Nita Strauss

Folks, we're here with one of the sickest guitarists in the game. So many accolades, absolutely crushing it right now. Nita Strauss, thank you so much for doing this. Thank you. You just got married to Joshua. Literally everyone loves Josh Rool's. You had probably one of the most star-studded weddings of the year with everyone rock and metal there. What does that feel like just a few days ago, you know, getting married and then coming out and ripping a sick show at Rock Film? It was so much fun. I mean, like, who could ask for a cooler honeymoon, you know,

to get to come and do this, you know, with the smart first show as husband and wife, you know, my best friend is our keyboard player. We are surrounded by like, this is our family here, like the metal family, rock and metal community. Like, this is our extended family, so there was no better way to celebrate. That's so incredible. And you've had Alice Cooper, David Drainman performing, you're performing with them. Talk about what it's like to, you know, it's such a special day for you to perform with legends. And I mean, also for you, you're wedding getting like international media coverage. It's gotta be crazy. It's wild. Yeah.

I put on our wedding invitation that we would like all of our guests to feel free to celebrate with, celebrate with song was the way that I put it on the invite and celebrate with song they did, you know, and it was so cool to have a band, you know, our wedding band was really great. They were called the moon units. And it was so cool to have a band that was cool with that to just, you know, let our guests that they don't know at all grab their instruments and just do what they do best to know as a fun way to celebrate.

You are very much in the sports world as well. Once it light getting up in front of these football stadiums, just casually in front of 100,000 plus people and just shredding up there. Well, the thing about the sports world, you know, whether it's NFL or NASCAR or any, you know, any of these sports organizations is they're not there for a concert.

Right. You know, they're there to see the team. I'm a big sports fan, so I completely understand that. All we're there to do is enhance the fans experience. You know, like Los Angeles is such a great rock and roll town. There's so much rock music there that if we can get up there and play some italic, I play some chili peppers, all it's doing is adding to the fans experience.

And it doesn't seem like it would be a low pressure gig, but like it actually really is because it's not like the need to straw show, you know, it's not like, oh my gosh, every known has to be perfect. Yes, and that they're there to watch the Rams, hopefully went up a ball game right and while they're at it, they're going to get some chili peppers and it's just about rocking out and making the fan experience amazing. The Rams organization has been incredible to work with and it's a fun fun gig.

So the call of the void, your record has been such a success. Look at all the features that you have crazy features on this record. You've got you've got everyone from Chris Christmas, Los Lisi, Hail David, Dramant Dorothy, which Victoria such a great single. So catchy. Thank you. What does it mean to you to have so many artists from the industry from all different levels, legends, icons, represented on your album?

What we really wanted to do with the new record is to show a lot of different sides of what I could do, you know, so we didn't just want to have an album that sounded like this is just one band and that's it. We wanted to have some heavy songs. We wanted to have some more mainstream songs. We wanted to kind of like cover the whole gamut.

And the coolest thing was that of everybody that we contacted, nobody said, no, you know, there were some people that didn't make it on the record due to like scheduling conflicts or anything like that. They had a record coming out and it would conflict or touring commitments or whatever. But everybody said even the people that didn't end up on the record said they would like to do it.

So I feel that was the best feeling ever that, you know, people liked what we were doing and wanted to be a part of it. And it gives me more ammunition for the next record. Yes. And that's so impressive. And in the victorious music video, which I thought was an incredible video.

You know, it seems like it's depicting your younger self being very determined to learn to play guitar and every guitarist I've had on this channel, it seems like for you to get to the level you're at playing, it's almost like an obsession with playing. Yeah. How much preparation have you put in over the course of your life? What is what did that look like for you growing up and learning to play guitar?

Yeah. So actually the young guitar player in the music video is Charlotte Milstein who is a fantastic up and coming guitar player. She reminds me so much of myself at that age. And we actually printed out like we went online and found a bunch of pictures of the posters that I had growing up in my room and put them on the wall in the music video, C.C.

