POD, Randy Stonehill & MxPx

RANDY STONEHILL - this is the most recent interview we have done and, to date, the furthest back we have gone. Randy is genuinely funny and great to talk to. You really get a sense that there was a "scene" starting to happen thru him telling stories. He also talked about the resistance he got from the start and how much it hurt and frustrated him. At one point he said he was about to give up and just go get a general market deal and he said he felt the Lord telling him that while he would have success, he would never have peace.

MxPx - we caught up with them at Cornerstone and they were very open and honest about the business. They talked about getting more flack from Christians than from non-Christians and their hope that Christian music would be good enough to co-exist along side all music. They made no conscious attempt to "cross over" they just made music they liked. There was some pretty frank talk about the corruption in the Christian music industry, not anyone specific but just the general feeling of exploitation. They are not bitter about anything and they seems very positive about the future.

SONNY SANDOVAL (P.O.D.) - First off, for a guy who looks like he could probably beat up most professional wrestlers, Sonny is a soft-spoken, articulate, mesmerizing Teddy Bear. I think Sunny vs Jeremy Camp would be a pretty sweet battle but...that is another movie. Though it is not as pertinent to the overall story of this film, Sunny has a powerful and amazing testimony about his mother's death and conversion to Christianity.

Many people dont realize that POD toured in a van for 7 years before the release of their big record, which hit the stores on 9/11. Sunny talked of the resistance from both sides, especially before they had mainstream success. He even recanted stories of people flipping them off in the shape of a cross. POD is really a band that helped tear down the wall of perception about what Christian music is and what it can be. Sunny also talked quite a bit about the influence of a band called "The Crucified" which is a band that comes up REPEATEDLY in these interviews. Sunny said he went to their shows even before he was a Christian because they were so good. More about them later...