NITA STRAUSS: ‘Musicians In 2021 Need To Be Entrepreneurs’

BLABBERMOUTH.NET

Nita Strauss, the Los Angeles-based guitar shredder for the ALICE COOPER band, spoke to Primordial Radio about how she can no longer stay up late on tour because she has so many responsibilities in addition to putting on great live performances. She said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I'm such a homebody now. I'm on the road all the time. But I get off stage — let's say I get off stage at 10:30 [p.m.]; I help my guys load out on my solo tour. We're all in the trailer packing stuff, rolling cables, putting stuff in boxes, putting it in the trailer. That takes an hour or so. And then I'm usually asleep by midnight. 'Cause I wake up early. I've always got a ton of e-mails to do. I hit the gym [and] do so many things before the show the next day. We play six [or] seven shows a week on my solo tour, so I physically couldn't do it. I don't drink anymore, but even if I did, I couldn't stay up like that if I tried because I have so much to do. "I think a big difference is musicians in 2021 and beyond, we need to be entrepreneurs as well as being musicians," she continued. "There's so many responsibilities — the social media, the content, the press and interviews, signature products. I have a Patreon page. I have a fitness challenge that I do. There's so many different facets to being a musician and entrepreneur these days, and you just can't do it [stay up late]. In the '80s, they were talking about MÖTLEY CRÜE partying and stuff. They weren't worrying about content for their TikTok or their Instagram; they were just living life." In October, Nita shared "Dead Inside", her first new music since the release of her critically acclaimed debut solo album "Controlled Chaos" in 2018. The track is her first-ever solo collaboration with a vocalist, David Draiman, frontman of Grammy-nominated rock icons DISTURBED. 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.