Last October, Nita Strauss, the Los Angeles-based guitar shredder for the ALICE COOPER band, shared “Dead Inside”, her first new solo music since the release of her debut album, 2018’s “Controlled Chaos”. The track is her first-ever solo collaboration with a vocalist, David Draiman, frontman of Grammy-nominated rock icons DISTURBED. Speaking to Canada’s iHeartRadio about the fan response to the single, Nita said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “It’s been amazing. It’s exciting ’cause I think a lot of my fans are not necessarily the typical instrumental guitar fans; they’re rock fans who happen to like the way that I play guitar. So I think people were excited to get a song that’s a little more accessible — something that’s not just shred all the time but something that you can listen to alongside other kind of Active Rock songs.”
Nita also talked about the musical direction of her upcoming follow-up album, which will be released later this year. She said: “It’s gonna be half [instrumental songs] and half [tracks with vocals]. My first album was all instrumental. The second one, I didn’t wanna stray completely from my roots as an instrumental guitar player, so there will definitely be what you guys expect from me, like a lot of the fun instrumental guitar stuff, but there are some collabs as well. Some of my very favorite singers are on this record with me. And I have incredible female vocalists; I have incredible male vocalists. And it’s just an exciting time — it’s just an exciting time to be out there and collaborate with different artists. ‘Cause all these different artists are wanting to work. Everybody had so much creativity to express over the last year and a half.
“The next single is coming up soon,” she revealed. “and I’m really, really excited to unleash that on the world as well because I’m really, really immensely proud of how these songs came out. So you guys heard ‘Dead Inside’; I’m excited to show you more… So we have a lot, a lot of cool stuff coming.”
Last month, Nita told SiriusXM‘s “Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk” said that her next single would be instrumental and it would be followed by another “radio single.”
In early December, Nita told “The Mistress Carrie Podcast” about her decision to make the upcoming LP half vocal songs and half instrumental: “I did feel, and the label and everybody agreed, it’s still important for me to keep my identity as a guitar player and not just branch off too much and go, ‘Okay, well, now it’s just guests.’ Let me still have a little of what makes me me, which is the instrumental shred stuff. And the instrumental pieces that I’ve written on this record are, I think, better than anything I did on the first one — definitely more… I don’t know if it could be more emotional but they’re very emotional pieces of music and I think a little better crafted this time around. So I think all the songs in general are more well thought out, better put together this time around. And I do have some of my absolute favorite [singers guesting on it]. I have three amazing powerhouse female vocalists on this album so far.”
Strauss has been playing with Cooper since 2014 when she replaced Australian musician and former Michael Jackson player Orianthi. She joined Alice in time for a mammoth MÖTLEY CRÜE tour. She was recommended to Cooper by the legendary rocker’s former bass player and WINGER frontman Kip Winger.
Nita released “Controlled Chaos” to mass acclaim from fans and media alike, with Metal Injection calling it “a great debut that — as its creator intended — leaves no doubt”, and Guitar World stating “‘Controlled Chaos’ is a panoramic view of Nita Strauss‘s many strengths”. To date the album has clocked up 6.7 million streams worldwide, with music videos for singles “Our Most Desperate Hour”, “Pandemonium”, “Alegria” and “Mariana Trench” generating over 3 million YouTube views.
As well as performing with Cooper, Nita has also played with R&B star Jermaine Jackson, early MTV darlings FEMME FATALE, video game supergroup CRITICAL HIT and popular tribute band THE IRON MAIDENS.
In April 2020, Nita launched “Rock Guitar Fundamentals” — a three-module online guitar teaching program suitable for learners of all levels. The course is available at www.iwanttoplayguitar.com.
Nita‘s live show is mostly instrumental in nature, combining originals with covers.
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