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Come and give me that wildfire/The uncivilized sound that I love...
From their humble beginnings in a Chula Vista garage, to worldwide sales of over five million, P.O.D. have established themselves as one of the most important career artists of the modern era. "PAYABLE ON DEATH" - their highly anticipated third Atlantic release - sees the San Diego-based quartet pushing their unique sound and culture to astonishing new heights, blending evocative, emotional lyrics with melodic, urgent rock 'n' roll. With songs such as the combustible, "Wild Fire" and the passionate first single, "Will You," the album is P.O.D.'s most provocative recording to date, an extraordinary and expansive collection that takes the band to unprecedented musical planes.
"It's a new beginning for us," Sonny says of the album. "This is the start of Chapter Two for P.O.D., which is why calling the record 'PAYABLE ON DEATH' just seemed right."
This second stage of P.O.D. began in early 2003. Having spent much of the previous two years touring the globe behind the RIAA triple-platinum, "SATELLITE," the band were stunned when their former guitarist opted out to pursue a solo career. While P.O.D. had never imagined facing something like that, they looked to other career artists for the inspiration to move forward with their vision. In addition, the band had just accepted an offer to write and perform the lead single and video for The Matrix Reloaded. Rather than blow off such an opportunity, the three musicians placed a call to their old friend Jason Truby, formerly of Arkansas-based thrash metallers, Living Sacrifice. The guitarist - who had taken a hiatus from the music biz a few years earlier - flew out to California to lend a hand.
"We go back a long way," Truby says. "We toured together and slept on floors together and played nasty clubs together. When you suffer with people, you tend to make good relationships. So when their back was up against the wall, I just wanted to help."
"The first day, we didn't really play any music," Sonny recalls. "We just got together and caught up. Then we started to make music and it just felt right. Within a couple of hours, we had done the song for The Matrix - 'Sleeping Awake' - and written two other songs!"
With Truby now officially in the fold, P.O.D. set to work on what would become "PAYABLE ON DEATH." The band contacted their friends at Tribal Gear and asked if they could take up residence at one of the famed San Diego streetwear company's warehouses. The Tribal space became the ideal surroundings for writing and jamming new material.
"We busted down some walls and made it into a home," Sonny says. "Most people go and write their record in some elaborate studio, but we just wanted to get back to the basics. Man, we didn't even have a P.A.! We just set up the equipment and just started jamming."
"That right there was the most amazing thing to me," Traa enthuses. "It reminded me of the way P.O.D. started out, man. It wasn't about all the business of making a new record, it was about our homies coming to hang out with us while we were rehearsing, it was about bouncing stuff off of our friends. It's great to get that kind of input from people who are your peers. These are people who have known P.O.D. for 12 years - their energy inspired our energy in a lot of ways, so just being in that environment made everything that much more open and exciting."
The Tribal experience proved remarkably fruitful for P.O.D., yielding a bounty of fully-fleshed songs for them to take to the studio.
"We actually went in with more songs than we've ever written before," Wuv recalls. "It used to be we would go up to L.A. with seven or eight songs, and then we'd write three or four more in the studio. This time, we had 16 different cuts that we all felt proud about."
Joined by their longtime studio collaborator Howard Benson, the band co-produced "PAYABLE ON DEATH" at two California studios: Bay 7 in Valley Village and Sparky Dark in Calabasas. While previous recordings saw P.O.D. layering quantities of overdubs to create their vast sonic scapes, Truby's raw style enabled them to reconceive their approach, often achieving their goal in just a few takes.
"We wanted something that was very organic," Truby says "We wanted to let people feel the human aspect of our music instead of using ProTools to death and winding up with a bunch of synthetic cookie-cutter radio songs."
The P.O.D. sound remains one of the most intriguing sonic approaches in modern music, a unique amalgamation of metal, reggae, hardcore, pop, and any other music which happens to strike their fancy. Truby's potent six-string style - incorporating metal, classical, jazz fusion - enabled the band to integrate brighter melodies and intricate textures into songs such as "Will You" and "Asthma."
