One of the best things about good music is the emotional connection it can give you. It can make you cry, make you laugh, make you stand up and take action, and most of all it can make you have a really good time. Now if you’re in the market for a lot of fun and good old rock and roll, there is a little band from Atlanta that you’ll want to check out and that band is Nashville Pussy. Led by lead vocalist Blaine Cartwright and his wife Ruyter Suys, who can shred the hell out of a guitar, Nashville Pussy is a band you won’t want to miss. Their newest album, “Up The Dosage,” is the perfect blend of barroom sleaze, pedal to the floor metal, country, and blues. Join me as I chat with Blaine about the new record and tour and find out all about the name Nashville Pussy.
KE: Hi Blaine! Thanks for taking the time to talk with us here today. How are you doing?
BC: No problem. Thank you.
KE: Nashville Pussy has a new record out, “Up The Dosage,” and this is the first since 2009’s “From Hell To Texas” right?
BC: Yeah! It’s the first Nashville Pussy record since then but actually me and the guitar player, Ruyter, my wife, have had a couple records. We did a gospel record called “Hail Jesus” and we did a southern rock project called “Buzzard” and so we’ve been busy recording but haven’t recorded Nashville Pussy stuff. It’s just we’re in the mood again now.
KE: Now you’ve said that this is Nashville Pussy’s “Back In Black.” Can you tell us about the record and why you feel so strongly about it?
BC: I just think it’s that strong. It just reminded me when we first listened back, I was like this is our “Back In Black.” It has better sound quality and it’s going to appeal to more people. Besides that, I said that and it got a lot of attention. It was the cool thing to say but at first I said it sounds like Motorhead recording “Exile On Mainstreet.” That’s what I said at first and that didn’t get picked up as much as the “Back In Black” thing. People were kind of offended I think (laughter) but whatever. I think it’s that strong and it just seems like a statement of purpose. We had a new member in the band and it’s been awhile. People kind of counted us out and this record is really strong. It just kind of reminded me of that comeback “Back In Black” and the album cover is mostly black and that’s really all the comparison. It doesn’t sound like “Back In Black” really. It sounds good though, it sounds really good. I was just amazed how good it sounds for a rock kind of punk rock band and now it sounds like a huge rock band playing in stadiums, our little songs. It sounds great.
KE: I agree. I thought the album was fantastic, just go, go, go from start to finish. It’s old school barroom rock just the way I like it.
BC: Thanks so much. Well how many people really do it like that anymore? I mean there’s some out there so I don’t want to say we’re the only ones doing it. Maybe we’ve extended the life of rock and roll for a few more years. It’s like rock and roll, it’s not really the big music anymore so if we can help it out that’d be great because it’s been good to me.
KE: I think if people gave it a chance they would be won over.
BC: Yeah, I think we’re going to try and do everything we can, playing and spreading the word. And this one’s so good I think other people will spread the word and the response so far is that it’s the best record we’ve done so far and that’s great.
KE: You’ve got some interesting tracks on this record like the country feel of “Hooray For Cocaine, Hooray For Tennessee” and I enjoyed the kind of boogie stomp of “Before The Drugs Wear Off.” How did that track come about?
BC: Thank you. I wrote that on acoustic guitar. We’ve got a magic acoustic guitar. It’s electric but it looks like the kind of guitar Johnny Lee Hooker had. It’s like an old blues guitar and I write stuff on that. I wrote “Before The Drugs Wear Off” a couple years ago and it’s just something I played to make people laugh. I was trying to go for a glam rock song and it ended up kind of country. I write a lot of country songs for other bands and me and Ruyter just did a bunch of country stuff in Buzzard, that southern rock thing we we’re doing. She played mandolin on that. She’s super talented. It’s one of my favorite songs. I wrote that one all by myself. It was like pulling teeth to get it recorded right. I couldn’t really describe it to anybody ’til we got to the studio and played it. We’d jam on it in the practice space during pre-production and it didn’t sound like it was supposed to and I was like nah it’s too low, there’s no build, there’s no organ. I mean we didn’t even have an organ in the practice space or an acoustic guitar, so it’s just me talking. But when we got into the studio I said let me play it on acoustic and show you how it goes. I’ll just record it on acoustic and we’ll add stuff to it after that. So that’s basically what happened. That one finally got recorded right and the guy who re-mixed it just sounded huge. I was very happy.
