Saliva heads to the Big Easy with mouth-watering metal

In the grand scheme of the music industry, Saliva is still a pup.

Sure, the heavy-metal ambassadors got a leg up when frontman Josey Scott sang alongside Nickelback’s Chad Kroeger in the Spider-Man single “Hero.” But the recently successful band still feels the right to take a pass at the industry that supports its self-professed debauchery.

“You music business whores are all about just getting paid. You throw your (crap) against the wall and see it doesn’t stick. I’m tired of standing around and watching while you make me sick,” Scott sang on “Rock ‘n’ Roll Revolution,” the first track on the band’s latest Island Records release, “Survival of the Sickest.”

Scott admits that after touring behind their previous release, “Back Into Your System,” the partying got out of hand. “It didn’t get Motley Crue bad,” he said on the band’s Web site, www.saliva.com. “But on a scale of bands, it definitely got Poison bad.”

Scott claims the rock ‘n’ roll excesses since have been shaved down, but not eliminated.

Saliva, which includes vocalist Scott, guitarists Wayne Swinney and Chris Dabaldo, bassist Dave Novotny and drummer Paul Crosby, plays a 7 p.m. show today at the Big Easy Concert House. Tickets are $13.50 through TicketsWest, (800) 325-SEAT or www.ticketswest.com.

Scott, who formed the band in his native Memphis, Tenn., in 1995, grew up around music and attributes several musical genres as the foundation of Saliva’s sound.

“I’m a young southern kid that didn’t come from much,” Scott said. “My daddy played country gospel, dirty south hip-hop was the sound of my street, and I remember seeing lots of Motley Crue and AC/DC concerts.”

Scott credits Memphis, a city typically associated with artists Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash and John Lee Hooker, as providing inspiration. The hodgepodge of styles represented in the city, Scott said, opened his eyes to additional musical opportunities.

“Memphis has a lot to do with the music we make,” he said. “It’s got the best of R&B, rock ‘n’ roll and the blues.”