In the Eye of the Hurricane

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

- Andrew Daly

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.