Metal Anarchy

As previously reported, former Saliva singer Josey Scott recently made headlines after taking a shot at the band’s current frontman Bobby Amaru. This led Amaru to respond, calling Scott “a sad man who just has quitter’s remorse.” Now, Scott has fired back once again, accusing Amaru of “talking out of both sides of his neck.”

Scott told Rock Feed the following:

“Everything that has happened between me and Bobby, I feel like, in my opinion, has been me responding to something that Bobby has said. Like, he talked about me on Blabbermouth, and I responded to that. He talked about me being a sad man with quitter’s remorse. I don’t have any quitter’s remorse.

First of all, the thing that is the wellspring of my joy and my pleasure in this life comes from my faith and my wife and my children. That’s number one. Now, the number two thing that is a byproduct of that love and that joy that comes from my faith and the love of my wife and my children is music, and that’s something that I’ve always been thankful and grateful to be able to share with the world.

The only problem I’ve had with Bobby is Bobby seems to say one thing in the press and act one way in the press. He acts victimized, like I’ve done something to him. And that seems to be his M.O., is he does these things behind the scenes, and then when he gets in front of the cameras or gets in front of an interviewer, he acts like it’s you that’s doing these things. And honest to God, I’m not doing any of any of these things that he’s saying that I’m doing.”

He continued when asked if it’s tough watching someone else sing his songs:

“One hundred [percent]. And not only singing songs that I wrote, but treating me like I’m some kind of former disgruntled employee that I don’t have the right to have any kind of voice about this or anything.

See, when I first came back while Wayne [Swinny, original SALIVA guitarist] was alive, Bobby seemed supportive of me. He seemed like he was gonna support me having my own band and me doing my own thing. And then as soon as Wayne dies, he sends me — he still says in the press that he’s supportive of me and there’s gonna be two SALIVAs or whatever, but at the same time sends me a cease-and-desist [letter] saying I can’t even call myself the former lead singer of SALIVA. I couldn’t even have the word ‘SALIVA’ on my poster. It’s just ludicrous. It’s absolutely ludicrous. And like I said, he talks out of both sides of his neck, is what bothers me so badly. He says one thing and does another. If you’ll notice, when he came on Rock Feed with you, he was talking about how I was this sad person with quitter’s remorse, and then puts out a diss track about me. And I’m just, like, ‘Okay. All right. I see where this is going now.’ So I’ve got two singles coming out now that’ll [be me] responding. The first single is called ‘Who?’, and the other song is called ‘Famous’. And I’m dropping them both at once.”

He also added the following when asked about the possibility of him returning to the stage with Saliva:

“I really doubt that. And what I said in the last interview that was taken out of context so badly is I said, ‘I don’t wanna do a Temu version of SALIVA.’ I meant I didn’t wanna cheapen that beautiful thing that we had back in 1997 to the year 2010. I didn’t want to water that down. That wasn’t anything personal towards the musicians that he’s in a band with. He’s in a band with that kid Sebastian [LaBar], whose dad is [late CINDERELLA guitarist] Jeff LaBar. He’s a legend. I loved his father. I loved CINDERELLA growing up. I would never disrespect Sebastian like that. Also little Sam [Sammi Jo Bishop], their drummer. I love Sam. She’s a sweetheart. [I] never had a problem with Sam in no kind of way. My problems and my issues have always been centered around the Bobby thing, man. I don’t understand why he’s got it out for me so badly. Like I said, I feel like I’ve been only responding. I mean, the man sent me a cease-and-desist [letter] saying I couldn’t use my own band name that I came up with, and we had a five-member partnership back in the day that you would’ve needed the signatures of the other four guys to have done anything with that name. Now he suddenly has the football? And I can’t do anything about it, can’t say anything about it. And that’s fine. I’m not after his legacy or what he feels like is his tenure with SALIVA.

Everybody says — well, not everybody, but people say, ‘Bobby kept the SALIVA name alive’ and blah, blah, blah. And that’s great. I applaud him for that, because if you look back, when Bobby joined that band, there were three original bandmembers in that band when he joined it. Actually, if you wanna get technical, there was four because, yes, Chris D’Abaldo [guitar] had left before I left, but Johnny [Jonathan] Montoya was there. He was there for the album [2007’s ‘Blood Stained Love Story’] we did with ‘Ladies And Gentlemen’ on it. He systematically moved out of the way. Then Dave Novotny [bass], who’d been our go-to guy with all our business and basically controlled everything with SALIVA with the four brothers, he’s moved out of the way. Then Paul Crosby’s [drums] moved out of the way. Then that only left Wayne Swinny, who unfortunately passed away [in 2023]. And I even asked [Bobby] at Wayne’s life celebration, I said, ‘Where do we go from here, Bobby?’ Because when I came to Wayne’s life celebration, I was told Bobby’s gonna retire, he’s gonna retire his dealings with the name, and he’s gonna pretty much go back to Jacksonville and be with his family, which I respect that. And I was, like, ‘Okay.’ Well, since I’m coming back, I was gonna do SHADE VIOLENT, I was gonna do my own band. But I was told then that he was gonna go back to Jacksonville and do his own thing with his family and that he was gonna retire his involvement with the SALIVA name. And I thought, ‘Well, if I’m coming back, I’ll just pick up where he left off.’ I wasn’t trying to take advantage of anything. I just didn’t wanna see my baby be neglected, that special thing that we had back in the day and the special thing that it was, I didn’t wanna see that falter and I wanted to pick up the flag and run back into battle, if that was his plans. And then that’s not what he does — he replaces everybody and goes back on the road. And then I’m accused of taking advantage of the situation after Wayne’s passing. That’s not true at all.

I loved Wayne with all of my heart. I’m sure you can tell from just meeting me and getting to know me the little bit you have tonight that I adored Wayne Swinny. I adored all the guys in the original SALIVA. I don’t know these guys that he’s out there with now, but the original concept of what SALIVA was, that was our baby, man. We were like a gang. We were like brothers, dude, to the end. And that was something really special. We had moments on stage that we will never get back and never be able to recreate, probably, in this lifetime. And I just didn’t want to lose that, and I wanted to protect that, because that was our version of art… And then the man puts out a diss track about me, and I’m just, like, ‘This is something rappers do, dude. This ain’t something rocker guys do.’ So I had to [respond] in kind — twice.”

[via Blabbermouth]