Talk Is Jericho Baby Talk Is Jericho Talk Is Jericho Mama Talk Is Me! Alright, welcome to Talk Is Jericho, it's the Pada Thunder and Rock'n'Roll and WrestleMania New Orleans is in the books. Pretty amazing show with some great moments like a wide match to the night, Roder Rausy and Kurt Angle defeating Stephanie Manitrablach.
Love that match, love Asuka versus Charlotte. Lots of great moments, the stage looked amazing, the graphics were great, the return of the Undertaker, the return of Daniel Bryan, so many cool things happening. We had a great time watching the show at Wallis on the last day of the Judas Rising tour of this leg. And actually, Jack Slayna actually did a post-Russellman review, but we were so tanked, it's unusable.
You will never hear it, this is almost like the lost recordings of Jimmy Hendrix, it's the lost WrestleMania, post-show review with Jack Slayna and Chris Jericho. Not going to hear it, but a lot of great things on the show this year, including AJ Styles versus Shinsuke Nakamura and the killer Nakamura, who was a big part of one of the greatest entrances in WrestleMania history, the blonde chick, Hurricane Nita Strauss, she's rocking with Alice Cooper right now playing guitar for him.
She was in the Iron Maidens when I saw her a few years ago, but she's a huge wrestling fan and she killed it, playing Shinsuke Nakamura down to the ring. Well, that's amazing, it looked great too, it's something you got to see, and even better Nita is here, I'm talking to Jericho. We did this interview back in January before she knew about performing at WrestleMania, but we talked to wrestling,
she's about ready to play, I believe it was the great moota to the ring maybe. You're going to find out all about this, how she became such a wrestling fan, who some of her favorite wrestlers are. We also talked about Alice Cooper,
how she met him, and how she ended up playing in his band, which is no mean feat. Not easy being a kick-ass female guitar player in the male dominated world of rock and roll, but Nita explains how she handles it, and why she hasn't experienced any hashtag Me Too moments in her career.
She's also talking all about her boss, Alice Cooper, and what it's like on tour and behind the scenes when they're traveling and hanging out, and speaking of touring, Alice Cooper is out again this summer, but in the meantime, in between time, Nita Strauss has been working on her solo record,
and she needs your help to get it done. If you watched at WrestleMania, if you've seen her with Alice Cooper, you could support her Kickstarter campaign, she's a great guitar player, great person as you're going to hear. She has some pretty cool perks. If you donate to her Kickstarter campaign, she's offering a private guitar lessons via Skype, or she'll wear your band's t-shirt on stage at an Alice Cooper show, or you can hang out with her and just have a slice of pizza.
That's good. The link to her Kickstarter campaign is on social media. She's Nita Strauss on Facebook, that's N-I-T-A-S-T-R-A-U-S-S, like Strauss, S-T-R-A-U-S-S, and Hurricane Nita on Instagram and Twitter. Check it out, help her finish her solo record, and get a chance to do something cool with her in the process, especially now, after she was a part of one of the greatest wrestling band,
and it enters this in history. She's also part of a really great version of Talk Is Jericho, great edition, great episode. It's right here. Hurricane Nita Strauss, shred it up on Talk Is Jericho. So we were just talking about, I'm here with Nita Strauss from the Alice Cooper band, and we're talking about how all of these factors were kind of pushing us together to do this. And I didn't know that you wanted to do the show. Synchronicity. Synchronicity, you're not talking about the police.
But I didn't realize that I guess from talking with you before that you were actually pretty big wrestling fan. Yeah, big time. Yeah, yeah, actually my boyfriend, Josh, got me into wrestling when we first started dating. I didn't know anything about it. It was one of those things like, oh, he's important to me, it's important to him. And we started watching it, and all of a sudden, you know, at the end I subscribed to the network, and I got my subscription,
and then I'm buying all the shirts, and I got all this stuff, and I have all these questions. And yeah, so I got super, super into it, like kind of right away. Where did you grow up? Here in LA. Okay, so yeah. Born in San Monica, grew up in the valley. So you've gone to some shows now? Yeah, yeah, I've gone to a couple WWE shows, and then some indie shows, which has been way more fun. I'm actually performing in an indie show this weekend, which will be cool. You know the great Mooda, I'm sorry.
Yeah, do I know me? I think it's super question. Yeah, I don't do a lot of wrestling, but it's mostly music. But I'm going to be, I guess by the time this airs, I will have played the great Mooda down to the ring. Nice. Yeah, it's a promotion called PCW here in LA, really badass, like old school, really rough and tumble, old school ECW style, wrestling promotion. So what are you going to play him to the ring? I'm going to play like his theme, his music. Really? Yeah.
That's cool. How did that come about? Beat, you know, my boyfriend Josh works with them, and he also manages me, so he just kind of set it up. He said, look, this would be kind of a cool angle, something to add to the show. I kind of get thrown into these situations, the same thing with the LA Kiss football team, when they said instead of having someone sing the national anthem, why don't have a chick play the national anthem?
And that's how I got started working with Jean and Paul on the LA Kiss stuff. So you would play the national anthem for them every game? Yeah, before the home games. How was that? So much fun. Yeah, it was so much fun. You know, I'm a big sports fan and a big America fan. And obviously a big kiss fan. And a big kiss fan. Yeah, so getting to do that, you know, getting to be a part of that was absolutely amazing.
And the coolest experience for me, because I got called for the Alice tour right in the middle of the season, I actually had to leave abruptly. The coolest moment for me, because I didn't get to interact with Jean and Paul all that much. But at the end, I was walking out of the arena, like my last show, bummed out, like, but kind of excited, because I was going to the Alice Cooper Montecrutor.
And Paul was walking past me and I was going to stop in, but he was far and I didn't want to bug him. And he actually stopped and turned around, he goes, hey, Nina. And like, he walked back like 20 feet to me, he goes, I just want to say, I heard this is your last day with us. And we're so bound to be to be losing you. But if we have to lose you to any camp, I'm glad to see Alice Cooper camp because they're the greatest guys and they're going to take great care of you.
That's cool. That's a great time. You didn't have to say that. Yeah. Yeah, it's cool. Like Paul and Jean at both of it on this show. How cool. And it's so fact of become friends. And it's just so crazy when you get that kind of acknowledgement. Like, even when we'll talk about Alice, but even Alice over the years, you know, he's been on the show too. And he's been such a great guy. And I think this kind of Alice Cooper, yeah, he just, Paul Stanley just walked back to me.
Yeah, no, that's exactly I get that feeling all the time. And it never goes away, which is so cool. I'm sure you have a similar experience. Like all this time, you know, it's easy to just get jaded and go like, oh, whatever. I play with Alice all the time. But I still do get that thrill of a feeling. Absolutely. You know, it's funny. I went to a Clive Davis's Grammy party a couple years ago with Paul.
His wife was sick. I was in town because you want to come. So I went and right in front of us was Albert King. Was it Albert King? Yeah, Albert King. And he, he was like, oh my god. I said pause that Albert King. He's like, oh my god. It's his Albert King. So he went and took a picture with him. Like, you know, old blues guy. No, Bum. Sorry. It wasn't Albert King. It was buddy guy. Buddy guy.
Oh, awesome. And he's like, Hey, buddy, can I take a picture with you? And I'm like, here's Paul Stanley. It's like, it's like the Bible. Buddy guy, be got Paul Stanley, who be got Chris Jericho. No, we're all just like so excited. That's amazing. You should always have that feeling, you know. Did you get in on the picture? I did not. I just, I just, he took a selfie and I just, I just was enjoying the experience of it.
Right. I had an experience like that. Kind of similar to that at Alice's manager, Shep's Shep Gordon's party. Yeah. He does a, he doesn't a charity event every year for New Year's Eve. And Maui in Maui. Yeah. And a couple of days before he has this big bash at his place, like seems pretty low key, but it's everybody from like Oprah, the Joe Montana.
McLeod would like everybody would always up there playing drums. Like Steve Entireler. Steve Entireler is singing. Like you can't even pry the mic out of his hands. It's, it's amazing. And I end up with this picture and it was like two of the Dubie brothers, Dave Dramon from Disturbed and was Ray Benson and by I think Paul Simon and me. And they're like, hey, need a come get in the picture. I was like, what?
Like me? Are you sure? And that you know, it's, it's amazing to have these experiences. You know, as a musician, you know, I grew up here in LA and you, you have these experiences. You go like so many times you look at these pictures, you go, man, how cool would it be to be in that picture? How cool would it be to be in that group? And now, you know, people starting to say, hey, need a come get in the picture. And I still can't believe it.
It's pretty cool to like, we actually stayed. My family stayed at chefs at his guest house there on that property. And it's just like as soon as you break down the barriers of, oh my gosh, it's Alice Cooper or it's Paul Stanley or Shep Gordon. If you're a cool person and you have that mutual respect, you know, for you, a great guitar player, a big cool person. People just like being around other people that that are like that.
