Give them a few more weeks, and they will be big, really big. Listen to their single "Alive" and then to the new record "Sattelite" (Out on Feb. 11), and you will know why: This band has the talent to combine unbelievably catchy tunes and refrains with some ass-kicking kind of heavy guitar-riffing. Of course, in some moments the record seems to sound a little bit too clean, a little bit to mass-orientated. But unlike a band as Linkin Park, where you get never rid of the feeling that some guy behind the scenes is wiriting all the music, POD seem to be for real - these guys stand behind the things they do, and they do it really good. The following interview wasn't actually done by us, instead it was provided by POD's record company eastwest. But as there are a lot of quite interesting statements concerning the band and the record (and as I am really in love with "Sattelite"), we decided to present you the best parts of this interview with Sonny, singer of the new NU-Metal-Stars:


From the homepage to the title and the artwork, there seems to be quite a thoughtful concept behind ´Satellite´. How comes?

Well, we kind of had the concept of the CD cover before we did the title of the album, you know, but 'Satellite' it was a song on the album and because the last album was such a tongue twister, you know, it was so long, so we thought we keep it simple with a one word title, you know, and we had taken photos for the album and some of the music that we were writing we thought had an atmosphere type of vibe and so we wanted to keep it simple and so we called it SATELLITE.

In the past your lyrics have been very therapeutical whereas you seem to be more positive now. Is that right?

I would hope so, but as far as our genre of music, I mean, it's still the same chaos, it's still the same, you know, especially with heavy music, you know, it's either the sex, drugs and rock'n'roll or now I guess, what I was saying earlier, there is a lot more pity in rock'n'roll, there's a lot more pathetic "I'm this, I'm that" and there's a lot of complaining in rock'n'roll these days, but it kinda just feeds a demand, so people tend to write that way, but for us it's like where we come from and what we're about and we don't wanna whine about things, we wanna make it through. We don't wanna stay in that state of mind where we're just: "Oh", you know, we're like: "Let's continue, let's carry on".

And you're not wearing a mask?

No, we just wanna be as real as possible, you know, we're the same on stage as off, you know what I mean? There's no gimmick, we go up, we play our hearts out and right after that we're outside hanging out with kids and talking about real things, you know, like yesterday they had to come get me and put me on the bus, it's like we're out there and we're not even talking about music, you know what I mean, you know, we're not even talking about the new album, we're just talking about life, normal things, you know, things that people go through on a daily basis, you know, I rather just be real and normal with people, you know, not like: "Oh, Sonny, he's in POD, he's a rock star". No, that's not me.

So there as many fake Satanists as fake Christians out there?

Oh yeah, I mean, especially in entertainment, you know, whether it's movies, whether it's art or it's music, you know, it feeds a demand and so people cater to that for attention, for music sales, but even the industry, the "Christian industry", you know, there's people that grew up in that, so they make music and they think it's like a job: "Hey, I make Christian music for a living" or "I'm in this industry", but for us, you know, we never wanted to use our faith as a marketing tool or a marketing scheme, because honestly we think that puts us in a box, you know, we don't wanna put ourselves in a box, we don't want the industry to put us in a box, you know, like: "Hey they're a Christian type of group", because than it's like we limit ourselves to people of the same belief or of the same faith, but for us it's like no, we write music for anybody that would listen to it and it's just us, you know, it's POD, it's what we are as people and our faiths, our beliefs, that's what helps us on a daily basis and we're not trying to throw it upon you, it's like: "This is us" and it seems like people made a big thing of it, but it's like at the same time I'm not ashamed of what I believe in, I'll talk about it with anybody and if someone wants to know, cool, but I think, you know, it's not your norm for this music and this style of business.

But you must be used to misperceptions by now, or?

Yeah, on both sides though, you know, either if it's the Christian industry and you're not Christian enough, you know, if it's on the secular side of things you're too Christian for us, it's too much, but for us it's like we're not trying to be religious people, you know, this is us, we could hang out, we could do whatever, we can be normal people, this is just something, you know, I know for us four that we need in our lives to just balance us out, 'cause if not than we'd be all over the place, you know, we'd be firecrackers.

