Sony Sandoval:<\/strong> It\u2019s a conceptual record; it\u2019s a little bit different for us, never done that. [It] started with an idea with our producer, Howard Benson, who spoke with us and with the state of music, it was something that was more geared toward our loyal fan base \u2018cause everybody these days are so used to going on iTunes and picking and choosing of what favorite they want and he was like \u201cWhy not\u2026we need to do something different, that\u2019s more like a piece of art.\u201d And Marcos has been saying this too so Marcos had the conversation with him, started talking with the band, it was more of something that our fans could grab and say, \u201cI want this whole thing.\u201d Any listener\u2026 [laughs]<\/em> For the record, Marcos [Curiel]\u2026<\/p>\n Marcos Curiel:<\/strong> You really wanna know how it went down?<\/p>\n SS:<\/strong> \u2026he wrote and directed, filmed, starred [laughs]<\/em>\u2026just kidding.<\/p>\n MC:<\/strong> Those are just the facts\u2026if you really wanna get down to the nitty gritty\u2026<\/p>\n SS:<\/strong> Marcos did start the idea with Howard about someday doing a conceptual record and Howard said, \u201cWhy not do it now?\u201d and once we started throwing ideas around\u2026like I said, it was more for our fans to say, \u201cI want this whole piece of art, not just one song.\u201d And hopefully, it is trying to create a mindset of even today\u2019s new fans, they\u2019re so fast food as far as music goes too\u2026and it was fun for us to just do something different and kind of put together a storyline and hidden messages and cool little interludes\u2026who knows? Maybe it\u2019s just for us, just to do something different. We\u2019ve done a lot of records and we\u2019ve been around a long time.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n NEMB: What are your thoughts on the music industry today?<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n NEMB: What advice would you give to new and upcoming bands?<\/strong><\/p>\n MC:<\/strong> Don\u2019t suck\u2026 [laughs]<\/em><\/p>\n SS:<\/strong> First of all, don\u2019t suck [laughs]<\/em>. If anything, have fun doing it.<\/p>\n MC:<\/strong> You gotta suck to learn, right?<\/p>\n SS: <\/strong>Even when we do these rock festivals and some of these new bands are walking around and trying to be that true Hollywood story or behind the music\u2026we see these bands and like yesterday, we were looking and we were looking like, \u201cI think I know this guy\u2026but I don\u2019t\u2026\u201d and you have to Google because the last time you\u2019ve seen him, he looked completely different, wearing completely different clothes and now it\u2019s just whatever is hot and trendy for the moment and it\u2019s this kind of Sunset Boulevard, Hollywood\u2026you\u2019re just playing a role and if you\u2019re gonna play a role, then be an actor and go be on Broadway. But for us, it\u2019s like, this is music, like at least the way we\u2019ve grown up and these guys put their heart and soul into what they do\u2026it sucks to have someone try and imitate that and not be real about it, but I don\u2019t wanna sound\u2026I ain\u2019t mad\u2026<\/p>\n MC:<\/strong> One thing I do like\u2026I like that P.O.D. is from SoCal and has its own thing going on\u2026we\u2019re not trying to be the Stones\u2026like we\u2019re not dressing up like the Stones, walking around with the cigarette, like Mick Jagger, like all of these bands out there, like \u201cdude, you\u2019re a wanna-be this, you\u2019re a wanna-be that!\u201d But I got the moves like Jagger [laughs]<\/em>.<\/p>\n SS:<\/strong> It\u2019s so obvious but the 13 year-old and 14 year-old fan doesn\u2019t know that\u2026they\u2019re like \u201cHe\u2019s so cool!\u201d It\u2019s just so watered down and we\u2019re the old school guys looking like, \u201cThis sucks\u2026\u201d it\u2019s like, this band is selling out like arenas and it\u2019s like, \u201cDude, you\u2019re just a copy of our favorite bands\u2026\u201d but the 14 year-old fan doesn\u2019t know it, the one that\u2019s going to Hot Topic and it\u2019s just mall business. I think we\u2019ve settled for ourselves and it\u2019s like\u2026I guess it\u2019s like pioneers\u2026there are bands that we like and they\u2019re pioneers and they\u2019ve just realized that\u2019s what they are and everybody else is roots\u2026if you wanna be happy about that or call it a compliment, cool. But I think for us too, it\u2019s just we realized that we\u2019re a pioneer of a certain sound and a genre and it is what it is now. So sometimes you just gotta take that integrity and dignity and keep it and not sellout and do something different.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n NEMB: How do you feel about \u201cYouth of the Nation\u201d still being as prevalent today as it was 10 years ago?