Totally. You know what I mean? Like I just think of Paul and I like he's just a guy who is a really cool job. Right. You know what I mean? Oh, totally. And that's how Shep is too. Same thing. You would never know the, the, the depths of the people and the entertainment, the influences had on the business. Yeah, when we go to Maui for years after the event is over, we stay a few extra days. And I'm still getting used to being able to go over to Shep's and use his bookie boards.
I know what you want. You know, like, you know, the, you know, over there on the back. Yeah, you got to walk down the little slope to get to the beach. Yep. And we were over there. And I said, you know, I texted Amber who's who lives with Shep and works in our production. And I said, Hey, you know, can we come over and use the board? She goes, Yeah, I'm not home, but just go in. And I actually even after almost four years with the organization.
I said, No, I'll wait till your home. Yeah, she goes, No, here's the gate code. Go on in. I said, Oh, wait till you're there. Well, since we're talking about boat shipping, but I always for you. I mean, you think of, did you see the movie hired gun? Yes. Like what a great movie. Yes. I did see it. You could have easily been in there too. I wasn't it. Were you in it? Yeah. Oh, okay. Yeah. That was the blonde guitar point. Well, I know. I just watched it. I forgot that you were in it.
Yeah. You're joining this long list of some of the greatest musicians of all time. Yeah. It was, you know, that was another experience when when France trying the director call me up. And he asked if I'd be a part of it. I literally it was another one of those whom me. Yeah. And I was like, you want me in this. You have who else and you want me. And I was actually a part of the jams like all the recording sessions and stuff.
And I think it kind of started out, you know, I don't have any illusions about how it started out. We probably needed a girl in the movie. But it was cool. Is it actually ended up being much more than that? Because I think they wanted to show somebody that was progressing from, you know, being a hardworking musician to getting up to that upper level.
So it was cool being that kind of underdog in the story and Alice had a great line. He goes, now I found Nita. Now she's in that group. You know, so it was cool. It's so funny. You told you totally in it. But I became so obsessed with Liberty De Vito and Rudy Sarzo in that movie. Like just... Liberty story. Oh, what a story. What a sad story. Yeah. And the thing is our bass player Paul De Lio used to be in Billy Joel's band. Oh, really?
So played with Liberty. So I'm like calling Paul. Like, if you got to see this movie, it's a true. But I mean, what a great... Like Alice says in the movie. Like, I don't have time for Billy Lister. You know, I need a Lister. So I mean, what a great compliment and what a great lineage to be a part of this band. The biggest compliment. You know, when I first joined the band, the Alice and everybody, you know, kind of everybody in the organization was going, you know, you got to tone it down.
Like, we don't want all this shred stuff going on. You need to really tone down the shred. We want rock guitar playing. And now that I've been in the band for a while and I can kind of express myself, Alice, I hear every interview. I'm so glad I have a shredder in the band. Like, you know, we do all the 80s stuff. Now we do the Cane Robert stuff. And because I... That's right in my wheelhouse. I love to play like that. So it's cool that I can kind of bring that flavor to the Alice camp.
What an underrated guitar player, Cane Roberts. Right. And I just did rock and roll fans. He camped with him. He's still in... He's still in his shape. Because remember the Cane he was so big. No, he's super jacked still. Not like Rambo big, but still really, really big. Great shape, right? Yeah, in crazy good shape. Yeah. How did you get the gig with Alice? So I was right in the middle of the LA Kiss, right in the middle, you know, I had just, you know, sort of start.
I was playing with Iron Maiden's, the Iron Maiden Triby band. And I love them. I still... Yeah. So I was kind of busy. I was writing my own music. I had the LA Kiss thing going on. And then I will never forget I was in the park running, doing cardio with a girlfriend of mine. And I get this call from a number, a national number. I didn't know. And it was Kip Winger.
Really? Who I didn't even know had my phone number. And he said, hey, so do you have any availability like this summer? Are you busy? And I was like, yeah, no, I've got some stuff going on. I'm pretty busy. Why? Like what is it? You think Winger's calling? Yeah, well, I would have done that too. But, you know, but I said, no, you know, I'm kind of busy. But what is it? He goes, it's Alice Cooper, Alice Cooper and Molly Crew.
And I said, I'm completely available. 100% in no conflicts whatsoever. Oh, Kip Winger, oh no, I'm fine. No, no, no, I told you. And you know, Kip played with Alice. Right. Was he kind of scouting for him or something? I guess he had just gotten word through the grapevine. You know, they were, he and Bob Ezra were kind of just putting it shut and Bob Ezra were kind of putting the feelers out. We're looking for somebody they had Orienthe in the band. So they kind of liked that dynamic.
One of the blue blue, the hot blonde chicken. Yeah. And so I got the audition. And he goes, what can I send them? And I was like, oh man, they're not going to like any of the Iron Maiden stuff. Like my music, you know, my band's music was super heavy. They're going to hate that. So I ended up sending them a video of the National Anthem from the LA Kiss Games. Wow. So because that was at least it shows them that I can stand on my own. It's at a full arena of people.
So they know I can play on a big stage without being intimidated. And it's America. How are they going to say no to the National Anthem? So I sent them a video of the National Anthem and then I got the call to a. That's actually a really cool idea. I mean, that's how you set yourself apart. I think, you know, what am I going to do? I'm going to send them a video playing my bedroom. Yeah.
You know, that's not going to impress anybody. Everybody does that. Everybody does it on YouTube. What can I show them that someone else isn't going to show them? You know, it's funny. Vivian Campbell did the show and he was talking about when he auditioned for Dio. And he said it was like 1982. Everybody's coming in their plane shreds, red, shreds, shreds, so he went in there and he said he played everything you could play. And Dio still wanted to play more.
So he just started playing Chuck Berry riffs. Nice. And after that, Dio said you got the gig and what really sold me was you playing the Chuck Berry. Just a little bluesy risk, not the shred, which everyone's doing. Yeah. It stood out by just doing the basic. Yeah. The National Anthem. You know, it's so funny. So in this audition process, I mentioned earlier that they said tone down the shred, bring back, you know, bringing the basics, bringing the rock.
My first audition video to send to Bob Ezren and Chuck Gordon, I pulled out every stop that I could think of. I did every crazy trick. I was like, I'm going to show them everything I can do. Every crazy trick, every whammy bar over the, you know, playing over on the other side of the neck, upside down. Anything I could think of. And they got back to me and they said, this is not what we want at all.
Like, this is, you know, I remember so clearly and I tell this story often, but Bob Ezren's exact tone of voice when he said to me on the phone, can you do anything else? And I said, no, no, no, no, no, no, of course, you know, no, I didn't know what you wanted. Like now, okay, basic, no, I can do basic. And it actually took me, they were kind enough to give me three tries to dumb it down.
That's what you're saying to the fact that like they didn't have to call you back at all. This is Bob Ezren. You're just for Bob Ezren. I was shocked. I was so shocked and I did not, you know, like, and every time I just, I want to always express anytime if Bob is listening, I want to express my gratitude for him giving me other chances and seeing some, something there that said, I want to see, I want to give her another chance to see more.
And I think, you know, it wasn't that I wasn't technically proficient. I think they just wanted to see that I could play chords and not overplay, like play a song. You know, it's just Angus Young and Keith Richards, like the best guitar players ever. Not what you play, it's what you don't play at times. Especially for a band like Alice, when so many of much of his stuff is the 70s bass, right?
70s bass. And we have three guitar players in the band too. That's interesting. Yeah, it's myself, Ryan Roxy and Tommy Hendrix and playing in the band. So it's a lot of not playing. It's a lot of what you don't play to let the song breathe, but still give it that modern wall of sound. Right. Was that interesting for you to come into a band that was already established with all guys, boys, clubs, sort of thing? How was that kind of fit in it?
You know, I came in and it's funny, you know, listening to you. I listened to a lot of wrestling podcasts and I hear some of the female guests on the podcast. And I think of it, it seems pretty similar. Like you kind of have to come in and establish yourself right away. Like you're not going to get pushed around. And there's kind of only a few ways you can go. You can be the little sister, you know, you can be the bitch or you can be the chick and get treated like the chick.
You know, and I've always been a little sister. You know, the bands have always taken me under their wing and, you know, you hear all these stories now, like the Me Too movement and everything going on. It's so scary and so prevalent. I hardly have any stories like that. Wow, that's interesting. Especially in rock and roll, right? Totally, but almost nothing because I'm always the guitar player. You know, I never go in as anyone's girlfriend. I never go in.
I have someone's girlfriend, you know, but I don't go in as, you know, I'm the chick in the room. Treat me like, you know, no one really treats me like that because they treat me like the guitar player of the band. You know, if you walk in as the guitar player of the band, you get treated like that. We always, I almost insist on it have like our merch person is always a girl. I like the dynamic. And it takes a ballsy chick to go on the bus with a bunch of guys.
