Touring the UK off the back of ace new album, circles, P.O.D. (along with brothers-in-arms Alien Ant Farm) sound invigorated, airing the majority of the new album over the course of a 90-minute set that saw the Birmingham Institute’s walls run with sweat. With a number of tunes set to supplant enduring anthem youth of the nation as firm fan favourites (not least radio, rockin’ with the best and always southern California) the band delivered a high energy blast of SoCal metal that left fans dazed and happy. We caught up with bassist Traa just before the show to find out more about what’s been happening in the P.O.D. camp and how the new album came together.
OK so the first question is that you guys came out with the album, circles, at the end of last year and I guess the title sort of implies the kind of musical journey – and the evolution of the band, is that right?
Yeah, you’ve kinda nailed it man. I think that was kinda what we wanted – we always try to leave a little bit in there for people’s imagination to put it together and figure it out, but I think the deal was actually just that. We’ve been together 27 years now and it’s how we’ve evolved and how we were… we went all the way around the world and came right back to square one; so, yeah, you hit it – you nailed it right on the nose man.
I remember when the band appeared and got really big at the tail end of the 90s / early 00s – and it felt like a really exciting time for music because, at that point, it felt like there was a lot of fusion between genres, but then things seem to get a lot more compartmentalised. Now, it seems like, I don’t know – it feels like the barriers are coming down again so it’s a really good time for you to be bringing this album out…
Yeah 100% man. The industry got really weird for us too, because, when we first came out, it seemed like bands were just a lot more creative. Everybody was experimenting and doing their thing; and everything sounded different and that’s what made the music industry so cool. But there was a time when everything just got whitewashed, or whatever you wanna call it… generic. Yah, everything got generic, so what I find is that, on this record, the temperature in the music industry just seems like it’s heading back to the people pushing the boundaries a little bit more. And in rock music, especially rock music, it kinda feels like it flatlined to me… especially in the United States of America. Bands just all kind of sounded the same so, it’s refreshing to see things heading back to that place.
One of the things I really enjoyed about the album is that it’s very dynamic. You’ve got some hard hitting heavy songs like Rockin’ with the best and then you get something much more chilled out – that kind of SoCal sound (as on always southern California) and that to me is really important because, when you get the heavy moments, it makes them kick a lot harder…
Absolutely man! If anybody knows POD – if you listen to old records, we’ve always infused a lot of different types of genres together and one of the really neat things about California is that it’s a melting pot of a lot of different types of sounds man. California is one of the few places you can go where you can hear a Filipino kid listening to heavy metal and hip hop and classical music and jazz – it’s all one huge thing, so with our band we’ve always tried to fuse those things together and that’s kind of been at the core of what POD has always been. But now maybe it just sticks out just a little bit more because I think it’s hard for bands to do that and for it to sound authentic. For us I think it is authentic because all 4 of us come from completely different genres.
There’s a nice call-back to your roots as well because of the album artwork with the sunrise and the California coastline – there seems to be a really nice heritage vibe going on there…
Definitely. You know, we’ve always considered ourselves a lifestyle band. I mean, where POD is from in San Diego; the San Diego culture and community is a large part of our make-up; of our DNA as a band, so of course we’re going to bring that influence into everything that we do. So, that whole album cover – the sun and the beach and, I don’t know whether you’ve noticed, but it’s like a coastline of California if you look at it. It looks like a smudge… it almost looks like water got on it; but really it’s the outline of California, so definitely the album represents home and where we’re from.
I think sometimes with heavy metal a there’s a perception that if it’s kinda positive, that it shouldn’t be taken as seriously as if it’s dealing with very heavy themes but obviously POD deals with social themes, just in a more positive manner…
I think some people have tried to push that on us – that we should feel that way, but I think that we are singing about real life issues and real life situations but, yes, in a positive way. But, you know, you can be heavy and you can be positive at the same time and a lot of times with bands that are more serious it’s just angst and attitude, you know what I mean. It’s like wearing a loud shirt! It’s kind of the same vibe for us, it’s just as serious, but we attach a positive message to it. I know people try to put that on us, but for us heavy music is an emotion. It’s a passion. It’s what you’re about and what you’re made of and that determines what’s heavy and not heavy, you know?
Totally, and I think that, at the moment, when there is quite a lot of darkness in the world (certainly here in England there’s a lot of division, and I think in America as well), it’s necessary to have bands who are willing to come out and put forward a positive message and give younger people something positive to latch onto…
Absolutely man. You know, we deal with a lot of negativity as individuals and as a band. People think that, just because we sing about positive things, we don’t have negative things happen in our lives – but we do, just like everybody else. It’s just that we choose not to dwell on that stuff so much and we think more towards the positive. We do have some songs that are dark, but we choose not to make that the theme of everything. That’s how we do it, and that’s pretty much it.