<\/strong><\/p>\n SS: <\/strong>I mean, it\u2019s awesome that people still relate to it and I think they just relate to certain things that go on in the world and sad things. For us, when we wrote the song, we were two blocks away from this school shooting in San Diego. I like telling stories and we always try to give a positive outlook and a message and there are still some people who just gravitate towards that. It doesn\u2019t have to be exact to the story but these kids now that are younger and going through stuff that are kind of seeing it for themselves, even when it comes to bullying and stuff like that, there\u2019s still some stuff that is just relevant to today. Then you go overseas and it\u2019s like, [laughs]<\/em> they just love the music regardless, you know? It\u2019s like, \u201cDude, P.O.D. has come to South America, let\u2019s go to their show,\u201d you know? But then, now, what\u2019s cool for us is that we see a lot of our old school fans and we\u2019re all parents and we all have kids now, and they\u2019re bringing their kids out and their kids are still singing it and it\u2019s like, \u201cThis is cool.\u201d So when I see some little kid out there, who I know the song is older than that kid and he\u2019s singing his heart out and it\u2019s like\u2026that kid right there is not listening to the radio, he\u2019s not being told what to listen to, it\u2019s like he\u2019s listening because his pops is listening to it, and he\u2019s like, \u201cDude I like this band.\u201d That song is\u2026gotta be going on 14 years old. Even yesterday, there was a kid and he must\u2019ve been like, 11 or 12, and he\u2019s just like telling me all of the lyrics when we were doing autograph signing and he said, \u201cI just love the song!\u201d And I said, \u201cThat\u2019s cool, man!\u201d And that\u2019s why I get frustrated because I think that\u2019s what this music thing is supposed to be, when you see that it doesn\u2019t mean the same to the new fans that it did to us, it\u2019s like it\u2019s just watering down that power of music. It gets a little frustrating because we really do become Hollywood\u2026just another source of entertainment that\u2019s not really\u2026because I never really looked at music as far as, the way I see music, entertainment even though I know it is, all the music growing always meant something to me from the lyrics to what this band is into, what they think about the world [chuckles]<\/em> not that that even matters, but you wanted to know, what this person\u2019s mindset is and I guess because I was more into the positive type of stuff but when you see it\u2019s not the same, it\u2019s like \u201cOh, this kind of sucks\u2026\u201d I see the same thing\u2026older fans, well not older, my age! When that song did come out, they were younger and so it does bring back memories\u2026some lady said last night, \u201cThe first time I heard this song was in the movie Blue Crush<\/em>,\u201d it was the part of the movie where the chick takes off on the wave, and she [the woman] was like, \u201c\u2026and ever since then, I\u2019ve been a fan.\u201d Because they played the whole song, and I was like, \u201cMan, this is some long wave that this chick is surfing because the whole time she is shredding it up\u2026\u201d Dude, I don\u2019t think in the history of movies and soundtrack that they ever play a song like all the way out, like usually it\u2019s like snippets but I think they played it again in another segment and I was like, \u201cOh this is overdoing it now.\u201d [laughs]<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n NEMB: What do you guys usually do on your day off?<\/strong><\/p>\n SS: <\/strong>When we get days off, it\u2019s usually\u2026I don\u2019t know, trying to get out of this bus, actually do, see some things. It\u2019s different because in the States, we\u2019ve pretty much been there done that but when we\u2019re overseas, we\u2019ll seize the moment to just walk and see the sights just so you can check things off your bucket list and say, \u201cI did it, I was there.\u201d This last time, in the UK and we got to see Stonehenge and we went to Nottingham Castle\u2026so those are just kind of the perks but for now, with my son being out and younger, I get to Google stuff and say, \u201cOk, we\u2019re in this city, what\u2019s this city known for and what relevance to history does this have?\u201d So already, I\u2019ve been homeschooling him since he was in kindergarten so now he\u2019s going through Philly and DC, Virginia, all of these places, so when he finally does go to regular school, he\u2019ll be like, \u201cDude, I\u2019ve been there! I know about that stuff!\u201d And it refreshes my memory [laughs]<\/em> \u2026history\u2026<\/p>\n <\/p>\n NEMB: What\u2019s your favorite song to play live?<\/strong><\/p>\n SS: <\/strong>Obviously, the songs that the people know, like \u201cYouth of the Nation\u201d and \u201cAlive,\u201d are always crowd-pleasers but a lot of the heavier stuff I dig, \u201cSouthtown\u201d always has a great reaction, it just depends on the fan, you know? Sometimes, I tend to forget that there are new fans that are kind of checking you out because I\u2019m so used to having people go off and go crazy in the pit because that\u2019s what we did. I always have to be reminded, \u201cJust take it easy, let them have fun and let them experience their own rock n roll show.