Like the Steve Vy passion warfare, you know, the mega death, like, and even the Ryan Rock CGM P guitars ad that I had on my wall growing up and now I play with Ryan and Alice Cooper's band. And so we really made it as true to life as we possibly could. And it really was a testament to like this is what it takes if you were a card enough and you wanted bad enough dreams come true, just like they said in the movie.

So you know, you mentioned Alice Cooper and what an icon. How did you start, you know, how did you get into that band and what does it mean to perform with one of the true legends of the game. So I was introduced to Alice actually through one of his former bandmates, Kip Winger, Kip got word that he was going to be looking for a guitar player for the Motley crew tour before the word was even out.

So I was able to get in touch with them through him, like very, very early in the process and went through the audition process and it took a few rounds of getting it right for them to hear what they wanted to hear. And then after I got confirmed and I had my flight and everything, then the news broke that Oriente had left the band and my phone started blowing up and everybody was like, did you hear Alice Cooper's need a guitar player?

But you should go for it. I was like, say nothing. Maybe I should. Thank you for letting me know. And then actually to this day, there are still a lot of people that think that they're the one that got me to Alice Cooper's band and just from that flow of text that I got when I already had my flight and my dates.

That's amazing. That's so incredible. And so, and so working with him and his live show is so elaborate and everything like that. Did you feel any pressure when you first stepped out on stage in that first show with them? Of course, but I, you know, I came from a band called The Iron Maiden's, which is an Iron Maiden True Be Band. And in that show, there was, you know, the Eddie, the cyborg, you know, the devil and the six, six, six.

So like, I already had a lot of experience with like costumes and characters and stuff on stage. So it was just bigger costumes and bigger stages and bigger characters. So I feel so grateful that I came in with a little bit of that experience, you know, more so than another guitar player might have of like random characters flying at you from all sides of the stage, because the Alice Cooper show comes that you fast. Yeah. Yeah.

There's sores and 15 foot tall monsters and castles and giant babies and, you know, like you never know, guillotines and snakes. You never know where you're going to get. So definitely grateful that I came into it with at least a little bit of experience of an unusual show. How do you celebrate joining, you know, an act like that when you think back on your life and you go, how the hell did I end up as Alice Cooper's freaking guitarist? That's insane.

Well, what's crazy is I, when I was coming up in LA, I played in so many bands and one of the bands that I played with was a cover band. And we did all kinds of 80s covers and we used to do poison by Alice Cooper. That's sick. And so by the, from the time that I got the gig to my actual first show was such a whirlwind. It was only a few weeks to like learn the whole set, get all my gear together, you know, get all of my gear to them, which were a whole nother hassle, you know.

And so it almost didn't feel real. I flew out to Manistee, Michigan where the first show was on a Monday. I met the band and rehearsed for the first time on Tuesday. We did production days Wednesday and Thursday and my first show was Friday. So like, that was it. We had three days, sink or swim, you know. And it wasn't until the middle of my first show when the poison sample hit and I started playing the song and I looked to my right.

And there was like, I don't know if I can say this, but there was Alice, fucking Cooper, you know, like, and I was like, oh my god, like, this is it. This is the moment. This is what you work for. You know, all of your life, you dream of a moment like this and like, now here it is. And I really felt like the movie Rockstar where he says, I'm just a regular guy that grew up with pictures of these guys on his walls.

Like I said, I grew up with a picture of Ryan Roxy on my wall. And now I'm in Alice Cooper's band with him, you know, and Al Petrellian and Kane Roberts. And, you know, so many of the great Alice Cooper guitar players that came before me, that's who I had on my wall. So it's just very surreal. You know, it's been 10 years now, you know, 10 years next month that I've been in the band and it still feels very surreal.

And you talk about guitarist and so many guitarist you have respect for. And I know that a lot of the inspiration guitar playing comes from admiring the work of others. If you had to pick a Mount Rushmore of guitarist, you know, who do you think would be on that? I know it's subjective. It is so subjective on how many is that for? Yeah, okay. Steve I Joe Satriani Jennifer Batten. Marty Friedman. That's their sick. Yeah, that's my fix. You've worked with Marty Friedman as well?