Absolutely. But if you can find the right one, it's the dynamic. I just love having that element. Yeah, yeah. And it makes sense, you know, like, you know, having a hot chick selling merch. It's a stereotype, but it makes sense and it works. It totally works. And having a personable, cool girl around to talk to like the guys in my band, we give each other a hard time, but we're like a family. We really, really are, you know, I spend eight months, 10 months, a year with those guys.
So these guys, they, you know, we spend so much time out of the year together. We could be miserable, but we're the best of friends. But that's the secret to Vanny Rock and Roll band. You can find 100 great players, but who's the guy you can hang out with on the bus for the eight hour drive or whatever it may be? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. And Alice, too, you know, Alice and his wife Cheryl are such a great influence on us. You know, they've been married 42 years. That's crazy.
You know, and, and you know, they, you know, Cheryl maybe has a glass of wine here and there. Alice, of course, doesn't drink. You know, we get on the bus early. So Alice can get to golf early in the morning. So it's just like a super healthy chill environment. So what it, what, tell me about that, what is the kind of the sketch? If you have a day off as Alice always golfing he golfs every day, even if he's playing even on show days. Yeah, he plays nine on show days 18 on days off.
Yeah. And that's all I know about golf. If he ever does the Alice Cooper mini golf invitation. You're in. I'm in. Yeah. I guess that's the typical story of like an addict, right? Like a super crazy drug addict, super crazy alcoholic. So Pond on that off become a super crazy golf. A whole like totally and he actually has said that he traded his, you know, he's a he's got a schedule.
You know, he's got a, you know, very not rigid, but he's like, he likes to be on the schedule. And I think that's that addictive personality coming out. Like if you're not going to be addicted to drugs or alcohol, you get addicted to having your stuff, how you like it. So the golf is a big thing. He likes to go out and check out the shopping and the malls and stuff in each city and just like certain little things. And then, you know, before the show he gets there at the same time.
He kind of has his routine that he does. He watches kung fu movies before the show. So if I'm usually in the dressing room next to his. And you always say, oh, crazy stuff. And then he comes out as Alice Cooper. And then when he comes out in the makeup, then he's Alice Cooper. And he's not, you know, kind of rock and roll dad anymore. And he plays that character. He falls in character. Yeah. Absolutely. That's why people, people say a lot.
You guys probably get this with Fuzzy. Hey, you know, I want to propose to my girlfriend at your show. You know, can you give my son a shout out to Zatenth birthday. And that's why he never see him doing that stuff because he's the character character. You have to be that way. And I find that way even like for Fuzzy show for for wrestling. Once you get the suit of armor on your stage gear, your rock clothes, you know, and I hate doing this before the show.
Especially at festivals, we back, you know, waiting behind the stage to go up the stairs. Yeah, someone wants to take a picture. It's like, not now. Like this is the time to be in the mindset, whether you're about to go to the right or go on stage.
Just like off like that to be rude, but get away from me. That's yeah, that's that those precious few moments where you're psyching yourself up and you're, you're doing whatever you're doing, you're, you know, you know, I hear a lot of people say they visualize the route to the stage or to the ring or whatever.
Like whatever your routine is, that's your time to do that. I'm the exact same way. I wasn't for you like the first time you played with Alice because I love the fact that you're auditioning for the manager and the producer. Yeah, then they're telling Alice, this one out. Yeah, exactly. They kind of, I think they kind of weeded through everything. And then I actually didn't meet Alice by the time I met Alice the first time I was already in the band. Really? Yeah, it was funny.
So I was here with the guys. No, no, I hadn't. I actually like I did the whole thing via video and then I met Shep and Bob and you know, we spoke for a while here in LA. And then a few weeks later they said, okay, you're in. We're good. You start in two weeks. You know, it was that it was that quick. You know, it was space of three weeks total from me looking at tickets for the Motley crew.
I was Cooper show at the Hollywood Bowl to actually being in the band. That's insane. I mean, I'm going to go to the gig. I was going to go to the gig at the Hollywood Bowl thinking this might be the last time we see Motley crew.
And two weeks later I was in the band. It was amazing. And then I was on my way to the gym. So just, you know, gym clothes, sweatpants, no makeup, hair and a bun. And Bob, as her calls me said, well, Alice is in town. And I thought you'd like to meet since you're going to be going on tour together. I said, oh, yes, I would love to. Please just let me know where and when he goes. Well, right now.
Yeah, of course, no, you know, like, you know, the first thing you never ever turned down that kind of opportunity in this business, whatever it is. No, you don't say, can you make it four o'clock? You know, absolutely. I'll be there in 30 minutes. Like high school and make up in the mirror. Oh, absolutely.
Yeah, that's what I did. And ended up going up to Johnny Depp's house. And meeting Alice. He was there. He's got a studio at his house. Alice was there recording the Hollywood vampires record. So I was just that's that's where I'm at Alice. That's where I was at. I was at Alice the first time. I didn't even know it was Johnny Depp's house until he hit her. So how was it for your first gig actually being there with Alice Cooper as Alice?
It was it was amazing. You know, I've been playing since I was 13. I've been I started. I did my first national tour at 15. Really? Yeah. And I started playing with Alice four years ago. I guess I was most of 26 when I started doing that. So it was a long journey to get to that point. It took me back when I first when I first stepped on that stage. It took me back to this cover band. I played in when I was about 18 19. We played once a week.
And we got 500 bucks for five people. And all you could drink. So it was great. So it was a hundred bucks each and we played poison in this cover band. And when that song started like when I heard the sample. Like, wow. And the sample kicked in. I almost started crying. Like it was like this.
So everything kind of flashed before my eyes. And I thought of like all these hours of being hungry and thirsty and sleeping in the van and you know trying to sleep over winding roads. And my you know my old band had an energy drink endorsement. So we would sleep in the back of the truck on top of cans of energy drinks and so uncomfortable and like and being hungry and so hot in the summer and so cold in the winter and all this stuff all led up to this moment playing the same song.
Wow. A full circle right as full circle and I get chills even thinking about it now because I think like it's like that movie rock star when they say if you work hard enough and you want that enough. It happens and it did happen. It actually happened in playing the same song. Same exact notes. Same guitar even I think. You know, and playing with Alice. It was really surreal.
That's amazing. It still feels surreal. Did you did you get any did you pick up any tips or show business advice from Alice just from watching him or him telling you. Well, let me think actually I think I gave chef the piece of advice that he repeats to everybody always because when I first met chef and Bob. I got there like 15 minutes early and I sent chef attacks. I said, hey, I just want to let you know I'm a little earlier, but I'm here.
And they came right down. It's on set. Marquis. They came down and got me and chefs said, we are refreshingly early. I said, well, my dad always taught me if you're earlier on time, if you're on time, you're late, if you're late, you're fired. Wow. That's the truth, right? That's absolutely. And that's and chef repeats that to me now almost every time. He thought of it. No, no, he does give me the credit. I tell everybody that.
Well, especially in this town, because the Gennale, the the the tenancies to be late. Like even today, like I was I might have been 30 minutes late. I did my back. I got to be there close to ten as I can. But that that shows character. Absolutely. It shows that you care. It really does. And even the fact, you know, if you were going to be late, you said, hey, just so heads up, I might be late.
A lot of people don't give you that courtesy. You know, it's it's funny. I had one of these days. I had a bunch of guests lined up and they all canceled. When I actually was one in Zach, what ever happened, whatever reason, and William Shatter was one of the guys, and he called the studio and I was like, Oh, shit. And it's like he called the studio to tell me he was going to be ten minutes late. Right.
This is what I'm shatter at 84 years old. And it's like, that's how you do it. That's old school hall. Absolutely. Just let you know. And actually I had a I had rehearsal with the starbreakers. My cover band yesterday. And I did the same thing. I sent a text to the group text. And he said, Hey, just want to let you guys know we had seven o'clock rehearsal. And I was like, I'm probably going to be there like seven or five seven ten.
And this is like a cover band, you know, super casual. Listen to that. But I just get that, you know, you get the you get in that mentality of that. And it doesn't matter if you're meeting a friend for coffee or if you're meeting shut Gordon, by the way, you say, Hey, just a heads up. I'm going to be late. Or better yet, don't be late. Exactly. Be early. What is the rule again? If you're early, you're on time. If you're on time, you're late. If you're late, you're fired.
So how was it going on tour with with Motley crew? Oh, it was amazing. Yeah. It was so great. Everyone told me, you know, I don't drink now, but I drank a lot back then. And everyone's like, Oh, better watch out. I know you think you can drink. Those guys are crazy.
