Current and former members of early 2000s rock staples Saliva have been going at one another in recent weeks. The latest back-and-forth actually started around a year ago when current singer Bobby Amaru said of the band’s original frontman Josey Scott: “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.”
More recently, Scott fired back in an interview with Youngstown Studio 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 bassist Brad Stewart chimed in on “The Vinyl Road” podcast claiming Scott is “playing the victim. So he’s making us look like the bad guy for carrying on something that he ultimately tried to end.”
Amaru has responded to Scott via an interview with Rock Feed. “It doesn’t bother me, the things that he says about me — I’m not really bothered by it,” Amaru said. “I just feel like I see a sad man who just has quitter’s remorse. And that’s what it feels like to me.”
Amaru continued: “… Some things started happening and Josey took it upon himself to just go and call himself Josey Scott’s Saliva. And I just felt like that was wrong. I felt like it was classless, and (late guitarist and band co-founder) Wayne (Swinny) would be rolling in his grave over that. And people that knew Wayne and know the situation, they would agree with that. And I think, for me, it’s, like I decided to continue on and I just wanna put out killer music. And I feel like the band has been accelerating, and he hates that. It bothers him.”
“I think that Wayne and Josey just never ultimately resolved their issues, unfortunately. But Wayne never had hate in his heart. Wayne was always a very positive person as well and loved music and loved this brand more than music. So, carrying on was what he definitely wanted. He wanted us to carry on, ’cause he loved it. He loved this band. And it all really goes back to Josey quitting, I think. He’s not a victim. He’s a quitter. And he quit the band. And I don’t think Wayne ever forgave him for that, because the way he quit wasn’t, like, ‘All right. See you guys later.’ He just kind of left them high and dry. And, like I said, there’s so many other things.”
Amaru’s interview can be viewed below.