I did. Yes, I did a song with Marty on the call of the boy, the last song on the record. It's called Surfacing. Yeah. I talk about a legend. He's doing, he's doing huge things in Japan. Total legend. And super, he's like a massive, like a mega star in Japan. It's the coolest thing ever. Like what a cool crossover to be able to be like such an influential musician and guitar player and like influence so many musicians, so many guitar players, and then go to a completely different culture.

And like he has these albums called Tokyo Jukebox where he does like shred covers of Japanese pop songs and like that is so cool. So then like I listen that and then I went and started listening to these Japanese songs and it's like it's just an endless circle of music and inspiration. And Marty Friedman is at the center of a lot of it. Right. You've worked with David Dramon a lot. How did you get to meet him?

I actually met him through Josh who is my husband. Yes, literally knows everything. He does. Josh is one of those people that has just been around and been fun to be around for a long time. You know, like I joke with him that he's like the mayor of everywhere we go because like we can literally walk into like a rock bar in Des Moines, Iowa. And someone would be like, Hey, is that Josh? Like, you know, oh my God, I haven't seen you in 20 years.

Last time I saw you was in 2000 on Tattoo the Earth. They're like, you know, whatever it was. So it's fun being around Josh because like I am kind of a homebody and kind of the opposite. You know, like I don't I'm a total introvert especially since I've been sober. Like I don't get out much. You know, I don't say outlaid or the bars and stuff. So it's always fun going out with Josh and seeing like this.

So I think it's a social circle that that he runs around in and has run around it for so many years. So I think he's known David and the start guys for 20 years now and remained friends with them all that time. You've been sober for a long time now, haven't you? I've been sober for almost eight years. Yeah. Wow, that's awesome. Yeah. I think this is a lot of 2015. Yeah, it also just, you know, discipline for sure.

But it also I think just takes the self awareness to know when something is no longer serving you in life. And for me, it just was not doing me any favors. You know, it was fun and it made it more easy to be social. But it beyond that it was not helping me out at all. So it was a good thing. Were you were you into fitness before or after you got sober? Were those two things connected at all? So I was into fitness from the time that I was a kid. I did gymnastics.

You know, I was always trying to be fit. But then as I got older, I really only worked out as a means to an end because I liked drink. And I didn't want to look like somebody that liked to drink. So I would really just like work out like a maniac in order to try to look like, you know, the picture of a healthy person that wasn't, you know, a struggling addict.

Right. And so when I got sober, I sort of made a deal with myself that I was like, if I'm going to do this, because getting sober sucks, you know, that anybody will tell you it's the worst. You know, especially doing it on tour, doing it with no support system around, you know, I wasn't in the program. I didn't go to any meetings because I'm shy and weird, you know, and I didn't have any sober friends or anybody to talk to.

So I just wanted to do something for myself back. And I thought, if I'm going to go through this, I want to make it worth it. So I'm going to get into the best shape that I can. And like, that's going to be my reward. So I like, I make the joke that I traded the bar for the barbell. And like, instead of staying out till 5 a.m., like I would get up at 5 a.m. and go to the gym before the airport.

And it really releases a lot of those same type of endorphins. Like it gives you that feeling of accomplishment. And it makes you feel good. Like you look more more confident. Like it's not always about just like how many pounds did you lose? And what is the number on the scale? But it's your confidence in the way that you're close fan the way that you know, I'm not as out of breath on stage.

You know, I wake up in the morning and I don't look at my phone like dreading like what texted I send or what arguments that I start or whatever else. Yeah, you don't have that bad feeling. Yeah, I wake up in the morning. I know exactly. Yeah, anxiety. Exactly. So that's the best part is not have to think about that anymore. 100% and I think, you know, to a certain extent, I still drink occasionally. I've cut 95% of my drinking out. I've never drank a ton.

