P.O.D.

P.O.D. - Reaching for the Spirit in the Sky
By Troy Schmidt

HardRock.com: I was just looking on the web and you type in P.O.D. and three thousand entries come up. You guys are huge.
Marcos: Yeah man, it's kind of hard because when you're on the road it's hard to see that. An analogy I use is like you're in the middle of a storm, like a hurricane, and it's nice and calm in the eye of the storm, but once you venture out a little bit you notice. Like when I go home for a couple of weeks, that's when I realize how big we've gotten because I can't go to the store, I can't go places. On the road we're always on the bus or something, or at a venue…it's kind of cool.
HardRock.com: What's your favorite backstage snack?
Marcos: I like pastries. It's bad, it is. I haven't had pastries in a while because I'm trying to cut down. You know what I like? A donut. I like mini-fritters, Boston creams, and eclairs. I like them all, man.
HardRock.com: Is that your reward after a show?
Marcos: No, I try not to eat after a concert. I eat like two hours before if I can, cause you end up puking on stage.
HardRock.com: You have an unusual name—P.O.D.—Payable on Death. What's going to be payable on death?
Marcos: Well it originated when Wuv and me were in a thrash band named Eschatos, which is the study of eschatology. It was real hard stuff. We formed a new group and Sonny got in the band, Traa joined the band and we were like, "What should we call the band? What should we call this band?" "Something cool man, something real cool." His wife, who was his fiancée at the time, was like, "How about P.O.D.? I work at a bank, it's a banking term for payable on death." We were like, "Well how could we use that to fit us? We were like payable on death? Payable on death means to us that Christ died on the cross so that we could have eternal life. If you accept that, it was payable on death that he did die so you can have eternal life.
HardRock.com: You guys had a hard background. Wuv's dad was a drug dealer. You've seen a lot out in the streets of San Diego. Was there a big turnaround in your life?
Marcos: I guess for anyone that chooses to have faith and believe in God it's some kind of turnaround in their life. I don't know. It's different for each individual, but for us it was all different. We all came from the same area, but it was different how we came to know God, you know what I mean? I guess the majority of people have some rough spots in their lifetime and you've just got to know how to overcome it. I would say I had the average nowadays—which is sad—the average divorced family. My dad wasn't around. My mom brought me up. I'm Hispanic and there's a lot of Hispanic gangs where we come from. I really fell in love with music, which was actually a thing that kept me out of that kind of stuff. I had friends that were in jail, or they're still in jail serving life sentences for killing somebody or dealing drugs. My aunt's in prison right now for dealing, and it's not something that I'm really proud of. I don't think anyone who's in the ghetto necessarily wants to be there. There is that pride of wanting to be like, "I'm ghetto, I'm bad," but if they were given the opportunity, I would say almost 99% of those people would [leave]. Basically we're blessed because we've been playing music and we're actually making a good living at it right now, but we went through some hard times as a band where we'd come home starving and broke. As far as having hard times, we all have them but we're all just so happy to be thankful for what we have. From the smallest thing to the biggest thing, we're just blessed.
HardRock.com: Is it tough being a band with Christian beliefs and to be out here on the music circuit—on the tour and seeing all the things you see?
Marcos: You know, it's tough now because you're in the public eye, you sell a million records, and people tend to put you in the spotlight more. You always have tons of opinions from people who actually believe the same way as you but they don't understand why we're doing this or why we did this, so you get ridiculed a lot. So there are the pressures of that and then there are the pressures of the non-Christians not diggin' it. But it's not really the non-Christians. They' re kind of like, "It's good music, I like it, it's cool, it's positive, it's not hurting people." It's more of the Christian church not understanding what we do. And I mean as far as being in the circuit, a lot of people disagree with us saying, "Why did you guys play at Ozzfest? Why did you guys play at the Hard Rock Cafe?" because it's not in the church or something. Hey man, that's what we do, you know? That's what we've been doing since we started, you know. When we started we didn't know there was a Christian scene. It just so happened that there was, and it embraced us and we were like "Well cool man." But we played shows with Green Day, Cypress Hill, and Bad Brains back in the day, before we even got popular. Those were signs that, that is what we wanted to be. That's where we're at now and a lot of people think, "Oh, they're bigger, they sold out." That's not the case at all, man. We're still the same band that we were. We've grown a lot and we're learning how to use wisdom. Wisdom will give you long life in whatever you do—your marriage, your relationships with other people. As a band, if we use wisdom this band will succeed.
HardRock.com: Do you think there are a lot of bands trying to hide the fact that they're of the Christian faith?
Marcos: There's a couple. I don't know, I mean for us we're never gonna hide it. We're not ashamed of what we stand for. But there's bands out there that don't think they need to do that and that's where they're at. I can't judge them for that. I'll just look at them and say, "Well dude, I'm not gonna hold it against you because that's where you're at with God. We're at a totally different place than you are so I'm not gonna look down on you because you're that way." If anything I'm here to be an example. That's what we do, we're not here to cast anything out or throw stuff at people and bash them. We're here to be an example—on-stage, off-stage. That's what we do. That's how come we've had a lot of opportunities to gain a lot of friends like Korn and all these different secular bands. When I see Korn or when I see different bands I don't walk in and go, "Hey man I'm gonna save you right now." Do you know what I mean? It's not like that. I want them to know that I'm real. That's the misperception of Christians, that once they see you, they're just going to run in and start bashing you over the head. A lot of that happens, too, so that's why a lot of people have a bad taste in their mouth about that. For us, we just go in there with love and we say, "Hey man." Then they ask the questions: "So I heard you guys are kind of like this or like that," and we're like, "Yeah, we are, man. It doesn't really seem like it, but yeah, we're just kickin' it dude. I don't do the same things you do, but I'm just here to tell you that God loves you." That's it. That's what we're all about.
