Days before the May 3 release of P.O.D.’s latest studio album, Veritas, frontman Sonny Sandoval joined Chuck Armstrong on Loudwire Nights (April 25) to discuss why he’s so excited for the band’s new music.
“I think we’ve just always kind of incorporated everything,” Sandoval explained about the various styles and influences that usually make their way onto a P.O.D. album.
With Veritas, though, that wasn’t the case.
“This time, it was a song-by-song basis and I think by the time we got to the end and pretty much had the album done, [we realized] it’s just more straight through kind of rocking and grooving. And I mean, we’re okay with that.”
Sandoval is so okay with the sound that he’s set some high expectations for Veritas.
“It was an interesting process, but this could be one of the best albums we’ve ever written.”
What Sonny Sandoval Thinks About P.O.D. Being Labeled ‘Christian’
The heaviness of Veritas will likely take longtime fans back to the early days of P.O.D., years before they were ever labeled nu-metal. Early on, though, it wasn’t uncommon to hear the band described as Christian, something Sandoval spent some time reflecting on with Chuck.
“I’m not losing sleep over it,” Sandoval said. “We’ve just been about faith and because we come from the hardcore scene, everybody’s about something, so being about my faith was no different than any other band. If I was in a reggae band or a country band or an R&B band, no one would ever say, ‘Oh hey, that’s a Christian group.’ No one would ever say that, but because we’re in metal, it’s like, ‘Oh, that’s that Christian group.'”
Sandoval admitted that the Christian label never made P.O.D. more popular. In fact, he shared it probably hurt them in a way.
“Maybe not so much now,” he said, “but 30 years ago, it hurt you to say that because no one really understands. So we always shied away from that.”
He also wanted to make sure everyone was clear that P.O.D. never sought to market their faith or anything like that.
“[People like to think] we got all kinds of love from the Christian world or whatever. We didn’t. We got exactly the same thing: ‘Oh, they’re fake Christians. They’re not real Christians.’ We got more slack from the Christian world than from the secular world. We’ve always been in between two worlds, so it was never really fair.”
READ MORE: Jonny Hawkins Explains How Faith Influences Nothing More’s Music
But Sandoval said they never worried too much about it.
“We just knew when we hit that stage, we have to be 10 times better than the band we’re playing with because we want to be undeniable. We’re not going to stop being who we are. If someone says, ‘Hey, I think those guys are Christian,’ they’re going to watch us and hear us and be like, ‘Whatever dude, those guys rock.'”
What Else Did P.O.D.’s Sonny Sandoval Discuss on Loudwire Nights?
How the recording process for Veritas was different than any other album the band made before — and how COVID played a significant role in thatWhy he’s excited to tour with Bad Wolves, Norma Jean and Blind ChannelWhy he likes writing music just as much as performing live
Listen to the Full Interview in the Podcast Player Below
Sonny Sandoval joined Loudwire Nights on Thursday, April 25; the show replays online here, and you can tune in live every weeknight at 7PM ET or on the Loudwire app; you can also see if the show is available on your local radio station and listen to interviews on-demand.
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