P.O.D.
Traa Daniels, Wuv Bernardo, Marcos Curiel, Sonny Sandoval
Background information
Origin	Southtown, San Diego, California, United States
Genres	Alternative metal,[1] nu metal,[1][2] rap metal,[3] Christian metal, reggae[3]
Years active	1992–present
Labels	Rescue, Atlantic, Columbia/INO, Razor & Tie, Tooth & Nail
Associated acts	The Accident Experiment, Living Sacrifice, StillWell, Daylight Division, Southtown Generals
Website	www.payableondeath.com
Members
Sonny Sandoval Wuv Bernardo Traa Daniels Marcos Curiel
Past members
Jason Truby Gabe Portillo

Payable on Death (stylized as P.O.D.)^[4] is an American Christian metal^[5][6] band formed in 1992. The band's line-up consists of vocalist Sonny Sandoval, drummer Wuv Bernardo, guitarist Marcos Curiel, and bassist Traa Daniels. ^[4][7][8]

They have released seven studio albums and have sold over 10 million records worldwide. Over the course of their career, the band have also received three Grammy Award nominations, contributed to numerous motion picture soundtracks and toured internationally. With their third studio album, The Fundamental Elements of Southtown, they achieved their initial mainstream success; the album was certified Platinum by the RIAA in 2000.^[8][9] Their following studio album, Satellite, continued the band's success with the singles, "Alive" and "Youth of the Nation", pushing it to go triple platinum.^[9][10]

History[link]

Early years (1991–1993)[link]

In 1991, friends Marcos Curiel and Wuv Bernardo engaged in jam sessions, with Marcos covering guitar and Wuv playing the drums with no vocalist.^[11] Calling themselves Eschatos, they started playing at keg parties doing Metallica and Slayer cover songs.

After his mother's fatal illness, Sonny Sandoval converted to Christianity and was asked by his cousin, Wuv Bernardo, to join the band as a way to keep his mind straight as mentioned on their DVD, Still Payin' Dues. They got a bass player, Gabe Portillo, and eventually changed their name to P.O.D.

Debut releases (1994–1998)[link]

After recording a demo tape, Traa Daniels joined the band in 1994 when they needed a bassist for some shows to replace Gabe. P.O.D. signed with Rescue Records, a label created by Wuv's father, Noah Bernardo Sr., who was also the band's first manager.^[12] Between 1994 and 1997, they released three albums under the label, Snuff the Punk, Brown and Payable on Death Live.^[8] Longtime manager Tim Cook was first introduced to the band when he booked them to play his club The Where-House in Bartlesville, Oklahoma following strong local word of mouth support.^[12] He later described their performance by saying: "I stood at the back of the venue with tears in my eyes – it was the greatest thing I had ever seen."^[12] By that point, Bernardo Sr. was looking for someone else to take P.O.D.'s career further and so Cook took over as manager.^[12]

Shortly after the release of Payable on Death Live, Essential Records offered P.O.D. a $100,000 recording contract, but Sonny Sandoval spoke for them all when he politely but firmly told band manager Tim Cook to decline the offer because, “God has a bigger plan for P.O.D.”^[13] When, in 1998, Atlantic Records A&R John Rubeli first came across P.O.D.'s demo "he didn't quite get it", as he later told HitQuarters.^[12] It was only when he saw them play live at The Roxy on the Sunset Strip and witnessed not just an enthusiastic audience singing every word but the centre of a vibrant youth movement that he become convinced by the band.^[12] The band was quickly signed to a major-label deal.^[13] P.O.D. soon released The Warriors EP, a tribute EP to their loyal fans as a transitional album from Rescue Records to Atlantic Records.

