P.O.D.’s Sonny Sandoval Talks New Material, Lengthy Career + Advice For Young Bands

We had the privilege to watch P.O.D. kick the year off with two crushing performances on ShipRocked 2015. We got to chat with frontman Sonny Sandoval about P.O.D.’s long career, which spans over two decades. He also gives some sincere words to younger bands as well as details about forthcoming music.

Check out our interview with Sonny Sandoval of P.O.D.

P.O.D. has been going for over 20 years. What does this mean to you personally?

It’s an awesome ride, I feel extremely blessed. Even before the mainstream knew about P.O.D. we were going for several years underground. For me, those were the times where it really was about the music and really about the fan base. At the time I was a kid myself, but it meant a lot for the kids coming out and going off and taking ownership of it.

Then you get into the mainstream a little bit and things change and that’s a whole different journey and you learn a lot of the ins and outs. You start dealing with egos and pride and success and money and it’s such a stretched out journey and then you come back and now we’re here over 20 years later and you realize why you do it.

As old as I’m getting, I still enjoy making music with my friends. We’re family and we survived so much stuff. It really comes down to whether or not you love making music. Today, in this industry, there’s no real fame to be had anymore. There’s no real touring unless you’re touring 15 months out of the year. [Laughs] For us it’s important to maintain who we are and where we come from.

What advice would you have for the younger generation coming up who want to pursue music?

My hope for young bands honestly is that they do it because they love it, they do it because it’s real. 95 percent of it is Hollywood, I hate Hollywood and I come across bands and you spend two minutes with them and you know who’s Hollywood and who’s not.

Then you know those bands that are grinding it out because that was us –- sleeping on top of the hood in the parking lot, 20 guys in one room, trying to sell t-shirts for dinner and gas money, but we were having a blast. I don’t like when bands follow these pipe dreams. If it happens, cool, then tell the story. You need to have a job on the side and pay them bills. [Laughs] This should be what you do because you love it and you've got to have fun doing it.

What does the rest of 2015 hold in store for you and the rest of P.O.D.?

We start recording and I think we can get the new record done in six weeks. We’re going to be heading over to the U.K. and Europe. Hopefully we can release the new record by summer time and we can follow up with some U.S. tours. This past year we’ve been lucky enough to do all international stuff, which is a treat.

Overseas music is still going bananas. In America we get a little spoiled. We’re talking with Living Colour and Nonpoint, some really cool tours.

How has the progression of the new material been for you?

I’m digging it, we have a little something different. I can’t really say now but we’re trying a different approach. I think what we’ve done, it’s such a collection of songs that not everybody gets. Some bands sound like one song the whole album through. We’ve been all over the place because we are punk, hardcore, rock 'n' roll, metal, reggae and I think sometimes it might be too much diversity and kids are lost. It’s too big of a buffet for them to go for and they want three chords sometimes. We’re never going to do that. We’re putting something together that tells a story. Maybe it’s just for us, maybe it’s not for your average listener but it’s something we’re having a lot of fun doing. We’re excited.

Thanks to Sonny Sandoval for the interview. P.O.D. have a bunch of 2015 tour dates scheduled all over the world. Check them all out here.