SALIVA Singer BOBBY AMARU On Recent Tour Of Russia: It Was An 'Amazing' And 'Eye-Opening' Experience

In a new interview with Clint Switzer of On The Road To Rock, SALIVA singer Bobby Amaru spoke about the band's recent experience of performing in Russia for the first time. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "It was eye-opening. It was amazing. Honestly, I can't even explain it, because growing up, I would watch the PANTERA home video. You remember when they did their infamous set in Moscow or whatever, like in '91 or whenever it was, and it's like half a million people. So growing up, I'm, like, 'Oh my God, how do I play in front of that?' So I always thought of Russia [in that way], like the [Moscow Music] Peace Festival in '89, and METALLICA, them doing Monsters Of Rock. So, I never thought I would play there. And then we went. And some people were giving me crap for it. They thought, like, 'You're supporting wars,' and all this stuff. And I was, like, I'm so not political at all. And I'm really not. I'm, like, music first, man. And I said, 'I just have this feeling…' 'Cause [other] bands were canceling [tours of Russia] — bands would confirm and then they kept canceling. And people are reaching out to me saying, 'Dude, you're gonna get detained. They're gonna hold you for, like, 10 hours. They're gonna take your phone, they're gonna do all this stuff.' And [they would] get me all nervous about it. And then we went. We were in customs for, like, 10 minutes. We went right through. We had the proper visas. [We stayed in] five-star hotels. The restaurants are fantastic. The service is fantastic. I mean, everybody is just so polite. They love American music. They love music. They're just so supportive. They're fanatics, man. You would've thought I was fricking Justin Bieber or something. Dude, it was crazy. They would meet you at the train station and stuff. It was everything you hoped that it would be and more. And it was. It was eye-opening for me, man. And [there was] not one talk of politics about anything. They were there for the music, and we were there for the music and for the fans."

Elaborating on the fact that he and the rest of SALIVA felt welcomed by the Russian fans during their stay in the country, Bobby continued: "It was unbelievable. People can say all they want, or talk. Until you've been there, until you go, you don't know anything. And I'm telling you, those people are great people. They just were, man. We didn't have one issue at all. Not one issue. We were just waiting for someone to mug someone. It was actually a breath of fresh air. 'Cause you're thinking about in America, you're seeing all that stuff. And then it pops up on the social media that [a gunman is] trying to break into the ballroom [during the annual White House Correspondents' Association dinner] the other night or whatever, and you're seeing all that, and meanwhile there's none of that going on there. Everybody was just — they love each other."

Amaru added: "I'm not a citizen [of Russia]. I don't live there. I live here [in the U.S.]. And so I can only like tell you my experience, and when I compare the two, the difference I see is they're aware that these things obviously happen within their government or where they live, but they don't let it ruin their lives, they don't let it ruin their relationships, they don't let it come in between their daily routines. They're just doing their thing, man. The malls are amazing. People go to the malls. People are shopping. I mean, dude, the fricking food was phenomenal. I mean, it was. The freshest tomatoes, the freshest stuff you imagine. It was great."

After Switzer expressed hope that more American bands "will follow suit" and play in Russia, Bobby said: "I think so, man. Some bands that were gonna go canceled and stuff, they reached out to me, 'cause they knew we were there. And they were, like, 'How is it? What's going on? I need to know. And I get that, because, look, man, there's two sides to the way it works. And some people, the way they feel, they don't wanna go and play somewhere if they feel like it's supporting this or supporting that. But once again, I'm not a citizen there. I don't live there. Look, I wanna go play for people who love rock and roll. I wanna go play for people who give a shit about rock and roll, dude. And they showed up and they give a crap about rock and roll."

Last month, SALIVA returned with a new single, "Cope", featuring Trevor McNevan of THOUSAND FOOT KRUTCH, available now via Judge & Jury Records.

SALIVA's career launched in 2001 with the release of "Every Six Seconds", a certified double platinum-selling album, containing the hits "Click Click Boom" and 2002 Grammy-nominated "Your Disease". SALIVA's in-your-face, anthemic writing style continued with a certified gold-selling album "Back In To Your System" that contained top singles "Always", "Raise Up" and the Nikki Sixx-co-written "Rest In Pieces". Despite original vocalist Josey Scott leaving the band in 2011, the addition of Bobby Amaru brought a contemporary feel to SALIVA, all while staying true to the band's blue-collar roots. Amaru has been the SALIVA frontman for the past decade plus and was featured on the most recent releases, "Rise Up", "Love Lies And Therapy", "10 Lives", "Every Twenty Years" EP and "Revelation".

Shortly before the release of the most recent album, SALIVA guitarist Wayne Swinny passed away unexpectedly. The "Come Back Stronger" video was notably filmed just days before Swinny's death, and was dedicated to the fallen guitarist . The album went on to be highly acclaimed by critics and the singles "Crows" and "High On Me" charted Top 20 on Billboard's Active Rock chart. The band continues to honor "Uncle Wayne" at every show.

With nearly four million monthly listeners and Spotify and a catalog that boasts more than one billion streams, the popularity of the music, old and new, endures.

To celebrate the release of "Revelation: Retold" earlier in 2025, the deluxe album from SALIVA, the band released a music video for "Horizon" featuring Kevin Martin of CANDLEBOX, honoring their musical legacy with never-before-seen clips of Swinny on stage and in the studio. The deluxe record is available on Judge & Jury Records, a powerhouse record label and production company founded by multi-platinum producer Howard Benson (MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE, SEETHER, SKILLET, OF MICE & MEN) and Neil Sanderson of THREE DAYS GRACE. The track was recorded at Valley Recording Studios, Benson's studio in Woodland Hills.

SALIVA is Bobby Amaru (vocals),Brad Stewart (bass),Josh Kulack (guitar),Sebastian LaBar (guitar) and Sammi Jo Bishop (drums).