Mainstream success (1999–2002)[link]

P.O.D.'s third studio album, 1999's The Fundamental Elements of Southtown, spawned the hits "Southtown" and "Rock the Party (Off the Hook)", which was their first video to reach #1 on MTV's Total Request Live.^[14] The song "School of Hard Knocks" was featured on the soundtrack for Little Nicky while both "Southtown" and "Rock the Party" appeared in the movie. All three music videos endured heavy play on MTV2 and the songs were rock radio hits. The album went on to become RIAA certified platinum.^[8]

On September 11, 2001 P.O.D. released their fourth studio album, Satellite. The album's first single, "Alive", went on to become one of MTV's and MTV2's top played videos of the year. The video's popularity, as well as the song's positive message, helped the song become a huge modern rock radio hit and it was Grammy nominated for Best Hard Rock Performance in 2002.

The album's second single, "Youth of the Nation", was influenced in part by the school shootings at Santana High School, Columbine High School, and Granite Hills High School. It was Grammy nominated for Best Hard Rock Performance in 2003. The 2002 singles, "Boom" and "Satellite", also became quite popular. In addition, the concluding track of the album, "Portrait," was Grammy nominated for Best Metal Performance in 2003. Satellite went on to become RIAA-certified triple platinum.^[10] The author of Encyclopedia of Contemporary Christian Music has described P.O.D. as "One of the biggest success stories in recent Christian music."^[15]

New guitarist (2003–2006)[link]

On February 19, 2003, guitarist Marcos Curiel left the band due to his side project, The Accident Experiment, and to "spiritual differences." However, Marcos argued that he was actually kicked out of the band.^[16][17] Curiel was replaced by Jason Truby, former member of Christian metal band Living Sacrifice, and assisted with the recording of "Sleeping Awake", from The Matrix Reloaded soundtrack. In an interview with Yahoo! Music, Sonny stated that Jason is the reason why the group is still together.^[18] On November 4, 2003, P.O.D. released their fifth studio album, Payable on Death, which saw the group shift from their well known rapcore sound to a darker, more melodic metal sound.^[7] The album was hit with controversy due to its "occult" cover, which led as many as 85% of Christian bookstores across the United States to ban the album.^[19] With the help of the album's hit single "Will You" and "Change the World", it went on to sell over 520,000 copies and was certified Gold.^[20] Sometime after the tsunami in Asia, many singers, musicians, and actors/actresses, including Sonny and Wuv, participated in the recording of, "Forever in Our Hearts", with all proceeds going to benefit the tsunami relief.^[21]

P.O.D.'s sixth studio album Testify was slated for a December 2005 release, but was pushed back to January 24, 2006. On November 15, 2005, P.O.D. released The Warriors EP, Volume 2, which featured demos from the upcoming album, to help build up the fans' anticipation for the pending January release. The album's first single, "Goodbye for Now" (with a vocal tag by a then-unknown Katy Perry) went on to become a #1 video on MTV's TRL, along with having a solid radio presence, it also became the band's unprecedented 4th number one video on Total Request Live.^[22] The second single off the album, "Lights Out" was a minor hit, but was featured as the "official theme song" to WWE's Survivor Series on November 27, 2005. In another contribution to WWE, they performed fellow San Diego native Rey Mysterio's theme song "Booyaka 619" at WrestleMania 22.^[22] To promote their latest album, P.O.D. went on a nationwide tour called the "Warriors Tour 2: Guilty by Association", which began in April, and included the bands Pillar, The Chariot and Maylene and the Sons of Disaster.^[23]

On August 11, 2006, P.O.D. announced in their online newsletter that they had left Atlantic Records.^[9][20] On September 16, 2006, P.O.D. announced that they have teamed up with Rhino Records to release a greatest hits record simply titled, Greatest Hits: The Atlantic Years, which was released on November 21, 2006. They shot a music video for their single "Going In Blind", one of the two new songs they included in the tenth album, and they had meetings with various record labels to begin working on new material for an album they hoped to release in mid 2007.^[9]

Reunion (2007–2009)[link]

In a statement made by the band's manager on their MySpace page, it was officially announced, on December 30, 2006, that Jason Truby had left the band. They had said "God worked it out because Jason decided to leave the band the same day Marcos asked to rejoin." Marcos performed with the band for the first time since his departure on the 2006 New Year's Eve episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live!.^[9] Marcos was scheduled to appear at this show before returning, which is why he was able to do it literally the day after he was announced as being back in the band.

