P.O.D.

P.O.D. (Payable On Death) is an American metal ^{heavy metal music} band formed in 1992. The band's line-up consists of vocalist Sonny Sandoval, drummer Wuv Bernardo ^{Noah Bernardo} , guitarist Marcos Curiel, and bassist Traa Daniels. They are born-again Christians
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 ^{Music recording sales certification} by the RIAA in 2000. Their following studio album, Satellite ^{Satellite (album)} , continued the band's success with the hit singles, "Alive ^{Alive (P.O.D. song)} " and "Youth of the Nation", pushing it to go triple platinum ^{Music recording sales certification} .

 
Early years (1991–1998)

In 1991, friends Marcos Curiel and Wuv Bernardo ^{Noah Bernardo} engaged in jam sessions, with Marcos covering guitar and Wuv playing the drums with no vocalist. 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 ^bassist , Gabe Portillo, and eventually changed their name to P.O.D. 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. Between 1994 and 1997, they released three albums under the label, Snuff the Punk, Brown ^{Brown (album)} and Payable on Death Live. In 1998, A&R rep John Rubeli from Atlantic Records caught a show at The Roxy ^{The Roxy Theatre} on the Sunset Strip, and the band was quickly signed to a major-label deal. At a time after the 1999 album, "School of Hard Knocks ^{School of Hard Knocks (song)} " was featured on the soundtrack for Little Nicky ^{Little Nicky (film)} while both "Southtown ^{Southtown (P.O.D. song)} " and "Rock the Party (Off the Hook)" 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 ^{RIAA certification} platinum.


Marcos leaves the band; Payable on Death (2003–2005)

On February 19, 2003, guitarist Marcos Curiel left the band due to his side project, The Accident Experiment and "spiritual differences." However, Marcos argued that he was actually kicked out of the band. Sonny, Wuv and Traa were devastated about Curiel leaving, they considered breaking up the band, but decided to stay together and recruit another guitarist. 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 ^{The Matrix Reloaded: The Album} . In an interview with Yahoo! Music, Sonny stated that Jason is the reason why the group is still together,



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. The album was hit with controversy due to its "occult" cover, which lead as many as 85% of Christian bookstores across the United States to ban the album ^{List of albums censored by Christian bookstores} . With the help of the album's hit single "Will You ^{Will You (song)} " and "Change the World ^{Change the World (P.O.D. song)} ", it went on to sell over 520,000 copies and was certified Gold ^{Music recording sales certification} .


Testify (2006)

P.O.D.'s sixth studio album Testify ^{Testify (P.O.D. album)} 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 ^{Goodbye for Now (P.O.D. song)} " (with a vocal tag by a then-unknown Katy Perry) went on to become a #1 video on MTV's TRL ^{Total Request Live} , along with having a solid radio presence, it also became the band's unprecedented 4th number one video on Total Request Live. 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 ^{Pillar (band)} , The Chariot ^{The Chariot (band)} and Maylene and the Sons of Disaster.


P.O.D. leaves Atlantic Records; Marcos returns

On August 11, 2006, P.O.D. announced in their online newsletter that they had left Atlantic Records. The newsletter stated: "P.O.D. have left Atlantic Records. We’ve been proud to be Atlantic Recording Artists, but it’s not the same place anymore. For most of our stay, we were blessed by a staff that was gracious towards our vision, faith, and love of music.... resulting in more than 7 million records sold. It’s time to dream again with a new staff, and we leave with grateful hearts. By the people, FOR the people - P.O.D. - Aug. 2006"


On May 13, 2007 the band appeared on Carlos Mencia's show on Comedy Central, Mind of Mencia, when Carlos premiered his new music video for the song "Beaner Man". The band played the instruments and screamed the chorus, while Carlos rapped the lyrics and wore dreadlocks in parody of frontman Sonny Sandoval.

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, the largest number in attendance for the three day event.

The album cover was officially revealed on December 10, 2007. The title track was released for free download on their site in January 2008. The first single "Addicted ^{Addicted (P.O.D. song)} " was released on February 19 and did well on the Mainstream Rock chart peaking at number 30. 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 ^{Redline (band)} , 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 ^{Filter (band)} .

However, in February 2009, Disney announced that P.O.D. would be making an appearance, its first for the year, at 'Disney's Night Of Joy' on September 11-12. P.O.D. performed alongside MercyMe, newsboys, Flyleaf, Skillet ^{Skillet (band)} , Jars of Clay, Kutless, Leeland and more. Singer Sandoval said of the event: “In the past year we’ve been blessed to play all around the globe but performing at Disney World excites me most of all.”

On 19 November 2009, P.O.D. played a small set of songs at the benefit concert for Chi Cheng, the bass player for the Deftones. The concert took place in Avalaon, Hollywood.

P.O.D. has announced an 11-date South America tour, running from March through April 2010.


New album in 2010

On December 16th Wuv posted a video of him and Marcos Curiel stating that P.O.D. is now in the process of recording their next album due to come out sometime in 2010./video/video.php?v=102915233063415&ref=mfP.O.D.'s style has evolved over the years, from the Thrash infused Rap Metalsound on their early albums to the nu metal and Reggae infused alternative metal styles that they're most well known for. 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; Bob Marley, The Police, Metallica, Rage Against The Machine, and Black Sabbath.;Current members
* Sonny Sandoval − lead vocals ^singer (1992–present)
* Wuv Bernardo ^{Noah Bernardo} − drums ^{drum kit} , percussion ^{percussion instrument} , 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)

;Live/Session members
* Tim Pacheco − percussion, keyboard, backing vocals (2005-2006)
* ODZ − second guitar (2005-2006)
* DJ Circa − turntables (1999)
* Mike$ki Degracia − turntables, samples (1996)*Snuff the Punk (1994 ^{1994 in music} )
*Brown ^{Brown (album)} (1996 ^{1996 in music} )
*The Fundamental Elements of Southtown (1999 ^{1999 in music} )
*Satellite ^{Satellite (album)} (2001 ^{2001 in music} )
*Payable on Death (2003 ^{2003 in music} )
*Testify ^{Testify (P.O.D. album)} (2006 ^{2006 in music} )
*When Angels & Serpents Dance (2008 ^{2008 in music} );San Diego Music Awards
*1999 - Best Hard Rock Artist
*2000 - Best Hard Rock Artist

;American Music Awards
*2003 - Favorite Contemporary Inspirational Artist (nomination)

Note: Album ^{studio album} and single ^{single (music)} -specific awards and nominations are listed under their respectful articles.