You got together with LA duo Heavy for this album – what did they bring to the process of creating the album?
It was awesome working with them! What I thought was really interesting about those guys is that those guys are young guys. They’re like in their twenties, you know, so they really have their finger on the pulse of what this generation right now is listening to. What we didn’t wanna do is we did not want to change what POD is and pretend like we’re 20-year-old guys, because we’re not. But with those dudes, what they brought to the table was kind of interesting because they didn’t try to change what we do.
I think the whole thing was that they took what we did and, I don’t know if you realise this or not, but having a good song or a great song is just a slight veer to the left or a slight veer to the right. Sometimes they just nudged us to the left just a little bit or made us think about things just a little bit differently. Their perspective is amazing and just working with Heavy was an amazing situation and an amazing experience that we had with those guys. That’s what they added to the band – they kind of took what we are already doing and they just nudged it just slightly to the right and to the left and added their spin to it. That’s what they bought to the songs.
So, when you approached Heavy, did you go to them with finished demos or did you create on the fly in the studios?
When we went there, I remember on the first night we went down me and Marcos my guitar player; and we went to go sit with those guys in the studio and I think the first song that we came up with was… I think radio was the first song… No, it wasn’t ‘radio’, it was ‘panic’ – you’ll hear it tonight. That was on the fly. We just sat there and we immediately got together and that just came out, so that was done on the fly. So, they added some stuff and we added some stuff, and it was just 4 guys sitting in a room collaborating man. Me, Marcos and the 2 guys from Heavy. So, yeah, we started out with that and then there were times when we bought bits and pieces to the album too. There are a few songs that we had some ideas already started, for example Marcos had a guitar riff and we just kind of expanded on it so you know it worked both ways.
The music world is notoriously kind of cliquey and difficult to navigate, but you guys have been a band for 26/27 years. You’ve held it together – do you think that longevity comes from the comradeship, the passion for the music or a bit of both?
It’s a bit of both, man. We have passion for each other – we’ve been together, like you said, for 27 years. We’re like best friends; sometimes we hate each other and sometimes we love each other to death. It’s just one of those kinds of things where we kind of… when you’re with someone as long as that, you have a chemistry with each other. I wouldn’t want to write with anyone else to be truthful. A lot of that drives it and keeps it going. Not only that, but we’ve invested our lives into each other and into this band and this family.
For me, and for a lot of people, seeing this kind of tour with you guys and Alien Ant farm is really exciting, not just because you guys are still together and playing, but because you have brand new material. You still have that creativity and I think it must be really exciting to put together a tour like this that represents music that’s been going for so long but still has that creative spark…
You know, Alien Ant Farm and us – we’re both blue colour bands. Alien Ant Farm and us… we’re blue colour working bands, so when Alien came out and they were doing their thing and we were doing our thing; we are all cut from that whole late 90s early 2000 kind of cloth. We’ve always been a fan of those guys and it’s amazing to be on the road with them. Just the diversity between what they do and what we do there’s nothing contrived about what they do and there’s nothing that’s cookie cutter about what they do. Alien does their thing and it’s special and POD does our thing and it’s special and it just works. And 68 – I don’t know if you’ve seen them but they are amazing. You’re gonna see them today. They’re two guys you know. We’ve got an interest and we’ve always wanted to promote individuality as musicians and as artists, man. It’s what music’s all about – the expression.
The last question I’ve got for you is that you recently signed a deal with mascot. For me they’re a great label. I’m a big fan of a lot of the artists on their roster and they’re one of the few labels who seem to really promote each band having their own ethos and being individuals. How did that deal come about and how do you think you’re going to move forward from here?
Mascot, I think had an eye on us and we had an eye on them. We were in between record labels and stuff like that… and you know we’ve always done well in Germany and in this area here. Mascot was one of those record labels that really showed an interest and really got what POD was about. They get the diversity they get the fact that we are individuals and eclectic and that we’ve got a little thing happening with this band. I appreciate that they are passionate about their artists and passionate about us as a band so I think it was just a union that was meant to happen. We love being over in Europe and the fact that there are European label as opposed to being an American label – it just works, man, so yeah it’s good. I’m glad we’re with those guys and I’m excited to see what the future is going to bring with Mascot.
Any final words for your UK fans?
Just thank you for all your support to all our UK fans – and for buying the records over the years and just for being part of this journey with us.
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