Last October, Nita Strauss, the Los Angeles-based guitar shredder for the ALICE COOPER band, shared “Dead Inside”, her first new solo music since the release of her debut album, 2018’s “Controlled Chaos”. The track is her first-ever solo collaboration with a vocalist, David Draiman, frontman of Grammy-nominated rock icons DISTURBED. Speaking to Canada’s iHeartRadio about the fan response to the single, Nita said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “It’s been amazing. It’s exciting ’cause I think a lot of my fans are not necessarily the typical instrumental guitar fans; they’re rock fans who happen to like the way that I play guitar. So I think people were excited to get a song that’s a little more accessible — something that’s not just shred all the time but something that you can listen to alongside other kind of Active Rock songs.”

Nita also talked about the musical direction of her upcoming follow-up album, which will be released later this year. She said: “It’s gonna be half [instrumental songs] and half [tracks with vocals]. My first album was all instrumental. The second one, I didn’t wanna stray completely from my roots as an instrumental guitar player, so there will definitely be what you guys expect from me, like a lot of the fun instrumental guitar stuff, but there are some collabs as well. Some of my very favorite singers are on this record with me. And I have incredible female vocalists; I have incredible male vocalists. And it’s just an exciting time — it’s just an exciting time to be out there and collaborate with different artists. ‘Cause all these different artists are wanting to work. Everybody had so much creativity to express over the last year and a half.

“The next single is coming up soon,” she revealed. “and I’m really, really excited to unleash that on the world as well because I’m really, really immensely proud of how these songs came out. So you guys heard ‘Dead Inside’; I’m excited to show you more… So we have a lot, a lot of cool stuff coming.”

Last month, Nita told SiriusXM’s “Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk” said that her next single would be instrumental and it would be followed by another “radio single.”

In early December, Nita told “The Mistress Carrie Podcast” about her decision to make the upcoming LP half vocal songs and half instrumental: “I did feel, and the label and everybody agreed, it’s still important for me to keep my identity as a guitar player and not just branch off too much and go, ‘Okay, well, now it’s just guests.’ Let me still have a little of what makes me me, which is the instrumental shred stuff. And the instrumental pieces that I’ve written on this record are, I think, better than anything I did on the first one — definitely more… I don’t know if it could be more emotional but they’re very emotional pieces of music and I think a little better crafted this time around. So I think all the songs in general are more well thought out, better put together this time around. And I do have some of my absolute favorite [singers guesting on it]. I have three amazing powerhouse female vocalists on this album so far.”

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.

In April 2020, Nita launched “Rock Guitar Fundamentals” — a three-module online guitar teaching program suitable for learners of all levels. The course is available at www.iwanttoplayguitar.com.

Nita’s live show is mostly instrumental in nature, combining originals with covers.

Only 200 copies of this massive double LP on Brown with Heavy Bone White Splatter-colored vinyl and impressive 12-page insert available for pre-order!
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You could WIN a Julianna Deluxe Chorus/Vibrato from Walrus Audio! Giveaway Ends March 29, 2022.Julianna Deluxe Chorus/VibratoBuilding off of the lush, tonal landscapes that the Julia Analog Chorus/Vibrato created, Julianna is an all analog, digital LFO, stereo chorus/vibrato with new expanded features. Julianna is able to produce mild smooth chorus, to seasick vibrato, to everywhere in between. Familiar controls like Lag, Dry-Chorus-Vibrato Blend, and selectable LFO wave shapes are all still here, but Julianna employs some new tricks: The Secondary LFO speed, modulation drift, tap/expression control and momentary features will have you commanding all new kinds of sounds not found in traditional chorus pedals.Walrus Audio Julianna

During an appearance on “Talking Bollocks”, the monthly metal podcast hosted by ACID REIGN frontman-turned-stand-up-comedian Howard H. Smith, VIO-LENCE/ex-MACHINE HEAD guitarist Phil Demmel, who is currently touring the U.S. with OVERKILL as the temporary replacement for Dave Linsk, confirmed that he will be forced to miss some of VIO-LENCE’s upcoming gigs due to his touring commitments with other projects. “There’s some VIO-LENCE stuff coming up that I’m not gonna be able to be a part of because of choices that I’m making in my own career,” he explained (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

“VIO-LENCE was a side thing that we were doing. It was understood that I’m doing other stuff and that this would happen,” he continued. “They weren’t looking at doing full-blown tours, so trying to schedule stuff, it gets difficult. So there will be things that I won’t be doing with VIO-LENCE, which is a little heartbreaking in the sense that… I’m the only member of VIO-LENCE that hasn’t missed a show. So, yeah, there’s a VIO-LENCE club and there’s been a lot of former members. But I never quit the band. I carried that torch the whole time and hadn’t missed a show.”