Also, you´ve been rewarded as a metal band right from the start - which you´re obviously not.

Yeah, but everybody's got a category for you, you know, whether it's rap rock, it's rap core, rap metal, nu-rap or nu-rock, but ten years ago they were comparing us to Suicidal Tendencies or someone like who was it Body Count, because Ice-T was a rapper and he did his punk stuff, and then when Rage Against the Machine came up they were like: "Oh, you guys are like Rage Against the Machine", you know, who else, I think it was Korn: "Oh you're like Korn", Limp Bizkit: "Oh, you're like Limp Bizkit", whatever. Someone's gonna come up next year, some overnight success band and we're gonna be like them next year, you know, we just do our thing.

There's a quote that you'd rather be compared to U2 than being called a metal band. Also, you have played that U2-song ("Bullet In The Blue Sky") for ages, haven´t you?

Yeah, we would just play that for ourselves, you know, or whether it was live or during practise, soundcheck, just for fun, but I think when we finally laid down our demos: "Yeah, that sounds pretty cool" and then the producer heard it and was like:" Let's put it on the album". But we never wanted to use that to put us in a market place, you know, or use it as a single to get somewhere, that was just an honour for us. The same thing with Eek-A-Mouse, HR on our new record, you know, that was just an honour for us to have someone as great as them, you know, what we believe as far as punk rock goes, as far as reggae goes, you know, to us they were legendary men of their time that we listened to when we were kids that inspired us and to this day we still listen to their albums and so , you know, by having them on our record wasn't a way to sell records or a scheme to sell records, because kids today, most of them don't know who they are. If we wanted to sell records that way we would have gone and asked somebody that's on the radio, someone that's popular right now, but we didn't wanna do that, you know, we didn't grow up listening to them, you know, the new bands of today that are happening right now, we didn't listen to them when we were growing up, we listened to Bad Brains, Eek-A-Mouse...

Who appear on the album, too...

Not only was it a respect thing, was it an honour for us to have them on the record, you know, but hopefully a 14-year-old kid will pick up a POD record and say: "Man, I like those two guys that are on there" and they're gonna go to the CD-store or the music store and find a whole new world, you know, from punk rock to reggae and they're gonna kinda get a sense of what we would listen to when we were kids and so it opens up a whole new music realm for them, and I hope it works.

Recording with HR must have been an experience, or?

Yeah, he's kind of like on his own little trip, you know, we've met him before and we've hung out before, you know, he's an awesome guy, you just kinda give him the space, you know, he's kinda out there, but he came in, he remembered us and he had his long head dress, he kinda looked like Haile Selassie, real calm, but we never knew that he was gonna do the song, we just kinda invited him to come check it out, and he heard the track, you know, we weren't even finished with the song, just rough cuts and he was like: "I wanna do this, I wanna do it now" and we were like: "Well, we haven't really written the lyrics yet" and he's like: "Just tell me what it's about", and he went in and did like five takes, we kept the best one and it worked out, you know, he brought his own little set of birds in a cage, you know, I went to go sit down and talk to him, and I didn't see the birds, I just heard birds tripping and I was kinda looking around and I thought maybe the door was open and some birds flew in, so I said: "Who's birds?" and his manager said: "That's HR's birds" and he moves out the way and there's two parakeets sitting in the cage and I didn't ask any question, I was like: "Alright, cool, you do your thing, I'm sure there's a reason. I just don't wanna know".

As you seem to be comfortable with any style out there, except for country. Is that the limit?

Yeah, I'm not really a big country fan, but that's not to say that I've never heard like any country songs, you know and I was like: "Wow, that's good, I like that", but for us, you know, we've always been fans of reggae music and hip hop, all the way from jazz to punk rock and even to old school metal, not necessarily myself but Marcos is an old-school-metal-fan and we've always had a love for this music and when we get together we just kinda tended to blend it together, you know, we never wanted to force it or squish it together, if it felt good and flowed and it felt fun to play we were like: "Cool", you know, even ten years ago it wasn't a popular music at the time and now there's a dozen bands out there that are into rap and rock, so it's like cool.

