Live Review: Nashville Pussy/Priestess/Rye Coalition, Babylon, Ottawa, ON, Saturday Sept. 23, 2006

While Friday night's Danko Jones show was raunchy, last night's Nashville Pussy-led extravaganza was downright R-rated.

Strolled in to Babylon (with its two foot stage and ten-foot ceiling arguably Ottawa's worst venue to see a show) at around 10 PM. Missed the Rye Coalition but Priestess' big-time riffage was a great way to start the evening. These guys look like they walked off the set of "Almost Famous" and are pretty much a thrashy version of Sabbath. Excellent.

In between bands, the sound system offered a foreshadow of things to come with Priest's "Electric Eye", Kiss' "She" and Skynyrd's "Gimme Three Steps" among the offerings.

Then, around midnight came the amazing Nashville Pussy. I had seen Pussy before - about three years ago at the same venue - but this time was miles and miles ahead of that performance. A big reason for that is the introduction of new bassist Karen Cuda who brought the energy level, hotness, and tattoo factors way, way up. Led by the unlikely husband and wife team of Blaine Cartwright and the "Canadian Cannonball" Ruyter Suys in front of stickman - actually, who cares what his name is? - you've got a Zenith trucker-hat wearing, Jack-swilling lead singer who looks like he's permafried and sounds like Sam Kinison along with a lead guitarist with a hell of a mane of hair, jiggly boobs all over the place, and the chops to go with it. Pussy offered up AC/DC-inspired tunes with titles like "Struttin' Cock", "Gonna Hitchhike Down to Cincinnati and Kick the Shit Outta Your Drunk Daddy", and "Good Night for a Heart Attack" and although they were playing for maybe - MAYBE - 250 people, they played like they were headlining Maple Leaf Gardens and the year was 1976.

Highlight of the show was at the end when Ruyter climbed up on a barrier at the side of the stage, grabbed some guy's beer, chugged it, then doused the crowd with the rest of it and then spit the foam all over the place. Then, she played slide with the bottle, put the guitar behind her head and carried on till she broke two strings. (This moment had me spontaneously jumping up and down in approval, similar to my reaction at Wrestlemania X8 at the Skydome when the Rock pinned Hollywood Hulk Hogan.)

Bottom line is that the Pussy is stronger than ever and ready to blow the roof off your local dive bar. This was Ottawa's best show of the year thus far in my opinion. Go to their website and grab a ticket for when they're coming to see you on what they're calling the "Cum Get Some North America Tour 2006" if, like me, your 9-to-5 ass needs a good fix of filth.

Overall ratings:

Priestess: 8/10
Nashville Pussy: 9.75/10

Overall rating: 8.85/10