On February 2, 2007 the band made a new record deal with INO Records.^[24]

On June 1, 2007, at the Rockbox in San Diego, the band performed and revealed a new song entitled "Condescending", along with another new song performed on June 16, 2007, at the Journeys Backyard BBQ tour entitled "Addicted". They also revealed the title of their new album to be When Angels & Serpents Dance. On August 4, 2007, the band played at Angel Stadium of Anaheim's annual Harvest Crusade where they revealed a new song entitled "I'll Be Ready", originally thought to be entitled "When Babylon Come For I," for a crowd of 42,000.^[25]

The album cover was officially revealed on December 10, 2007.^[26] The title track was released for free download on their site in January 2008. The first single "Addicted" was released on February 19 and peaked at No. 30 on the Mainstream Rock chart. The album was released on April 8, 2008 entitled When Angels & Serpents Dance. On July 28, 2008, the group played a free public performance at the Orange County Choppers headquarters in Newburgh, NY, with OCC The Band opening. The band also played on August 16, 2008 at the Angel Stadium of Anaheim's annual Harvest Crusade. During September 2008 P.O.D played alongside Redline, Behind Crimson Eyes, Alter Bridge and Disturbed as part of the Music As A Weapon tour 2008 in Australia. In November 2008, P.O.D. started their first tour in South America with five shows in Brazil, one in Chile and one in Colombia. P.O.D. then went on hiatus after touring in South America. This was confirmed when they canceled the 2009 European tour with Filter in summer 2009.

Recent years (2010–present)[link]

In March and April 2010, P.O.D. played an 11-date South America tour, visiting countries such as Argentina and Colombia.

In May 2011, P.O.D. headlined the first annual Spring Jam Fest. They appeared on the Rock of Allegiance tour during summer 2011.^[27] On July 25, 2011, P.O.D. released new song "On Fire" as a free download on their official website.^[28]

On October 6, 2011, P.O.D. announced a new multi-album artist deal with Razor & Tie.^[29] On April 5, 2012, P.O.D. posted an article on their website that allows fans to download and listen to the track "Eyez". ^[30] P.O.D. also announced on their website that "Lost in Forever" will be the first single off of the new album, entitled Murdered Love,^[31] is set to be released on July 10, 2012.^{[citation needed]} The album, produced by longterm collaborator Howard Benson and recorded between December 2010 and January 2012 was described by Curiel that set the band "back to our roots. A little bit of hip hop, a little bit of punk rock, or reggae".^[32]

Style and influences[link]

The band's name, Payable on Death (P.O.D.), derives itself from the banking term "Payable on Death". The band chose this name to be a direct tie in to Christianity, which explains, that since Jesus died on the Cross, Christians inherit all of his assets (Heaven). P.O.D.'s style has evolved over the years, from the rap metal sound on their early albums to the nu metal and reggae-infused alternative metal styles for which they're most well known. Their latest album, When Angels & Serpents Dance, is a combination of alternative rock, reggae rock and Latin-influenced metal with almost none of the rap metal or nu metal sound of their older releases. P.O.D.'s influences include Santana, Bad Brains, Bob Marley, Metallica, U2, Rage Against the Machine, Beastie Boys, Black Flag, Faith No More, Jane's Addiction, Living Colour, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Sepultura and Suicidal Tendencies.^[8]

Band members[link]

Current members

• Sonny Sandoval − lead vocals (1992–present)
• Wuv Bernardo − drums, percussion, rhythm guitar, backing vocals (1992–present)
• Traa Daniels − bass guitar, backing vocals (1994–present)
• Marcos Curiel − lead guitar, glockenspiel, programming, backing vocals (1992–2003, 2006–present)

Former members

• Gabe Portillo − bass (1992–1994)
• Jason Truby − guitar, backing vocals (2003–2006)

Discography[link]

