SALIVA bassist Brad Stewart has fired back at Josey Scott after the band’s founding singer called the current incarnation of the group a “Temu version of SALIVA.”

In a recent interview with Youngstown Studio, Scott, who left the band in 2011 and was replaced the following year by Bobby Amaru, made it clear that he had no intention of rejoining the band he co-founded nearly 30 years ago. Josey explained that he didn’t foresee ever teaming up with the current version of SALIVA, noting that he had “butted heads” with Bobby and insisting that he didn’t “want to give the fans the Temu version of SALIVA,” a reference to the Chinese e-commerce site, “with some kind of a bastardized version that Bobby puts together.” Josey, whose real name is Joseph Sappington, went on to say that he wanted to get the SALIVA name back and use it with members of his new band, explaining that he named SALIVA completely on his own and that the SALIVA name’s “rightful place” was with him, not with the Amaru-fronted version of the group. “That was what I came to the table with,” he said of the SALIVA moniker. “I put that band together one member at a time. That’s my name.”

Stewart, who has been a member of SALIVA since 2015, addressed Scott‘s comments about the current lineup of the band while appearing on the latest episode of “The Vinyl Road” podcast, which Brad co-hosts with Jason Bailey. Reflecting on the circumstances behind Josey‘s departure from SALIVA nearly a decade and a half ago and the rest of the band’s decision to carry on with a new vocalist, Brad said: “[Josey] left on his own recognizance. 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. Hopefully they weren’t malicious, to try to sort of end their careers too or at least their… Because you have to imagine after six albums with Island Def Jam and all the touring and all the records and everything you do as a band together, it’s an enterprise, it’s a moneymaking machine, and people count on the machine for their livelihood. When something like that ends, what are you gonna do? Go become a stockbroker in New York City? You’re a musician. That’s what you do, and that’s what you’re used to doing, and you get paid for it, and it’s your passion and it’s how you make your living. So when someone walks away, and in most cases, of course, the singer is the face and the voice of the band, and also a creative force. Josey was a hell of a songwriter and, of course, the band had hits. They were banking on him to make great songs and great recordings of those songs. So when someone walks away, it could have ended right then. The whole thing could have just went [sic]. But contractually, it wasn’t set up that way to where any one member had the controlling share of the band or the corporation. Every member, it was kind of split up. So when that happened, the other members had the right to continue on and to replace him. And that’s exactly what happened. And by him leaving, he forfeited… Or any leaving member — if you got fired or if you quit, you forfeit rights to be able to use the name SALIVA. And so moving forward, I think he was going to embark on a solo Christian career. Maybe at the time he’d found God, maybe at the time he thought that the band was to blame for all of his problems. And those are all reasonable things, feelings to have. You’ve been through a lot. Six records’ worth of shit in in a rock band, that’s a lot, man. In 10 years, 12 years, whatever it was, from the time where they were actually a signed band — ‘Every Six Seconds’ [SALIVA‘s second album] came out in 2001. 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.'”

Asked by Bailey what his initial reaction was to reading Scott‘s comments about the SALIVA name on BLABBERMOUTH.NET — comments which were later picked up by other rock music news outlets — Stewart said:  ”I was, like, ‘This again? I thought we kind of dealt with this.’ I’m pretty sure the copyright, the trademark office already settled this. And he lost that part of it. It’s a 10-year license for the trademark, and he had his attorney and his legal team, and so did Bobby. And that’s between them, for the name and for the brand.

“For him to sort of backhand what we’ve done — I mean, we’ve put out quality music under the SALIVA name, we go out there and kick its ass,” Brad continued. “And I think we make the band or the brand — I mean, we’re proud of what we do out there, for the brand’s sake. And, again, for someone to think that, ‘Oh, you’re just gonna hand the name back over’ — remember what I said about the enterprise thing. This is a business, and that’s a business he no longer owns.