You know, better watch out. You've heard all the stories about those guys. They were the nicest people I've ever had the pleasure to be on tour with. No one hit on me. No one, you know, no one was rude to me. They were like every single member of the band, like watch out for Nicky. Watch out for time.
You know, Nicky ended up being one of my biggest confidants, like when I got sober on that tour and I ended up, yeah, I got sober in the middle of the Motley crew tour. It was so crazy. Like, you know, the hardest time to get, you know, to make this huge life change. And, you know, we were on the road in New Orleans. And that was the day I got sober. And I ended up going to Nicky few days later and saying, look, I'm ready to make this step. And he gave me a, you know, reading list.
He told me to read the book of awakening, like all this different stuff. And like, you know, checked in on me throughout the tour, like, hey, how are you feeling? How's everything going? Like, it was the total opposite. Like, I don't want to kill anyone's Motley crew rock and roll, you know, fantasy here. But they were so cool. And they delivered every night, you know, was we were on that tour for two and a half years, I think.
Yeah, yeah. We did, you know, what? We did every single show except the last show. Oh, really? It was heartbreaking. It was, I mean, we were on that tour for two years and change. And the last show was on New Year's Eve and chef has the charity every year.
So we couldn't skip the charity event. You know, Alice has done it every year and he couldn't, you know, he didn't want to skip it. So we missed the final. We missed the final goodbye, which would have been, you know, staple center in my hometown. Yeah. But what we did do the rest of the tour, it was, it was an amazing experience and a great mix, like he said, you know, having Alice Cooper and Motley crew is a perfect crossover fan.
You know, so there were no people like, oh, I like Motley crew, but I hate Alice. Yeah, once again, Alice and we get Motley crew in a lot of ways. Absolutely. And they treated us like that. And I just love the fact that you chose to get sober when you get the gig playing with Alice Cooper on tour with Motley crew.
Oh, yeah, said, said nobody ever said nobody ever. It's the worst, the worst timing. But for me, it was the best timing. Like it was, you know, it was at that point that you always get to, like a lot of people get to where you're just like drinking every day.
You know, like, you don't think about it. You don't just have it. It's a total habit. You go, okay, I'm going to have a couple, you know, I like to drink vodka. I have a vodka before the show and then I take one on stage and just sip it. And then after the show, you go see the fans hang out, you have a drink with them.
And then the day off, you go to the bar because there's nothing else to do in Wichita, whatever. And then all of a sudden, you're like, wait a second. So I'm drinking before the show during the show after the show.
They all have all of a sudden, you're like, this is seven days a week. I was getting all fat and stuff. Like, you know, nobody likes a fat girl in the back. You know, and I was eating really badly. You know, then you get on the bus while drunk and you're eating pizza and, you know, all this stuff. And so it got my act together, you know, and start working out a lot, started getting really into fitness. I started getting my meals delivered on the road. This company tried to affect a try,
they affected nutrition. They sent my meals out once a week. So I'm eating super healthy. And yeah, it's just been a big change. I have all this energy now. I, you know, I wear a step counter on stage. My 10,000 steps during the show. It's cool. It's so fun. It's just how it's gone nowadays. Like so many bands are like that. Like the cliche of like the same thing and resting a lot of ways to like the party on the road. It's kind of gone away.
Totally. You know, it really has. Totally. I do DDP on the road. Really? Yeah. Shout out to DDP yoga. Big time. Find sponsors for this show. Yeah. I mean, that yoga Josh got me into it a while ago. And it's, yeah, I do the DDP. You know, we do the juice. Everybody's, you know, the guys in my band. Now we drink the college and protein and the coffee.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, you go on other bands buses and they've got their juicers and they've got their stuff. Oh, if you guys tried these protein bars, I know I, it's, it's, we were touring with loaded a few years ago in Sydney, Australia. And Duff and I were doing this total like it was called the caveman diet. Paleo diet.
Yeah, yeah. Where you eat nothing, but like nuts and what caveman would eat and Duff was super hungry. I'm like, hey man, I got some some almonds. Yeah. And like we're exchanging almonds. Like 10 years ago, it would have been take a blue one and a red one and a yellow one take all these pills. Now it's almonds. Man, you got some almonds. We were laughing about that on the motley crew tour. Nikki called it the highway to health.
We had this green drink. Tommy Hammackson, our guitar player had this hook up with this green drink. He would get it sent out if it was called now. But Nikki would always come in the room. Hey, you guys got that stuff. It was the green drink. Yeah, it was the green, you know, the super spirulina drink. Yeah. Who else have you toured with? You have you gone any other big tours with somebody is the most just Alice on his own?
We just got off the road with deep purple on the road, deep purple all summer, which was it was a really interesting mix because it wasn't that super crossover fan. You know, the Alice fans weren't there as he deep purple. The deep purple fans weren't there to see Alice. Yeah, so it was it's definitely definitely its own thing. You know, I saw deep purple the rock and a whole family got inducted and it was it was an old guys band.
Oh totally. Not a lot of energy going on. It wasn't like Alice or Ozzy would they still have the fire just like one step away from just sitting down on stage. Well, the interesting thing about it is, you know, you look at deep purple, you look at Ian Pace and all these guys. They've got the OG guys in the band. You know, Alice and Ozzy, they kind of played it smart. You know, they got Ozzy's got Gus G or think Sakwild is back.
Great point though. All younger guys. They got like the kind of the hot shot players, you know, so it makes sense. But it was hard, I think, for purple to go on as a headliner after we just, you know, Alice getting a few teen fireworks and this and that. And we had all of our stuff and I'm running around like a maniac and Alice's wife is there and her mini skirt, you know, looking all hot.
She looks gorgeous. You would never guess. You know that they had been married 42 years. She doesn't even look like she's been alive for 42 years. And then purple had to go on. Yeah, sorry boys. Sorry guys. And Edgar winner opened up that tour. Oh wow. So it was it was a wild mix and I kind of got some cool guitar players for you to watch though. Oh, and these are the mores and your winter. Yeah, Steve Moore's dog rap a poor playing guitar for Edgar winner.
And just like insane, insanely good. Edgar's band is nuts. Are they younger guys? Yeah, he's got this awesome rhythm section with a cocoa powel and can't remember the drummer. We just called J Rock. He's gonna name me some members name it. We just called him J Rock. J Rock. These guys, you know, just super funky, you know, super funky guys. It was really, really great band.
When you're talking about all the all the gags and all the tricks that Alice does on stage, what are some of your favorites? I like the Frankenstein because I get to interact. So is that when they build the Frankenstein? He comes out, you know, so Alice we're playing feed my Frankenstein. Alice goes into the, I guess the gas chamber or something. He goes into this big apparatus again. Yeah, dies again. This, you know, firework shootouts all kinds of power that you have to stay clear of on stage.
And then the Frankenstein emerges and runs around the stage and kind of chases us all around. And it's a it's funny because you know when I was in the Iron Manes, we used to have an Eddie. And the Eddie was about seven feet tall, like, you know, just a foot higher than us, you know, and he'd come out kind of like lumber around the stage.
And then so people always said, well, what was the transition like from playing with Iron Manes to playing with Alice Cooper? I said it was the same, just bigger monsters. There's a lot more than that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Because I wanted to know when Alice was on, he talked about the guillotine, some of the tricks for that hanging.
Yeah, yeah, you know, he still does that though. Yeah, he does the guillotine every night. Yeah, yeah, it's wild. You guys, I think he would he did your show when we were in Winnipeg. It was Calgary. It was Calgary. Yeah, it happened to be in Calgary and I went over to the hotel and I remember because I said what it was I was like, and no one told me.
It was one of those ones where you like, you got 30 minutes with Alice. I'm like, okay. And I went in there. I was like 70 minutes. And I had to cut him off. I don't want you to go like taking an app or something or whatever you do, but that's what it was. It literally was. He had to take a little bit of a snooze before the show, but he wouldn't stop. And I was like, yeah, it wasn't just an awesome guy to be around and fun and totally, you know, he's like that even at his meet and greets.
You know, he does the after show meet and greet with the, you know, there's like the VIP level where you talk to us after the show. Sometimes the bus will wait on him for two or three hours because he just sits there. It's not one of those meet and greets where you get rushed through.
Right. He sits and he talks and he interacts and chats with everybody. And even when we're out and about like even when we're just sitting having dinner as a band, you know, sometimes we'll go out to a restaurant on a day off. I've seen Alice literally take a fork with food on it out of his mouth when someone will just come up. You go, hey, I just want to, you know, and he never gets exasperated.
He never gets frustrated. He goes, oh, really? You know, what's the fork done? Tell me about it. Tell me about the first time you heard Billy Larder. That's so rare too, right? Oh, yeah. Like even me, but like, can you wait till I'm done eating? You know, I'm so sorry. Even me and I'm like, you know, this goes from hell. I go to the bottom. I go, can you please wait till I'm done with my phone conversation or whatever. I've never seen Alice do that.
