I specifically remember hearing POD.  It was 1998, and I was working at Tattoo Records.  We had just been bought by Zomba, and I was laid off on what became known as Black Monday.  I was out of work for five days until Benson/Zomba brought me back.  The label was being run by Jeff Moseley, who discovered Amy Grant.  He had an incredible ear. He just knew what was going to hit and what wasn’t.  We received a package (I think it was in a pizza box) from POD, who were independant and looking to get on with a major label.  Their package was amazing.  The VHS tape they included was of one their live shows, and it clearly showed how much their fans connected with them.  The band was reminiscent of Rage Against The Machine.  They had energy, they had power, they had … it.

While the sound was progressive, hard and moving, the lyrics were decidedly Christian.  The band started back in 1992 when two friends, Marcos Curiel (guitarist) and Wuv Bernardo (drummer) decided to get together and jam.  Wuv’s cousin Sonny Sandoval found Christ after seeing God in his dying mother’s eyes and joined the friends as a singer.  The recent conversion echoed in Sonny’s words.  After a couple of years in the garage they got a gig and set out looking for a bassist.  They found Traa Daniels and released three albums on their own label, Rescue Records, selling over 40,000 copies total. They were very focused on their goal, which was to expand their live performances outward from their home base in San Diego.

In 1998 they opted to look for mainstream distribution.  They were packing houses all around Southern California and beginning to generate a good deal of buzz. They sent out press kits to several labels. They were offered $100,000 by Essential Records, home to Jars of Clay who were having mainstream success with their latest record, but POD’s manager declined the offer.  He felt like his band could do better.  They eventually went with Atlantic, who released The Fundamental Elements of Southtown in 1999.

The Fundamental Elements of Southtown finally offered POD mainstream success.  Three singles blew up on that record: “Southtown”, “Rock The Party (Off The Hook)”, and eventually “School of Hard Knocks”.  It is a testament to the band’s ability to entertain that Atlantic didn’t change their Christ-centered lyrics at all, allowing phrases like “We came here to rock this jam/Spread His love is the master of plan” or “You kept me straight, When times got hard/So let me reminisce over you my God”. MTV played all three videos in heavy rotation, they joined the Ozzfest, made it on the “Little Nicky” soundtrack, all which helped the album to sell platinum.

Atlantic rushed to put out their next disc, Satellite, ironically on 9/11. The band was obviously on a roll, the nation was searching for something positive, and the CD generated “Alive” and “Youth of the Nation,” two enormous hits. Both songs spoke unabashedly of Christ’s love for humanity, and truly resonated with the listening audience weary of hate and anger. In fact, “Alive” was virtually a worship song, sung with heartfelt grace and mercy.

The band had always remained musically current, and they were a welcome alternative to fellow rockers Korn, Limp Bizkit, and Godsmack. “Alive” was nominated for Best Hard Rock Performance at the Grammys in 2002. Three other singles released in short order (“Boom”, “Satellite”, and “Portrait”) shot sales beyond triple platinum. Atlantic’s machine was rolling, and POD wasn’t compromising their message a bit.

Guitarist and co-founder Curiel left the band in 2003, and POD released Payable on Death with a new guitarist. The cover was deemed too occultic-looking and wasn’t sold in 85% of Christian record stores.  Nevertheless, the disc spawned two more singles “Change the World” and “Will You”.  The fans were upset with Curiel’s absence from the record, however, and showed it with sales of only 520,000.

After satisfying their deal on Atlantic with their fourth album Testify in 2006, POD announced that they were leaving the label.  According to the band, “P.O.D. have left Atlantic Records. We’ve been proud to be Atlantic Recording Artists, but it’s not the same place anymore. For most of our stay, we were blessed by a staff that was gracious towards our vision, faith, and love of music…. resulting in more than 7-million records sold. It’s time to dream again with a new staff and we leave with grateful hearts. By the people, FOR the people.” 

They released a Greatest Hits CD with Rhino Records in 2006 and continued to tour, and announced to the delight of their ardent fans (aptly dubbed “The Warriors”) that original guitarist Curiel would again be joining the band. They began the process of searching for a new label while continuing to play around the world and on several TV shows, including Jimmy Kimmel Live! and Carlos Mencia’s show.

During POD’s tenure at Atlantic, Dan Michaels and Jeff Moseley had begun building a new, artist-driven Christian label, INO Records.  They had managed to pluck more than a few bands from other labels, and had strong mainstream distribution through Sony Records.  It all came full circle in February of 2007 when POD announced their deal with INO, a scant nine years after Jeff mentioned to Dan and myself that the band would be huge.  He wasn’t wrong.

POD released one album with Jeff and Dan, When Angels and Serpents Dance.  The first single, “Addicted,” did well but never hit the mainstream charts.  The band played primarily in festivals, and announced their current hiatus late in 2008.

After graduating with a degree in Music Business Marketing (yeah, I know – it’s useless outside of Nashville, LA, or NY…), I worked in the Christian music business for a number of years.  You can thank me for such WELL-KNOWN bands as Broomtree, Polarboy, Jesse’s Vineyard, Common Children, Christine Glass, etc, etc, etc.  All incredible artists and dear friends.  I had the…ummm…honor of marketing Katy Hudson in 2000, when she was a fresh faced teen out of CA and hadn’t kissed a girl yet.  We had a great sister group on there too called Aurora, and I jet-setted around with them on a big ole tour with someone that I can’t remember now.  Anyway, the list goes on and on, but no one’s ever heard of any of these bands, so now I write about bands people have heard of.  That’s for reading!

