KISS has an army, Slipknot has maggots and Southtown's own P.O.D. [ tickets ] have got "The Warriors," which is also the title of the band's latest EP.

The sonic appetizer for the January 2006 release of the full-length "Testify" features demos of "Teachers" and "Ya Mama," live versions of "Boom" and "Wildfire," and a straight-up cover of The Payola$'s reggae classic "Eyes of a Stranger."

"Testify," which will be the P.O.D.'s--vocalist Sonny Sandoval, guitarist Jason Truby, bassist Mark "Traa" Daniels and drummer Noah "Wuv" Bernardo--fourth release for Atlantic, features a significant change in the producer's seat: Glen Ballard (Alanis Morrisette, Dave Matthews Band) sat in for longtime collaborator Howard Benson.

Drummer Noah "Wuv" Bernardo spoke with liveDaily just before heading out for the "Fall Brawl" tour with Staind and Taproot.

liveDaily: When did you get off tour for your last album, "Payable On Death?"

Wuv: I think two years ago, we ended a tour with Linkin Park.

When did the writing start for "Testify" and "The Warriors Vol. 2?"

We started writing a couple months after we stopped touring. We took a break and unwound, and not soon after that Jason Truby--who is from Arkansas--flew into San Diego, and we started jamming for about a month. Then he went back home, and we met back up in Palm Springs last October [2004].

We rented Jacquie Onassis's house in Palm Springs--it's the most amazing house. We brought a studio in there, a professional studio, and we went in with the intention of writing, recording and keeping the tracks if they were good. We wanted to capture the music while we were writing it.

Any particular reason why that house?

We actually recorded in two different places. We did Jacquie Onassis' the first time for a month, and then we went back to where The Mamas & The Papas lived, and rented that house, that they had a studio in. That was in Palm Springs too, and it was all remodeled over-the-top--it was beautiful. There was no reason why we went to those particular houses; it was just the fact that they were available and were big enough to hold all the gear.

We started writing tracks, and a lot of the tracks we recorded ended up sounding good to the band, but as time went on we decided that we wanted to take it to the next level. So we started seeking out producers. That's when we contacted Greg Fiddleman, who is Rick Rubin's right-hand man.

He came in after the Palms Springs sessions, and we started tracking at The Plant in San Francisco a couple months later. We weren't really feeling it up there. We felt we had already gotten good drum and bass tracks, so we packed up camp and brought it back down to San Diego and finished up the tracks.

How did Glen Ballard come into the picture?

We did San Francisco and San Diego with Fiddleman, and then we took a step back to listen to the material, and we found that the music was great, but when we started laying down vocals it was pretty much the same as what we did in Palm Springs--without Fiddleman. So we didn't feel it was going to the next level. We gathered all the music, and that's when we got a hold of Glen Ballard and asked if we could present him what we had already done until that point. So me, Trey, and Sonny rolled up to Hollywood and presented him the music, and Glen was, "Dude, I'm in."

How did the "Warriors" EP come together?

We originally had the release date for "Testify" in October, and our fans had been waiting, and the series of events that led to how the record got made--it just extended the process. We had so much music, and you can only put 11-12 songs on a record, so we decided to take some of the demos we did in Palm Springs and San Francisco and put them on the EP. We did a "Warriors" EP in 1999, which was a limited edition, and we wanted to do the same thing--give back to the hardcore fans that are out there waiting. So this is a limited edition of 40,000.

Once we decided to do the EP, we went into the studio in San Diego and did a couple reggae songs. We brought in a legend, Edi Fitzroy, who used to play with Bob Marley and a bunch of other people. And two of the songs that are demo versions from Palm Springs ["Teachers" and "Ya Mama"] ended up on "Testify," but they changed up.

Why the choice to cover The Payola$'s "Eyes of a Stranger?"

Sonny liked that song. I guess he was watching "Valley Girl," since that was a song off that soundtrack. He liked the lyrics. He actually told us about that tune a couple years before, and we never got around to doing it. So this time around we decided to try it, and it came out pretty dope so we kept it.

Excited about the "Fall Brawl" tour? Are you buds with the guys in Staind?

Oh yeah. We toured with those guys in 2000 on the MTV "Return of Rock" tour. It should be a good time. Definitely looking forward to it.