I've never, he will stop whatever he's doing. And I think it was, I think this is actually a wrestling quote. This is an Alice quote, but it makes sense. Someone said, you'll never remember it, but they'll never forget. Is it? Deal. Deal. Deal. Okay. I'm not sure I read my book, but he I put that must have been what it was. Always give people their moment. Yeah, because you won't remember it, but they'll never forget.
That's what it is. And I think I heard that story from somebody I met through WWE. I think he told me it told to us about you. That's my story. Yeah, someone else claimed it. That's mine. I'm claiming right now. Copyright. Copyright for me. Did you tour with Alice when they went out with Maiden? It was that Silaury, aren't you? No, that was Ori.
I wish it was the irony, right? I wish it had been me. I heard a rumor that we were going to do some shows with them last year and it didn't happen. No, it didn't happen. I did jam with Dave, with Dave Murray at Chef's Thing. Yeah, Dave is a Maui guy as well. So cool. Yeah, we had the same pedal board. It was so cool. Was that who you played in the Army? Yeah, I was Dave. I was Megamurie. Okay, so let's go through it. It's it's Bruce Chickinson, which is the all time best name ever.
Best name ever. Then Megamurie. Megamurie, Adriana Smith. Adriana Smith. Steph Harris. And Nikki McBrane. Nikki McBrane. Yeah. So what years were you in the Iron Maiden's? 2011 to 2014. So I came and saw the Iron Maiden's when I was doing Dancing with the Stars with James Durbin in some place in Redondo Beach. Yeah, no, I wasn't. Okay, I saw Courtney. She's Adrian. Yeah, I met her there. Yeah, and I said, didn't he come see me? You guys just know he just came and just watched.
Yeah, super fun. You know, playing in that band was such a great experience because, you know, as you know, playing in a trippy band, it really lets you get inside the head of your favorite musicians. You know, in a way like, you know, of course, I was listening to Iron Maiden, but when you start playing it and learning it note for note, you really start to learn why they do what they do.
You know what I mean? So it made it was a cool, cool experience. What a great idea. And they actually you guys did really good business too. Yeah, business too, like two unkind of worldwide. And that sort of thing. They're about to go to Australia. It's crazy. Yeah, no, it's amazing. You know, I think one of the few trippy bands that gets booked worldwide.
When I was with them, we would go down to South America and we'd headline festivals. Like big festivals, not dinky little like, I'm talking 20, 30,000 people. And then we'd be up there, you know, we'd start playing Fear of the Dark and everyone was seeing along and guys in the front where we're crying. You know, like, I remember it's kind of an embodiment, so I'm in rupture, but I remember like when I was on stage, it's like, where were these girls when I was in high school?
I would have like gone after all of them. Like a chick, a hot chick who loves Iron Maiden and can play Iron Maiden. Like it's like a dream girl for a rock. Right. It's, it's fine. You know, and it's funny because I've always been that chick. You know, I've been that chick since I've been an old enough to be a chick and I started playing guitar right away.
You know, so it's funny for me, because for me, it's normal. All my really, all my close friends are musicians, all my close girlfriends are musicians. So it's funny for me to take myself out of that and go, oh, yeah, that is weird. It is unusual. But it's cool. So when you met Dave, did you say, hey, I used to play you in a band. Oh, he knew actually, which is so funny. The guys in Iron Maiden totally know who we are. Like when, when Alice came through Tampa,
Nico came to the show and he didn't even know I was in the band. I was, I was actually doing Nikki's podcast that day. So I was walking there. I was walking to where he was taping and Nico goes, hey, there's my Iron Maiden. What are you doing here? What are you doing in Florida? It's like, I mean, I was in Spain now. It was a cool little moment. That's great. Yeah. There's my Iron Maiden. He came and did the show after the gig in Vegas a couple of years ago.
And he walked in wearing like pajama pants. Right. You walk in with your pajamas. These aren't pajama pants. They're chef pants. I'll give you another shine. I had a shine. I'll give you another shine. Like Nico, what's the difference between chef pants and pajama pants? It's the same thing. What was the difference? Oh, did you wear them as a chef? You don't wear them to go to sleep. You put them on to cook food.
So is he cooking something? No, I'm not coming over to do a podcast. Yeah. I have not. It's good. Yeah. Really, really. I wanted to go down to his restaurant to do my podcast there, but Rod Small would refuse. That's the only way you can do this podcast is after you see the show. You have to see the show first. Well, I want to talk to Nico. Maybe I want to talk to him. No, you're not talking about his ribs. You would go see the show. Then you can do it.
Right. All right, Rod. Whatever you want to do. I've heard so many stories about it. I don't know. I met him. Did you have any issues? Like, do they ever have a problem with the Iron Maiden's existence? No, they were so cool. It's not like, you know, I've heard so many, you know, like Bon Jovi goes after tribute bands or like whatever it is. And the Iron Maiden guys were nothing but supportive of us.
Let's ask Gene. I don't know if Rod has gotten involved. He might not know. But I asked Gene that about Kiss tribute bands. And he said they allow them to exist because it promotes the brand. But he requires them to all sign a letter of thank you. Dear Gene, thank you for letting us do this. So they have to kiss the ring. Basically kiss the ring. Kiss the kiss ring to be kissed. You know, Gene always wins in the end. So I guess that's how he gets out of the ring.
You know what? I kind of think that's nice. I think it's fair. It's better. Just thank us. That's all. Just thank us if you want. Yeah. So what like because when you did the Iron Maiden's when I saw them, I mean, they open with Be Quicker Be Dead. It wasn't like just typical run to the hills. Oh, totally. So if you guys are doing everything, yeah, go deep. Super deep. We did reach out a couple of times. Wow. Courtney actually sang it for the major fans. Adrian sang.
Yeah. So we go or I shouldn't say we because I've been the band like three years, but they, you know, they go really deep and they take a very serious. And you know, it's interesting because you know, I've always written my own music. You know, I'm working on, you know, I have my band. We start wars now and I still play with the band. So we start wars.
Yeah, my original band is called We Start Wars. And it's cool to transition to doing my own music, you know, from playing, you know, playing out songs, playing, you know, the main songs. And then the star breakers is my cover band with Courtney and Jill Janice from Huntress. And that's all classic metal covers. So it's interesting now, you know, now I've got a little time off this year and I'm working on my solo record, you know, instrumental guitar solo record.
And I'm working on We Start Wars. And it's so interesting to kind of like pivot into that world. Like, okay, now I have to play what I like to play. I'm not thinking about, you know, what would Dave Murray do? What would, you know, Randy Rhodes have done. Now I'm like, what does need I want to do? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So it's interesting. What were the hardest main songs to play?
I don't know if anyone really that hard. It was more just getting it right. Right. You know, it's more just getting it like, you know, taking the need out of it, you know, a little bit not fully because you want to play it like yourself. But, you know, really just, you know, getting it so the maiden fans don't complain about it, which is tough. Right, right, right. Because they're serious. They're hard to play.
Sure, sure. Yeah. And they're going to be watching every movie, make especially with like the Harmony parts and stuff like that. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. And you know, a lot of times, you know, the fans made in fans are so fanatical that one time I even saw someone comment that Linda, their drummer doesn't look enough like Nico when she plays. Hey, listen, no girl wants to look like Nico. What? Please don't smash in the face of the frying pan. Yeah, Nick, maybe.
Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Who's the hot guy in maiden? I guess maybe Bruce in 85. Adrian is always good looking guy. Yeah, Adrian. I mean, you know, no one's no one's looking at our maid. There's no lookers really. No one's putting them in the chip and deal. So you mentioned, you know, when you talk about start breakers and they aren't maidens. And it's probably, well, it's still the world we live in. Did you ever have like people kind of, or did you have people go like, oh, she's good for a girl.
Oh, yeah. That sort of thing always. Yeah. Always. That's, you know, and it doesn't really bother me. It used to, you know, but now that now that I'm older and smarter, I really think it's just, you know, I can't get mad at people for me being who I am. You know, like there's, I don't, I'm blonde. I'm a girl. I play guitar. I wouldn't expect me to be any good either.
You know, it's, it's unfortunately just the stereotype of how things are. A lot of girls in this business have skated by on being good looking chicks. It's the same in wrestling. It's the same in, you know, I'm sure it's the same. It's the same in Hollywood. Almost any in Hollywood completely in any field, you know, and let's, you see it so, so, so much. That's actually like the shirts I wear on stage, I wear a shirt that says stay humble or be humbled. I have another one says ego kills talent.
Because you see so many people that just try to skate by on, you know, I'm a hot chick or I'm this or I'm that or I've played with this person or I've done this or that. And they just hang their hat on that. That's all they've done. And you have to work hard. You have to, you have to prove yourself. And I think as a female in the business, you have to prove yourself even more, you know, you, you're just the way, just the way that it is.
