| While the exact date of formation remains unknown, friends Marcos Curiel and Wuv Bernardo engaged in jam sessions without a vocalist sometime in the early 90s. After his mother's fatal illness, Sonny Sandoval converted to Christianity; he joined P.O.D. in late 1991 or early 1992. Traa Daniels joined the band in 1994 when they needed a bassist for a concert, to replace Gabe Portillo, who appeared in the original demo tape of 1992.
P.O.D. signed with a relatively unknown Christian label, Rescue Records, and released albums under the label between 1994 and 1997, Snuff the Punk (1994) and Brown (1996). In 1997, they released an album of live recordings from the Tomfest festival. In 1998, they signed with Atlantic Records, which brought the mass-media coverage that self-production would not bring.
Prior to the release of their first major album The Fundamental Elements of Southtown, P.O.D. released The Warriors EP, a tribute EP to their loyal fans. This limited edition CD has only 30,000 copies in print and was licensed by Atlantic Records and distributed by Tooth & Nail Records.
P.O.D.'s 1999 mainstream debut album, The Fundamental Elements of Southtown, spawned the hits "Southtown" and Total Request Live favorite "Rock the Party." At a time after the album, "School of Hard Knocks" was featured on the soundtrack for Little Nicky. All three music videos enjoyed heavy play on MTV2 and the songs were rock radio hits. The album went on to become RIAA certified platinum.
In 2001, on the same day as the September 11, 2001 attacks, P.O.D. released the video for their fourth studio album, Satellite. The album's first single, "Alive," already a rock radio hit, went on to become one of MTV's and MTV2's #1 played video of the year. The video's popularity, as well as the song's positive messages to be grateful for life, helped the song become a huge pop radio hit.
The album's second single, "Youth of the Nation," was influenced in part by the school shootings at Santana High School, Columbine High School and Granite Hills High School. The 2002 singles "Boom" and "Satellite" also became very popular. Also, the concluding track of the album, "Portrait" received a number of awards including a Grammy nomination for Best Metal Performance in 2002. The album went on to become RIAA-certified triple platinum.
In 2003, guitarist Marcos Curiel left the band due to his side project, The Accident Experiment and "spiritual differences." However, Marcos claims that he was actually kicked out of the band (see his article). Curiel was replaced by Jason Truby, former member of Christian thrash/death metal band Living Sacrifice. In the same year they released their third mainstream album, Payable on Death. This album went on to sell over 1,000,000 copies worldwide. It featured the hits "Will You" and "Change the World".
Sometime after the tsunami in Asia, many singers, musicians, and actors/actresses recorded a song called "Forever in Our Hearts." It is only obtainable on iTunes, and features many well known artists including Sonny and Wuv from P.O.D. All procedes from this song go to help with the tsunami relief.
On November 15, 2005, P.O.D. released The Warriors EP, Volume 2 as a tribute to their many fans. It features some demos from their sixth album Testify, as well as two live tracks, two b-sides, and a cover version of the 1980s Payolas reggae hit, "Eyes of a Stranger." It was produced by the up and coming Travis Wyrick.
Testify was slated for a December 2005 release, but was pushed back to January 24, 2006. The first single released from the album was "Goodbye for Now," with another new song called "Lights Out" being featured as the "official theme song" to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE)'s Survivor Series pay-per-view event in November 2005. Their album was also available in the "Testify (Limited Edition)" version with a bonus CD featuring commentary by the band on every song on the album, as well as 4 bonus songs and a remix that didn't make the album. The album's first single, "Goodbye for Now," went on to become the #1 video on MTV's TRL and became P.O.D.'s unprecedented 4th #1 video. The song also enjoyed heavy play on the radio. The album became the #1 selling Christian Album on Billboard for weeks and as of May 2006 had been in the Top 25 for a total of 16 weeks.
In another contribution to WWE, the band's single, "Boom", was used as the opening theme for WWE's return show of Saturday Night Main Event and at WrestleMania 22 they performed fellow San Diego native Rey Mysterio's theme song "Booyaka 619". Mysterio debuted the studio recording of this song as his entrance theme on the May 5 edition of "SmackDown!".
P.O.D.'s hits, "Alive" and "Boom" have also been sports anthems used by ESPN and other sporting events. P.O.D. performed live on national network television for the 2006 New Year celebration in Times Square.
P.O.D. have wrapped up their American tour called the "Warriors Tour 2: Guilty by Association" which began in April, to promote their latest album. Bands on the bill included Christian rockers Pillar, metalcore band The Chariot, and Southern metalers Maylene and the Sons of Disaster.
On August 11, 2006, P.O.D. announced in their online newsletter that they have left Atlantic Records. The newsletter reads: "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 September 16, 2006, P.O.D. announced that they have teamed up with Rhino Records to release a greatest hits record simply titled, Greatest Hits: The Atlantic Years. It is 17 tracks long, featuring songs from their 7 million record career including many of the band's hit singles, as well as 2 new songs. One being an unreleased track from the Testify sessions titled "Here We Go", the other being a brand new single titled "Going in Blind". They have shot a music video for "Going In Blind" recently in Los Angeles. The collection was released on November 21. More importantly, they also mentioned that they have been taking meetings with various record labels, and are working on new material for an album they hope to release in mid 2007. They also performed on the recent New Years Eve episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live.
On December 20, 2006, P.O.D. announced that Marcos Curiel, their former guitarist, is rejoining the band. This announcement came via email to their fans, the Warriors. Rumored for several months, Marcos is back with the band and working with them on their new album. Their first performance together in four years was on Jimmy Kimmel Live, New Year's Eve, 2006. It was expected following an announcement from P.O.D. that Marcos would reunite with the band for this concert. Sonny and Wuv are also working on a reggae album for their side project, Southtown Generals.
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