In this interview, P.O.D.'s Sonny Sandoval celebrates his new memoir, 'Son of Southtown,' discusses his personal faith and what's ahead for his band.
P.O.D.'s Sonny Sandoval Discusses Memoir, Personal Faith
As the title of the book suggests, Sandoval writes about his life being a Christian and a rock star.
"As you kind of read through the book, I never intended to be in rock," Sandoval told host Chuck Armstrong.
"I never intended to do this for a living. It just wasn't until I found my faith that I wanted to be vocal about it. I wanted the people around me to know that I changed and that my love for Jesus, it's not what the world thinks, you know what I mean?"
Whether it's in his music or his memoir, for Sandoval, it's important that those who are listening or reading understand where he's coming from when he talks about his love for Jesus.
"We've done such a bad job at painting the picture of Jesus — and that's our own fault," he explained.
"We come off as we got it all figured out and that's not the case. That's not why we have faith. We need it. We need a God and when I discovered Jesus, it was just something I wanted for my friends and my community."
Sandoval said when he was asked to be in a band, he initially said no because it wasn't what he wanted to do.
"But I knew it was a way to be vocal about the things that I believed and it obviously took off to what it is."
As Sandoval talked about his life in the world of rock and roll, he admitted it hasn't always been easy to grasp the idea of the afterlife that his beliefs promise."But that's what faith is, you know," he admitted.
"I think it's been wrapped up in such a religious bubble that it's given people such a bad taste ... I'm not preaching to anybody, but if there is an afterlife, I want to be on the right side. That's all."
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What led him to write Son of Southtown: "It all kind of happened during COVID. We all had some time on our hands, so I got some things done. I was able to record some solo songs and start writing this book."
Why he agrees with Serj Tankian that it's harder to write and release a book than an album: "Writing it, my intention was to be gracious because there are a lot of people in the book that I don't want to point fingers at. I don't want to talk down on anybody."
What it means to him to have friends like Brian "Head" Welch and Jacoby Shaddix endorse Son of Southtown: "That's everything. That has always been my heart's intent because I love all those guys and I've been walking with all those guys for so long."
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