Nashville Pussy's been cranking out the raunch and roll for over eight years now. Politically correct they're not. Sexy and bad they are. Their self-described bio is NASHVILLE PUSSY is explosive, head-banging, foot-stomping, obscenity-laden, punk charged, sexually fueled, in-your-face - coming at you full-throttle music.
The band is all white trash southern-fried rock. Lite beer, fat free chips and exercise are not for this group of rebels. Morals? They have them, but just don't push your's down their raspy throats, because they will surely push back.
Livewire's Phil Bonyata got a chance to shoot the shit with lead guitarist and resident sex symbol Ruyter Suys last night. He got more than he bargained for.
Livewire: What is Nashville Pussy's motto or agenda?
Ruyter: It's real simple. Keep on f*ckin.' That's both our motto and agenda.
Livewire: How's the marriage with bandmate Blaine going and how long have you been married?
Ruyter: Very, very well indeed. We've actually been married nine years now. It's real now.
Livewire: Do you have a relatively traditional marriage or is it pretty open?
Ruyter: No, it's pretty unconventional, I have to say. The only traditional thing that we did is get married. (laughs loudly).
Livewire: So, is your marriage pretty open?
Ruyter: Uh, in some ways yeah. (laughs) I don't know, I already have enough guys f*cking me at the end of the night.
Livewire: Is being on the road all the time together a cause for friction?
Ruyter: Actually, it's kinda the opposite. It doesn't even feel like we're married until we get home.When we're on stage, I mean yeah, we're married and all that, you know we really don't get to be together until the doors are closed and our pants are off.....and then "I love you." It's pretty handy to be married to someone in the band. I'm automatically getting laid every night. We probably would have a horrible marriage if we weren't gettin' our ya-yas out every night. We don't have to be like other people and beat each other up and drink to much. Our whole lives are a diversion, so marriage is really easy in contrast to that.
Livewire: In the new book Mouthing Off you have some rather cool quotes. Can you remember any?
Ruyter: The book is not out yet, I actually just heard about. I haven't seen it or anything. I actually saw it on our site nashvillepussy.com. The quote was "We kind of tried to create a band that we would want to go and see. The only difference is that I'm the guitar player that you want to f*ck now." Let me elaborate, you know for me at least going to a rock show, the effect it should have on me is I wanna f*ck the guitar player. I want the music to make me want to f*ck the guitar player. I think that's where the context of that thing came from. The only difference is I 'm the guitar player that you wanna f*ck or somebody wants to f*ck.
Livewire: Or you want to f*ck yourself.
Ruyter: I generally do a pretty good job of it. (Pauses) Hey guess where we're driving by now?
Livewire: Where?
Ruyter: We're driving by Corban, Kentucky which is the birthplace of the very first Kentucky Fried Chicken.
Livewire: That is so appropriate for you guys.
Ruyter: We've stopped like five times.
Livewire: So, you like 70s music. What bands really got you going?
Ruyter: Yes sir, I love 70s music. I don't know, I dig real classic rock like Zeppelin. We're all huge Zeppelin fiends! Lately, it's been really bad. On the last tour we've been listening to the whole box set and listen to 10 hours straight of Zeppelin, then we start listening to the Black Crowes doing Zeppelin. It's gotten really f*cking bad about our Zeppelin, man. We've got about 50 hours of Zeppelin boots on the road with us. We have tons of Stones shit, too.We've been rediscovering the Who lately. I saw the Who in high school in something like '84 or '83 and they were quite amazing. That was their first last tour. We saw Tenacious D. We saw them play at South By Southwest two years ago. It was f*cking great, it was like 1 in the morning and they were playing for about 800 drunks. About 200 drunks knew all the words, now everybody knows the words!
Livewire: You haven't done your first last tour yet, have you?
Ruyter: Hell no. We'll be like Cheap Trick and go on forever.
Livewire: How old are you?
Ruyter: I'm 33.
Livewire: What do you think of the new music coming out today? What do you like?
Ruyter: Um, nothing! Yeah, I can't say anything that's turning me on in the least.
Livewire: Describe your new album Say Something Nasty.
Ruyter: I think we've created a timeless rock 'n roll record. Play "Keep on F*ckin'" on Sundays.
Livewire. I'm a new fan. What album should I start out with?
Ruyter: Our first album was pretty punk rock. It was like rock 'n roll at it's heart, but really fast and just like it was over with in an instant. I think that album was only 27 minutes long. The second album is slightly more rock 'n roll and this one is our most rock 'n roll yet. They're all good. The first album sounds like us after we've been on the road for about 2 weeks and everything just starts gettin' faster and faster.