\u201d But it\u2019s different because you\u2019ll go in one city and there are guys and girls bouncing off the walls having fun, and you\u2019re like, \u201cThis is how I remember it,\u201d then you\u2019ll go in another city and it\u2019s more of a spectator. Even like the Shinedown\/Three Days Grace was like that for us because there are a lot more songs on the radio so a lot of times you\u2019ll get fans that\u2019ll just wanna bob their head and that\u2019s perfectly ok, but when we get up there\u2026we have our soft stuff and our mellow stuff, but we also have our heavy stuff\u2026and I guess you sometimes forget that you\u2019re not known all that much for your heavy stuff, it\u2019s just the stuff that does get played on the radio and that crowd\u2026I think we kind of scared them a little bit so\u2026and they dig it because it\u2019s still rock n roll but they\u2019re used to them sing-a-longs with Three Days [Grace] and Shinedown. I don\u2019t know why we did it but we were on a tour with 3 Doors Down and Daughtry and we just got asked and we were like, \u201cDude, we can do that!\u201d And for some reason, probably not the smartest business move, we played like, \u201cWe\u2019re gonna play what we wanna play,\u201d and what we should\u2019ve done is played the softer, mellow because it was all soccer moms, American Idol fans [chuckles]<\/em>\u2026and I think one show out of the whole tour, only one show, had no seats and it was a tight club and it was probably the most fun but every other place had seats and so I think we got more frustrated and like, \u201cAh, this sucks\u2026\u201d so right off the bat, you have one of our heaviest songs. And it was literally like old folks on date night and we felt like we just ruined their date night because they\u2019re just looking at you like, \u201cWhat the heck is this\u2026?\u201d So we should\u2019ve played more of our mellow stuff but it\u2019s kind of like you love us or you hate us, we do what we do.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n NEMB: Favorite part about touring?<\/strong><\/p>\n SS: <\/strong>Obviously traveling, and overseas is the best because it is more unfamiliar than the States. Now and then I\u2019d bring my son and my wife and kids come out too, you know, they\u2019re not in their routine of school\u2026but as long as the fans keep coming out, it\u2019s still fun. But as we were saying earlier, it\u2019s an iffy thing these days because, music is just different. One day you can play to a sold-out house and then play and no one shows up, like tonight, it\u2019s a big venue, it\u2019s Father\u2019s Day, who\u2019s gonna show up? I wouldn\u2019t show up! [laughs]<\/em> I\u2019d be with my kids. I mean, we get it but this is the nature of the business but we were just saying that in the last interview, you can totally have this high off a show, like \u201cMan, this was bananas, crazy!\u201d Then play one show and it\u2019s like, \u201cMan, this is not the same\u2026\u201d So it\u2019s an up-and-down thing [chuckles]<\/em>, I guess it\u2019s that excitement that keeps you going, keep searching for that show that continues to be amazing.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n NEMB: Tell me about the Whosoevers.<\/strong><\/p>\n SS: <\/strong>When we took some time off the music for a little bit, it was just more of a soul-searching thing for myself and just getting back to the basics of my faith and my belief in God and just kind of doing a house cleanup spiritually and in my heart and in my mind, which allowed me to team up with some awesome friends of mine, like Brian from Korn and couple of guys from the metal militia, Lacey who used to sing in Flyleaf. We\u2019re all Christians and stuff but we live and work in the real world and sometimes I don\u2019t speak that language of conservative, Bible-belt church and sometimes those same churches don\u2019t understand what we do and don\u2019t believe that you can have tattoos and can be in a rock n roll band and here you have in every industry from rock n roll to extreme sports, you have these believers out there that are just doing what they do and being excellent and loving God but still having to go through normal struggles and crazy stuff. It was more about forming a brotherhood and a sisterhood with people who love God and get it and a lot of these guys that are trying to stay sober or they just want that accountability in their life, going through struggles and stuff, it started off like that then once people started to see us as a group, it opened up doors for us to go into from rehabs to group homes, youth homes, get in front of kids that will actually give us a few seconds of their time but listen to it because they think you\u2019re somebody. So when you go into this rehab for kids and they\u2019re like, \u201cThese guys are cool, they\u2019re P.O.D. and they\u2019re Korn!\u201d Then you get to share your story, it\u2019s not preaching anybody, it\u2019s not trying to push your belief on anybody, it\u2019s just saying, \u201cDude, this is my story\u2026\u201d mine just happened to be surrounded by a bunch of these guys that were whackos, so that their story is that much more powerful. Someone like Head who can say, \u201cDude, I was tweaked out for so many years, I don\u2019t even remember half of my career but this is my story and this is how God helped me.