{"id":538,"date":"2011-09-14T08:00:48","date_gmt":"2011-09-14T12:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/wholenotes\/?p=538"},"modified":"2011-09-10T19:28:33","modified_gmt":"2011-09-10T23:28:33","slug":"a-conversation-with-p-o-d-front-man-sonny-sandoval-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/2011\/09\/a-conversation-with-p-o-d-front-man-sonny-sandoval-part-1.html","title":{"rendered":"A conversation with P.O.D. front man Sonny Sandoval (Part 1)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Click “Like” to share this with your friends!<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to fathom that P.O.D., has been at it for nearly 20 years. My first experience with the band was hearing its raw, independent hardcore album Snuff The Punk<\/em> back in 1994. P.O.D., was different, however, than most bands from its genre. Front man Sonny Sandoval mostly spewed rap-styled vocals on top of a relentless cocktail of crunchy guitar riffs, funk-infused bass lines and riveting drum tracks.<\/p>\n

Just five years later, the hard-working band turned in its beat up van for a tour bus thanks to a record deal with Atlantic. Somehow, this enthusiastic group of tattooed Christian warriors had pushed its way into a general market and became unlikely peers with genre mates such as Rage Against the Machine and Limp Bizkit.<\/p>\n

The massive breakthrough, however, didn\u2019t take place until 2001 with the release of the triple platinum album Satellite<\/em> and smash hits like \u201cYouth of a Nation\u201d and \u201cBoom.\u201d It just so happened that the release date was overshadowed by the tragic events of 9\/11. Still, the lasting impact on P.O.D., on popular culture would not be denied and in fact the song \u201cAlive\u201d served as a hope-affirming anthem for an entire generation.<\/p>\n

In part one of this two-part Whole Notes interview, Sandoval talks about the impact 9\/11 had on P.O.D., the value the band places on relationships, and how he overcame his personal crisis of faith:<\/p>\n

Chad Bonham: What do you remember about the range of emotions you experienced on September 11, 2001, the day P.O.D., was set to release its breakthrough album Satellite<\/em>?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Sonny Sandoval: At that point, we had worked so hard and we were excited about the record. We did a Midnight signing in our hometown of San Diego. We were going to play a big show up in L.A., that day. So we had all these plans but I woke up that morning to a phone call from my mother-in-law (saying), \u201cTurn on the TV.\u201d I turned it on and at that point, nothing else mattered. That\u2019s just how it went down. It wasn\u2019t about music. We couldn\u2019t care less about P.O.D. It was about what was happening to our world. We kind of kept that same mentality going through it. I just wanted to be home with my family. I wanted to get on my hands and knees and make sure I was right with God. \u201cWhat\u2019s going on Lord?\u201d It wasn\u2019t until we got asked to comment\u2014because people were listening to our record and the song \u201cAlive\u201d was out and it was one of those few songs that\u2014before 9\/11\u2014was positive. It was uplifting. It offered hope. At the time, all of the sudden people didn\u2019t care about the sex, drugs and rock and roll industry or Hollywood. Everybody was looking to the meaning of life and searching for God in those desperate times. We just happened to be one of those bands that had a voice. If anything, I was just encouraged by the fact that we\u2019ve always been that way. We didn\u2019t need a sad event like that to bring us together to think about peace and hope. A lot of bands kind of jumped on that bandwagon and the Slipknots of the world weren\u2019t selling records because the music was negative. We were just honored to have a voice at that time.<\/p>\n

Bonham: The last time I talked to you (back in 2003), (guitarist) Marcos (Curiel) wasn\u2019t in the band and there was a frayed relationship between him and the band. Now that he\u2019s back and things are good again, how much fun has it been on this latest summer tour to be together as a family?<\/p>\n