KE: Tell me about the songwriting on the record. Are you the main writer or is it more of a team effort?
BC: Well, I mean this band started off with me writing mostly everything and then I stopped. And then for the last couple of records my wife Ruyter started some stuff. But this one Ruyter threw in a bunch. She wrote parts of several songs, including “Rub It To Death” and “White and Loud.” She wrote those basically by herself except for lyrics so more and more of a team effort this time. We had a guy named Eddie Spaghetti from a band called the Supersuckers come in for pre-production and he basically kind of harnessed everything into a song. He wrote a couple things plus he made the other songs into songs by just having us not just go out there and jam which Ruyter has a tendency to do. We go into the practice space and just jam and that’s not the same thing as a song and it tends to be hardass stuff. But I’m still the main songwriter. I write all the lyrics plus the music but it was more of a team effort than ever that’s for sure.
KE: I did think “White And Loud” was one of the most different songs. It definitely has a Sabbath feel but almost an upbeat kind of Sabbath.
BC: Yeah, I think it was the guitar tone and the way she was playing it. Ruyter wrote the music to that and I had written in this notebook about ten years ago, like say it proud and white and loud which is a takeoff of James Brown’s say it loud and black and proud. James Brown is one of my heroes and so we took it and switched it around and I was like no, I don’t want to do that. People will think it’s racist or something so for ten years it was lost in my notebook and when we were doing lyrics for the record I was like ok. I probably wouldn’t have done it but I was like ok we’re gonna do it but do it like white and loud like being born a loud, white rock and roller. You know, who likes to scream, who likes noise. Some of us are even born into a Motorhead song or something. Yeah, I thought it was Black Sabbath, a little sloppy too. I felt like I was in a swamp singing that. You know stuck in the swamp barely sticking out.
KE: One can hear a lot of different influences on the record, especially the Motorhead on “Rub It To Death” but who are some of your other musical influences?
BC: Vocal wise, the more I can sound like Alice Cooper the better. That’s my main thing if I can sound like Alice Cooper. I’ve had people tell me “I think you sound too much like Alice Cooper” on this song or that song and I was like there’s no such thing. Mine aren’t as metal as the other members. Mine are like the Rolling Stones and Chuck Berry, Johnny Thunder, the Ramones kind of like basic rock and roll. Ruyter’s influences are a little more heavy. Angus from AC/DC obviously. The first time, we were trying to write a song like Mountain, a lot of seventies basically. We listen to a lot of seventies rock, a lot of funk, a lot of soul and a lot of seventies rock and roll. Everything from Bad Company to the Sex Pistols. Anything that happened in the seventies we tend to like it a lot. Even the bad stuff from the seventies. Most other genres I only like if it’s great or extra good stuff but rock and roll I even like the bad stuff, especially seventies rock and roll.
KE: The band has gone through more than a few bass players. Now you’ve got Bonnie Buitrago in the band. How is she fitting in and is she going to be a long term solution?
BC: Oh, I hope so because it’s getting to be a pain in the ass trying to find people. But Bonnie tried out for us a few years ago when she was too young and too innocent to be with us at that time. Also she tried ten years ago or I think it was even longer. When Karen (Cuda) hurt herself a couple years ago, we had a major European tour and Ruyter suggested why don’t we see if Bonnie’s up to it. And Bonnie’s been playing off and on with us for a couple years and I called her up and said can you make this record with us and she was real happy to do it. She was living on groceries and sleeping on a couch in the studio but she was down with that so she played and she did a great job. She’s very into music and she always looks forward to playing, doesn’t complain, just all around a cool person and she has good musical tastes. One of her favorite bands is Canned Heat. It’s not one of my favorite bands but I definitely like people who say that’s their favorite band. It’s a unique choice. She could have said some really cheesy band or song but she likes old rock and roll. It’s working really well.
KE: You did a small tour here in the States this last fall. How did that go and did you play any of the new material?
