For P.O.D., it all begins with love and inspiration, heart and motivation. Hailing from the palm-lined mean streets of San Diego’s Border-abutting southern-most section, Marcos, Sonny, Traâ, and Wuv bring it all to bear on their Atlantic Records debut, “THE FUNDAMENTAL ELEMENTS OF SOUTHTOWN.” Located just across from Tijuana, P.O.D.’s Southtown stomping grounds inform the album’s every beat, providing its emotional back drop, pulse, and sense of urgency. Produced by Howard Benson (Less Than Jake, Sepultra, Motorhead) and mixed by Chris Lord-Alge (Hole, Green Day, Suicide Machines, Rob Zombie), the multi-faceted ‘THE FUNDAMENTAL ELEMENTS OF SOUTHTOWN’ likewise reflects the culturally diverse background of it's four members and the rich musical soundtrack of their SoCal hometown.

Put The Needle On The Record

Effortlessly combining a love of hip-hop, reggae, jazz and Latin music’s within their own unyielding penchant to push rock to its extreme, the band moves with ease from track to track – housing each shifting genre under their own stylistic roof. In instilling songs with tales of life experience and on overarching spirituality, the band applies their brand of street knowledge and a plea for inner-strength to the booming ‘Southtown’ while playing Jah respect on the flavourful reggae jam of ‘Set Your Eyes To Zion’. At the same time, the crashing ‘Tribal’ and ‘Lie Down’ see P.O.D. stretched out beyond emotional and sonic limits.

“We never wanted to create the idea that we’re a metal band or that we’re a rapmetal band or that we’re in any category,” says mic man Sonny. “When you break everything down, there are so many different elements to it. Do you love reggae music, hip-hop, jazz ? That’s what it comes down to. I know this music is heavy and it’s loud…but it’s all groove.”

“We’ve been playing with all those different sounds from day one,” adds drummer Wuv. “We like that Bad Brains feel – where you can try anything. They were one of the first bands to bust hardcore, punk, and reggae. And that was dope.”

“We play what we feel,” states Marcos, a life-long debotee of Carlos Santana. “If that hard, one-chord song feels great, then we’ll play that. If it’s the softer Latin song, we’ll play that.”

Recorded at The Gallery studios in Sherman Oaks, California, ‘Southtown’ slides seamlessly from the thundering ‘Hollywood’, propelled by Traâ’s booming rhythms, to the explosive ‘Lie Down’. With the roaring first single, ‘Outkast’, the quartet speaks from experience as they reach out to alienated youth –‘’The Underground Dwellaz’ –with a topical rallying cry: “I’m an outkast but don’t count me out”. At the same time, P.O.D. brings a new perspective and unexpected edge to U2’s ‘Bullet The Blue Sky’ after getting loose with the crazy swinging soiree jam of the ripping ‘Rock The Party (Off The Hook)’.

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