By Kelley Simms
FROM ATLANTA WITH LOVE
Photo courtesy of James R. Martin
Nashville Pussy 2014: Ruyter Suys (left)
I
'd like to dedicate this to all that
Nashville pussy!" said the Motor City
madman Ted Nugent on his 1978
Double Live Gonzo! album. His eloquent
introduction to the song "Wang Dang
Sweet Poontang" spawned the band name
for Atlanta sleaze-rockers Nashville
Pussy. Married couple, vocalist Blaine
Cartwright and guitarist Ruyter Suys
(pronounced "Rider Sighs"), have been
cranking out their brand of rowdy rock 'n'
roll since 1996. On their sixth full-length
album, Up the Dosage the band, joined by
34 illinoisentertainer.com june 2014
drummer Jeremy Thompson and new
bassist Bonnie Buitrago, delivers its signature sound of 13 redneck anthems with
a sarcastic style and a raunchy swagger.
Mosh: It's a fact that you named your
band after Ted Nugent's introduction to
"Wang Dang Sweet Poontang" off his
Gonzo! record, but what was the thought
process behind it?
Ruyter: We had about 50 completely stupid names, including Bacon Battleship
and Haircare For Sinners. I wanted to call
the band Ham. That was my brilliant idea.
We were listening to the (Nugent) album
and we heard it and we thought it would
be great. But it seemed like it was almost a
dare. Like, 'do we have the nerve to pull it
off to call ourselves that?' The more we
said it, the more we thought we had to do
it. Nugent actually interviewed me once
for CMJ Magazine. He's like a cross
between a car salesman and David
Letterman when he's in the mode. He was
just firing on all cylinders and I was just
basically agreeing with everything he
said. Yes, he took full credit for naming us.
And, recently we were voted pick of the
week on That Metal Show and he was the
guest. So he said it a bunch of times during the show. He said it just like he did on
the record. It was so cool.
Mosh: The band has been churning out its
brand of AC/DC meets Rose Tattooinspired rock 'n' roll since 1996. What
keeps you motivated?
Ruyter: The live show is always a huge
factor. We all love performing live so it's
kind of the lifeblood of the band. Being in
the studio, even this last time ... it's always
challenging. I don't know what keeps us
going. Maybe because we get to have time
off. We have other bands that we get to
play with occasionally. It's just something
that we all love and do so naturally that
it's really easy to fall into. When I'm on
vacation, that's all I want to do. But as
soon as I'm on the road, that's all I want to
do. Why not tour forever? It feels great.
But then when you get home again, it's
like 'wow, why not be on vacation for the
rest of the year?' Maybe it's because we
have time off and when we get together,
it's like magic again.
Mosh: The band's sixth full-length album,
Up the Dosage, boasts 13 songs about
drugging, drinking, fighting and f***ing.
You guys have become experts on this subject matter!
Ruyter: It seems like that subject matter
has a lot of legs! I don't know how the hell
Blaine comes up with it. There has to be
about 10 songs on the album about drugs.
I didn't even realize it until the record was
done that there are drug references everywhere. I'm mostly just playing lead guitar.
It's all tongue-in-cheek. Our sense of
humor is fairly jaded after being on the
road for 20 years. Mind you, it was jaded
to begin with. Blaine's just basically making us laugh, kind of the same way that
Bon Scott used to do in early AC/DC.
They were practically nursery rhymes.
Blaine likes to produce nursery rhymes
for criminals. Nursery rhymes for the
incarcerated!
Mosh: There are a few new tricks up your
sleeve on this album; a Hammond organ
on CD-opener "Everybody's Fault But
Mine" and the AC/DC bagpipe sample on
"Pussy's Not A Dirty Word" for instance.
What made you want to experiment with
these elements?
Ruyter: It's just shit that hits you while
you're in the studio. Both of those things
were off-the-cuff ideas just to see if it
would work. Both of those ideas happened when it was just me and the producer in the studio late at night and no
one else was around to say no. If I told our
drummer (Jeremy) that I wanted to put
bagpipe sounds on a song, he would have
strangled me. But once I did it and he
heard it, he was OK with it. Same thing
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