Nashville Pussy, Zeke, and Spitfire Torpedo

Ruyter Suys is the lead guitar player of the band Nashville Pussy, and Blaine Cartwright’s wife.

Suys spent her youth in Vancouver, in a musical family, particularly fans of rock’n’roll in the vein of Led Zeppelin, David Bowie, and Frank Zappa. Beginning with piano at age three, she picked up the guitar at about 8–9 years, referring to the repertoire of Simon & Garfunkel in particular. At the end of primary school, she got her first guitar from her parents. In her teens she appreciated bands like Motörhead, Slayer, Metallica, Plasmatics, KISS, Aerosmith and Ted Nugent. But Suys’ main female influences are embodied by Nancy Wilson of Heart and Wendy O. Williams.