\u201d So these kids listen, and it\u2019s a positive, it\u2019s a good thing, we\u2019ve been able to do a lot of community stuff and we get to throw shows, it\u2019s something we do when we\u2019re together and we speak wherever they will have us and it\u2019s been an awesome thing. Before he [Head] even went back to Korn, he thought he\u2019d never go back because in his mind, it\u2019s like, \u201cI\u2019m a Christian now and I can\u2019t do that\u2026\u201d and so he struggled with a lot of that stuff but through this movement and our brotherhood, it\u2019s like, \u201cDude, you have to be excellent, you have to love God, no matter what business you\u2019re in\u2026\u201d Even though sometimes the ideas are different from how he feels now about how he believes what Korn is known for, but it\u2019s still an opportunity to love people, not on this mission or ministry opportunity, but you\u2019re not just speaking from a pedestal or a pulpit, you\u2019re like, \u201cDude, I\u2019m down with these people, I\u2019m loving them where they\u2019re at\u2026\u201d And so now that Fieldy\u2019s a Christian and Head\u2019s a Christian, they have each other, so they keep each other accountable to stay sober, to do all of these things and because they\u2019re so excited about their faith and I\u2019m excited about my faith, you want to share it. But you want to do it in a way where it\u2019s not so clich\u00e9 that it has this American Christianity that has pushed away people for so long. It\u2019s a religious thing, we\u2019re out there saying, \u201cThat\u2019s not who I am and that\u2019s not who I believe my God is and Jesus is but this is what I do know and here is my story, this is the way I felt, I gave God a chance and it\u2019s working out,\u201d [chuckles]<\/em> and maybe a kid relates to that, like, \u201cDude, I get it\u2026\u201d So that was their thing, so like man, if we\u2019re gonna be on this tour, we know that most of the fans that come out here that they\u2019re going through some things and if we\u2019re out here, we\u2019re gonna use this opportunity to share our story and it\u2019s a lot easier to say, \u201cHey, can I share my story with you?\u201d than \u201cHey, can I tell you about God?\u201d It is the way it is.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" At their June 21 tour date in Huntington, NY, Kate had a chance to sit down with P.O.D. vocalist Sonny Sandoval. Guitarist Marcos Curiel also dropped in for a few words. New England Music Blog: So you guys have a new record coming out, The Awakening. Tell me about it. Sony Sandoval: It\u2019s a conceptual record; it\u2019s a little bit […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":3339,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3386","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interviews"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/theentertainmentoutlet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/IMG_8124-WM.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3mENz-SC","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theentertainmentoutlet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3386","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theentertainmentoutlet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theentertainmentoutlet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theentertainmentoutlet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theentertainmentoutlet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3386"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/theentertainmentoutlet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3386\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24199,"href":"https:\/\/theentertainmentoutlet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3386\/revisions\/24199"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theentertainmentoutlet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3339"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theentertainmentoutlet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theentertainmentoutlet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theentertainmentoutlet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"IMG_8124-WM\"](\"http:\/\/newenglandmusicblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/IMG_8124-WM-200x300.jpg\")
SS:<\/strong> I mean for me, I think I\u2019m just more old school. We\u2019re four guys who started playing in our local clubs back home in San Diego and put out demos and people started talking about you back then, before internet and they started inviting you to their shows and their clubs. We put our pennies together and traveled outside California and started touring on our own and doing a lot of things on our own. We\u2019re very grassroots, and we\u2019re a hard working band. So It\u2019s a little bit difficult when it\u2019s so saturated with just anybody now and then its become so commercial and you have\u2026we always say this\u2026and you have the same four guys from Hollywood writing everybody\u2019s record and now it\u2019s crossed over from rock to pop\u2026its all the same. I guess we grew up on those old stories when it was like, \u201cMan, these guys got in and did it!\u201d It\u2019s not like that anymore, you have some kid who\u2019s lucky enough, I guess, to have rich parents and just grab his computer and create his band right there and make it and hire people to play his music. It\u2019s different but I guess I\u2019m more old school\u2026<\/p>\n