I say that to even like people think, you know, well, with Fosy, it's like, oh, there's a wrestler or a con. That can't be any good. So I always say like we have to work twice as hard to get people's respect. Absolutely. But once you get it, you got it for life. You have for life. Well, it doesn't hurt having rich ward in your band. Well, that's me because the band is good. So then, you know, that you know that, that at least just give it a shot.
Yeah. And you will like it. Yeah. That's, that's how I felt a lot, you know, a lot of my life, you know, and it's probably the same thing. Oh, it's the wrestler guy. Okay. I'll go. It's the chick. Okay. And then you have to just walk in. That's what I told the girls and we start wars, you know, as an original, all female, hard rock heavy metal band. Just instrumental is there singing to this is like a, you know, real bands. Yeah. Yeah. But we start wars.
I didn't know if it was just all instrumental stuff. No, no. This is this the real band. It's singer, two guitar players. He was a player of the whole. Wow. Okay. So I really told them I was like, you guys, when we come out and start playing shows, you know, we did our first, our first show last year at the whiskey. I said, we have to leave no doubt with the stage show. You have to come in and let people know because it is a bunch of hot chicks in my band.
Like, let's, you know, like realistically, I do have a bunch of super hot chicks in my band. Showbiz, man. Yeah. That's the gimmick. Sure. You know, and people are going to look at this band and say, those girls are not going to be good players. You know, the other guitar player in my band plays an eight string guitar, which I can't even comprehend. That's a jump or trucci type. Big time. Maybe even one more string. I don't know if John plays an eight string. Yeah.
He plays a seven. Yeah. So, you know, it's like super technical music. My drummer is an amazing double bass player. Like, you know, it's hot chicks, but it's talented chicks. And I said, we have to come out swinging. We have to come out super strong. Otherwise, people aren't going to take it seriously. Right. So it's, it's a really growing tree. So even with the star breakers, I mean, like I said, I think Jill posted a picture with me on it.
Because I'm going to do a song with you. I'm like, well, there's the ugliest band right there. But that's still all blondes, which is great. But where are you finding like, like I said, like once again, as a kid growing up in high school being a metal guy, there were some pretty girls. Look at me wrong. But pretty girls that can shred and can play like, where are you finding all these girls?
You have to look under a lot of rocks. Sure you do. It's hard. It's hard. But, you know, like I said, all my friends are musicians. You know, I've been, I've been in the scene for so long. You know, I've been playing shows around here since I was 15. Right. So like you just make friends with like-minded people, you know, my, my keyboard player, I've taken with me from band to band to band for like six years.
You find good people. My drummer Lindsey from the star breakers is also the drummer and we start war. Yeah. So you find somebody good and you just kind of stick with them. Grab onto them. Yeah. So when you were growing up and you were starting to get into guitar, were you in, obviously like you're influenced by guys, but was there some specific women that you're influenced by as guitar players?
Not many, to be honest with you. And you know, I'm the last person to play the sexist card, you know, male versus female, but they're just, I didn't know of that many. You know, there was Jennifer Batten and Michelle Maldrum from, from Maldrum, of course, Fana Blue. And that was it, you know, and I didn't even know who they were until with like way, way later. And people now always ask me like, so who, you know, did you like heart and lead a forward in Joan Jett?
And I always say, no, I like Paul Gilbert and Steve Fie and John Patrucci. It's always the lead in Joan because that's all there really was. Absolutely. And I did mention Jennifer Batten because I was going to ask you about her because I've never seen her a bunch of times, like just because they never, there was no internet. In those days, she didn't really know just this chick with giant white hair, just killing it. Shredding it.
So good. I remember the Super Bowl, she played on it where said the fan blowing up in her hair and life changing. Yeah, me as a guy watching that. You're going, oh my god, she can do that. I can do this. I was a little blonde kid trying to play guitar. I was like, oh my god, there's a girl doing it. And it kind of gives you like a little lifeline, like a string of hope doing it. And that's why I mentioned earlier I'm working on a solo record too.
And that's I think like the next step in the evolution of the guitar player that I want to be because all my heroes were these instrumental guys, Vi and, you know, Septriani and Paul Gilbert. And writing a solo, an instrumental solo record I think is going to be like the final step in the evolution of that guitar, to be that guitar player. So I'm super, super excited for that. Did you ever see Michael Jackson play at all? No, I never did.
Because I saw him in 93 in Mexico City watching Jennifer play. And just to see I wonder what she does now, does she still gig? Yeah, I actually just played with her. I played with her last year at the She Rocks Awards at NAMM. And we did, I'm every woman. And it was so cool. So Jennifer and I are trading solos. And like and Josh will tell you I was nervous all day long and I was nervous all day long. I was nervous for like a month and I never get nervous. But I was like, it's Jennifer.
What am I going to play? Because she can play everything. Like, what can I play that will keep up with her? And then I went to the middle of the leisure show a few days before that. And Alex Skolnick gave me the best advice. He said, don't try to out Jennifer, Jennifer. Just do your thing. So I went up there and I just did my, you know, my Vi kind of, you know, my Vi-Lix. And then at, you know, the last trade off, I was like, when am I ever going to get this chance again?
So I went up to Jennifer and I got right in her face. And I flipped the guitar upside down. I started playing upside down. And I was like, yeah, I think I was actually yelling. Like, yeah, yeah. And then she took her hands off her guitar and she put them up like I surrender. Wow, it's great. Oh my god. I have a picture of it. Like I was that was a crazy moment. She must have some great stories, right? I'm sure. I'm sure. And then after the song, I went up on stage and front everyone.
I just like babbled frantically. Thank you. Thank you so much. And she kind of tapped me on the guitar. She's like, okay, enough. Okay. Okay. I'll get it. Okay. But it's cool for people to hear that though. You know what I mean? Like I said, like for her to know that she had some influence on you. Yeah. You know, as the player now in Alice's Ben. Because I like that once again, Michael's gimmick was always having the, the, the shredder.
But it went to the hot chick because they went to Oriente as well. Right. But then he had slash involved and Steve Stevens was involved. He liked having that Van Halen. Right. It's all a little rock vibe to it, you know. And how cool if you had to do that? How cool if you had to incorporate some great rock guitar playing? I think that's what's missing from pop music these days is great guitar playing. You listen to these 80s songs and they have great guitar solos. Right.
Like the most pop 80s songs. You did it. For example. Yeah, it has great guitar solos. Where's that now? I went to a sonar live a few years ago and Rihanna. I was going to say Rihanna. It's not Steve. It's not the Steve and Nick song. Right. Rihanna was playing in a new little bitin' court with her guitar player. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, he did some stuff with her for a while. Yeah. I thought that was so cool. Pink's got a great guitar player, Justin Derricko. And he's in hired gun.
And he's in hired gun. Justin Derricko, when I was playing with Jimmy and Jackson, Pink was rehearsing next door to us. And Justin actually was like the first pro-level guitar player that kind of like took me in and showed me his rig. He brought me down to Bogner and Amps and introduced me to them. It got me like my first one of my first endorsements. That's cool. And he kind of goes back full circle to what we're talking about at the beginning. Like the super pro-level people are all cool.
Yeah. There's no ego. I've always learned that the highest level guys are always the coolest. Totally. It's the mid-level guys that don't know where they're going that are the big assholes. Totally. Yeah, exactly. Oh, it's trying to step all over everybody, cut your throat to get ahead and all that kind of stuff. And those are the people, like the shirt says it, but I really killed shirt, I wear it says, stay humble or be humbled.
Those people up at the top, they're never going to be humbled because you know, how to keep the level head and keep it, keep it together. I have lots of advice. Always be nice to everyone on the way up because you don't know who you're going to meet on the way down. You can't just go down. Yeah. Then you just dropped a little gem there just out of the corner of your mouth. He said when you were playing with Jermaine Jackson. That's right. As a Michael's brother.
So he went for the blonde guitar player too. Well, so that came about after Michael Pass. Jermaine was doing some tribute shows. Oh. And I think Ori was so well on her own doing her own thing then. So I got the call for that. So how was he, like a Jackson brother? Standoffish. Yeah. But cool. Yeah. You know, this is the only really funny story I have about that time. Because he wasn't really around much. The band rehearsed on her own. He would come in and do his thing and then leave.
But about two weeks into rehearsal was the first time he came in. He kind of gathered us all around and you know, I was the only girl. I was the only white one. And I was the only person that didn't know everybody because everybody came from Princess of Band and Michael's band and you know, just like super stable of players. And Jermaine gathered everyone around. It said, okay guys, you know, we're excited. It's going to be great. We're going over to Africa. It's going to be really cool.
