“When Dimebag Darrell (Abbot, Pantera guitarist) was killed (in Dec. ‘04), that shook him up one day, and Marcos reached out and just called his friends. Later, we had bumped into him off and on in the streets of San Diego, and back around Halloween he called just to see if we could get together and have dinner and hang out.”

Unbeknownst to Marcos, or anyone outside P.O.D.’s inner circle, Marcos’ replacement for two albums, Jason Truby (from Christian metal band Living Sacrifice), was feeling a need to be home with his family in Arkansas. In spirited synchronicity, Truby is said to have quit on the same day that Marcos asked to return. “We got back together to jam,” says Sonny, “We amped Marcos up, and like the saying goes, it just felt like an old comfortable shoe.”

And critics and fans have been feeling the same way, he notes. “The comment we’ve been hearing the most from longtime friends and fans is that this is the record that was supposed to follow Satellite. It’s just natural with Marcos. I love Jason; he’s an awesome guy, an awesome guitar player, but their styles are different. We’re from San Diego, and Marcos has that flavor of our neighborhood, and his ethnic background, so he’s just a different guitar player; and that changes how we sound and what we do.”

The sound, artistry and attitude on Dance reveals the maturity of this fine band. “We are grown men now. We started P.O.D. 16 years ago, so there may be some of that same punk rock attitude, but we’re not going to play the same music we did back on Southtown. These guys are growing as musicians, and they’re getting better all the time. We want to grow as we’re going along, getting older. We don’t want to make the same record now that we did back when we were teenagers.”

But if anything holds P.O.D. together these days, if anything suggests that they have a long future still ahead of them, it’s the band’s ongoing relationship with their fans. “These days you can’t count on radio. You can’t count on the label to do the right marketing, but we have always been able to count on the Warriors to buy our music, put up posters, spread the word about the band with the most powerful tool out there—word of mouth.”

These days, technology makes it possible for fans to call or text Sonny, and he’s been known to start the week by texting a blessing out to P.O.D.’s entire fan-base, reminding them that they are God’s beloved children, and that they are loved and appreciated. CCM

To learn more about P.O.D., visit their artist page.