P.O.D. - After Fundamentals...

by Val Sutton

I could barely hear the zzzip of the zipper or the loud snoring of my sister, Caroline, as I closed the doorway of my tent. Flashlight in hand, I squinted at my now-shabby copy of the Cornerstone '98 program to see what extremely loud band was still being accompanied by screaming fans in the "Encore" tent 75 feet from my pillow at 2:30 in the morning.

It was Payable on Death -- more commonly known as P.O.D.

"Great," I thought as I crawled into my sleeping bag. "Now I'll never get to sleep." Suddenly, I sat up, stunned at what I was hearing. P.O.D. was leading their tired and dirty fans in worship. The softness of the music, combined with the Spirit emanating from the sweet-smelling worship of thousands of sweaty, punk teenagers, left me in tears.

"We like to do a worship time," says P.O.D. bassist Traa Daniels. "From the very beginning, that's what P.O.D. has always been about: encouraging the body. We just kind of let it all hang out and flow with it."

That smooth flow of praise streaming out of that Cornerstone tent let me sleep that night in peace, but left me with an unanswerable question that disturbed me the rest of the week: why had I skipped that P.O.D. show anyway?

P.O.D.'s fans are passionate fans, and are quick to point out the error of my ways. Katie, a fan hailing from Bloomingdale, IL, still raves about the band's set on their popular spring tour with Blindside and Project 86, calling their live show "exhilarating." Denise, from Schaumburg, Illinois, who was at the same show, adds, "They were crazy, like candy to the senses! It was amazing. They were just moving all around, so loud and so good. All this action is better than a video game!"

"So loud and so good" about sums it up -- and Denise is not the only person who is noticing. Thanks to the diverse musical influences represented by Traa and his bandmates -- vocalist Sonny Sandoval, guitarist Marcos Curiel and drummer Noah "Wuv" Bernardo, Jr. -- P.O.D.'s hard rapcore style mixes equal portions of Latin, R & B, and reggae with the style of hard rock made popular by bands like Korn and Rage Against the Machine. The impact of artists like Bob Marley, Santana, and numerous hip-hop acts are tangible in P.O.D.'s music.

This distinctive chili bowl of sounds caught the ears of mainstream label gurus at Atlantic Records. After signing a lucrative long-term agreement with Atlantic, the San Diego foursome quickly became another of the many Christian bands being promoted outside of the Christian music circle.

To Christian hard music fans, though, P.O.D. isn't a new name. Since 1992, the band has taken their street-shaped hard image -- complete with tattoos, piercings, dreadlocks, and baggy clothes -- and put their message of hope into equally hard music. Their groundbreaking full-length albums Snuff the Punk and Brown, released on Rugged Records, as well as a popular live album recorded at Seattle TomFest '97, established P.O.D. as some of the hardest rocking Jesus-lovers in the business. Anxious to please fans who were starving for new material, Atlantic Records and P.O.D. released The Warriors EP through Tooth and Nail Records this past spring.

"We wanted to do that for the fans," Traa explains. "We wanted to put something out since we hadn't put anything out for like a year and a half."

The Warrior EP's collection of 7 samples, cuts, and previews may have begun to satisfy the appetite of starving P.O.D. fans and was praised by critics, but it merely gave fans a taste of what the full-length buffet was to offer.

The Fundamental Elements of Southtown, P.O.D's first full-length album on their new mainstream label, might just as well be called "The Fundamental Elements of P.O.D." Not only is it their hardest, fastest, and loudest album to date, Traa says, "It's everything that we are."

Their first full-length album of new material in three years, Southtown delivers everything P.O.D. fans have come to expect in their music -- harsh, intense rapcore with an almost multicultural R&B, reggae, and Latin feel -- with greater attention paid to each member's individual influences.

"Musically, we have taken every element of every style of music we're into, and put it into one album," says Traa. "For example, as a bass player, I put the type of bass in it that I took from my background. Maybe it's not from metal, then, but it still ended up being the hard album it is."

At the helm of this delicate-yet-raw musical merger was big-time secular producer Howard Benson. Benson, who has worked with hard and modern acts like Sepultura, Motorhead, Less Than Jake and Zebrahead, helped insure that Southtown would also be the most smoothly-produced album P.O.D. has ever released -- without being slick in any way.

"He's a very good producer," Traa says of Benson. "He took pretty much what POD already had and he put a polish on it, even when the music was already set and everything."

The band also enlisted the help of mixer Chris Lord-Alge, who is known for his work with the likes of Green Day, Savage Garden and Fastball. They were also fortunate to have the engineering prowess of Bobby "the Bass" Brooks, who has worked with Rick James, Tina Turner and Stevie Wonder. The result of three months of practicing and recording in early 1999, The Fundamental Elements of Southtown is the quintessential combination of these technical experts and P.O.D.'s own passion and ingenuity.

It is the direction and force of that passion that gives P.O.D. their momentum, however. It is the rare listener who is unable to pinpoint the band's love-filled message of hope in Christ, and not much has changed in that regard on Southtown. In fact, the extended recording time allowed P.O.D. more time to pray over the lyrics and spiritual focus of each song. Traa says, "I think that on this album, because of the time that we had, we were able to really take our time and let the Holy Spirit work through the songs. We were able to just sit down and let God do whatever He was going to do."

This type of prayerful and intense dedication to Christ informs and infiltrates the lyrics on Southtown, which, except for their gripping cover of U2's "Bullet the Blue Sky," were penned by vocalist Sonny Sandoval. Traa says, "Sonny writes and the Holy Spirit just really overtakes his mind, and the stuff he comes up with just blows my mind every time."

The first song on Southtown, the super-catchy "Hollywood," seems bound to be as popular as Furbies and jelly shoes. Not only is it an excellent crowd song, it demonstrates just how relevant P.O.D. intends their music and lyrics to be.

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