Sandoval: It\u2019s awesome man. He\u2019s been back in the band for a while now but after we released that last record, we experienced the downside of the industry and we just wanted to take some time off. We were on almost a three-year hiatus. For me, it was just going home and spending time with my family and seeing what direction God was pointing me in for my own life. This tour has been the first time for us to be back on a bus again. It\u2019s like old times. We\u2019re laughing all the time and just goofing around. Those are the parts that I\u2019m thankful for. That\u2019s what relationships are all about. We\u2019re all different guys and we have different mood swings, but there\u2019s just something about all of us when we\u2019re together. We\u2019ve always had that. Despite our differences, when we get together, we just laugh and we love each other. It\u2019s a real relationship.<\/p>\n

Bonham: I spoke to Anthony Armstrong (of Red) recently and he talked about how impressed he was with the way you guys are real with everyone you\u2019re around whether they\u2019re believers or not. How important is it for you guys to be real with those who don\u2019t necessarily believe the same way you do?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
P.O.D. (left to right: Traa Daniels, Sonny Sandoval, Marcos Curiel, Wuvv Bernardo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sandoval: For sure man. I just think that\u2019s living. If anything, that\u2019s all we\u2019ve known how to do. Once you start crossing all those religious boundaries and lines and feeling like all the sudden your faith is this religion and it becomes a burden on your life, you feel like you\u2019re under a microscope and you can\u2019t move and you can\u2019t breathe. I went through those times in my life where I started to get bitter and angry and you\u2019re like, \u201cWhy am I even a Christian? I don\u2019t like any of these people that call themselves Christians.\u201d That\u2019s when I had to go spend time with God and He had to remind me I\u2019m walking with Him and not these people. We\u2019re dealing with all of these dos and don\u2019ts and we\u2019re on the road with Red and we\u2019re hanging out with those guys and they\u2019re going through the same stuff. We\u2019re encouraging one another, \u201cHey man, stick with Jesus no matter what you\u2019re going through.\u201d At the same time, we\u2019re walking around with real guys and bands with real life situations and they\u2019re hurting and they just need friends. They need people to love on \u2018em. You know what I mean? But sometimes we\u2019re in that religious bubble and we don\u2019t know how to act. So we just come out here we hang with these guys and we love \u2018em. I\u2019m always open. I\u2019m always just waiting to see if there\u2019s someone I can talk to. I make sure I\u2019m smiling with these guys. I\u2019m high fiving them. We\u2019ve got love. It\u2019s not a religious thing. They\u2019re thinking, \u201cThese guys love me. They aren\u2019t like what I thought Christians were at all. They\u2019re pretty cool!\u201d That\u2019s the awesome part.<\/p>\n

