Ex-SALIVA Singer JOSEY SCOTT Says His New Band SHADE VIOLENT Will Be 'A Blending Of Several Different Styles'

Original SALIVA frontman Josey Scott spoke to Grizzly Media about the new band new recently launched. Dubbed SHADE VIOLENT, the group features his stepson Dylan on rhythm guitar, along with some of Josey's friends from his home state of Oklahoma.

"I'm really excited about it," Josey said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). "We just had rehearsal last night. It's just really exciting to start again with a new project and have everything be new again, because half the fun of building the project is seeing all the new things that happen and the new music that you can come up with. It's sort of like an empty canvas, and you can put any color you want on that canvas, and you don't have to — there's no rules. You don't have to confined to a certain box of music; you can explore any kind of music."

Elaborating on SHADE VIOLENT's musical direction, Josey said: "I come from a lot of different influences. Being from Memphis, Tennessee, I have a lot of R&B influences, with all the Stax music that came from Memphis, like Otis Redding and Rufus Thomas and B.B. King and all that stuff. And then I have, of course, the Elvis [Presley] influence and the country music influence from people like Merle Haggard and George Jones and Johnny Cash. And blending that with the hip-hop influences that I had growing up in Memphis, like THREE 6 MAFIA and 8Ball and MJG and Al Kapone and Crunchy Black… It's a blending of several different styles. So I'm excited about the freedom that comes from a new musical project like SHADE VIOLENT."

When he first announced SHADE VIOLENT's formation last month, Josey told That Fuzzing Rock Show about his approach to the new music he is writing: "My mission is to get back to that kid in Memphis. One of my favorite producers, Malcolm Springer, in Nashville, said, 'Where's that kid that used to run around with a green notebook full of lyrics under his arm and the backpack and the black blazer? Where's that kid at?' And that's exactly where I'm trying to find my way back to that kid. I'm trying to find a way back to that first love, why I fell in love with music in the first place and why I think music is so beautiful and so moving."

He continued: "I'm working with ScatteredBrains, a producer out of Nashville. And he told me, he said, 'This is an opportunity for you to tell your story. That's what this is about. At 50, when you've gone through your first arc of a musical career. You've done some wonderful things, and you've been through some horrible things.' And he said, 'It's time for you to tell your story.' And I think that's… My mission is to get back to why I fell in love with music in the first place and to tell my story and to join those two hands together."

Asked about a possible timeline for the release of the debut SHADE VIOLENT album, Josey said: "We're just taking it fast and loose. We're not really putting a time limit on it. I would like to get it out over the next three to six months. I'm definitely planning on dropping a single in the next three to four months, definitely. I just want to pay more attention to the music and make sure that everything is right and perfect this time, because it's a privilege and an honor to kind of finally be in the driver's seat and be the captain of my own soul and not have to answer to the whims of others. Which I'm badmouthing that in any kind of way. I just want a chance, like I said, to tell my story."

As for SHADE VIOLENT's plans for live appearances, Josey said: "We've been playing a couple of start-up shows, just getting all the back catalog tight. We're possibly gonna do… I'd like to do maybe a BLACKBONE song. I'd like to do some SALIVA songs that I was privileged enough to write with the guys. And then I wanna play the new stuff as well. Sort of have a then-to-now sort of thing."

As previously reported, Scott reunited with SALIVA for a one-off appearance last September at the 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 its singer of the past decade, Bobby Amaru.

Blue Ridge marked Scott's first appearance with SALIVA since he left the band at the end of 2011 after a 15 year-run with the group, reportedly to pursue a solo Christian music career. He was quickly replaced by Amaru, who can be heard on SALIVA's last four releases: "In It To Win It" (2013),"Rise Up" (2014),"Love, Lies & Therapy" (2016) and "10 Lives" (2018).

In October 2019, Scott announced that he was returning to SALIVA, explaining at the time that he wanted to get together with his former bandmates and "write a badass record." Less than a year and a half later, in March 2021, SALIVA guitarist Wayne Swinny poured cold water on those plans, saying that the reunion with the singer "never really got off the ground."

When Swinny spoke to WRIF about SALIVA's failed reunion with Scott, he said that even though there were some initial discussions about Josey's return to the group, there was no follow-up to ensure that the plan was executed.

In December 2021, Josey took to his Twitter to write: "I want 2 apologize 2 my fans because I thought I was gonna reunite w/certain people & make u new music, & that fell through, but, I believe everything happens for a reason. There are no coincidences. A blessing in disguise. Now it's just u, & me, how intimate is that?"

SALIVA released six albums with Scott and tasted platinum success and a Grammy nomination for its first big hit, "Your Disease".

In May 2021, SALIVA celebrated the 20th anniversary of its breakthrough major label debut, "Every Six Seconds", with a special project called "Every Twenty Years", an EP of classic songs re-recorded with Amaru.