on their floors, and they were buying us lunch and dinner. With what we're about and what we stand for ... there are a lot of kids that are proud of us. They were more proud when we got signed than we were. Now, when these kids come out, it's genuine. It's not like, "This is my flavor-of-the-month because they have a hit song." They're coming to our shows to experience what we experience. It's kind of like magic.

Daniels: A lot of them were down with us when the style of music we were doing back in '92 wasn't even cool.

It is called a Triquetra or a Trinity. The interlocking, never-ending circles represent the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

"But the remaining members of P.O.D. insist that Curiel was simply no longer willing to make P.O.D. his first priority. '...Then at the end of January, we find out that one of us has another band, and he wants to pursue THAT first. Then we get the Matrix gig, and he says 'I can't work on that, because I'm mixing my album.' It's like, Dude, just say what you want to say!"
- Sonny to Revolver, August 2003

He's gone off to do his own thing and he's happier doing that, but it's still a mystery to us. We don't know what happened- we took a break and the next thing we know he's ready to leave. We haven't been in contact since and we don't even know what his band's called. We've had some great times and he's been our friend for 13 years. But you know, when your girl splits up with you it takes a while to be able to hang out. - Sonny, Rock Sound #50

"We've always wished the best for Marcos, and for him to do what he loves" says Sonny. "Apparently, he wasn't loving what we were doing, at least in his mind. I know how much passion and love Marcos has for music, so I hope it allows him to live rather than tearing him apart. Do your thing man!" - Revolver, Dec 2003

Jason was guitarist for the heavy metal band Living Sacrifice from 1990 to 1998, starting when he was only 17. The band was based in Jason’s hometown of Little Rock, Arkansas and his brother Chris joined the band on bass circa 1995. He was on the albums “Living Sacrifice”, “Non-existant”, “Inhabit”, and “Reborn.” LS and P.O.D. would play tour dates together in the early and mid 1990s and one time P.O.D.’s bus broke down in Little Rock so they stayed at Jason’s house. All of P.O.D. agreed at that time that if they wanted a fifth member, Jason would be their pick. Jason left L.S. to spend some more time with his family and to run a music school and landscaping business. When P.O.D. needed a new guitarist they all thought of Jason and so they called him. Once Jason talked it over with his family, he agreed and so they “hit the ground running” and recorded the Matrix Revolution lead single “Sleeping Awake” and began to record “Payable On Death.” Although Jason was not in the band at the time, L.S. played with P.O.D. on a few dates of P.O.D.’s 1999 tour “Warriors Come out to Play” and they played several shows on the 2000 tour “Kings of the Game.”

liveDaily: What does Jason Truby bring to P.O.D.?
Sonny Sandoval: I don't think it's ever been this easy. Jason brings an excitement into the game for us. Especially after the success of the last record, and touring, the industry, it's nice to have a newbie. Somebody that's brand new and has a whole new fresh perspective. And he just has a hunger to play, to be creative and make music with a band. We've been friends with Jason for a long time, and I'm grateful that I've gotten to re-touch bases with him.

How did he come into the band?
He was in a band called Living Sacrifice. We always admired those guys, and went out on tour with them, local clubs in their part of town in the Midwest. We always said, we struggled together, slept on floors together, packed the vans and motel rooms together--we starved together. We always thought he was an incredible player, and respected him as a man. We're just grateful that he was in a position to help us out.

"I want my french fries! Give me my french fries! I want my french fries! Give me my french fries! I want my french fries! french fries! french fries! Give me my french fries! french fries!

Don't forget my ketchup! Oh where's my ketchup? I want my french fries! where's my ketchup? french fries! Ketchup! French fries! Give me my ketchup! French fries!"