But you know, for me, once I started drinking a lot less and just got, you know, I just made my, my try consider myself alcohol as like poison and large quantities. Yeah, it is true. And that's all I feel. It's like it's it dumps you down. Oh, yeah, your brain, your thought processes and everything are affected. Your temporal lobe. No, literally like nothing, nothing good comes of it except for people like myself with social anxiety that have a hard time loosening up.

You know, and that for you was that a crutch for you an absolute crush. Yeah. And if I was the type of person that could have one or two and stop at that, I would still drink. You know, but unfortunately, because it was a great crutch for me, a great way for me to be social, you know, and I'm a positive person at all. Well, now because I'm now I'm more poised because I'm not having a role.

Very well spoken. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. Well, so also, you know, with your fitness programs, I want to ask you this because you're an expert on this. I got to lose 20 pounds in the next three months. What should I be doing? What am I doing and what am I doing wrong? Most important thing without knowing what it is you're actually doing is being honest with yourself about what you're actually doing because I think that so many people are like, yeah, I ate healthy. I worked out.

I did all this stuff. But if you're not tracking your calories and tracking your foods, like for example, something that I didn't do until more recently was like, I would track my food, but not every aspect of the food. For example, if you make eggs and you use a tablespoon of olive oil, which is nothing, you know, like to make your eggs, I think there's like a hundred calories and like 10 grams of fat or something in this one tablespoon of olive oil.

So if you cook with a tablespoon of olive oil three times a day, which is not very much, again, a tablespoon is little. That's 300 extra calories. And you know, I'm making that number up. I don't know how many is in the tablespoon. But like that's 300 calories that you're not tracking that you're not aware of. And those kind of things add up so much. Your salad dressings, your oils and vinegars, like your seasonings, anything like that.

So just having a really clear picture of what it is you're actually eating and how much you're actually working out, you know, I would say is the absolute most important thing. That's awesome. And that sound advice. And you know, for me, I've been trying to work on that. And so I'm talking to people about their interest outside of music. Yeah. I think that's totally fascinating. So you end up performing with Demi Lovato. I love that record that she put out.

Absolutely massive. I thought it was so cool to see you know, it seems like a lot of things like that when you have major pop stars like her coming in and showing love to rock that does a lot for the genre. It really does. It does. She's a massive global audience. Yeah. And so you know, how did that come about and what has that been like performing with her? I thought it was so cool of Demi to do that. You know, she's something like the 30th most followed person on all of Instagram.

You know, like she's the massive, massive star. She could do anything she wanted. She could walk away with the bag and listen to metal and like nobody would ever need no about it. But it was so cool to be a part of that tour with her with the holy fuck album cycle with Demi because I got to see one of the biggest stars in the world have this very authentic expression. Right.

You know, like she had the best time on stage every single night. She was head banging. She was rocking out. She was running for side side of the stage. You know, there was no choreography. There was no like perfect, you know, must stand here. Get this light there. It was we went out there and did a rock show. You know, and the first show that we did. I walked down the hallway with the dressing rooms and I heard somebody listen to mega death and I walked by Demi's room and it was Demi.

You know, Demi just like sitting in her room, finishing up her makeup, getting ready, listen to mega death. Like no cameras there. Nobody like, Oh, I better put on this front of like I don't have a rock. Check, you know, like she was just there listening to mega death, getting ready for the show exactly the way that I would have or anybody else in a band would have. And it's it was such an authentic move for her to make and I was just so happy to be a part of it.

And when you think about it too, I mean, she's this massive pop star. She's very famous. She's very successful. So at that point in her career at the level that she's operating at, she's only doing a rock record if she truly loves it.

If she wants to, yeah, exactly. It's not the money. You know, you know, exactly, you know, you only do it. I think she's at that fuck you point in her career where she can go out and say, No, I'm making the record. I want to make, you know, and there are some beautiful ballots on that record.