“My buddy put it to me, and it was really great. It’s like if you started a pizza business, Saliva pizza company, and you have all these members, and even if Josey‘s the one that has the recipe, man, that’s money recipe. That’s the fucking delicious pizza. That’s it. And then 11, 12 years later, he wants to start a Christian pizza company, and he leaves the pizza company. And then the people that are still in it … they continue to make Saliva pizzas, and they still put out quality pizzas. And then, a few of those guys, along the way, get left behind. New people get hired to run the business. And then, 10 years later, the O.G. of Saliva pizzas wants to come back in and take back over the pizza company. You’re not in the company anymore. Now, you can go make pizzas down the street as whatever — Scott’s Pizzas — but you can’t put the Saliva pizza name on your business, or you can’t take it back. You left the ownership part when you left. And that’s it, man… It’s one of those things where, even legally, coming back trying to take back the pizza company, it’s not your pizza anymore.”

Asked how he personally feels when he sees Josey calling the current lineup of SALIVA a “Temu version” of the band, Brad 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. So I don’t feel bad about…

“Look, man, I get paid to play shows, bro,” Stewart continued. “I’ve been doing this for a long fucking time. You know what I mean? I’m not in the LLC on [SALIVA]. But I’ve been around it, and I’ve known these guys and I’ve known this band for 22 to 23 years, whatever. And I’ve been in this version of the band for 10 years. So I know the stories. I know how things — from other, previous members — what went on. I mean, trust me, there’s some weird shit that went on that I don’t think I need to go there.

“So, to answer your question, I just saw it as, like… This has already been dealt with,” Brad added. “We’ll take the free press any day, and don’t think there’s not gonna be some Temu products, that say ‘SALIVA Temu‘ on them. Trust me, dude. We’re gonna embrace it with laughter and fun. [Josey] probably thought he was probably being clever or something, but it’s hilarious, honestly. Like, really? That’s all you got? I mean, come on, bro. Temu version? Our Temu version sounds… Go look at the footage of us playing the songs versus their version. That’s all I gotta say, man. Whatever, dude — O.G. or not.”

When Scott was asked by Youngstown Studio’s B.J. Lisko if he foresaw a time in the future when he might team up with the current version of SALIVA and move forward as a unified force, Josey responded: “All I can do, to answer your question — no, I don’t, because it would be sort of a bastardized version of it if I went with the lineup that they have now. Not to speak ill of those musicians — I think they’re very great musicians; Sebastian LaBar [who plays guitar for the Amaru-fronted version of SALIVA] I love dearly. He’s the son of a legend, Jeff LaBar from CINDERELLA. I adore him. I adore their drummer Sam [Sammi Jo Bishop]. I don’t know the other [musicians in the Amaru-fronted version of SALIVA].

“Me and Bobby have just butted heads,” Josey continued. “And he’s talked crap about me in the press and just done all these sort of… I don’t wanna talk ill of… My mother used to say, ‘If you don’t have anything nice to say about somebody, don’t say anything at all.’ But it’s just — I don’t know. I don’t want to give the fans the Temu version of SALIVA with some kind of a bastardized version that Bobby puts together.

“He’s not SALIVA. He has never been SALIVA,” Scott added. “He definitely went out there and did his thing and filled in the space. And he’s written some songs or whatever. But he said in the press my analogy of, if this was a David Lee Roth–Sammy Hagar situation [with VAN HALEN], I’d be glad to do this with Bobby because he would have as many hits as I had. And he told the interviewer, ‘Let’s face it, Josie‘s no…’ — I think he said ‘Bruce Dickinson‘ or something. I didn’t even say IRON MAIDEN. I was talking about the analogy — certainly not comparing myself to the great David Lee Roth or the great Sammy Hagar. [I was] just using that as a one-two analogy between the two of us.

“It’s just a dirty situation,” Josey said. “It’s just a sticky situation. And I respect the fact that he did what he did, but if that’s the case, if his stuff that he did with SALIVA is equally as important as mine, then let him play his songs and I’ll play my songs and we’ll see how it shakes out. But that’s not what he does. He goes out and plays a couple of covers, a couple of his songs, and the rest of the set is my songs, man. It’s my music. So it’s just a sort of a dirty, just gross situation and I have no interest in dealing with Bobby Amaru. I have no foresight of seeing anything down the road.”