BC: We did about three songs and that tour was so-so. We probably shouldn’t have even gone on it but it did help us. Actually after we went out on that tour, the best thing from the tour was we went to a studio in Atlanta where it got mixed and said we wanted to re-record a couple songs and we added background vocals. We just got a better idea of how the songs should go and different mixes of it while we we’re on tour. We played “Rub It To Death,” “Everybody’s Fault But Mine,” and “Up The Dosage.” And we’ll be adding more and more songs as we go . When we go to Europe, when we first start off in a couple weeks, people are still gonna want to hear the old stuff. People who bought tickets they love the old stuff. So I don’t want to bombard people with the whole record but we’re definitely going to be pushing these songs for a long time I think. I think we’re gonna push the album for like three years or so. This one’s so good that I want to try and get it out there as much as possible before I can go back in the studio. It’s definitely the best one so far so I want to make sure. It was five years for a reason. Me and Ruyter I think about three years ago we were not bored with Nashville Pussy but I didn’t want to write another one. I felt like we were doing our best to get it out there and we were still selling it to the same people and people were coming to see the old stuff. So I really wanted to make a great record as good a record as possible. Make it worth everyone’s while, make sure everything was firing on all cylinders, make sure everything was right, make sure every aspect of it was great. It was definitely a pain in the ass getting this thing accomplished but I’m glad we did. It’s already out there in Germany so it’s out in the world now.
KE: Now when you head to Europe, is that a club tour and do you have any festivals on the books for this summer?
BC: All this summer, we better have festivals scheduled for this summer. The festivals are where we get to spend our summer vacations. We get to go and be rock stars and play in front of 10,000 people and kick ass. You know it’s the kind of thing you dream about when you’re a kid. You’re playing for 10,000 people and that actually happens for us a lot at these festivals and that’s why we do so well over there. We convert a lot of people at one time. But I think there’s one festival on this leg of the tour but the rest of it, it’s kind of clubs. In France, we’re really big and they have these small venues like equivalent to a small theater. There on the outskirts of town and it’s usually where they repair cars and stuff and there really nice, concrete places, almost no soul. But when you go in, it’s a really nice venue inside and there’s amazing lights and equipment. So all of a sudden there will be several hundred people and there’s a rock show but before you would think wow this is a weird place to have a show. It looks like an automotive repair area in the middle of nowhere, usually on the outskirts of town. We play like 500-1,000 people. It’s pretty much the perfect size for us. It’s where I saw the best shows as a kid. Where you see Motorhead or the Ramones and stuff. It’s big enough for the concert to sound good but also small enough where you’re not up in the rafters in the nosebleed section. It’s gonna be a good tour, about equivalent to small theaters I’d say.
KE: Of course, your wife, Ruyter, plays lead guitar in the band. Does that make things difficult or is it easier?
BC: I think it’s been easier for a long time but occasionally makes things difficult. We don’t have to have band meetings because we’re always right there. We don’t have to call and discuss something because we’ll talk about it while we’re right there or while we’re driving to go get dinner or something. The problem you get, the tension is that you/you thing. I think one thing and she thinks another and we’re both right. So teamwork, it works out but sometimes there could be a fierce argument over something really small.
KE: I had one more question. Your band has quite the unique name, Nashville Pussy. Who came up with that and is there a story behind it?
BC: It was from a Ted Nugent record. Ted Nugent’s “Double Live Gonzo.” Right before he does “Wang Dang Sweet Poontang” he says I’d like to dedicate this song out there to all that Nashville pussy and I just thought that was real funny. We were trying to think of band names when we started. I remember taking a Ted Nugent record and playing it for my sister’s friends, playing the dirty parts, the intros for my little sister’s friends and trying to freak them out. So I come in and tell everybody as kind of a joke, mostly a joke but kind of not. I said we could call ourselves Nashville Pussy and ever since, that’s the name that made people laugh the most and we said hey why not? We were trying to think too hard basically so I wanted to make everyone laugh and I was like oh that’s it. That’s it for sure. If not, we’d end up telling people hey we almost called ourselves Nashville Pussy. We wanted to have the best name we could. Unfortunately, it’s still a dirty word here in America, pussy. If we decided to call ourselves Nashville Bitch it would have been fine. I can’t believe over the last 20 years how you can say bitch on the Disney Channel pretty much which is really a degrading fucking word but pussy, you still can’t say it. You can call someone a pussy but you can’t say Nashville Pussy. It’s just really fucking weird. I guess that was a bad call on some level. I think some radio programmers and promoters use it as an excuse, oh we can’t have a band with a name like that. Someone always complains. Someone sees a poster walking by and says hey I don’t like that.
KE: Well, I think it’s a great name for a great rock and roll band!
BC: Thanks!
KE: Best of luck with the new record and upcoming tour. It really is a fantastic album and I hope other people catch onto it.
BC: Thanks so much!