Isn't a song like 'Alive' by a band called POD the ultimate irony?

Exactly, especially from being the title Payable On Death, you know, our name, but I think even our name, you know, Payable on Death, we were always, you know, that was ten years ago and it was a hard name, it was a tough name but at the same time that Payable On Death means life to us, you know, it's not about death, it's not about anger, you know, it always meant life to us and being our belief in god, you know, it being our faith and the title, REIMISSIONS OF SINS, it's like we always believed that our faith in god is what would see us through this life and at the same time would give us life in this world, you know, and give us a new life, you know, and now 'Alive' is just everything that we've been through, you know, like the song says, we never take any day for granted and we're just happy to be alive right now, you know, and again, not every expecting anything like this to the current events, you know, 11.09., it's become such an encouraging song on such a broader scale, you know, but for us here we are, POD in our own little world, but now it's kinda like things are kinda spreading out a little bit and so it's good to see, you know, a lot of kids and people that come to our shows, you know, you see from a young kid just singing the song with everything that's within them and then you see some guy over here that's 400 pounds, 7 foot, tattooed, shaved head, you know, singing with the same intensity and the same heartfelt passion, you know, and it's a good feeling, you know, it's a real good feeling.

You had the oddest release date possible with this album: September, 11th. In fact, some of the lyrics read almost like a prophecy, don't they?

True. Even looking at that extreme, there's so much chaos in the world regardless and I think as far as America goes we haven't seen it first hand, but not ever expecting something so physical, you know, like to come to our country, you know, again, just from a small point of view of what we go through, but just knowing that the world we live in is crazy regardless, you know, it's crazy and so it's like not so unexpected even something like this even though it's drastic and huge, it's like what do you expect with all the little things that just add up to something like this, with all the things that we're so tolerant like within this world when it comes to, you know, whatever, anything, from Hollywood to entertainment to video games, movies, just we've become so numb to whether, you know, anything, from violence to murder to sex, you know, I look at things now that even movies that I have in my own DVD collection, you know, I look back and I go: "Wow, this is some violent stuff", I mean, I'm an adult of course, but it's like I would never want my nephews and my own daughter to see this stuff. I was watching an old movie and I basically saw the whole re-enactment of the Columbine shooting in a movie, you know, a guy comes in a classroom, trench coat, all black and I was like that's probably exactly what these kids were watching when they got the idea of like: "I'm gonna show them what's up".

But is censoring artists the right solution?

I think we've just gotten rid of the whole notion of even a it of responsibility, you know, there's one thing to be artistic and stuff, but you used to have a conscience about things and a heart about things, you know, even when it comes to music or rock 'n' roll. Well, it's cool, entertainment is one thing, but c'mon let's be decent in everything that we do, you know, you pick up stuff and that is just stuff that's like, you know, sometimes it's scary that it is so free, it's like, hey this country is giving you the freedom to do that and that is a beautiful thing in itself, but it's like you gotta understand, even when we come up and do our show, you know, you look up at the balcony tub and I see a six year old kid, you know, not that I use profanity in my daily speech anyway, but I'm not gonna get up there and throw my middle finger up and ask all the girls to show me all their stuff, you know, and cuss at the crowd when I see a six year old kid, but that's just because that's me and in my heart, you know, I'm trying to be a decent person, you know, that's the only instance I think we have left, you know, our young people and for me, you know, I have a little girl and I want more kids and I have nephews and I see what goes on, you know, just in my daily life within the industry, within this world alone and it's like, you know, I'm almost frightened for the kids of today, but I think everybody's kinda just thrown even a little bit of conscience out the window for entertainment purposes, for artistic freedom, for artistic value and it's like hey, you are free to do and say what you want, but you gotta keep in my mind everything, you know, not like: "This is me, this is my art", you know, like I said, in music they've just thrown out everything.

Do you mean we have to re-define our boundaries?