Regarding whether it is his hope and desire that he and the members of his new band can eventually perform under the SALIVA name, Josey said: “I would like to get my name back because it’s not like that was a name that all five of us came up with. That was my name. That was what I came to the table with. I put that band together one member at a time. And if [late SALIVA guitarist] Wayne Swinny was here, he would tell you that. God rest his soul. And the other three guys, [former SALIVA drummer] Paul Crosby and [former SALIVA bassist] Dave Novotny and [former SALIVA guitarist] Chris D’Abaldo, they will tell you that I came up with that name. That’s my name.

“So all I can do is say a Hail Mary that that name comes back home to its rightful place. And now if that happens, I will be glad to pour my heart and soul back into that name and to do a new SALIVA record and to even bring in — as much as Dave Novotny wants to be involved. I think the last time we tried to get him involved, he was, like, ‘Man, I’m making about the same money I was making at the job I have now.’ So, he has his boys that he’s busy raising, being a father, and I respect that. I’m a father as well, and God knows I adore my children. And that’s the one drawback from this life, is being away from your family and your children. But yeah, as much as they’ve wanted to be involved, I would welcome him with open arms. Chris D’Abaldo, same thing. Paul Crosby, same thing. It’s our name. It’s not anybody else’s name, and anybody else that tells you that [it is their name] is full of shit. Just plain and simple.”

In an October 2024 interview with Youngstown Studio, Amaru was asked if replacing Scott 13 years ago initially posed similar challenges to the ones Blaze Bayley and Tim “Ripper” Owens had to overcome when they replaced IRON MAIDEN‘s Bruce Dickinson and JUDAS PRIEST‘s Rob Halford, respectively. Bobby responded: “I don’t wanna throw [Josey] under the bus, but he’s no Bruce Dickinson and he’s no Rob Halford. So there’s that. Let’s go ahead and get that out of the way. Now he thinks he is, but he’s not. Those dudes are extremely hard to replace. It’s very, very, very hard. And I like Ripper. I like that record that [PRIEST] did [with Ripper], man. I remember it was, like, ‘Jugulator’ or something. It was an awesome record. And I think people do give Ripper credit for a lot of that stuff. Now when you talk about replacing Bruce Dickinson, I don’t even know who it is or have no idea what you’re talking about. ‘Cause I don’t know. But the Ripper stuff I do remember and was more familiar with.”

He continued: “I think no matter what, any band [where] you replace [the singer] — so VAN HALEN, David Lee Roth [leaves the band], they get Sammy Hagar, and people hated it, even though it was good. And then it was, like, you still had MTV, you still had things that were, like… The label was, like, ‘Look, just write great fucking songs and we’re not gonna lose.’ And that’s what they did. They wrote great fucking songs, man. So that’s why it worked. Then it’s, like, ‘Okay, cool. All right, this isn’t working out. Now we’re gonna go get Gary Cherone.’ Now the fans are, like, ‘Wait, wait, wait, wait a second. Hold on. Hold up. Now you’re throwing us for a loop.’ And it doesn’t work the same.

“I think sometimes it works or it doesn’t,” Bobby added. “I mean there’s been singers to come into bands and it just doesn’t… And I think that you would know right away if it’s a good fit or not. But I think when I came into the band, I never tried to be him. I never wanted to be him. Some people would say that they thought there were similarities in the voice or whatever. But I mean, people think that I have similarities to Chester‘s [Bennington] voice and other people singing. And I don’t see it. I mean, I can maybe hear some similarities, but I hear the difference. When I track something or whatever, I can definitely hear the difference. But maybe subconsciously when people are hearing the music of some of those bands that you kind of get familiar with a vocal or a sound or something. But I think when I came in, I just wanted to be myself and just do what I could do. I like writing songs. I like working in the studio. I like being on stage. And I’m a diehard musician at heart. And that was the approach. And it doesn’t always work when you take an approach of, ‘I’ve gotta be this’ or ‘I’ve gotta be like this so people will like me.’ People are gonna like you or hate you either way. It’s like Coke [and] Pepsi. I would think that me coming into the band, that was all it was — just let’s keep it alive and have some fun.”

