Nita Strauss, the electrifying guitarist known for her high-profile gigs with legends like Alice Cooper and pop superstar Demi Lovato, as well as her own successful solo career, has navigated a path as dynamic and challenging as her fretwork. From outrunning tornadoes on her first teenage tour to battling a “dangerous addiction” and the intense pressures of the music industry, Strauss‘s journey is one of remarkable resilience, culminating in a hard-won sobriety and a positive, influential presence in the rock world. Her recent solo album, 2023’s The Call Of The Void, stands as a testament to this journey. In a recent interview with Metal Hammer, she provided a closer look into her life.
Born into a musical household – her father was a touring musician in the 70s rock band Jiva, signed to George Harrison’s label – Strauss was perhaps pre-destined for a life in music. She even grew up believing she was descended from the famed composer Johann Strauss, a notion her father instilled, giving her “a sense of purpose, the idea you’re part of this lineage,” even if recent genealogical deep dives have questioned its veracity.
Her early foray into the music world was anything but glamorous. At just 15, Strauss embarked on her first tour with her all-female band, Lia-Fail, after winning a Battle Of The Bands. “We made no money, we were hungry and thirsty and tired,” she recalls of the self-booked venture. The tour was a trial by fire, involving “cramming into hotel rooms, outrunning tornados…” She describes it as “rough,” yet “still the most fun experience I’ve ever had,” a testament to the dues-paying grit that would define her early career. Her parents, understanding the touring life, were supportive, though she admits other parents were “maybe a little bit less!”
This period was also marked by profound personal challenges. “I was painfully, painfully shy,” Nita confesses. “I was the kid at school who would go and sit by myself at lunch and play guitar by myself.” The guitar became her primary mode of communication, allowing her to “perform and emote onstage in a way that I was completely uncomfortable doing on a one-on-one basis.” This shyness, however, also made her vulnerable. “That’s also why I started drinking so much at a young age,” she reveals. “Drinking meant I could relate to older kids on the scene. No one wanted to hang out with a 15-year-old girl… but alc*hol was the equaliser… That’s how I started using alc*hol as a crutch for so many years.”
While waiting for her big break through her late teens and early 20s, Strauss juggled a job at a MAC make-up counter with any gig she could find, from playing with small LA bands to accompanying singer-songwriters and even creating riffs for hip-hop producers. Her determination was unyielding, always striving, even then attempting to form a “female metal supergroup” with her band Kill Slowly.
Her “shotgun approach where I’d play with anyone who’d have me” eventually led to unexpected opportunities. A connection made through an engineer who worked with Michael Jackson led to an audition that never happened for the King of Pop himself, but subsequently to a gig with his brother, Jermaine Jackson, for tribute shows in Africa in 2010. Strauss vividly remembers “flying into Senegal airport, listening to my iPod Nano. The guy next to me said, ‘Are you listening to “Africa” by Toto?’ I was totally emotional about it.”
This eclectic CV, which also included a stint with The Iron Maidens (an Iron Maiden tribute band), eventually led her to Alice Cooper. After meeting Kip Winger (then Alice Cooper‘s bassist) on a rock cruise, the call came. “Alice is looking for someone…” Winger told her. It took Strauss “a fraction of a second to say, ‘I’m totally available!’”
Life in Cooper‘s band came with its own set of promises and perils. “In my very first rehearsal, Alice said: ‘When you’re in my band, I can promise you three things: ‘You’re going to see the world, you’re going to get paid and you’re going to get stitches.’” All three proved true. “I’ve been whipped by the whip during “Go To Hell,” I’ve been stabbed by the sword during “Billion Dollar Babies,” I tore my meniscus… Most recently, I got licked on the tongue by his snake.”
It was the year after joining Alice Cooper‘s band, in 2015, that Strauss confronted her most significant personal battle. “I wouldn’t say I hit rock bottom – I’m not like Nikki Sixx – but I was a dangerous add*ct, because whether I was doing dr*gs or drinking, I was very highly functional,” she admits. “I never played a bad show, I was never falling-down sloppy. But it was really insidious, because it was bleeding into my personal life.” The turning point came when her partner Josh (now her husband) confronted her: “‘If you’re gonna be like this, I don’t know how long I’m going to be with you. I can’t watch you destroy your life like this.’” This was a wake-up call, especially as she was at “the highest point of my professional career so far.”
Her path to sobriety was a solitary one. “I was way too shy to do the [AA] meetings,” she says. “I really just white-knuckled it.” Maintaining that sobriety remains an ongoing challenge. “It is difficult, it really is. My husband still drinks, my friends still drink, Alice has been sober a long time but he doesn’t mind if people drink, so there’s bottles of wine in the dressing room and bourbon on the tour bus… It puts your ethics and morals into perspective – I have every opportunity to drink and no one would know, but sobriety, for me, is what you do when no one’s looking.”
Her diverse career also saw her temporarily leave Alice Cooper in 2022 to tour with pop artist Demi Lovato, an experience Strauss found surprisingly aligned with her rock roots. “Demi made a really cool rock album, so they hired a rock band to do a rock show,” she explains. “Demi’s a metalhead at heart. I’d walk past her dressing room and she’d be listening to Megadeth. She turned me onto this great deathcore band called Bodysnatcher. She’s the real deal.”
This experience also solidified her views on genre fluidity and fan reactions. While Lovato‘s fans were dedicated, Strauss observes that the rock and metal world can be resistant to change. “If a band do a slight departure… the fanbase cries about it… Metallica are the biggest band in the world and people still shit on their new stuff.” She believes this protectiveness can be limiting: “If a pop artist wants to make a rock album, great. If a rock artist wants to make an R’n’B album, great. Music is for everyone.”
Nita Strauss‘s journey has also been one of breaking barriers. Her 2021 single “Dead Inside” (featuring Alissa White-Gluz) made her the first female solo artist to have a No.1 on rock radio, and in 2018 she became Ibanez guitars’ first female signature artist. “I’ve had a few achievements in my career where it’s mind-blowing to me that I got there first, because it seemed like something that should have been done a long time ago,” she reflects. She credits pioneers like Lita Ford, Nancy Wilson, and especially Jennifer Batten – whose performance with Michael Jackson at the 1993 Super Bowl was a “life-changing moment” for a young Strauss – for paving the way. “Seeing her up there, just shredding… It was like finding a Barbie that looks like you: ‘I can do this.’”
Today, Strauss embraces being a role model, however “intimidating” it might feel. “It makes everything worthwhile when I get a comment… [saying], ‘My daughter saw you play… and now she’s asked for a guitar for her birthday.’ I was that kid… If I can help create that for the next generation, that’s what it’s all about.”
Looking back, Nita Strauss has no regrets. “I would not trade anything,” she affirms. “Everything I did my whole life brought me here.” From outrunning tornadoes and battling addiction to shredding on global stages and inspiring new guitarists, her journey is a powerful narrative of perseverance, talent, and the enduring spirit of rock ‘n’ roll.
