Saliva is blowing it up with their latest and greatest album, Love, Lies & Therapy. It just released June 10, 2016 on Universal Music Enterprises, the second album featuring the wickedly talented Bobby Amaru.
This well may be the band’s most eclectic and kickass collection of songs released by this powerhouse of a band. The album delves into the concept of addiction, whether it be physical, spiritual, or psychological, all wrapped up in sick riffs and choruses that allow you to reminisce about the days that rock and roll first penetrated your frontal lobes.
We had an insightful and intriguing conversation with the loquacious frontman, and like Love, Lies & Therapy, we also dug in deep!
Hi! How are you doing today?
I’m good. How are you?
Good, good. Let’s jump right in! In many interviews, it seems you get asked at least one question about you being in Saliva and how it has changed the band’s sound. So, after five years, why do you feel you’re still receiving questions about what it’s like being a newcomer into a well-known band?
You know, I think whenever any guy steps in to lead a band, it’s going to change a little bit. Or, like, with Van Halen, it changed completely. Sometimes it ends up being better, and the guys in the band may be a bit happier. It’s like getting a new girlfriend, I guess. You kind of have to feel it out, and it either works or it doesn’t. And it’s been working, so that’s why we continue to make music and I think evolving the sound was not a bad thing. It can be a good thing, you know? You’ve gotta try to keep some of the elements there that existed before you. And keep stuff heavy. If we keep the tone of the band as it was, people will get over all the other shit.
Right, and I think after five years, you’d no longer be the new girlfriend. You’re like the stable girlfriend for the long term.
Yeah, but sometimes the craziness doesn’t show for about five years.
I think it’s time to put a ring on it; we need some commitment (laughs).
(laughs) Yeah. Absolutely.
Even your press releases state: “Thanks to Amaru, Saliva has been energized.” Do you think this is something you feel you need to take sole credit for?
Well, I think that everybody got excited to get back into it and touring like a family; I mean everybody gets excited to go out and do it. Where before, I think people were dreading being around certain people, and there was a lot of drama within the band. So, I think now they’ve been together a long time, so we’ll keep all the drama out of it. I mean, there will always be some drama, and that’s just the way it is, but it’s a job we go out every day and play shows. You have to know that you can go out, sell it, and people will talk about it. But people will talk about it, and you have to believe in yourself and get it.
Cut through the drama and put the big boy pants on, go out and do it. Right?
Absolutely.
You mentioned drama. What drama, or what piece of drama, do you think has been the most impactful to you being in the band now?
Oh, today, none. I’m talking previous to me being in here – over five years ago. There were issues then. But, I think any band is going to have drama. You’ll have to wait for the book to come out for all that… (laughs).
(laughs) Oh, all right. I’ll keep an eye out for that book…
Yah. Actually, there have already been two guys, I think the one guy for sure, who have been begging the band to write a book. They’ve heard some stories – and we’ve got a lot of good stories – that I’ll make these guys repeat, and I won’t do it myself.
Fine, fine, drop little tidbits and tease us…
(laughs) Yep…
Okay, so Love, Lies, and Therapy has been out a couple weeks. And there are several reviews out there. So, what has been the most compelling piece of feedback that you have received on it?
Well, the fact that people don’t hate it helps. It has been well-received so far. We’re still working hard on it and trying to get it to the masses. I think just because a record comes out, it doesn’t mean that everyone knows or has heard it, so we still have to go out and tour for it. I am hoping by year’s end that there is more of a spread of it where and how we want it.
Okay, all right. So, speaking of feedback, how do you handle and receive feedback from both reviewers and fans?
I don’t read them. Not really. The only things I know are from what I have heard and what others have said about the record. Everything seems positive; it seems very good. So, I guess that’s a good thing. You go in and make a record – you spend time putting your heart into the music and into the lyrics and trying to create some stuff that is solid and that people can relate to and be affected by. And, then it comes out and people say, “That’s the worst shit I’ve ever heard!” And that’s a huge fail. But, to hear people actually say that’s really good and they like it and all the different elements on this record… it worked out. It’s good stuff. It’s always good to know that when you put your heart into something, that it is well-received.
Absolutely! Now, I want to talk about the songs on the album. A third of the album is made up of power ballads. So, it feels kind of inconsistent with the modern day formula for albums…how did the power ballads get back on topic for you?
Uhm, I think that it’s all about the songs. We didn’t come out and say, “Oh, we want to do a bunch of power ballads.” We just wanted to put out some good songs, but we knew we still needed heavy elements and things like that. So, it wasn’t something we did thinking power ballads are coming back or anything. There is a lot of hard rock – even borderline metal – that is popular, but Saliva is one of those bands that has always kind of done what they wanted to do and create what they wanted to create. But, you know, having said that, I think that we are very happy with the outcome of the record and the songs like “Breakdown”… if I heard them as an outsider, if I was a big Saliva fan or a music fan, I would think, “Wow this is cool!” And then, when you put Saliva’s name on it, they’re like, “Wow this is awesome” because it’s not something you hear every day from them. It’s kind of all about creating and not worrying about being put in a category or thinking we can’t put something on the record because people would think we’re not metal enough. It was like, let’s put a fucking album out that sounds good, and people will either like or not. You’re never going to please everybody, and it’s one or the other. You either like CocaCola, or you like Pepsi. Same thing with a record, same thing with music…
You either like it or you don’t.