Asked what the fan reaction was like when he first joined SALIVA and how it has evolved over the years, Bobby said: “It was super mixed at first, and I get it. I can’t blame them. Most of the negative stuff I felt like never really came from people who had seen the band. I think it just came from that approach of, ‘Oh, it’s not the same’ or ‘it never will be the same.’ But they’re right. It never will be the same. And I think that fans get so invested into the catalog and these bands and these songs that they forget that it’s a business. It is a business at the end of the day. It’s bands’ livelihoods and things and the show must go on.”

He continued: “It’s no disrespect to what SALIVA was before at all — I’ve never disrespected that one bit — but when you come into something and when the other person quits and basically abandons and leaves everyone high and dry and they just disappear for a decade and stuff. And then you start hearing all these crazy stories about how it was in the band and you’re just, like…. Dude, there was part of me that, at first, was, like, ‘Do I even wanna do this?’ This is scary kind of stuff that you would hear. And people would come up to me at shows and tell me stories, and I’d be, like… [It would] make you wanna run kind of stuff. But I stuck through it, man. I was, like, that’s not me. I’m not that. And [there was] almost like a black cloud over the SALIVA name or something. But you fight through it, man, overcome and just get through it. And I don’t wanna talk crap about anybody or the past or whatever, but those were challenges for me because I was coming into something that I was not aware of and I had no idea all of these kinds of things. So on top of people nitpicking what you’re doing or how you should be, I just stuck to my guns, man, and just said, ‘I’m just gonna do things the way I wanna do them.’ That ‘Love, Lies & Therapy’ record that we did, I pretty much did the whole record. And the band wanted me to do that. Wayne was, like, ‘Dude, let’s make this your record.’ I think that was kind of the turning point of starting to get more and more fans knowing this version of SALIVA and stuff. Now it’s just go do what we do and go onstage and give people a killer show.”

Bobby added: “I go to merch booth every night and a lot of these shows, there’s a line really, really long. And I’ll stand there for three hours sometimes, man, shaking everyone’s hands and doing that. And that’s super important, because I feel like if those people don’t like you, they’re not standing in line. And it’s important to be able to tell them ‘thank you’ for everything, whether they were a fan from the get-go, from 20 years ago, or they started listening to the band when I got in, whatever that may be. I mean, there’s a lot of that, man. There’s a ton of people that are, like, ‘I was never a SALIVA fan before.’ I’ve had a lot of people say that about this latest record [‘Revelation’]. They hear ‘High On Me’ on the radio, and they’re, like, ‘That’s not SALIVA. There’s no way.’ And then they become a fan through that. And that’s just showing you music evolves and can evolve and you don’t have to just put out the same thing over and over again. If it’s a good song, it’s a great fucking song, people will react.”

In September 2024, Amaru and SALIVA bassist Brad Stewart were asked by Joshua Toomey of Talk Toomey if there had been any “confusion in the marketplace” over the fact that Scott had been performing with his solo band in the last couple of years under various names, including JOSEY SCOTT – THE ORIGINAL VOICE OF SALIVA and JOSEY SCOTT’S SALIVA. Brad replied: “There is, actually.” Bobby concurred, saying: “Yeah, I think he’s just kind of made it confusing. Josey‘s just being Josey, what he always was. He always thought he was like a one-man thing, and he’s doing what he’s gonna do. I think for us, though, we spent a lot of time, I spent a lot of time, too, when I got in the band just hearing a lot of ‘noes’ from radio stations and from managers and a lot of damage control, and that stuff that just kind of really… I’m not talking shit; I’m just being real. This is what it was. I got in the band, and there was a lot of roadblocks — a lot of roadblocks — and everything always led back to one person causing those roadblocks. I think it’s just another roadblock.