Well, it's almost like when do we cross? You know, I don't know. Was there ever a line? Did we cross it a long time ago? Did we cross it too soon? Should we ever have crossed it? But the same person or the same laws that, you know, if we're talking music, now I don't wanna mention artist's name or entertainer's names, but it´s like you listen to stuff and it's just blatant, you know, whether it's about killing you or raping you, whether it's about disrespecting you, it's like that's not the world that I wanna live in, but unfortunately I do, but so, yeah, I don't wanna sit back and say: "Thank god that you have the freedom to say that", because I'm like, no, in my world, I don't want you to say that, and I won't let you say that to my little girl who's sitting right there. I won't let you say that, but again, you do have the freedom to say that, but also I have the freedom as a human being and as a person who's trying every day to be good, you know, to be better and as a father, as a husband I have the right to look out and try and take care of what I believe in, you know, again it's like I said, you think it's entertainment, you think it's whatever, but there's so much more that encourages that, you know, we think: "Oh that's so artistic in the way they deliver that", but dude, honestly from behind the scenes a lot of it is about money.

They're feeding a demand and they just care about selling some records, you know, it's not like you have the biggest story tellers in music and they're talking about the drugs and the gangs and this and that and they've never been a part of that, they've never experienced that in their life, but all that being creative by writing and talking about it. It's like: "Man, you've never lived that, you don't know what it means to do that, what it is to be like that, but you should talk a lot about it in your lyrics", you know, you're the big boogieman in your lyrics, you know, and it's like, so whatever, from my angle it like you have the freedom to say that, but don't say it around me, I don't wanna hear it and I don't want my kids to hear that stuff. I'm not trying to take nothing away from anybody, because I get the same thing when I come from the opposite end and it's like, you know, I mention god in my lyrics, I mention love in my lyrics, I mention hope and faith in my lyrics and all of a sudden people are like: "You can't say that. You can't push that down my throat", so it's like a tugawar, we're on opposite ends, somebody can go out and scream: "Murder, hate, Satan, evil" and on the same hand, when POD is totally different and I think we get more slack than people that go out and say the opposite, but whatever. I guess if I have the right to say what I want to say, at least I hope I do, you know, I mean, I can't tell you how many times we've been censored for all kinds of stuff and here we are, you know, we're trying to be good guys and we get censored and we get told: "You can't say that". Even our live video, I don't know if you've seen it on MTV, but it was like just real. It was surrounded a car crash accident and yet we had to re-do it because of MTV and it's like: "Wait a minute, you allow all this violence, strippers, people doing whatever and yet you're gonna censor something that we did that is just real?". I mean, we're not encouraging people to go out and get into an accident, it's just real, you know, it's what it is, it was more life like than anything, but yet you can turn on MTV and your mind can be blown away or you can just get that on regular TV.

You've got this song 'Ghetto' which basically says "if we only except each other, we can happy live next to each other in peace. No matter what you religion we belong to."

A: Well, my thing is, honestly I believe in love, I believe that god is love, whether you're different, whether it's culture, whether it's where you're from, you know, we don't have to agree, you know, we're not gonna see eye to eye on everything, this is the bottom line, but everybody knows, hopefully everybody knows what it's like to be in love or to love somebody or to be loved by somebody, you know, I hope to god that no one doesn't know that feeling, whether it's from a mother or father, whether it's from a loved one, whether it's your own children, your best friend, even someone from Saddam Husein or bin Laden, they have people that they love, you know, there is somebody that they love and so it's like even if it's there, it's like it's gotta be there, so I mean, our point of view is like: "man, if we can dwell on that", you know, it's like maybe we can get somewhere, maybe we can realise that we all have a soul, we're all people and we could relate our whole, you know, even like I said on the whole song, you know, our thing was like man, if we could just meet at that place of love then it'll be OK, but for our thing, you know, another bible text tells us that if we would treat one another like we would treat ourselves and one day I was thinking about that and I was like in our frame of mind though, it's like we as people were the most selfish living creatures out there, so it's like such a bold statement, it's like: "Wait a minute, I'm number one here, you know, me myself I'm number one and if I would treat you like I would treat myself, god, we would live in a whole different world", because I would be treating you like I would take care of myself and no one is more important than number one here, you know, that's our mentality and it's like again if we would, you know...

Tito Wiesner