Last week, original Saliva frontman Josey Scott responded to a dig from the band’s current singer Bobby Amaru. Amaru told Youngstown Studio and Web Is Jericho last year: “I don’t wanna throw him under the bus, but (Josey Scott) is no Bruce Dickinson, and he’s no Rob Halford. So let me get that outta the way. He thinks he is, but he’s not.”
Scott responded to Amaru in another interview with Youngstown Studio and Web Is Jericho saying: “I don’t want to give the fans the Temu version of Saliva with some kind of bastardized version that Bobby puts together. He’s not Saliva. He has never been Saliva.”
Saliva is currently touring with no active members that appeared on any of the band’s biggest albums and songs, and Scott has apparently taken exception with the current version of the band playing those songs and performing under the name that Scott said he brought to the band.
In a new interview with “The Vinyl Road” podcast, Saliva bassist Brad Stewart shot back at Scott for calling the band the “Temu version.” “Josey left on his own recognizance,” Stewart said. “And in doing so, that decision is now, I guess, haunting him to a certain degree because when you do something like that… I don’t know what his intentions were as far as the lives of the other bandmembers that were still counting on the band for their livelihood.”
Stewart continued: “So, when you leave something like that, it’s a big decision, and, unfortunately, to try to sort of come back and take it over, regardless of the situation, you just can’t just walk back in and take the name and expect to own it again. You just can’t. And the last surviving member of that version of the band was (late Saliva guitarist Wayne (Swinny) . And Wayne started a corporation with Bobby. That was, like, seven years ago or whatever. And part of that corporation, there was a death clause. Surviving member of this corporation carries the name. Wayne passed in 2023, as we know. And Wayne’s intention was, ‘I want y’all to carry the name. This has become my legacy. I’m the last O.G., and I don’t want you guys to stop.’ He told us that shit, man. All the time he would tell us that. He was, like, ‘Whatever you do, if anything happens to me, don’t stop.'”
When asked if the “Temu” remark bothered him, Stewart said: “It doesn’t bother me at all. One bit. And I’ll tell you why — because it’s basically a desperate way to draw attention to a situation he hasn’t had control over for a long time. No one’s showing up to his shows as Josey Scott, so he needs the brand, but I think the brand has lived on and evolved because of the work that we’ve put in. So, the things he’s gonna say… He doesn’t act like he even knows me, in that article. So, what do you do with something like that? He knows who I am. He knows what I’ve done and what I’ve been a part of and my influence and the people I know in this business and otherwise. So, him trying to trash what we’ve done — again, he should be thanking us for keeping the thing that he tried to kill and ultimately sabotage and end so long ago. And he’s playing the victim. So he’s making us look like the bad guy for carrying on something that he ultimately tried to end.”
Stewart’s full interview can be viewed below.