• Snuff the Punk (1994)
• Brown (1996)
• The Fundamental Elements of Southtown (1999)
• Satellite (2001)
• Payable on Death (2003)
• Testify (2006)
• When Angels & Serpents Dance (2008)
• Murdered Love (2012)^[33]

Awards[link]

American Music Awards

• 2003 - Favorite Contemporary Inspirational Artist (nomination)

Echo Awards

• 2003 - International Alternative Group of the Year ^[34]

San Diego Music Awards

• 1999 - Best Hard Rock Artist
• 2000 - Best Hard Rock Artist

Note: Album and single-specific awards and nominations are listed under their respective articles.

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: P.O.D.

• Official P.O.D. website
• P.O.D. Promotions Crew: Official Street Team
• P.O.D. at PureVolume

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	link
The Guardian	link
Pitchfork Media	(5.4/10) link
Q
Rolling Stone	link
Slant	link
Sputnikmusic	link
Stylus Magazine	(C) link
Openheartzoo	link

O is the name of Damien Rice's first studio album, originally released on 1 February 2002, in Ireland and in the United Kingdom. The album is dedicated to Rice's friend Mic Christopher, who died of a head injury in 2001.

Rice wanted to make the album without the backing of a major record label, believing if he signed such a deal it would compromise his future work, forcing him to move in directions he did not wish to.^[1]

The video for the song "Volcano" charted in the United States on VH1's Top 20 Video countdown in October 2003.^[2]

Cover versions[link]

• Matt Corby, runner up of Australian Idol 2007 performed "The Blower's Daughter" during acoustic week.
• Diana Vickers, a contestant on the fifth series of the UK's X Factor, also performed "The Blower's Daughter" during her first audition.
• Mexican singer, Kalimba, has a cover of the song "The Blower's Daughter" titled "No puedo dejarte de amar" (I Can't stop loving you), included on his second album
• Aiden Grimshaw, a contestant on the seventh series of The X Factor (UK), performed "Cannonball" during the third audition stage at Dannii Minogue's "Judge's House".
• Dutch musician Anneke van Giersbergen collaborated with Danny Cavanagh to cover "The Blower's Daughter" for her live shows and album, Pure Air.
• Brazilian singers Ana Carolina and Simone released Portuguese versions of "The Blower's Daughter", named "É isso aí" and "Então me diz" respectively. Simone's version however is closer to the original lyrics.^[3]
• Belgian singer Bart Peeters did a Dutch cover version of "Cannonball" (Kanonbal) on his record De Hemel in het Klad (2008).
• Indian composer Pritam wrote a Hindi version of The Blower's Daughter for the film Jannat (2008).^[4]
• Little Mix released Cannonball as their winners' single on the eighth series of The X Factor.
• Phillip Phillips, a constant on American Idol (2012) covered 'Volcano' for his performance.

Film and television[link]

• "The Blower's Daughter" was featured in the trailer for the 2004 Mike Nichols film Closer, as well as in the film itself.^[5]
• "Cold Water" was featured in the 2003 film I Am David as well as one of three songs in the end credits of the 2005 film Stay. In addition, it was featured in the 2010 French movie Little White Lies.
• "Delicate" was used during the closing credits of an episode of House, M.D.. It was also used during the episode of Lost called "...In Translation" for the final scene, in Alias in the final scene of the episode "Crossings" as well as in the closing scene in the fifth episode of Misifts. In addition, it was featured in the 2004 film Dear Frankie.
• "Amie" was featured in an episode of CSI: NY entitled "And Here's To You, Mrs. Azrael".
• "Cannonball" was featured during a scene in the 2004 film In Good Company and during the ending of Season 1, Episode 2 of The L Word.
• The hidden track "Prague" was danced as a group number performed by the male members of the Top 14 in So You Think You Can Dance Season 8.
• "Volcano" was performed by Phillip Phillips on Season 11 of the TV show, American Idol.

Track listing[link]

All songs written and composed by Damien Rice. 

