Original SALIVA Singer JOSEY SCOTT: 'I Don't Think I Would Be Alive Were It Not For My Praying, Believing Holy Spirit-Filled Wife'

In a recent interview with Leviticuss, original SALIVA singer Josey Scott (a.k.a. Joseph Sappington) credited God and the support of his family for keeping him alive and on the right path through various hardships of life over the last couple of decades. He said in part (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I certainly rely upon the guidance of God. And I am blessed and lucky and fortunate enough to have my beautiful wife at home, a good praying wife at home that has always had my back and never given up on me. I wouldn't be alive, I don't believe, if it hadn't been for my wife, because she walked me right through the fire of this life, all the way back to the 10 years that I left the band, all the way back to 2003. We've been together for 21 years. We celebrated 20 years of marriage this year, and we've been together for almost 21 years. And so having her, like I said, I don't think I would be alive were it not for my wife and her being a praying, believing Holy Spirit-filled wife. And I joke with my wife that I have the two biggest insurance policies in the world, my two sons, out here on the road with me. So that keeps me honest, keeps me accountable. And luckily, man, it's just a different day and age than it was in 2003, or 2001, really, when this all sort of kicked off. Because in 2000, we were young, we'd never had money, we'd never had that kind of fame and that kind of influence just hurled in our laps. And I've said before that there should be some kind of school for guys and girls to go through that teach you how to deal with this. And they do send you through kind of a press training-type thing, but I think there should be more artists development, absolutely, to teach you how to deal with what's coming, because we totally weren't ready for that. So we kind of just went hog wild for a few years, and that's exactly what the devil wants, is you get under the wheels of the bus pretty quick.

"But, like I said, were it not for my praying wife praying and believing and a wife of faith, like I said, I don't think I'd be here, but she made it easy and supported me when I decided to leave the band because I was gonna die," he continued. "It's not like I decided to leave the band to just go home and be a father and a husband. I was going to die. The pit was dug and I was going there. It was just a matter of the clock. So, I was lucky and fortunate and blessed enough to be able to walk away from the band and go home and clean up my side of the street and begin to rebuild my life in a different way, in a spiritually based way and a higher power way, because I was going down the wrong road, man, and, like I said, it was just a matter of time before I expired. This is just flesh and bones, man, and when you put it through what I was putting it through, it doesn't last. It's not built to last like that. And I thank God for that every single day. I don't take it for granted and I really thank God. You can ask my wife. I thank God for every day. And coming through the fire with her and her never leaving my side, never letting go of my hand, it has made me a stronger man and it's made me a better husband, it's made me a better father. But, yeah, to answer your question, my wife, definitely my sons definitely keep me accountable. And my manager — I have a wonderful manager, Dean O'Shaughnessy, who's a really great man. He's just a great human being. He's sober too, and he supports my sobriety and he's into fitness and into the gym and everything. So he keeps me accountable on that end too. So, like I said, I'm lucky and blessed and grateful to be surrounded by a team of people, starting with my wife, that just are so loving and supportive of me, and [it] keeps me accountable. I'm just so thankful for that."

As previously reported, Josey will headline the 2025 installment of the "Nu Metal Revival Tour". The trek will feature support from (HED) P.E., ADEMA, FLAW and CORE.

In a May 2024 interview with Rock 100.5 The KATT's Cameron Buchholtz, Scott, who has been performing with his solo group in recent months under various names, including JOSEY SCOTT – THE ORIGINAL VOICE OF SALIVA and JOSEY SCOTT'S SALIVA, was asked about the musical direction of the material he is working on with his current bandmates — his stepson Dylan Edney on guitar, Ben Hosterman on lead guitar, Brian "9" Kirk on bass and Justin Barber on drums. He said: "I have influences from every genre, if I'm honest. I have folk influences and nu metal influences and really heavy influences and R&B influences. Growing up in Memphis, I was surrounded by R&B and hip-hop, and I love every bit of it. And with a band like mine, we aren't afraid to go down any of those roads. We're not afraid to travel any of those paths."

Earlier in May, Scott was asked by Tulsa Music Stream if it is his hope and desire that he and the members of his new band can 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 is in communication with the band which is continuing to perform under the SALIVA name, consisting of longtime singer Bobby Amaru and bassist Brad 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."

Josey's new band plays all of SALIVA's hits — "the ones that people, of course, expect to hear," he told LehighValleyNews.com. "And then I take 'em sort of down the road of music that has affected my life — like, I do an ALICE IN CHAINS song, and I do a RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE song, just to show them who some of my influences are, and then we do a beautiful tribute to [the late FOO FIGHTERS drummer] Taylor Hawkins, and we play [that band's song] 'My Hero'." The group also plays "some deep cuts that only true SALIVA fans would know ... things that I never played with SALIVA when I was in the band from 1996 till 2010. Like, 'Greater Than Less Than', a song that was on the first record that we never played live," Scott said.

SALIVA launched its career in 2001 with the release of "Every Six Seconds", a double-platinum selling album with hits that include "Click Click Boom" and "Your Disease".

The band has toured the U.S. with SEVENDUST, AEROSMITH and KISS.

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 left SALIVA at the end of 2011 after 15 years 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 five releases: "In It To Win It" (2013),"Rise Up" (2014),"Love, Lies & Therapy" (2016),"10 Lives" (2018) and "Revelation" (2023).

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.