I'm a total tomboy at heart. If I don't have to be on stage or doing anything that day, I'm always in band t-shirt and yoga pants and sneakers.
Nita Strauss
You see opportunity... Opportunity is like a window: every once in a while, it opens, if you're ready for that opportunity. So be prepared, work hard, and follow your dreams.
So, really, I just try to be the best guitar player I can be - not the best female guitar player, not the best 'X amount of years' guitar player, or whatever - just the best guitar player.
You can be in the band, you can go buy your own guitar strings at Guitar Center, you can go and do everything the boys can do and you're not the oddity anymore.
I was definitely not one of those kids prodigy guitar players.
I record everything myself, I engineer everything myself.
The solo album is really my way of branching out and doing my own thing. I'm mostly known for playing other people's music, so this is a way to just do something that is purely from my heart and my creativity. So it's really exciting.
I will champion this forever - that the rock and metal scene is absolutely the most inclusive, amazing, supportive community that I've ever been a part of.
I really hope that with my album, because I have a bit more of a mainstream crossover following, I really hope that I can introduce some new listeners to this world of instrumental music.
The biggest challenge was the whole learning curve of being solo artist. I've been in bands for so long that being a solo artist was completely new thing.
It's not odd to be a female in a band anymore. It's not odd to be a girl carrying a guitar case to a gig.
It never really occurred to me to seek out a female influence, a female musician.
There are no apologies for being a female in heavy metal and especially not in 2019.
When it's your own name that is the business, the business never stops.
I'm 30, and I've been touring since I was 15. So it's been a long journey to get here.
And I would say that the main thing that I faced as a female in this industry was being underestimated. But being underestimated isn't always a bad thing. It's nice to get out there and blow people's minds when they think you're not gonna be any good.
The first wrestling event I ever went to was PCW Ultra in L.A., and it was insane. They had RVD wrestling, Shane Strickland, Penta, and all these incredible indie wrestlers.
There were always people in the audience that judged me on the way I looked. They just assumed, because I was a girl, that I wasn't going to be any good, and it motivated me to improve and nail it every night.
Me personally, I've had really great experiences. I'd be lying if I said it was all roses and perfect, but, by and large, the metal community is so incredibly supportive.
I might come across like kind of a show-off onstage and stuff, but I like collaborating with people.
Yeah, of course, there's always gonna be people with their own opinions about a female in rock music and men in rock music, but at the end of the day, it's just about being a good musician.
I do remember being a kid and hearing Van Halen. My dad was always playing Van Halen in the car.
Yes, of course, I've been dreaming about it since I was a kid. Even now, I'm 31 years-old now and I've never been on a cover of a magazine. It makes you feel in such a way to do it with my signature guitar and to have it be Guitar Player magazine, it was really just an amazing experience.
It's 2019. People aren't going to shows to watch a band play the song exactly like the record.
I'm pretty easy-going and pretty happy most of the time.
I've worked my entire life to be this busy. I've worked my entire career to have this many things to do and this many emails to answer. Even when it's overwhelming, it's still a blessing.
I saw Jennifer Batten do a cool guitar solo before I ever saw any other girl do a cool guitar solo.
Nothing is more important to me than love.
Three of my heroes that have gotten clean and sober that I got to ask for advice were Alice Cooper, Nikki Sixx and Zakk Wylde.
The thing that drove me, and the thing that still drives me today to stay sober is all the blessings that have come into my life since this happened.
I started playing guitar because of seeing Steve Vai.
All of these really strong females making names for themselves in what were traditionally male-dominated spaces. And I'm not usually one to get too hung up on the male-vs.-female side of things, but it is interesting to see the dynamic shifting and it's happening across the board. It's cool to be a part of that.
The great thing about the Alice Cooper camp is that its a true family and there's definitely a reason why he's had such a long and successful career spanning over 50 years. You don't get that far by not keeping good people around you.
Every band wants to play in every city. We all do.
It's hard to get a start as an instrumental guitar player. It's a much quicker route to be in a band, so I was always in a band and writing songs with singers, but I always had the dream in the back of my mind to make an instrumental record.
The guitar player that I'm doing my solo tour with, Angel Vivaldi, he's been releasing incredible guitar albums and people just don't really know about them because instrumental guitar isn't really at the forefront of music these days.
When you're your own business, and my business is called Nita Strauss Incorporated, and I am my business, so it's not like I get to stop working at 5 p.m. and go home and do other things. It's a full-time job.
I think the WWE Universe have really accepted me, because they know I'm one of them.
I always was a fan of Alice Cooper's, but I got a new appreciation for his music playing in his band. It's really amazing to see how his music transcends age.
I started playing guitar because of instrumental guitar music.
All my real heroes made instrumental albums. All my own career has been spent playing in bands, but I never forgot that dream of what inspired me to pick up the guitar in the first place.
During those years with the Iron Maidens, I felt I had to be great and really prove myself at every single show.
I dreamed of recording a guitar album since I started playing, but I just never felt ready. I never felt like I was the player that I wanted to be. But I had this epiphany: you're never going to feel ready.
To put my name on a track as a solo artist was a big deal to me. There was no band to act as a buffer.
And, of course, there were some times when I had writer's block and I had a hard time figuring out how to express what I wanted to express.
I think as long as you're going out and treating everything with respect - you're not going in there acting like a helpless girl - as long as you don't go in there demanding special treatment, I think you won't receive any special treatment.
Go in, do a great job, be super professional.
I don't really find it to be a man-dominated industry. I mean, I guess when you look at it, it is, but I don't really look at it as a female or male thing, or female or male guitar players or whatever.
I love to play guitar. I've never really been the type of guitar player that goes, 'I'll only play this style of music or that thing.'
I love my regular job playing with Alice Cooper, I love doing my solo stuff, I love doing guest spots and guest tours. So I just love to play, and I'll play with anybody that'll have me, just about.
