WITH A NEW SOLO ALBUM SHAKING UP THE AIRWAVES, NITA STRAUSS DISCUSSES THE IMPORTANCE OF TAKING RISKS, STEPPING OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE AND NEVER SETTLING

by Andrew Daly Photo by Jen Rosenstein

If YOU VENTURED over to Nita Strauss’ Twitter account, below the image of the leather-clad gunslinger hoisting a radioactive green Ibanez JIVA over her shoulders, you’d find a Tweet that’s been pinned in place since July 23, 2018. For five years, said pinned Tweet has been the very definition of the intrepid six-stringer, seemingly guiding her every musical move. But at the time, it was merely an answer to a simple question: “How did you get your start in the hired scene as a guitarist?”

“I played guitar for anyone who would have me,” Strauss wrote in her 2018 Tweet. “Rock, pop, funk, metal, covers, originals… sometimes two shows a night with different bands. Went on tour for next to nothing. Built a reputation for being on time, professional and a strong performer… better gigs came with time.”

When Strauss first penned that Tweet, she was 31. At the time, she was mere months out from a successful April 2018 Kickstarter campaign — which raised eight times its initial goal in two hours — that ultimately funded her first solo record, Controlled Chaos, released in September 2018. Her resume already included stints with Alice Cooper, the Iron Maidens, Femme Fatale and even as the house guitarist for the Los Angeles Kiss (Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons’ arena football team). So at the time of Controlled Chaos’ release, Strauss was undoubtedly a star on the rise, but no one could have imagined the shift into hyperdrive that came next.

“Someone recently brought up my pinned Tweet,” Strauss tells Guitar World. “It came from someone asking me how I got my start. And I basically said, ‘I played guitar for whoever would have me.’ And that really was the mentality. I’d do funk, death metal, punk and folk gigs; it didn’t matter. I built my reputation by playing different gigs with different bands. I had to do that because I knew that’s what it took. And that’s what it still takes; you can’t just do the same thing forever. All you see me do is part of working to encourage that mindset.”

Fast forward to the summer of 2023. Strauss is now 36. As has been the case for years, she affectionately goes by “Hurricane Nita.” And most importantly, she’s one of the most preeminent guitarists in the world. Still a member of Alice Cooper’s band — though never to be thought of as just “Alice Cooper’s guitarist” — Strauss’ immense chops have forcefully been matched by her blistering work ethic and a boundless need for exploration that has seen her join the ranks of mega star Demi Lovato.