“I’d like to dedicate this to all that Nashville pussy.” And so begins the cut “Wang Dang Sweet Pootang” from rock ‘n’ roller Ted Nugent’s “Double Live Gonzo” album. It would stick in the minds of a bunch of metalheads in Atlanta, who in 1997 would pay tribute to Nugent with the formation of their own band, Nashville Pussy. According to guitarist Ruyter Suys, it was a chance to come up with something uniquely their own — but then again, obvious other reasons existed as well. “We were trying to come up with something that was never going to be allowed to be said on the radio,” she told Buzzbin Magazine during some down time between tours. Kicking ass and taking names, Nashville Pussy broke onto the scene with a vengeance, receiving a Best Metal Performance Grammy nomination for their song “Fried Chicken And Coffee” from their debut release, “Let Them Eat Pussy.” Since the late ’90s, the band has released five studio records with a remastering of their latest record, the 2009 release “From Hell to Texas,” expected soon. The new edition will include a bonus disc containing a recording of a recent live show, which Suys promises will not disappoint. Playing live is what she lives for. “The live show every night is the highlight of my life. It doesn’t matter really where it is,” she said. “It’s very self-indulgent. I tend to have a good time regardless of where we are. Live shows are my reason for living.” As far as what to expect at a Nashville Pussy show, Suys promises a performance so good, it might end in crime. “There’s no pretense. It’s always a good show to get laid at or thrown in jail,” Suys said, laughing. “You can always blame it on us. We’ve heard it all before.” Although the band has been together for nearly a decade and a half, Suys doesn’t feel that they have changed whatsoever. “We’re still playing the same goddamn chords, but are just playing them in a different order now. I don’t think we changed at all, man,” she said. “We’re still trying to figure this shit out.” It’s a take-it-or-leave-it attitude that has appealed to Nashville Pussy fans from day one. “I am out here to please myself first and if you wanna come on out here feel free,” she said. Suys’s personal and professional life are naturally and inextricably conflated: frontman Blaine Cartwright not only pulls everything together but also happens to be her husband. The potentially tense repercussions of working with a spouse, says Suys, have been largely nonexistent. “For the most part it’s been fucking fantastic. We get along better than anyone in the band,” she said. “I wouldn’t recommend getting married unless you really fucking like the person. I wouldn’t even recommend being in a band to people.” The band has swept through Cleveland multiple times over the last 14 years and Suys has fond, drug-addled memories of the city. “I remember doing blow with one of the guys that sold drugs at a Marilyn Manson show. I remember my face half-frozen and rain coming in to create a moat between the audience and the stage,” Suys recalled. “Oh, the Agora. It was one of those deals where the drug dealer would sell to the headliner and then give it away for free to the opening band.” When we ask her what people unfamiliar with Nashville Pussy should know, her voice takes on a stern tone. “They should know that I am the most badass guitar player in the entire fucking world.” Nashville Pussy plays Cleveland at the Grog Shop on November 11. As Suys suggests, “Come for the tits and stay for the music.” Who are we to argue? Photo by posan