Continued Brad: “And bridges burned into the ground that you’re trying to sort of rebuild, in a lot of ways, at radio and places that there was a lot of self-sabotage that was going on there that was unfortunate. And for a lot of the times that [Bobby] spent in the band before I joined in 2015, it was all about sort of rebuilding bridges, man. And, ‘Hey, this is not the SALIVA, though, that did or whatever happened with you guys at the station or somewhere else. We’re sorry, but this is not the same band, and we’re here now to rock and we’re ready to do it. And then we’re gonna kick some ass.’ And so it was a lot of that — it still is, even in some places.”

Added Bobby: “Even for someone like [Josey], you go away for so long and you come back, he’s gotta be humbled at this point with some of the shows he’s doing. ‘Cause we hear about it and stuff. We’re just kind of, like, whatever, let him do what he wants to do. But you’re not gonna use the [SALIVA] name — don’t use the name — because then all it does is it just steps on everything that I and we’ve worked hard for the last 13 years.”

In May 2024, Scott was asked by Tulsa Music Stream if it was his hope that he and the members of his new band could eventually perform under the SALIVA name. He responded: “Of course that’s my hope, because I’ve always wanted the name to sort of go full circle and come back home. Whether that happens remains to be seen. I think there’s things that I think are fair and things that the other camp thinks are fair. And we’ll see. We’ll see how it all shakes out.”

Asked if he was in communication with the band which is continuing to perform under the SALIVA name, consisting of Amaru and Stewart, about coming to a resolution on the usage of the SALIVA name, Josey said: “Uh, yes,” before adding, “Basically, all I’ve been trying to do this whole time is appease the other side. I’ll leave it at that.”

He continued: “At the end of the day, as I’ve always said, this business is not about band names and it’s not about personalities, it’s not about Josey Scott and it’s not about Bobby Amaru. It’s about songs, songs, songs, songs. At the end of the day, when we all put our head on the pillow at night, it’s always going to be all about songs.”

In September 2023, Stewart and Amaru spoke to Meltdown of Detroit’s WRIF radio station about the fact that Scott embarked on a tour under the JOSEY SCOTT’S SALIVA banner which saw him performing a lot of the band’s classic songs without any of the other original SALIVA members. Brad said: “It’s an interesting thing because we’ve been doing this version of the band [with Bobby on vocals] since Josey originally left 11, 12 years ago. So we’ve kind of kept the fires burning and put out new records and new music and stuff. So it’s an interesting situation that we’re in now, to be quite honest, so we’re just trying to figure out how to make it work for both parts of it — both versions of it, I should say.”

Bobby commented: “I think it’s good that [Josey‘s] trying to connect with fans and tour and play music. I think it’s an awesome thing. He should have been doing it long ago.”

Referencing Swinny, who died in March 2023 while on tour with the group, Amaru added: “I think what we’re doing here [with the current SALIVA touring lineup] is we’re just trying to do what Wayne would have wanted and we’re honoring Wayne. This [latest SALIVA] record [‘Revelation’, which came out in early September 2023], I know how important it was to him and I think the world should hear it. We’re going out every night, we’re playing songs from it. And this tour has been great. The fans have been awesome, man.”

In May 2023, Josey weighed in on the announcement that SALIVA‘s surviving members would carry on following the death of the group’s last remaining original member, the aforementioned Swinny. Josey told Rock 100.5 The KATT‘s Cameron Buchholtz: “I’m very close with Bobby and I know in my heart and in my soul that Bobby will do the honorable thing. He never hasn’t done the honorable thing. And I just trust in his steering the ship at this point, and I know he’s gonna do the right thing. And I know it’s all gonna work out; it’s all gonna be great.”

SALIVA‘s current lineup consists of Amaru, Stewart, Bishop, LaBar and Josh Kulack (guitar).

SALIVA reunited with Scott for a one-off appearance at the 2022 Blue Ridge Rock Festival at the Virginia International Raceway in Alton, Virginia. Scott performed three songs with the group at the event, which also saw SALIVA play with Amaru.