Warrior Grrrl: Can you explain to us some of the symbolism on the cd cover?
Sonny: You have to look into it. It's artwork, it's actually an oil painting, so it just looks like it's a computer graphic, but it's actually an oil painting. In the original you see the colors that he uses, and the way that he uses things. He actually had a lot more, and he's a surreal artist, he always focus's around surreal characters. You have to see the rest of his art, he always makes weird and crazy objects for you to like, look into. In simplest terms, he's in his room. This is a guy who's a Christian, holding up the I love you symbol; he's got the heart of Christ; he's got the Spirit of God dropping in the Mind of God inside his head. If you look on this wallpaper back here it's Trinity's all linked together. If you look on this side, it's real cold, real gray, this side represents the world. You've got this guy representing the world with the noose around his neck, and he's offering to be like the world, he's got the suit saying "come on, be like us." He's already got the dog trained (in the suit) to be like the world. You've got the angel cutting off the noose around his neck. You've got this angel back here ripping off the wallpaper, that represents the world, and once he's ripping down the world underneath it you have the Trinity's again. You have these two guys (underneath) laughing at him and mocking him for being a Christian. You have this right here (the city underneath) just representing the world and even world religions that say "yeah, we're about Christ, we're about God," but yet have absolutely nothing to do with what God's all about. There's this guy in here, looking through just checking out his life and seeing what he's doing; watching him, all the time. Then somebody told me that the monkey represented this guy chaining up this monkey in his back, trying to keep those struggles and the things that he deals with locked up so that they can't get him. There was a lot more stuff that the guy had into it, but we had to make it all fit on the cd.

WG: What about the monkeys in the guys head? (the one in the suit)
Sonny: That's probably another way that this guy represented the world, and being a part of the world. But like I said, he just paints the coolest things that make you think.

Shoutweb: And the cover art?
Sonny: It’s an oil painting. We gave him all of our ideas and he put it all together. It’s a man that’s trying to separate himself from the world. He’s got the heart of God and a dove that is the spirit of God. He’s in a room like his bedroom. You have to see the real painting. They're darker colors are real gray and the really cold. You have the stone on the walls.

Shoutweb: Did he create this just for you guys?
Sonny: Yeah, we gave him the ideas and this is what he came up with.

Shoutweb: Where is the original painting?
Sonny: He has it. He actually painted the faces inside too and we have those. This guy (pointing to the center figure) represents the world so he’s got the noose around his neck and he’s got the suit saying, "Come on, be like us." He’s already got the dog trained on the little cart. You have the angel cutting away at the rope. Back on the wallpaper, if you look, its all the trinity symbols combined that looks like green wallpaper. When he’s ripping down the wallpaper of the world underneath you have the nature that God has given you.

Shoutweb: Are these opening supposed to represent heaven?
Sonny: People have different interpretations. These people are pointing and mocking him. People have said, "What’s with the wood separated from the body. This looks like Eastern philosophy." We talked to the artist about being rooted and grounded in the word of God so that’s what he came up with. Then the cross is supposed to symbolize the fact that just because it looks like religion it is still of the world. You have a guy looking in either waiting for him to make a mistake or just kind of seeing what’s going on. The monkey could represent God locking up that monkey that gets on your back.

It is Psalm 150 from the Bible read in Hebrew by Ran Yaniv. In Hebrew, the words are:
Haleluyah. Hal'lu el b'kodsho, Hal'luhu birkia uzo Hal'luhu bigvurotav, Hal'luhu k'rov gud'lo Hal'luhu b'teika shofar, Hal'luhu b'nevel v'chinor. Hal'luhu b'tof umachol. Hal'luhu b'minim v'ugav Hal'luhu b'tziltzelei shama, Hal'luhu b'tziltzelei tru'ah Kol han'shama t'halel yah. Haleluyah

"Love is very very very very very very beautiful
Love can be very very very very painful
Love is beautiful, Love is kind
Love is patient, Love is blind
It's beautiful, yes, I love you, you love me?
Maybe you don't know what love means,
I love, It's beautiful, Love is patient, Love is kind
Yes, Love is kind, Love is blind,
Guitars of Love, This is the Guitars of Love,
These are the Guitars of Love, Guitars of Love."