"It's been really cool," Truby says, "because the guys really let me spread my wings. I was real apprehensive at first, because, obviously, I didn't want to change them. But they would hear me playing stuff on acoustic and say, 'That's beautiful, let's incorporate that, man.' That's something I've always wanted to do - break the walls of tradition and make rock guitar more versatile than just big chords. There's room in this music for different textures and different movements and really interesting chord phrasing."
"Living Sacrifice was one of the heaviest bands I've ever seen," Traa notes, "but Truby's style of playing is very melodic. It's beautiful and pretty but at the same time, it still has an aggressive heaviness. As a musician, I found that contrast to be really challenging and inspiring."
P.O.D. have reaped critical praise and an ever-increasing audience since the release of 1999's RIAA platinum certified Atlantic debut, "THE FUNDAMENTAL ELEMENTS OF SOUTHTOWN." Their combination of furious, genre-blurring rock 'n' roll with positive messages has fuelled a remarkable streak of rock radio hits, including "Southtown," "Rock The Party (Off The Hook)," "Boom," "Youth Of The Nation," and "Alive." Those two Grammy Award-nominated, Top 40 smashes were the centerpieces of the band's acclaimed second label release, "SATELLITE." Released September 11, 2001, the album struck a strong chord with an America struggling to come to grips with the events of that tragic day.
"The genre of music we make is known for expressing real negative energy," Sonny explains, "but that's something we never wanted to put across. We were always about trying to make people smile, trying to make people feel good about themselves. So when the worst thing in the history of America happened, P.O.D. was there for people. Because there was hope in our music, there was love in our music. All of a sudden, nobody wanted to be angry. They wanted to find some answers. They wanted someone to hug them."
"PAYABLE ON DEATH" continues the P.O.D. tradition of life-affirming themes, notably on tracks such as "Waiting For Today" and the stirring "Change the World."
"It motivates you to smile at somebody," Sonny says of the latter song. "It motivates you to hug somebody you love."
Among the other highlights of "PAYABLE ON DEATH" are "Revolution" and the album-closing instrumental, "Eternal," both of which feature additional guitars by the legendary Phil Keaggy. A founding member of 60s power trio, Glass Harp, and a pivotal figure on the CCM scene, Keaggy is a lifelong influence on Truby's guitar-playing.
"I was introduced to Phil's music when I was pretty young," the guitarist says. "His instrumental work, particularly as far as exploring open tunings, just blew my mind. When the guys asked if there was anyone I wanted to work with on the record, and I just thought, 'Phil Keaggy.' We gave him a call and he said, 'Sure, I'd love to.' He came down to the studio and we just jammed for hours. It was an amazing experience and really great for all involved - Phil gets some exposure and some of our crowd will get cultured on things beyond what we do."
Renowned for their fiery live shows, P.O.D. returned to the concert stage at summer's end, appearing as part of the Coors Light Mountain Jam at Red Rocks. The gig marked their first-ever show with Truby.
"All we really wanted was to just get that first show over with," Wuv says. "But as soon as we got on stage, it was totally comfortable. Truby did his thing, he just tore it up, man! I'm sure it was nerve-wracking for him, but he did a great job. The kids ate it up, they had a great time. It was like P.O.D. didn't skip a beat."
Having scaled the loftiest heights with "SATELLITE," the band went back the source of their strength and power - friendship, family - and came out with a revived fire and sense of purpose. With "PAYABLE ON DEATH," P.O.D. emerge as a more potent musical force than ever before.
"When you get as successful as P.O.D. has gotten," Traa notes, "you kind of forget the old times. You forget much fun it is making music. We were right at the place it kind of started to turn into a job. But making this album brought us back to where things were fresh and new. It's kind of like us getting back to the grassroots, man. Getting back to having fun again."
"We've been on the road for so long and we've put out so many records, we were starting to get a little 'Been there, done that,'" Sonny says, "but for Truby, it's like this whole new world. It's great, because we're kind of reliving things through him. The day we went to do The Matrix video, we walked in there, seven 'o clock in the morning, and there's all these people working on this huge elaborate set. We start looking for the coffee and the danishes, but Truby, man, his eyes are wide open, going, 'This is amazing!' The three of us looked at him and I said, 'You know what, dog? You're right. This is amazing.'""