You know, it's it's not all heavy stuff. You know, and there's some like kind of more potpunky paramour type of songs on there. And there's some heavier songs. And I just thought it was a power move for her to make a record called Holy fuck.

Yeah, you know, I don't even know any metal bands. I would call their album that, you know, and and here she is making a global campaign. You know, we were on Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Kimmel had to say Holy fuck on TV. You know, like that's metal. Yeah, I think that's cool. No, I did too. And I just thought it was awesome. She did. It was a good record. I really enjoyed it. We listened to it and we really liked it. It's a good heartfelt rock record.

How did you find out that you were getting that gig? It seems like you're a lot of people's first choice. So I actually got a call from her old guitar player. Her old guitar player Max Bernstein, who is now Taylor Swift guitar player. Yeah, and he was, you know, he texted me said, would you have any interest in this? And I was like, are you kidding? And so he put me in touch with her musical director, Stacey Jones.

Stacey is an amazing musician, a drummer and MD and the drummer for my list, Iris. And really like he, I think, has spearheaded a lot of these like rocking pop tours. And so Stacey put an amazing band together myself and Leanne Bose and Danny McGinley and Brady Bowman on the drums. And we just went in and did a rock show. You know, like I think a lot of people expected a lot different when the announcement came out. Of course we all saw how the announcement went over.

But I saw so many Metallica shirts at shows, you know, like rock fans were coming to see what it was all about and people left with a smile on their face. And I think another really cool thing was how much attention Demi paid to the rock fans. You know, like I heard her doing interview actually on, I think it was on BBC talking about this.

And she said, I would see fans in the distraust shirts or, you know, Judas pre-shirts or whatever. Yeah, we come in with their arms folded. And I would make sure and pay them special attention, you know, not as a fuck you. But like I'm glad you're here and I want you to enjoy this. And she said, you know, she made a funny, funny observation. She said these people will only get their phones out when needa came down.

You know, and by the time by the end of the show, they would also get their phone out when I came down. And like that's how, you know, someone at Demi's level still finds it important to win over all the fans.

You know, she still has that chip on her shoulder that she cares so much about the show and about everybody that's there, not just the people in the Demi love auto shirts, but the people in the Metallica shirts or the people in the needa shirts that might not necessarily have been there to see her.

She wants them to leave as a fan talking about your touring and you know, touring and support of the solar record. You brought out Casey Carlson to do your vocals. I think she's awesome. How did you find her and how did she become involved with you? Casey is such a rock star. I found her on TikTok actually like so many our old photographer Anna and a massage actually the first one that said you have to check out the singer.

And it was a tall order. You know, we we had toured with just the instrumental band for so long and then we had dead inside come out with David Dramon and it just didn't make sense to bring out a singer to only sing one song.

We put the vocal on track and toward like that. But once the album came out, it didn't make sense to tour with a vocal track. We needed a vocalist and we needed a vocalist that could sing David Dramon and there's Frieden of Inflames, Lizzie Hale, Dorothy, you know, just to sing Alisa's parts and Wolfie Feed is hard enough.

So we saw some videos of Casey on social media. She was brand new to the scene. Her band Deadlands I think didn't even have a single out or if they did maybe is like one song that they had out. And she was just doing covers online. And we were so struck by her versatility and also her attitude.

Like she was just like hardworking can do like just in it to win it from the very, very beginning and the thing that sealed the deal was we saw a video of her getting up on stage with motionless and white Chris motionless pulled her on stage.

And she was so fearless. You know, she like walked right on that stage and hopped up on the riser and took command of a big crowd. You know, and we thought that's who we need. We need something that can do that. She did it today. Welcome to Rockville. You know, main stage. You know, early slot came out there and held that crowd in the palm of her hand like a probe. So we're so lucky to have her. I know that her band Deadlands is going to blow up and it's going to be hard for me to get her.