A "satellite" is someone that has passed on (such as Sonny's mom) and is watching over us, or it can also be used to mean God.

They are talking to their critics who tear them down a lot. Some people say they're not Christian enough, some people doubt their beliefs, some people mock them for their beliefs. The song is a message to them.

Shoutweb: For the "Youth of the Nation" tour you are flying the band Blindside over from Sweden to open for you. Christian, their lead singer, is on track 10 called "Anything Right". Who is that directed song towards? Traa: That song is directed towards everybody. It wasn't just P.O.D. There are people who want us to be a part of their group and want us to say "hey, we're with them."

Shoutweb: You mean like, "You're in our posse?" Traa: Right. And I guess that song is really a common emotion that we feel because you can't please everyone. Sometimes you feel that you just can't do anything right. It's just something that we wanted to talk about.

Around 85 percent of Christian bookstores across the country have refused to carry the band's latest record, Payable on Death, because of its artwork, which depicts a naked woman with butterfly wings, her arms crossed over her breasts and a banner with the word "Sanctus" (a Latin word for the sung part of the preface in Mass) across her nether region.

The bookstores' main complaint is that you can see the woman's pubic bone, a spokesperson for the band said, but they're also unhappy that the artwork uses a sacred word in a sexual manner. "This is sad, not because P.O.D. need to be carried in those stores, but because for thousands of years the church led the world in great art and music," the band said in a statement on its Web site.

HM: CJ asks if you can give any insight into the meaning of your new self titled album’s cover art work and the individual logos on it?
Sonny: The painting represents life and so we asked him to replicate that and he added his own style. It’s still pretty mellow, the cover. Then you’ll see the inside stuff, it’s more gothic and real darker. You’ll see like a heart with roots coming out of it. He’s real cool, his work is real cool and we asked him to do that for us.

Interviewer: How did the band decide what image to use for the cover of their album?
Daniel Martin Diaz: Sonny had this image of a winged figure that his mother owned and it had a lot of meaning to him because it reminded him of his mother. So he sent it to me to check it out and I came up with the drawing based on that image. What’s interesting about the butterfly is throughout history it’s had quite a few meanings. It’s represented the Resurrection, and it’s also represents the rebirth so it’s kind of cool that they went with the butterfly; it just has a bunch of meanings and I really like the idea of it meaning a rebirth.

The guys wanted something beautiful for the cover so I used my wife, Paula, as a model.
- from the Daniel Martin Diaz featurette on the album DVD features

Mythology often portrays the human soul as a butterfly fluttering and shimmering in the sunlight. Everywhere this fluttering seems to equate with fire and the inspiration of the divine spirit that energizes life, with the breath of life. The caterpillar's emergence from an imprisoning form is most often associated with the theme of rebirth and resurrection. In spiritual terms this is the release of the soul from the limits of the material world. The transformation of these delicate creatures hints at a process of life moving to infinite life.

The first single ‘Will You’ obviously works on two levels. There is uncertainty about a relationship and uncertainty about a career as well, isn’t there?

Sonny: It definitely has that twist on it, but I guess anything in life is always a question of, you know: “Will it exist tomorrow, will it be around, will it be the way I want it to be, or will it be the way I hope it is tomorrow?”, you know. I think initially when it first started it was always, you know, I guess it did start off as a kind of a love type of song, you know, we’ve never really done that kind of vibe, you know, relationship-wise, and I think it’s just an observation of some of my surroundings and, you know, life is tough as it is, and definitely if you find that one that you love, make it work. I think you need that person in your life, you know, no matter what you go through, no matter the hard times. You gotta make it work. ~Sonny PayableonDeath.de - "Generic Radio Interview"

In the spirit of new beginnings, Sandoval wanted to cover new ground with the album's first single, "Will You.” Instead of singing about spiritual strength and perseverance, Sandoval decided to try to pen a traditional love song.

