P.O.D.’s Sonny Sandoval Discusses Memoir, Personal Faith + More

“I just kind of started it to see what would happen.”

P.O.D. frontman Sonny Sandoval joined Loudwire Nights on Tuesday (Feb. 18) to discuss the upcoming release of his memoir, Son of Southtown: My Life Between Two Worlds. Listen to the full conversation in the player near the end of this article.

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.

READ MORE: Lamb of God’s Mark Morton Says He Wrote Memoir on a Dare

“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.”

What Else Did P.O.D.’s Sonny Sandoval Discuss on Loudwire Nights?

• 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.”

Listen to the Full Interview in the Podcast Player Below

Sonny Sandoval joined Loudwire Nights on Tuesday, Feb. 18; the show replays online here, and you can tune in live every weeknight at 7PM ET or on the Loudwire app; you can also see if the show is available on your local radio station and listen to interviews on-demand.