It's going to be hot over there. But it's okay. Because we all black. And I was just quietly standing in the back. I was like, please don't look at me. And he goes, even you need a. I said, thank you, sir. Honorary black. Exactly. Just for that month. That's cool though. It's obviously growing up in the Jackson 5. The guy probably is exactly what to do. But you don't really hear much about any of those guys. Yeah, yeah. Except for Janet, of course, right?
Yeah, another funny moment was we were in rehearsal and Jermaine was there. And we were coming back from lunch and this group of guys walked in. And everybody stood up. Oh, you know, straightened up. Pears, and I was like, I go, what is that? And they go, that's Randy Jackson. And I looked at the guy, I go, I've seen American Idol. That's not Randy Jackson. And of course, I was wrong and everybody else was right as usual. That's not the dog. I was like, wait a second. I've seen that show.
Are you sure? You know, it's funny. There's a super obscure. There's a band called Zebra. That had like one and a half hits in the 80s. And the singer and bass part of that band was Randy Jackson. So when I first... Same Randy Jackson? No. It was a guy from like Long Island called Randy Jackson. Yeah. So when American Idol first came out and you see the list of judges, I'm like, Randy Jackson. Where did they find that guy? What is he doing on there? It's like, wait, that's not the Randy Jackson.
Who's the dog? Right. How funny. In my three seconds of research as we wind down here today coming over, obviously your last name is Strauss. Is this an urban legend or is it true down the family line? At this point, you know, I always grew up hearing it was true. And then... You know, is it Johans Strauss? Johans Strauss, yeah. So, you know, my dad raised me and my dad's family, you know, saw a bunch in Austria. And I always grew up with that, you know, my dad put it in my head.
And then some fan wrote to us, not that long ago, I said, well, it's very unlikely that this is true. So, you know, now I have to give a disclaimer. Maybe. You know, but if it's true, I'm very honored to live up to the lineage. And if it's not true, I'm glad I had that inspiration my whole life. It's supposed to be a Wikipedia, too. So someone wrote it in there. Somebody put it in there, not me. I've been dead three times on Wikipedia. Yeah. So people just write what they want. Yeah, yeah.
So there you go. I'm going to say you are the direct bloodline. The last musician. The last Strauss. Yeah, well, they, you know, this scholar, this, you know, this genealogist that wrote to us through my website said, if it's true, she is the last musician in the Strauss bloodline. So this is a really big deal. Which she'd be willing to take a DNA test and all this stuff. I'm like, I can't. Leave my gimmick alone. That's my gimmick. But no, but later I did. I did grow up believing this.
You know, my dad told me, and we listened to class, nothing but classical music growing up in my house. And so, you know, regardless of maybe it's true, maybe it's true, maybe it's not true. But if it's not true, I'm glad that I had this, this fantasy to live up to. Because I think it made me a better guitar player. Well, it's like you said, if you thought it was real, it's like a placebo. If you think it's going to work, then it made you, you know, have these big shoes to fill.
Right. You know, so I think I think it's really cool. You know, it was a cool thing to grow up because it's, you know, it's someone tells you, you know, your mom's martini and never to love us. So you better be a great athlete, you know. You know, like tennis, get out on the tennis court. Well, last couple of questions. Do you practice a lot on guitar? I do. I practice a lot because I've always got stuff to practice for. You know, like right now this week, I've got the great Mooda PCW event.
And then the next, you know, the day before that, I've got the Starbreakers show, which, you know, we just added like six songs. And kind of stuff to do with Starbreakers. Priests made in Ozzy, Kiss, Pantera. It's all the class. Yeah, all the good stuff. You know, stuff that basically we make a set list that we would want to hear.
You know, and, you know, Jill and Courtney sometimes they get a little crazy with the stuff, you know, they want to do all this stuff that, you know, they want to do all this merciful fate. And, you know, like, I'm like, okay, we got to do stuff that a lot of people will like, not just us, but, you know, but classics, like we do painkiller a lot. You know, we try to throw in songs that you wouldn't expect to see a bunch of chicks play.
You know, like, could we do living after midnight, of course, but something like painkillers, a little more fun for us to do, because it kind of showcases the gimmick. Sure, sure, sure, and the playing ability as well, right? It's hard to play, painkiller is a hard song for any drum-read play. Hard to sing too. Hard to sing, I can only imagine.
You know, when I talked to Rob, he said that painkiller is easier for him to sing than like before the dawn or something like that, because painkiller is all high. So you just got to lock into the high, and it's for him. He says the high is easy. It's the mid-range and the lower-range that can give him problems if he's not feeling right. Yeah, I just did another charity event with him for another one of Alice's Charities, the Christmas-putting charity, with Rob.
And I couldn't believe he doesn't warm up. He doesn't. Rob Halford does not warm up before he sings, and he just walked on stage. I'm like, Rob Halford, the badass. He did, because I can't do it, but like, you know, he's hitting these notes, and I was like, what? And it's like, it was me and Glenn from Alice's Band, Richie Faulkner from Priest, Rob Halford, Dave Ellipson on bass, and Slash and Ace Freely playing guitar with us. And I was like, what planet am I on?
Like, and then Rob Halford and his full regained, just being a lord. Did you post a video on Instagram? I think I must have. Yeah, I think I saw it on there. I must have. If I didn't, I was remiss in the hot stuff. I saw it. You know, it's like you said those moments as we talked about earlier, and I just have to pop this in there. Lemmy's 70th birthday party. Two weeks before he died. And here's the lineup. Me, Scottie and Charlie, Rob Trehio, and Slash. Playing beer drinkers and hellragers.
And you're looking around going, what? Hell hell, I end up here. Yeah, no, that's how I felt looking. Slash's amp was right next to mine. So like, here's my JVM, Marshall JVM over here. Here's Slash's Silver Jubilee. Next to mine, Slash is just blowing me out. I can't even hear anything I'm playing. And then you can't even care. I don't even care. I don't even care. Play whatever you want. Like, no one's listening to me play anyway.
I was just looking at, and Richie Faulkner and I kind of looked over at each other at one point. Because there's, you know, Richie, Ace, Slash, Rob, me, and we're like, who invited us to this party? What song were you playing? We played with that lineup we did living after midnight, and I think Highway to Hell. Ace did live after midnight? No, no, Ace jumped in on the final song of the night, which was Alice, everybody. And that was Run Run Rudolph. Can you believe that?
Alice and Rob Halford together singing Run Run Rudolph. With Ace Freely and Leguita. And Slash and me and Richie Faulkner and Dave Ellison. Who's your favorite guitar player? Steve Vi. Of all time. Of all time. No one does it like Steve Vi. Like, remember Crossroads? That's the movie, not the Britney Spears one for everyone listening to everyone takes advantage of it. Yeah, the Ralph Machio. Yeah, the Ralph Machio one. That's the reason I play guitar.
Watching that movie, you know, I had a guitar and I didn't really practice that much. And I thought, when I saw that movie, I thought, that's what I'm supposed to be doing. Exactly what he's doing right there. It was so cool and so effortless and so fun. You played like the Devil didn't need Steve Vi. Yeah, he's the Devil guitar player. Yeah, he's the, you know, the, the, when they're, they have that whole dual at the end.
And when he's, he was so confident and so like, and I still to this day aspire to be as cool as Steve Vi and Crossroads. And Steve Vi is actually the reason I still play Ibanez guitars. And the little handle, remember those versions? The gem, yeah, I've got one sitting right over there. I've got a couple of them actually. And I've been an Ibanez player. This is my 10th year as an Ibanez artist now.
So the amazing news, like the big 2018 news for me is that Ibanez is now putting out the Need of Strauss signature guitar. That's huge, right? That's the biggest news I've ever had in my whole life. You know, like all my life I've been an Ibanez fanboy, you know, a fan girl, a fanboy. And I've gotten offers from every single other guitar company that said, you know, we'll make your signature guitar right now. So many other wins. And I said, look, my blood bleeds Ibanez.
It's all I've ever wanted. So, you know, being the first ever female Ibanez signature artist is a dream come true from me. You're the first ever female. The first ever they have never done a signature series for a girl before. That's so huge. And so like, I've never, I don't have a signature. So like, you call them and see these are my specifications or these are my ideas. Like, what makes your guitar different from any other guitar?
So, mine, you know, the number one thing for me is playability. I want a guitar that's easy to play because, you know, you take a lot of these, you know, the guitars like a Gibson or, you know, the Fenders, they have these big fat necks. And for me, I don't know if it's a chick thing or what, like those big necks are hard for me to play fast on. So it's got a lightning fast neck, super light. You can throw it around, throw it on your shoulder, you know, whatever you want.
And it's sexy looking. Like, my guitar, you know, it's got a black to blonde burst. So it's something you don't see often. And like, what can I do that's like very uniquely me. I don't want to be pink or anything like. So it's a black, like a jet black to bright blonde. That's cool. That's cool. And a black ebony neck. It's very, it's really sleek looking. That's something that it's a subtle thing, but you said your guitar looks sexy. Yeah. Like Steve Viois had a sexy guitar, a Paul Stanley.