Our future tour. So I'm really glad that we have her now. We feel very, very lucky. When you were growing up and you first wanted to get involved in guitar, you first wanted to learn to play. What was it that inspired you to get to that point? It was Steve Vi in Crossroads. Seeing Steve Vi in the movie Crossroads as the Jack Butler character. I remember that was like the light bulb moment of like that's what I want to do. This is it for me.

Because he was your family playing guitar. Yeah, my dad's a professional musician. I have a huge family of musicians. Like actually a bunch of my cousins like my cousin got up and played at the wedding too with like the red the wedding band. So yeah, we have a lot of music on both sides of my family.

But my dad was a touring musician for many, many years. My mom was married to a touring musician for so many years. So when I started touring, they were like, well, this makes sense. Like they knew exactly what it was. And I got to share that experience with my dad. You know, call him from Indonesia. Call him from, you know, the Czech Republic say, Dad, you know, we sold out a show here tonight. And you know, you say, I remember being there.

You know, so they were they were in our very, very proud. That's amazing. And you know, I mean, what what was their response when you're like, Hey, I got the gate with Alice Cooper. Oh my God, they were so happy. And the coolest thing was on that tour. You know, my first tour with Alice was the Mali crew tour. And I got to get my parents a box at the Hollywood Bowl, which is where they took me as a kid to see.

You know, all like first as a little little kid to go see like kids shows, world music shows, you know, later on grew up and saw hero Smith there. And you know, like all the big, big shows were there. And I got to get them a box to see me play there and brought them backstage afterward. And my mom was in tears. And she said, I just can't believe that I'm backstage at Alice Cooper after 40 years.

You know, my mom saw Alice Cooper for the first time at the Hollywood Bowl, but she was like 15, you know, so she came back and saw me with him, like, you know, literally 40 years later at the same venue. So yeah, a lot of really cool full circle moments like that. You've got to do stuff with WWE as well. What's that been like working with them? I'm a huge wrestling fan. It was amazing, you know, getting to play at WrestleMania, getting to play at NXT. Mick Foley was our wedding efficient.

So the coolest, the coolest ever. And everybody at WWE from the music team, all the way up to Triple H and Stephanie, like, and Vince was so great with us. Like when we had the opportunity to work with him at WrestleMania, like everybody there, you know, from literally the top to the bottom, the talent to the behind the scenes. Like everybody has been amazing. I think that every organization should run theirs the way that WWE does.

There's just like such a good, familial, fun working environment. Well, I know you have a lot of stuff to do today. I don't want to hold you too long, but I wanted to ask people reflective and introspective questions. You know, if you had to go back to that younger you, just growing up, learning to play the guitar, really just figuring it out, not believing where this is all going to end up. What would you tell yourself?

It's going to work out. It's going to work out because like any young musician, there's a lot of uncertainty in what we do. You know, and what any musician does, like, you don't know if it's going to work or not. You know, like, I got jobs working at the mall. I got jobs teaching guitar to like other little kids. You know, like, there was like so many times that I was like, is this worth it? Should I have gone to school?

Like, should I, you know, I had no plan B. I dropped out of school to do music full-time after my sophomore year of high school. And there was a lot of times that I didn't have faith. And when I didn't have faith, I had determination. And I just kept going. Even though I was very pessimistic, and I wish that I had just had a hint that someday all my dreams would come true, and I would get to sit here,

at Walk on the Rockville for the second year in a row, sit on the same bench. You know, get to be here with Alice last year, get to be here with like, you know, my sexy husband and my best friend and my band now. You know, like, I just feel like I'm at the best place in my life that I've ever been. And I'm so grateful. And I just wish that I could give my younger self a little hint that someday if you work hard enough, and you keep it up that like you'll get to this place now.

That's incredible. Need a strouse. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you. It was an honor to have you on the channel. It took way too long for me to make this happen. But I'm glad I finally did. Thank you so much. You're one of the best guitars in the game. Absolutely crushing it. And it's an honor to have you here today. Thank you so much. Let's do it again anytime. Absolutely.