Scene · 1995–2010
P.O.D.
P.O.D. has mixed rap, reggae and metal in San Diego since 1992. Their 2001 album Satellite went triple platinum and drew three Grammy nominations.
P.O.D. is a San Diego band that took hip hop, reggae, punk and metal to triple platinum. It started in 1992, when Wuv Bernardo, Marcos Curiel and Gabe Portillo, who'd been playing thrash metal as Eschatos, brought in singer Sonny Sandoval. Bernardo's girlfriend worked at a bank and suggested the name Payable on Death, a banking term. The band links it to the Christian belief that Jesus paid believers' debt on the cross. The name was later shortened to P.O.D.
Rescue Records and the Atlantic deal
Bassist Traa Daniels replaced Portillo in 1994. The band signed to Rescue Records, a label started by Bernardo's father, who was also their first manager. Between 1994 and 1997 they put out Snuff the Punk, Brown and a live album there. Essential Records offered them $100,000, and they said no. Sandoval told their manager that "God has a bigger plan for P.O.D." Then in 1998 an Atlantic Records A&R man saw them play the Roxy on the Sunset Strip, and Atlantic signed them.
Southtown and Satellite
The Fundamental Elements of Southtown (1999) gave them their first hits, "Southtown" and "Rock the Party (Off the Hook)." That second one was their first video to hit No. 1 on MTV's Total Request Live. The album went platinum.
Satellite came out on 11 September 2001 and went triple platinum. "Alive" was one of MTV's most played videos that year, and it was nominated for a Grammy for Best Hard Rock Performance. "Youth of the Nation" was written partly in response to school shootings at Santana High, Columbine and Granite Hills. It got the same nomination the next year. The closing track, "Portrait," was up for Best Metal Performance. The Encyclopedia of Contemporary Christian Music called P.O.D. "one of the biggest success stories in recent Christian music."
Changes and comebacks
Curiel left in February 2003, though he's said he was pushed out. Jason Truby, who used to play in Living Sacrifice, stepped in for Payable on Death (2003). It was darker and more melodic, and it went gold even though many Christian bookstores wouldn't stock it because of its cover. Testify followed in January 2006. Its single "Goodbye for Now," with a vocal tag from a then-unknown Katy Perry, gave the band its fourth No. 1 video on TRL.
P.O.D. left Atlantic in August 2006. Truby quit at the end of that year, on the same day Curiel asked to come back. When Angels & Serpents Dance came out on INO Records in 2008. After that came Murdered Love (2012) on Razor & Tie, The Awakening (2015) on T-Boy Records and Circles (2018) on Mascot.
Bernardo stopped touring in 2021, and Veritas (2024) was the first album without him. He's said the break isn't on bad terms. In 2026 the band made its twelfth album with producer Will Yip in Pennsylvania. It was the first time they'd recorded outside California. The first single, "Outbreak," features Norma Jean's Cory Brandan. All told, P.O.D. has moved more than 12 million records.
Faith, minus the label
Rapzilla called the band's lyrics a "no-bones-about-it Jesus message." Still, P.O.D. has always been wary of the Christian tag, because they want to reach people outside the church. Sandoval said in 2012: "I don't write music for Christians. I don't write music for people that I believe are saved and going to heaven."
Why they matter
Bernardo has said he started the band in his garage. From there it reached triple platinum, heavy MTV rotation and three Grammy nominations. P.O.D. showed that a band open about its faith could sell millions right next to secular nu metal.