"We always said we wanted to do something like that, but it just kinda turned darker than your average 'I love you' type of song," he said. "It's about sticking with the one you love and putting up with that person and being there through thick and thin." ~Sonny (MTV.com - "P.O.D. Go Back to Their Roots, Insist They're Not Preachers")

Regarding the distinct message of “Will You,” Wuv remarks, “We never really did a love song before. It’s directed more towards being on the other end, asking for forgiveness. It touches on the tragic part of a relationship, but it’s something we all go through.” ~Wuv -Mean Street Magazine - "P.O.D."

Like their music, the video for P.O.D.'s "Will You" is filled with illustrations of discord and frustration. The message in each is to persevere in the face of adversity and — not surprisingly — do unto others as you would have them do unto you. One scene involves a maverick punk-rock chick being ostracized by a popular girl. Later, a guy aggressively attempts to coerce the preppy girl into being intimate with him, after which the punk girl is there to lend comfort. Other stories include an interracial couple who get harassed at a party but turn the other cheek, and a youth who must support his abusive alcoholic mother. www.mtv.com/news/articles/1479614/10072003/pod.jhtml

The guy in the video is going about his normal routine of skateboarding, surfing, and seeing his girlfriend. After surviving a car crash, he realizes how precious life is and how he shouldn't be taking it for granted.

"What turned them on to us was a lot of our biblical concepts and themes, and this movie has a lot of biblical themes, and so they wanted to keep that vibe," Sandoval said. "I kind of got the concept from Daniel interpreting King Nebuchadnezzar's dreams in the Old Testament and ... then all of a sudden I go back and watch 'The Matrix' again and that's what Laurence Fishburne tells Keanu Reeves, that the Matrix is a computer-generated dream world. So I was like, 'I'm onto something.' "

The Wachowski brothers, who created "The Matrix" and its sequels, had ideas for a video, but scrapped them when director Marc Webb submitted his treatment, which creatively portrays P.O.D. in parallel universes.

"'The Matrix' has a lot of references to other classical literature, so one of the things I kind of picked up on was this life through the looking glass thing, this 'Alice in Wonderland' thing," Webb explained. "I kind of like the idea of doing something that happens on the other side of the glass. So we decided to do a concept with two identical performances on either sides of a mirror."

Webb even configured the cameras so the two shots look like reflections of each other. In one the band is playing right-handed, in the other, left-handed.

"One setup is like the Nebuchadnezzar, which is the ship from 'The Matrix' in the real world, and the other side is this kind of 'The Matrix' reality, which is a little bit more stylized," Webb said. "Everybody's wearing black and is cool. They move a little bit faster and look a little bit glossier and do some crazy, crazy stuff. We're doing some stunts with the guitar player smashing his guitar against the bass player and Sonny does some stuff with blocks."

Webb's original treatment required the band members to shave their heads, but that concept was quickly vetoed.

In "Set Your Eyes to Zion", it is Sonny explaining what Jah means to someone. It got left on the recording, and the band decided it sounded cool, so they left it there

In "Hollywood"- "So you wanna be a superstar? Down here in Hollywood, everybody is a superstar, down here in Hollywood"

In "Bullet the Blue Sky", Sonny is saying something like "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever would believe in Him would not perish, but have eternal life. Everlasting life in the name of Jesus Christ just believe", pretty much John 3:16.

Thanks to Matthew: There is backmasking on Alive (the bridge before "now that i know you...."), It's very subtle but I definitely made out "And now that I know you"...so it's probably just the rest of those lines. It kind sounds like wind blowing when you listen to it.

In the opening of Coming Back- "Tell em' Brotha" and in Three in the Power of One's opening: It was given (or "My task was given")/I have the Spirit /I have the Spirit /I have the Spirit /I have the Spirit"