Saliva
Preview of Cinco Diablo
On December 16, Saliva will release their sixth studio album, Cinco Diablo. I was able to obtain an advance copy of the album, so I decided to give a sneak peek at it to let you know my first impressions.
I’ve been a fan of the band’s since their second album, Every Six Seconds, but was disappointed with their last album, Blood Stained Love Story. It was unoriginal, too slow, and chock-full of bland melodies. Thankfully, with Cinco Diablo, Saliva picks the pace up quite a bit. There are still slower tunes, but they aren’t as generic as on the last album, and the songwriting is much improved.
In the Q&A with lead singer Josey Scott, located below, he talked about the album being edgier and heavier than Blood Stained Love Story. Single “Family Reunion” is an indication of the new direction, with a slight groove to boot. “My Own Worst Enemy” continues this direction, with a catchy chorus and subtle acoustic work in the chorus.
The album is short and to-the-point. With only 10 tracks and clocking in at less than 40 minutes, Saliva doesn’t mess around with Cinco Diablo. Because of the quick nature of the album, the songs fly by, leaving no room for repetition or lackluster performances. Where it ranks in the band’s catalog is tough to gauge at this point. More time with Cinco Diablo will solve this problem; look for the review at 411 Mania next week for my full thoughts on Cinco Diablo.
Q&A With Josey Scott
Dan: The band has a new album, Cinco Diablo, coming out on December 16. What is the significance of the title and cover art?
Josey: I think, in this business, especially being a rock ‘n’ roll, metal band, people expect you to be…I think we’ve always been a wolf in sheep’s clothing and we wanted to name the record something that had to do with the significance of five and was kind of evil and sexy. Once you look inside the album and read the lyrics, you figure out that it is pretty inspirational. Our fans have always complimented us on how our music has affected their lives and hopefully inspired them to keep the shotgun out of their mouth; not let the world bring them to their knees. I like to think that we’re more part of the solution than the problem.
Dan: So how the recording process this time around? Any challenges or good stories to tell?
Josey: We’re doing a reality show about Saliva on the road, so we had cameras follow us around for this record, so it was really cool to catch a lot of the stuff that happened to us on film and document it. We’re shopping it to different networks right now and hopefully, we’ll be doing something with that next year. We used our long-time producer Bob Marlette in Los Angeles; it was a really quick process this time because we wrote a lot of this material on the road. We had about 20-25 songs when we went into the studio. It’s hard to whittle them down to 10 or 11 songs, but we did it, and came out with what we think is a great record.
Dan: So you guys didn’t pull a Metallica and go into therapy and stuff on the cameras?
Josey: No, no, no (laughs). We’ve had enough therapy in our lives to go around. I think our therapy is rock ‘n’ roll and being on the road. Trying to keep a five-way marriage together and surviving all the stuff that bands go through these days; that’s enough therapy for us. We don’t need to pay somebody to tell us that we’re fucked up.
Dan: What does Bob Marlette bring to the table to warrant bringing him back again and again, as most bands seem to switch producers after a few albums?
Josey: He’s a good song guy. At the end of the day, we wouldn’t be talking about bands like AC/DC and Def Leppard if they didn’t have great songs. You can be the most talented band in the world and not have great songs. Unfortunately, you’ll be forgotten about, and he’s a good song guy. He know how to get the best performance out of us and knows how to get the best out of our songwriting. That’s why we keep going back to him.
Dan: Alright, so what should the fans expect from Cinco Diablo, both lyrically and musically?
Josey: It’s definitely a heavier record; we wanted to get back to our roots and the bounce and the heaviness and the swagger of our earlier stuff. Lyrically, I think it’s inspirational. There is a lot of tributes, including one to the troops called “Judgment Day” and another about surviving drug abuse called “My Own Worst Enemy.” There’s a lot of cool moments on the album. We didn’t want to just have some singles and a bunch of bullshit fillers. We like to make each song an event and have a purpose.
Dan: How personal is this record, compared to previous ones?
Josey: I think its really personal, but I think one of the things art-wise is that you have to take your personal situations and relate them to your fans because they have been through similar things and situations you have been through, but not exactly what you have been through…bridging the gap between yours and theirs.
Dan: The band picked “Family Reunion” as the first single. Was that a decision by the band or by the label?
Josey: It was a group decision. We wrote that as a tribute to our fans. We’re a fan-based band and we have die-hard fans who care about us and likewise, we care about them. We wanted to write an open letter to the fans and that’s lyrically what “Family Reunion” is about. It’s about being on tour, bringing the celebration of Saliva and our music back to the fans.
Dan: Is there going to be a video done for it, I know fans are wondering about that…
Josey: Yeah, we’re trying to get a video done for it, probably in the next month or so in L.A.
Dan: Any concepts running through your head or a standard band-only video?
Josey: We definitely have some concepts for it. We want to do a courtroom situation, where we go before board members of a city council and the fans are sitting around and they see us plead our case to play this place. It’s a pretty cool concept.
Dan: How you do rate Cinco Diablo amongst your other albums?
Josey: I would say its my favorite one so far. I know every band says that about a new album, but I think its some of our best work.
Dan: Is it tough to stay relevant as a band after a decade of seeing bands come and go?
Josey: I don’t think so. I wouldn’t say it’s tough, as long as you stay true to what you are. We’ve always been good with being honest about who we are, what we’re capable of and getting the best out of it. We’ve never really paid attention to fads or the “here today, gone today” mentality. That’s what has kept us around; we go where the music takes us.
Dan: Any final thoughts?
Josey: Just that we love our fans and we’ll see them soon.
Poll Time!
Big Finale: Map Of Upcoming Tour Dates (Zoom Out To See Full Map)
