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Not long ago, P.O.D. was on top of the world. Satellitereleased Sept. 11, 2001—yes, that 9/11—and went on to sell more than 3 million copies and garner three No. 1 hits. Then came 2003'sPayable on Death, which went on to sell … just 500,000 copies, and the band sort of drifted out of the spotlight. But now they're ready to take it back with Testify, the highly anticipated CD originally slated to release last summer, but delayed several times. The band hit some bumps in the creative process, but when they turned to superstar producer Glen Ballard (Alanis Morrisette, Dave Matthews, Aerosmith, No Doubt), the creative juices and the confidence came rushing back.

Sonny Sandoval (second from right) and his P.O.D. bandmates believe that Tesitfy is their best combination of music and faith yet.

In this exclusive interview with P.O.D. frontman Sonny Sandoval, we got the scoop on the new album, which includes a straight-up worship song—with a Jewish rap star singing along. Sandoval also discussed his disappointment with Payable on Death's slow sales—and his theory about why that happened. But now he's focused on Testify, of which Sonny says, "It's just the P.O.D. way to always intertwine that hope that we have in Christ with our music."

The making of Testify was quite a journey. In the fall of '04, the creative process was going really well, but then when you got in the studio last winter, it sorta fell apart. What happened?

Sonny Sandoval We went to The Plant Studios in Sausalito where Metallica, Dave Matthews and all these legendary groups recorded. But the vibe just wasn't there. Our producer said he really didn't care for the equipment that was there, but he said, "I can make it work." And we're like, "We don't want to just 'make it work.' We've got a cool little studio in San Diego that would take us in a heartbeat." And that just changed all our thinking. We just wanted to be in San Diego [P.O.D.'s hometown].

But even then, when we were recording all the tracks, we felt like we really hadn't stepped it up a notch. So at that point, we decided to explore other options.

That's when Glen Ballard came into the picture?

Sandoval That's right. We met with him in person. We wanted him to know that we're not just another band trying to use him for his talent. We wanted to connect with him first. And we did that. He's a nice guy, like an old-school hippie. He heard a few songs, and he was like, "Man, I'm in." So all we really did was give him our demos, and he just threw it in his computer and took the best of everything. And then we did a bunch of overdubs. It came out great.

It sounds like he really brought out the best in you.

Sandoval This was the longest time we've ever spent doing a record. At that point, I think we were all just a little bit confused, and we didn't know what was good anymore. We just told him, "We just need you to kind of sift through everything we've done and tell us which ones are good, because right now our ears are pretty much shot."

Had the band lost its confidence?

Sandoval I think it was more or less a case of by the time you keep hearing the stuff and letting other people hear it, you just kind of lose yourself and what was what. That's what was cool about Glen Ballard. He said, "Man, this stuff sounds incredible. What do you need me for?" That's the impression he gave us. We asked him, "Do we need to re-record and start all over?" He's like, "No, man, you guys are there. Just let me sprinkle my magic dust on it, and we'll overdub little parts that need be. But you guys have created something awesome." So he pretty much gave us our confidence back, if there was anything lost.

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