In the clip below, guitarist Nita Strauss talks about her shift from Alice Cooper’s touring band after eight years to Demi Lovato’s all-girl band, her long history as one of the world’s premier guitar players, the fan response to her move, needing a creative outlet for her own music,and much more.
On guitar legend Steve Vai being an inspiration:
Strauss: “Steve Vai was the guitar player for me, because I just have never heard up until that point – I’ll say still have never really heard – a guitar player make the guitar speak the way Steve Vai does. Whether you’re thinking about a song like ‘Tender Surrender’, which is such a sexy guitar song, or when he’s playing ‘Yankee Rose’ with David Lee Roth, and literally having a back-and-forth conversation – David Lee Roth is speaking English, and Steve is playing guitar. And somehow it makes sense. That was a moment for me when I realized you can tell a story with this instrument. I’ve never been particularly good at putting what I want to say into words, like writing lyrics, or poetry or anything like that, but I have found that I’m good at telling it with the notes of the guitar.”
Nita Strauss, who recently left Alice Cooper’s band to join pop star Demi Lovato’s touring band, performed with Lovato on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on August 16th. Watch the performance of Demi’s single, “Substance”, below.
Says Nita: “Had a wonderful time on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon alongside birthday badass Demi Lovato and the awesome band! Tune in again tonight and tomorrow as Demi co-hosts, there is lots more to come before the tour officially kicks off at the end of the month in Brazil!”