Check out part two of this interview with Sandoval by clicking HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Keep up with the latest P.O.D., news and download a free copy of the new single \u201cOn Fire\u201d by visiting the band\u2019s official website HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Click “Like” to share this with your friends! It\u2019s hard to fathom that P.O.D., has been at it for nearly 20 years. My first experience with the band was hearing its raw, independent hardcore album Snuff The Punk back in 1994. P.O.D., was different, however, than most bands from its genre. Front man Sonny Sandoval…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":418,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,70,120],"tags":[380,401,399,400,101,398,56,335,351],"class_list":["post-538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christian-music","category-music-feature","category-qa","tag-380","tag-anthony-armstrong","tag-limp-bizkit","tag-marcos-curiel","tag-p-o-d","tag-rage-against-the-machine","tag-red","tag-slipknot","tag-sonny-sandoval"],"yoast_head":"\nA conversation with P.O.D. front man Sonny Sandoval (Part 1) - Whole Notes<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/2011\/09\/a-conversation-with-p-o-d-front-man-sonny-sandoval-part-1.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A conversation with P.O.D. front man Sonny Sandoval (Part 1) - Whole Notes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Click “Like” to share this with your friends! It\u2019s hard to fathom that P.O.D., has been at it for nearly 20 years. My first experience with the band was hearing its raw, independent hardcore album Snuff The Punk back in 1994. P.O.D., was different, however, than most bands from its genre. Front man Sonny Sandoval…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/2011\/09\/a-conversation-with-p-o-d-front-man-sonny-sandoval-part-1.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Whole Notes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-09-14T12:00:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-09-10T23:28:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/wholenotes\/files\/2011\/09\/SatelliteCD1.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Chad Bonham\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A conversation with P.O.D. front man Sonny Sandoval (Part 1) - Whole Notes","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/2011\/09\/a-conversation-with-p-o-d-front-man-sonny-sandoval-part-1.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A conversation with P.O.D. front man Sonny Sandoval (Part 1) - Whole Notes","og_description":"Click “Like” to share this with your friends! It\u2019s hard to fathom that P.O.D., has been at it for nearly 20 years. My first experience with the band was hearing its raw, independent hardcore album Snuff The Punk back in 1994. P.O.D., was different, however, than most bands from its genre. Front man Sonny Sandoval…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/2011\/09\/a-conversation-with-p-o-d-front-man-sonny-sandoval-part-1.html","og_site_name":"Whole Notes","article_published_time":"2011-09-14T12:00:48+00:00","article_modified_time":"2011-09-10T23:28:33+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/wholenotes\/files\/2011\/09\/SatelliteCD1.jpg"}],"author":"Chad Bonham","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/2011\/09\/a-conversation-with-p-o-d-front-man-sonny-sandoval-part-1.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/2011\/09\/a-conversation-with-p-o-d-front-man-sonny-sandoval-part-1.html","name":"A conversation with P.O.D. front man Sonny Sandoval (Part 1) - Whole Notes","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/2011\/09\/a-conversation-with-p-o-d-front-man-sonny-sandoval-part-1.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/2011\/09\/a-conversation-with-p-o-d-front-man-sonny-sandoval-part-1.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/wholenotes\/files\/2011\/09\/SatelliteCD1.jpg","datePublished":"2011-09-14T12:00:48+00:00","dateModified":"2011-09-10T23:28:33+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/#\/schema\/person\/95c3e9443bb9bfa81645d8daef1193c1"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/2011\/09\/a-conversation-with-p-o-d-front-man-sonny-sandoval-part-1.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/2011\/09\/a-conversation-with-p-o-d-front-man-sonny-sandoval-part-1.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/2011\/09\/a-conversation-with-p-o-d-front-man-sonny-sandoval-part-1.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/wholenotes\/files\/2011\/09\/SatelliteCD1.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/wholenotes\/files\/2011\/09\/SatelliteCD1.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/2011\/09\/a-conversation-with-p-o-d-front-man-sonny-sandoval-part-1.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A conversation with P.O.D. front man Sonny Sandoval (Part 1)"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/","name":"Whole Notes","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/#\/schema\/person\/95c3e9443bb9bfa81645d8daef1193c1","name":"Chad Bonham","description":"Chad has been working in mass media for over 20 years. Chad\u2019s professional journey began at the University of Tulsa where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (1993) while working extensively in athletic media relations and serving as a sports editor for The Collegian. Since then, he has written extensively for such publications as Relevant, CCM, Christian Retailing, New Man, Charisma, Today\u2019s Christian, Ministries Today, Breakaway, Brio, Sports Spectrum, Christian Single, Faith & Friends, Sharing the Victory and Gospel Today. He has authored, co-authored or ghost written and edited 13 books including Life in the Fairway (New Leaf Press), Glory of the Games (Cross Training), Wrestling with God (River Oak), Spiritual Journeys (Relevant) and the four-part Fellowship of Christian Athletes Core Value Series; Excellence, Teamwork, Serving and Integrity (Regal Books). Chad is currently working on five new books including Sooner Legacy, Husker Legacy and Lessons From Sooner Football (Cross Training) as well as The Faith of Stock Car Racing (Judson Press). When he's not writing, Chad lends his efforts to various independent television and film projects. He was the coordinating producer for Choosing Life (2010) and Life Happens (2011). Chad is currently serving as producer on a forthcoming documentary about Super Bowl champion Brian Kinchen. Chad and his wife Amy live in Broken Arrow, Okla., with sons Lance (September 2003), Cole (February 2008) and Quinn (February 2011).","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/author\/cbonham"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/418"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=538"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":554,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538\/revisions\/554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}