P.O.D. 'Testify' album

With their fourth Atlantic Records release, San Diego multi-platinum hard rockers P.O.D. are ready to Testify. Testify to the power of rock; to the sway of perseverance and sweat; to the valor of hard work; to the might of unity; and to the importance of remaining true to your convictions. "To us, that word speaks for itself. It's powerful," P.O.D. front man Sonny Sandoval says of the one-word album title. "In our 13 years together that's what we've been doing. We've been testifying to the things that we believe in and that we've come to know."

Since forming in San Diego in 1992, P.O.D. has never stopped testifying to the values that are at the core of the group. Indeed, Testify is a word that has become synonymous with P.O.D. during the band's 14-year odyssey from a local band to "overnight" multi-platinum rock stars whose superb 2001 release, Satellite, went triple-platinum, spawned such hit singles as "Alive," "Youth Of A Nation," and "Boom," and propelled the foursome to the elite of a new wave of hard rock acts.

And even after undergoing a tumultuous line-up change in 2003 when original guitarist Marcos departed and was replaced by Jason Truby just weeks before the quartet was to begin work on the album that would eventually become Payable On Death (which went on to sell a million copies worldwide) P.O.D. remains, at its core, the same group that built a sizable following on its own touring around the country for years.

"Six years into the mainstream and six years of seeing a whole other side of music the things that we believe in haven't changed," Sandoval, deliberately choosing his words and delivering each one with conviction, says. "If anything, the struggles or the things that we've experienced and gone through the past years have reinforced what we've believed all along. What we've been saying from the beginning and the faith that we have stands on our own, with or without music. On this record we never let go of that because that is the cornerstone of who we are as people. You realize it just comes down to that love we had in our heart to make music."

Yes, P.O.D. have rediscovered their love for making music, for, in Sandoval's words, "for putting little smiles on people's faces." Part of that rejuvenation comes from taking a much needed break. Sandoval and drummer Wuv took their extended families to Italy, bassist Traa got married, and guitarist Jason Truby spent time at home in Arkansas, the quartet is feeling more amped than that Energizer bunny. "We're definitely ready to go out and do it," Sandoval says. "I just want to get on the road, for people to hear it and I want to go rock out."

"It's been so long since we played; the longest we've ever done it. But for us, because we've always been busy and we've always been doing it, I think it's essential that we took this time to recharge the batteries to be excited about the record, be excited about going on tour," Wuv adds.

This time around, the band is taking out some of their strongest songs to date, thanks in part to the presence of uber-producer Glen Ballard (Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill, Aerosmith), who is also a factor in the band's enthusiasm. "I told him, 'You inspired me to keep making me music,'" Sandoval says of Ballard.

That excitement runs through Testify, which kicks off with the reggae meets rock "Roots In Stereo," featuring Hasidic rapper Matis Yahu, who also appears on "Strength Of My Life."

"'Roots In Stereo' is just one of those songs that we always kind of have on a record. That one and 'Lights Out'; where you're from, who you are, what you're about," says Sandoval.

Longtime followers of P.O.D. will find many elements in these songs they're familiar with, from the "Boom"-esque refrain of the ferocious "Lights Out" and "Say Hello" to the ultimately uplifting message of the poignant "Goodbye For Now," a song, like "Let You Down," inspired by teen suicides. "That song really sparked from in the time we were writing the record there were two suicides that happened. These were people that came from Christian households and apparently everyone thinks Christians have it all together, or they should, and there are a lot of kids that are desperate," Sandoval explains. "But 'Goodbye For Now' is talking about this wind of change and sometimes how do you know which way the wind blows. You don't, but you know something's there and it's kind of like the faith that we have too."

Musically though, the quartet, who admittedly have found more of their footing with Truby, who was, in the words of Sandoval, "thrown into a trial by fire" when he joined the band in early 2003, stretches out on Testify. "On The Grind" started as an interlude, before morphing into an intense rap-heavy treaty bolstered by the presence of the Boo-Yah Tribe, while the lead single, "This Time," co-written by the band and Ballard, is an infectious straight-ahead radio winner.

P.O.D. took a circuitous route to bringing Testify to life, starting in Palm Springs, where they spent two and a half months, as an opportunity to bond with Truby, then moving to Sausalito with producer Greg Fiddleman to lay down the drum tracks, before returning to San Diego, then ultimately to L.A.'s San Fernando Valley to work with Ballard.

It might have been a long haul to get to Ballard, but Sandoval says it was worth following the yellow brick road. "Glenn is as cool as they come. It was magic while we were there," Sandoval says, adding about the recording process "He pretty much took the best of our demo stuff and the best of what we did with Greg and put 'em together.

There were some guitar and vocal stuff he liked better in the demos, so with Protools, by the time you throw it up on the computer and put it all together...And at the end of the day he took a lot of the stuff we had done and put his magical sprinkles on top, whether it was just sounds, whether it was cool little things."

More than the technical side though, Sandoval says it was the experience of hanging with Ballard that the band will remember. "We bonded with Glenn; we ate as a team and we really broke bread with him and his crew. And the first thing we noticed when we left that initial meeting with him was, 'That dude was cool.'"

P.O.D. have fought a long road to get to this point, and that's one thing they want people to remember when they listen to Testify. "We've been in this game for a long time. We're not newcomers. We've done it and we've been there. We're not just an overnight band. We have that credibility behind us," Sandoval says. "And what we've learned in our experiences in music and just our own walks of life we do want to put that in our music and pass that down to people who are listening." Though he doesn't say it, it's understood. P.O.D. want people to hear them Testify.

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