You can't have like a Gibson Birdland and look sexy. Totally. That's a giant Malcolm Young thing. Yeah, big fat baseball neck. Yeah, it's not going to look cool. Exactly. Exactly. So I wanted something, you know, like I've shown it to a couple people I showed to you today too. I've shown it to a couple people and they go, your guitar looks like you. And that's what I really wanted. I wanted something that embodied me. It's got my signature Demarzeo pickups in it.
It's got like, it's, it's just very uniquely me. Yeah. You know, and that, that was the main thing that I wanted. What you want. Yeah. I wanted something that is still accessible enough that people don't go like, oh, it's too out there. Like, I don't really like out there. I could have done something super crazy, but I wanted something classic, sleek, sexy, fast, easy to play. Yeah. Exactly. Last two questions. What's your favorite Alice song to play live?
I love playing poison for that reason that we talked about. It's so emotional. I like the cane stuff. I like playing, you know, we do the world needs guts, which is really fun. What was that from? Constrictor. Oh, I might be wrong. The Alice fans are going to jump all over me. The Razor Fist and Yellow and Constrictor. Like, you know, it's, it's, it's one of the cool 80s ones. It's not Razor Fist, because that's my Alice. Oh, that's your, I was going to be using it.
Did you do anything from that? I'm pushing really hard for a certain song from, from Razor Fist. And I have a feeling they, they already bought the prop for. I'm not going to say what it is. I'll say what it is off the air. But they already bought the prop for it. So I think it's coming in February. And he guesses? Well, Rose's and White Lace is a kind of a prop B type thing. So I'm going to go with that one. Good guess. Good guess. I'm not confirming or denying.
That's pretty obscure of the fact I could bring that up. I'm, I'm very impressed. Right now, I love that album. Me too. I used to go downtown every weekend and buy one album a week, because that's all I could afford. And one week I went down there and it was never a huge Alice fan. But that had just come out with the cover with the face on the hand. And it's like, that looks cool. And I bought it. Every song is great. Solid. And Keynes guitar playing is just amazing. Like nobody else.
Some stuff on there that I don't even really know how he did it. You know? Literally for me, you know, because Rose and White Lace is one of my favorite songs on that album. And I've tried to learn that solo before. I'm so glad that I've met Keynes and I can contact him now. Because if I ever do have to play that song, I'd like to know how we did this certain live. I actually don't know how to do this. I slowed it down. You know, I got my little program. I slowed it down.
I still couldn't figure it out. So I'd like to ask him how the hell he did that. Once again, Vivian came on and they were he was revisiting last in line doing those old Dio solos. He said he had to find a kid online that was playing them on YouTube. Right. So he could learn his own solos back. Everybody in our band does that. I had no idea how to play them. We all do that. Kids online. You guys would be watched. Where do you go kids? You guys are being watched. We did it.
Make sure you show your face though. A lot of kids just show their hands and feet. And that's great. Yeah, exactly. Who's your favorite wrestler? You know, I started out when I started getting the wrestling. I loved Warrior. Because I love his energy. I love how he, you know, just like he comes into the ring. He blessed it. And then the more I watched it, I was like, well, he doesn't really do that. So I have to go with maybe like a Shawn Michaels with a heart.
You know, somebody that's like more technical. But I love RVD. Robin Adams with my absolute favorites. I saw him wrestle at that PCW promotion. Okay. That was my first time seeing any wrestling up close. Rob's out there smashing chairs over people's heads. And like they're knocking over all the chairs from people watching and stuff. And so Rob, Rob might have to top my list just from that. How cool that was. That's one. Well, that's so cool. You're awesome. Thank you so much. Thank you so much.
Let's jam tomorrow night. Let's do it. Starbreakers. Hell yeah. Featuring the ugly guy. All right. That was the guitar player who played the amazing Shinsuke Nakamura entrance theme at WrestleMania and Sunday. Talk about Need A Strouse. Also great, great player with Alice Cooper band. Alice in the band are doing another leg of a paranormal evening with Alice Cooper. The dates start August 3rd in Wisconsin. And they've got former kiss guitar player Ace Freyley.
Leagants. Help them out in Las Vegas and the Los Angeles shows August 10th and 12th. That'd be a great tour, Alice and Ace. For the whole tour, I wonder why they didn't do the whole thing. Ace probably doesn't want to go up for that long. They don't want to get the opening slot on that tour. But it doesn't look like there is an opening slot, which is why we didn't get it. We had a great time in the Judas Rising tour. 25 shows sold out a huge portion of them. Ended up selling out at the very end.
Any out strong with Philadelphia, New York, Dayton, Cleveland, Clifton Park, New York, the Hampton Beach, Portland, just sell out after sell out after sell out. Stay tuned right here for more touring news. Coming up soon. And thanks to Wallis and Hampton Beach for putting on the WrestleMania party. With me and Fuzzy, we had a great time. Like I said, Jack Slayden, I got a little bit too low-ski, so we could not air our WrestleMania rundown. But trust me, it was lovingly a bad.
So, and we still got other tour dates coming up with Fuzzy. What am I talking about? There's other big announcements coming up within the meantime. And in between time, we still got April 19th at the Buddha Rock Club in Fort Myers, Florida. April 20th at the Amelie Arena in Tampa for 98 Rock Fest. April 21st, WJR, R, Earth Day, Birthday at the Central Florida Fairgrounds in Orlando. And April 22nd playing another 98 Rock Fest in Charleston, South Carolina.
So, it's a little bit of a Florida Southern run. Get your tickets at FuzzyRock.com. All the info there. And don't forget the words of Jericho coming back to the UK Glasgow May 21st, May 22nd, Manchester. That one sold out in seven hours. Still tick us left for the May 23rd show in London. But there are few and far between. Go check out all the information at insidetheroaps.co.uk.
And of course, all the information for Chris Jericho's Rock and Wrestling Ranger at C. At Chris Jericho Crews.com, we sent sale October 27th. And for as little as 150 bucks you can reserve your cabin. Everything is all inclusive. All the mean greets, all the signings, all the shows, everything in between.
Of course, you'll be hanging out with Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler, SoCal Val, Mick Foley, Noel Foley, Ricky The Dragonstima, Raymond Stereo, Raven, K.P. at 100 Crew, Cohen and Disco, Furnow and Shane Helms. Beyond the darkness, we'll be scaring the pants off you. Colt Cabana, Marty Rosemaking in Laugh for the unprofessional wrestling show. Don Callis and Paul Lazen be there doing live podcasts for Killin' the Town. Bride Williams, Ron Funches, Busted Open Radio, Dave LeCroque will be there.
Corey Taylor is going to be there, slip-not in the stone sower. Phil Campbell and the Bastard Suns, Fuzzy, of course, doing three shows. King, the stir from Atlanta, Georgia, Dave Spivak, Project Spewy. You heard him in his music right here in Talkas Jericho. The Cherry bombs, the darlings of rock and roll, shoot to thrill the world's best ACDC cover band. Blizzard of Ozzy, the world's best Ozzy cover band.
And of course, the PS Dota's Distance, Ring of Honor, presenting the Sea of Honor tournament, aboard the ship, matches happening in the middle of the ocean on a ring that's secured to the deck. Kenny Omega will be there, the young bucks will be there. Marty Skirl, the brisky brothers, Dalton Castle, Frankie Gisarin, Adam Page, Chris Daniels, J. Lethal, Cheeseburger, Deanna Perazzo, Mandy Leon, Brandy Rhodes, Matt Tave, and Flip Gordon, Delirious, Kenny King, Cody.
Don't call him Rhodes. He's going to be there too. So, Rhett Titus is going to be there, Silas Young. I think everybody employed by Ring of Honor is going to be on this ship. And the crazy thing is, there's still more to come. I am putting as much value into this as I possibly can. If you like wrestling, if you like rock and roll, if you like comedy, this is going to be for you. Don't you dare miss it.
Chris JerichoCrews.com, and remember, if you order your cabin, book your cabin before April 14th, you still got a couple days left. You can win the chance to be a Fuzzy Rode for a day, or sit ringside with Chris Jericho at a Ring of Honor Sea of Honor show, or you can get a chance to win dinner with Ring of Honor Superstars. So, there's a lot of stuff coming up there.
Chris JerichoCrews.com. All right. Coming up on Friday, going back to the paranormal world, Flat Earth Society, a huge section of society who believe that the Earth is flat and the leader of the society. David Weiss is going to be here. He might have heard him on Keeping it 100 on the Coenant Show. He is, well, he's unique to say the least. David Weiss talking all about the theory that the Earth is flat. Flat Earth Society. Coming up on Friday.
We'll see you then in the meantime, and in between time, stay hard, stay hungry, peace loving hugs, and the big, you, boy. Yeah.