Welcome to a new series presented by [nxtlvl]mag.com, “Crossing Over”. It chronicles the advancement of various Christian Musical acts and their mainstream commercial success. First up in the series:

 By Andrew Conant 

Ever since David danced through the streets of Jerusalem with the Ark of the Covenant, musicians have been “making a joyful noise unto the Lord.”  The earliest recorded examples, of course, were traditional hymns and deep-fried Southern gospel, created for and bought almost exclusively by believers.  The recordings were seen as a niche market, not for profit but for worship. 

But something interesting has happened over the years.  The mainstream record-buying public has become receptive to their favorite artists singing about God.  Dylan boldly proclaimed he was born again in the late 70s.  U2’s Bono sang that he believed that Jesus died for him.  Kiss even covered a song by a Christian rock band in 1992.   

These music giants allowed the developing Christian music industry to step beyond their limited market and expand the audience.  Suddenly, Stryper is playing in front of thousands and opening up for Bon Jovi and Ratt.  Jars of Clay are all over Top 40 radio.  dc Talk’s Jesus Freak goes double platinum. Doors are wide open for a slew of artists willing to call themselves Christian, and mainstream audiences are perfectly willing to listen. 

As long they are interesting. 

As long as they are different. 

As long as they are current. 

The band Relient K meets all three criteria, and has consistently maintained its relevance and freshness.  They have encountered a good deal of success (over 2 million CDs sold), played all over the place (including Leno, Conan, and Kimmel), and still remain unapologetically Christian.  Their fans don’t seem to care, so long as they keep churning out the hits and entertain them. Relient K are only too happy to oblige, and don’t mind throwing a little spiritual food in for good measure.

Where did they come from? Toby McKeehan of dc Talk was able to use his experience as a producer and artist to cofound a record label called Gotee Records in 1994.  One of its primary goals was to find and produce acts that would appeal to the mainstream.  The label’s first find was Out of Eden, an R&B sister trio out of Virginia.  They eventually cracked Billboard’s Top 200 and were nominated for a Grammy, but broke up a few years ago.  Relient K, named after the guitarist’s Plymouth, was discovered in 1998.  They were quirky, accessible, and sounded as fresh as anything out there. 

They have managed to get better, more original, more polished, and more mature over time.  Two of the original band members are still around – Matt Thiessen (guitar/vocals), and Matt Hoopes (guitar).  True to rock and roll form, the drummers and bassists have rotated like a rotisserie chicken.  Nevertheless, the two Matts have been able to craft positive, thoughful, and meaningful pop-punk anthems that speak to the listener in various ways.  The videos are fun, energetic, and yet every one of them can be seen as parables.  There are many layers and many interpretations. 

The video for the song “Be My Escape” (Mmhmm, 2004) shows the band playing in a room that is closing around them while Thiessen calls for help.  While the song itself never mentions God as the savior it is understood in lyrics like “I know to live you must give your life away” and “I can’t ask you to give what you already gave.”  At the end of the video the walls fall down and the band is playing in a deeply rich and somewhat mysterious grassy field at the edge of a cliff.  It’s a beautiful picture of what God can do for each of us. 

The video for the song “Pressing On” (Anatomy of the Tongue in Cheek, 2001) has the band stepping out of a tour van to a crowd of adoring fans trying to get their attention.  A beautiful girl steps right in front of them waving a sign, but they keep walking right by her.  A screaming shirtless fellow is caught by security before he can reach them.  The B roll footage of the band playing in front of the audience has them facing the other way.  The connotation is that they are not going to be swayed by distraction. Thiessen sings “Somewhere back there I left my worries all behind / My problems fell out of the back of my mind,” and the viewer can’t help but believe him. 

A lot of Relient K’s appeal is their humor.  In “Pressing On” all four band members are inexplicably wearing fanny packs.  At one point Thiessen pulls out a cell phone that was obsolete in the mid 80’s.  The bassist whips out a chapstick.  Past album titles include Two Lefts Don’t Make a Right – But Three Do and Deck The Halls, Bruise Your Hand.  More than a third of their song titles are plays on words, like many pop-punk acts.  In concert they have covered, among others,  Paula Abdul, Gnarls Barkley, Kenny Loggins, and the theme from the TV show Full House. 

The key to the band’s success, much like any Christian band that reaches the mainstream, is that the lyrics are more about faith and a deeper sense of spirituality than simply proclaiming Jesus is the Christ.  It’s as though Thiessen could be talking about his relationship with God or his relationship with another human.  For example, there are pictures of a girl on the walls in the video “Be My Escape.” Is she his escape – his desire? Or is it that the singer is asking God to help with an unhealthy or immoral relationship?   

Ultimately it’s left up to the listener, and most listeners are just digging the drum beat and power chords too much to care.  The message is clear, however.  Relient K is seeking God in their lives, and they seem to be having a lot of fun in the process.

About the Author, Andrew Conant:

After graduating with a degree in Music Business Marketing (yeah, I know – it’s useless outside of Nashville, LA, or NY…), I worked in the Christian music business for a number of years.  You can thank me for such WELL-KNOWN bands as Broomtree, Polarboy, Jesse’s Vineyard, Common Children, Christine Glass, etc, etc, etc.  All incredible artists and dear friends.  I had the…ummm…honor of marketing Katy Hudson in 2000, when she was a fresh faced teen out of CA and hadn’t kissed a girl yet.  We had a great sister group on there too called Aurora, and I jet-setted around with them on a big ole tour with someone that I can’t remember now.  Anyway, the list goes on and on, but no one’s ever heard of any of these bands, so now I write about bands people have heard of.  That’s for reading!