Exactly! You give anybody a reason to have an opinion, and they’re going to have an opinion.
I know, and it may be a very interesting and not well-thought-out opinion.
Yea, and here’s the thing. It’s easy to sit behind a computer or behind a keyboard and make comments, and that’s why I don’t read them.
True. With a healthy press release full of personal commentary about the songs on the album and reviews and interviews, there really isn’t a whole lot more to be covered. So, I’m going to dig a bit deeper about some of the songs. Regarding “Trust”, you summed up that you’ve been in relationships where there have been infidelity, which can be a relatable issue in a broad perspective. So, as relatable as losing trust can be, how can someone regain trust after losing it?
I would say really, you have to find somebody that is compatible with you and works with you, you know? I think that the opposites attract thing can work for a little bit, but in the end, when the shit comes out that they don’t like the same things you do, there can be a big conflict. I think sometimes even with age, people become a little wiser and do not want the same things they did ten years prior. I was with somebody for thirteen years, and we have two kids, and we have been split for five years. And then the infidelity started to happen, so there ya go: my situation to that is backwards. But everybody is different. I kind of told myself I am never going to get married, and so it is what it is. I have my two kids, and that’s all I care about.
TRUST – SALIVA
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There ya go. Sometimes it is better just being in the single boat.
Well trust me, I like that companionship and all that stuff. But I am just out searching for it. I did that, and there’s infidelity that happened in all that. It’s hard to trust people, especially these days when you’ve got all the social media stuff that is just so easy and accessible. You can’t be jealous. You have to go into it knowing that that shit can happen. You have to accept it or you don’t.
Absolutely, and there are a lot of gray areas and also a lot of black or white. It’s either you do or you don’t.
Exactly. Yep. And there’s all the talk of dating and stuff now – it’s like a therapist.
Exactly! That’s why I figured there are love, lies, and then there’s therapy as part of it. Speaking of “Trust”, you handed “Trust” over to Kane Churko for production. So, what did he do to take it to the next level and make it a song that was worthy of kicking off the album?
Uhm, I think that he is a genius, and he is incredibly talented and super, super awesome. I actually hit him up. We did the record in Jacksonville. I produced the record, and I realized I didn’t know what it all sounded like anymore, so I had to outsource mixers. And, it kind of started with everybody being busy. One guy I wanted to do it couldn’t do it. So, trying to get it done in a timely manner. And then you have another guy who wants to mix a couple songs, and he says, “Man, I have to go do this other record.” So, we have, like, five mixers on this record. But, his was one of the first ones. When he mixed it, and he was about to go work on Disturbed or something like that, so he couldn’t finish with us. It was great; it exploded immediately. When we heard it kick in, our eyes got bigger and bigger, and we were like, “Holy shit! This is really good!”
I agree. The moment I stared listening to it, I was like, “Wow! This is great.” You covered Michael Jackson’s “They Don’t Really Care About Us”, a song that is very technical to record and play live. And it’s a leap and a risk. So, now with the allegations of copious amounts of child pornography found at Neverland Ranch, would you take that risk again and put another song like that on another Saliva record?
You know, all that stuff… they’ve been doing all that shit on him for over twenty years now, so really, all that shit, whatever the dude did in his crazy world – I don’t really want a part in any of that – I think the dude created killer music. You can’t take that away from him. Whenever you’re on top of the world, there are always tons of people trying to bring you down. So, I think it’s a great song, and I am glad we recorded it and covered it.
Absolutely. I read in another interview from you that it’s a really difficult – if not impossible – song to play live.
Yeah. There’s a lot of stuff going on with it. A lot of rhythm changes. I wouldn’t say that we can’t play it live, because we are going to for sure, but it’s definitely going to be a lot more challenging than some of the other songs.
Okay. So, “The Loneliest Know” has a very early-90s vibe with a very Oasis-esque intro. Knowing that you wrote that many moons ago – it’s a song you pulled from a cache of songs – how has the song changed from when you wrote it ten years ago and how it looks today?
We’ve really done it the same exact way. Aside from mixing it – I had some harmonies and stuff in there that I added and some backup vocals – it’s the same exact arrangement and the same song. It was a song I played to try to get polished materials to put the best songs we could on the album. And digging back through things to find those songs isn’t a bad thing. We played a few songs, and this is the one we stuck on. So, we did it the same way.
I read that on Love, Lies & Therapy, you all “dig deep, transforming yourselves into a refurbished rock band that takes the best from your impressive legacy and launches into a promising present”. I love your writers! What does a promising present look like for you? Define “promising present”.
I would say just the fact that the band has made it this far is a great thing. And to stay in the rock game and keep touring for people who care about rock and care about Saliva. It’s having a good time and give people a good rock and roll show. We don’t cut back on that stuff; it’s what we do.
And we are glad that you do it…
Yeah, so that’s the future: just to keep doing it and putting out records and touring.