Livewire: Has your new bass player, Katie been doing a good job filling in for original bassist Corey Parks?
Ruyter: Oh f*ck yeah. She's doing a good job filling in for any bass player. A chick named Tracy followed Corey. She's actually a lawyer from New York who plays drums at night.
Livewire: Why did Corey leave?
Ruyter: Um, it was a chemically induced frenzy. I mean we were on the road with Motorhead for like a hundred shows. So everybody went a little crazy. It was her idea to quit. That had not crossed our minds until she said it.
Livewire: Do you miss her?
Ruyter: No, not in the least. It wasn't until after she was gone that I realized that it was kind of one of those Ike and Tina Turner things, like without all the talent Ike had. You know once Tina was gone and not getting the shit beat out of her, she'd say "hey, this is a beautiful world we live in" (laughs). Corey, I don't know man, was like a bad boyfriend or something.
Livewire: How's the current tour going?
Ruyter: Right now we're off for a couple of weeks and we start back up again on the 29th.
Livewire: You guys have been on the road for almost six years now. Tell me something strange.
Ruyter: Oh God, things that are abnormal in real life are normal to us. It 's real common place to find tits and asses and penises everywhere. That kinda of stuff is normal for us. Abnormal to us is going shopping and going to the movies is really weird and exciting to us. Like wow a Wal-Mart! We could spend hours in a Wal-Mart! Oh yeah, there was a guy in Santa Barbara who, in front of the club says "I wanna show you my penis" and I was like "no, that's OK dude" and this chick says you gotta see it - it's really cool and I've only seen it three times today. So I say "OK baby whip it out." So, he whips it out and he has Jesus tattooed on it and he wanted me to sign it. I don't know, but if you've ever had to sign a penis you'll find that they're not very cooperative. Not the best surface for a Sharpie. In the end all's I did was give Jesus a good set of devil horns. That was pretty exciting.
Livewire: Is there still a lot of drugs and booze on tour?
Ruyter: Definitely! We're professionals (laughs). We learned from the masters - we were trained by Motorhead and I think the goal is never to have to say no, never. It's kinda like a lot of moderation (giggles) It's like you gotta say no now, so you can say yes the rest of your life. I don't believe in quittin' anything, man.
Livewire: You stay in really good shape . How do you do it with all the vices? Do you workout?
Ruyter. Why thank you sir and hell no I don't workout! What I do onstage is a workout.
Livewire: Does Blaine still abstain from alcohol?
Ruyter: Well, he doesn't abstain... he really doesn't drink. His dad was an alcoholic, Blaine was like raised at the bar. So he's just kinda over it, I mean he will drink, but he's not like a drinker. He's a total pothead though. Katie and Jeremy drink enough for all of us?
Livewire: Have you ever stage dived into the audience?
Ruyter: Um yes, but only once.
Livewire: Were you groped?
Ruyter: Oh, f*ck yeah. Totally, man. There's some holes I didn't know I have.
Livewire: Have you ever been molested on stage?
Ruyter: Oh, f*ck yeah. I get molested by Blaine onstage every night.
Livewire: Are you confident on stage or do you still get nervous?
Ruyter: Um, I don't really get nervous anymore. Maybe on the first show of a tour, but as soon as we start playing any fear disappears and I won't get nervous for another year. Live television can be rather terrifying.
Livewire: How would describe Nashville Pussy's musical abilities?
Ruyter: Now that the Black Crowes have broken up, I guess the drummer quit, I think we're well on our way of being one of the best rock 'n roll bands in the world.
Livewire: Have you ever seen the Black Crowes live?
Ruyter: You know, I've never seen them live, but we're huge fans.
Livewire: You guys would be a perfect band to tour with the Black Crowes.
Ruyter: I know, I know! We might have destroyed each other though.
Livewire: You guys are very aggressive and sexual onstage. Any plans on toning things down a bit?
Ruyter: Um, no (laughs) we don't really talk about that kinda stuff. Nobody asks anybody to do anything. Nobody says "I think it would be cool if you took your shirt off in concert..." We just do what comes natural. There's nothing very contrived about it. Katie is new so we'll see what she winds up doing. She's already pretty f*cking damn hot up there. She's distracting me. (laughs) I have to keep my eyes shut.
Livewire: Talk dirty to me.
Ruyter: Oh baby, it's so hard. Whoa, I did it! (laughs loudly) Wow, that was a total accident. I didn't mean to say that at all.
More Nashville Pussy
CD Review - Say Something Nasty
Live Review - Chicago, IL, May 4th, 2002
Live Review - Tattoo the Earth, Milwaukee, July 28th, 2000