HardRock.com: Can you say positive things and have an aggressive sound? Do you think people hear that or do they just hear the aggression and miss the positive message?
Marcos: Music is way, way underestimated as far as power goes, because if you don't have good music no one is going to care about you. Know what I mean? If we were a sorry band kids would not want to come see us play or listen to us. But since God has gifted us with knowing what's out there or how to play the stuff that's out, which wasn't mainstream for a long time, I think a lot of people are listening to what we have to say. Bob Marley was a great musician as far as reggae went, so people listened to him. As far as us being positive, people are listening because we've gained the respect musically, cause they wouldn't care other than that they'd say, "You're just another Joe. Why do I want to listen to you?" But since we do pick up guitars, which isn't special, but if we do pick up the guitar and do our best at it I think people respect that and they do choose to listen. So we're glad we've been blessed with everything we have.
HardRock.com: Do you think some people are fed up with hate lyrics?
Marcos: Yeah.
HardRock.com: Do you think they're turning to more positive message bands?
Marcos: I think nowadays, yeah. I think there's only so much you can sing about sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll, or partying. That's why we wrote our party song, which is like we can still party in a good way and still have a good moral foundation and still have a great time but still rock the joint like anyone else. So that's what we come from, as a band.
HardRock.com: You know you've made it when you're playing the Hard Rock Cafe.
Marcos: Oh yeah, I mean it's cool. I don't even know…what is making it? Making it in a sense is just having more people hear your music, people who wouldn't normally go out and get it. It's just kind of weird and if they can get something positive out of it then we're stoked man, fully.
HardRock.com: What are you reading right now, what type of books?
Marcos: Right now my wife has been with me on the road...
HardRock.com: She reads to you?
Marcos: Well I read the Bible on a daily basis. As far as books, I'm not reading anything at this moment.
HardRock.com: What do you think people are looking for these days?
Marcos: Inner peace. But they think that they can fill that void with a lot of different things that fall majorly short of their expectations. Sex, drugs, they think, "Wow!" You do this for a little while and it makes you happy at the time but then you examine yourself and you realize there is no inner peace. That's what P.O.D. has found—inner peace, and I think that is why a lot of kids are taking a liking to our music and what we stand for. A lot of times people think that what we stand for is what they see on TV as far as evangelists, or they think corporate or big denominational churches or religion as a big whole. We're just trying to tell people it's all about just having a one-on-one relationship with God, you know, straight up.
HardRock.com: If Jesus came back while you were on stage what song would you want to be singing?
Marcos: "Set Your Eyes to Zion." Yeah, heck yeah.
HardRock.com: Do you think adversity or prosperity is easier to handle?
Marcos: They both have their pros and cons. They're about the same for me because hard times I try to handle with a grain of salt, like I do in good times. I don't take anything for granted and I don't take anything too lightly, so it's like I'm in the middle. I'm just like, "Thank you." We're blessed now. I'm grateful for that but if we weren't selling any records I'd still play because I love to play music. It's not for the almighty dollar but it is nice to get paid to do what you do, especially when you're married.
HardRock.com: What is the worst day gig that you've ever had—one of those trying-to-get-by type of jobs?
Marcos: Taco Bell. I worked at Taco Bell for a year or two.
HardRock.com: Tell me you washed your hands every time you went in the bathroom.
Marcos: Yeah, yeah. It was mandatory at the one I worked at, but there was some stuff that went on that you'd say, "Wow!"
HardRock.com: Oh, no!
Marcos: Not bad…not really bad…not like super bad, no, no. At Taco Bell it's really hard because people can see you make your tacos from the outside. The worst thing I ever saw happen I think was someone dropped a taco and picked it up and wrapped it up and still...but that's about it you know. We had a food fight once—got written up—the whole deal.
HardRock.com: Do you hate Taco Bell now?
Marcos: You know, it's not my favorite, but being Mexican-American born in America just knowing what real Mexican food tastes like, I'm like, "Well that's cool." The good thing about Taco Bell is the price. Two dollars—you eat like a king, and I'm all about that.
HardRock.com: The motto at Hard Rack Cafe is "Love All Serve All." What does that mean to you?
Marcos: "Love All Serve All," to me that's what P.O.D. is all about. You don't treat anyone differently because of their status or what they've done. You just treat them the same and love them the same. We're here to be servants, man, straight up. When we can we try to help as much as we can. We do a benefit concert once a year back in San Diego to benefit the homeless, and we don't charge to get in. The only requirement is that you bring a blanket, a canned food, or some rice. At the last concert there were so many people we couldn't fit them in the venue and there was a mountain of food. Our country is busy worrying about other stuff in the world but we have our own people to take care of. We're going to try to do a little bit, you know. You've gotta love all, man. Homeless or not—rich or poor—you love them all. I don't look down on anybody that's rich. If they're rich I say they're blessed. If they're poor I say they're blessed too for the little bit they have.