Release history[link]

After the album's initial release and success, it was repackaged several times with additional material

• 2003 – with bonus DVD
• 2004 – with extra track "Cannonball" (Remix)
• 2004 – double album pack: O and B-Sides
• 2005 – with extra tracks "Cannonball" (Remix) and "Unplayed Piano"

Personnel[link]

• Damien Rice – bass guitar, clarinet, guitar, percussion, drums, vocals, production
• Caz – djembe
• Doreen Curran – mezzo soprano
• Nicholas Dodd – conducting
• Shane Fitzsimons – bass guitar
• Lisa Hannigan – backing vocals, lead vocals on "Silent Night" (hidden track), piano
• Mark Kelly – electric guitar
• Vyvienne Long – cello
• Colm Mac Con Iomaire – violin
• Conor Donovan – timpani/percussion
• Jean Meunier – improvisation, piano
• Tom Osander aka Tomo – percussion, drums

References[link]

Sonny Sandoval
Sandoval performing at the Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach, California on May 17, 2011.
Background information
Birth name	Paul Joshua Sandoval
Also known as	Sonny
Born	(1974-05-16) May 16, 1974 (age 38) San Diego, California, US
Genres	Alternative metal, nu metal, Christian metal, rap metal
Occupations	Vocalist, rapper, singer-songwriter
Instruments	Vocals
Years active	1992–present
Associated acts	P.O.D., War of Ages, Project 86

Paul Joshua "Sonny" Sandoval (born May 16, 1974) is an American singer and rapper. He is best known as the lead vocalist of the rock band P.O.D..

Biography[link]

Sandoval was born in San Diego, California to a Hawaiian-Chamorro mother and a Mexican-Italian father.^[1] He grew up in the Otay Mesa neighborhood of South San Diego, and joined a gang at age thirteen. He drank and used marijuana frequently during his teenage years. However, in 1992, when he was eighteen, Sandoval's mother died of leukemia at the age of 37. During her illness, Sonny was greatly influenced by his mother's faith as a devout Christian.^[2] Turning his life around, he pursued a career as an emcee. He later joined the band Enoch, a group started by Wuv Bernardo, Gabe Portillo and Marcos Curiel, which, with the addition of Sandoval, later became P.O.D. (acronym for "Payable On Death"). Sandoval states his musical roots as reggae, rock, and rap, all of which are apparent in P.O.D.

He and his wife Shannon married in 1996, and have two daughters, Nevaeh and Marley, and a son, Justice. Sandoval is widely credited with the sudden popularity of the name Nevaeh, which, as he revealed on MTV Cribs, is Heaven spelled backwards.^[3][4]

For most of P.O.D.'s career, Sandoval was well known for his dreadlocks (which, by the release of the video for "Going in Blind", had reached the length of his waist), but since the release of P.O.D.'s seventh studio album, When Angels & Serpents Dance, he has cut them off. He did this because of the meaning of the dreads. He realized people started using the style as a way to look cool and then seeing that the meaning wasn't seen by fans, he then decided to remove them.^[5]

Sonny Sandoval appeared in Project 86's self-titled album in the song "Six Sirens".

In 2004 he contributed to two tracks on Anastacia's self titled album, "Seasons Change" and "I Do".

He has been named number 63 in Hit Parader's Top 100 Metal Vocalists of All Time in 2006. He is currently involved with EXIT Concerts and his own organization, The Whosoevers.

In 2009, Sandoval appeared on Tribal Seeds' new album The Harvest, in the song "Warning".

In 2010, Sandoval appeared on War of Ages' fourth album release Eternal, in the song "Eternal".

In 2010, Sandoval appeared on Lecrae's fourth album release Rehab, in the song "Children of the Light".

In 2011, Sandoval appeared on Dominic Balli's single, "American Dream".

References[link]

External links[link]

• The Whosoevers Official Website
• Official website
• P.O.D. on MySpace
• The Warriors Tour Official Site
• P.O.D. Promotions Crew: Official Street Team
• theSouthtown.com
• EXIT Concerts