Demmel went on to say that “it’s a selfish move” on his part “to do these other things, but at 55 years old, I need to not regret passing up something to do another thing that may or may not… It’s hard to explain. So I’m apologizing in advance for, if there will be a [VIO-LENCE] show that I’m not gonna be at,” he said. “But I am 55. I’m in the twilight — maybe in the twilight of my musical career. You never know when it can all… A lot of peers that are… Plenty are dying, dude; they’re just gone. And at this point in my career, I need to be a little selfish. And it might be hard to fathom from other people about doing things that aren’t part of what VIO-LENCE is… It’s emotional and it sucks, but it is what it is. It’s not like I’m missing the whole year or anything, but there will be instances when I’m not on stage with those guys, and it’s gonna be weird. It is what it is.”

Demmel recently filled in for LAMB OF GOD guitarist Willie Adler during the band’s January appearance on the ShipRocked cruise.

VIO-LENCE has just released a new EP, “Let The World Burn”, via Metal Blade Records. The five-song collection, VIO-LENCE’s first original release since 1993’s “Nothing To Gain”, was tracked at Trident Studios in Pacheco, California by Juan Urteaga (MACHINE HEAD, EXODUS), mixed by Tue Madsen (DARK TRANQUILLITY, HEAVEN SHALL BURN) and mastered by Ted Jensen (ALICE IN CHAINS, DEATH ANGEL).

Formed in 1985, VIO-LENCE helped define and refine what came to be known as the Bay Area sound, dropping three seminal albums before splitting in 1993. Leaving behind a heady legacy, they reformed briefly a couple of times in the intervening years before becoming a full-time going concern once more in 2019. After playing a string of successful shows, the quintet started to think about new music and will deliver “Let The World Burn”, showcasing their first new material in 29 years.

Filling out the band’s ranks on “Let The World Burn” alongside Demmel, vocalist Sean Killian and original drummer Perry Strickland are former OVERKILL guitarist Bobby Gustafson and former FEAR FACTORY bassist Christian Olde Wolbers.

VIO-LENCE reunited soon after Demmel left MACHINE HEAD in late 2018.

There was a time when bands like STABBING WESTWARD sounded like the future. Purveyors of a bombastic but streamlined strain of industrial rock, the Illinoisian crew released three major label records in the ’90s and received plenty of critical acclaim in the process. Heavily influenced by NINE INCH NAILS, DEPECHE MODE and MINISTRY, but undeniably distinctive in their own perpetually gloomy way, STABBING WESTWARD were very much a band of their time. Twenty-one years on from what was assumed to be their final, self-titled and independently released studio album, the band led by vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Christopher Hall are back to posit the notion that they are very much a band of this time, too. Superficially, “Chasing Ghosts” suggests that nothing much has changed over two decades, but somehow this sounds every bit as timely as its predecessors.

For those hoping for a worthy successor to 1998’s “Darkest Days”, “Chasing Ghosts” works very hard to fit the bill, at least early on. The only real downside to STABBING WESTWARD’s fourth album is that it is so obviously front-loaded with its catchiest tunes. Opener “I Am Nothing” is all textbook gothic angst and industrial churn, “Damaged Goods” owes far too much to NIN’s “Head Like A Hole” and “Cold” makes it a neat hat trick of box-ticking anthems with a stomping cyber-disco beat and a lethal chorus hook. Thereafter, however, “Chasing Ghosts” blossoms into a far more interesting record. “Push” makes no bones about its debt to THE CURE, but it’s only a passing resemblance: as the song evolves, it becomes a towering, stately arena-rock anthem, with an extraordinary Hall vocal that absolutely promises to reach the people in the cheap seats. “Wasteland” returns to STABBING WESTWARD’s safe place, with chunky MINISTRY-style riffs and a big, simple refrain, but “Control Z” jitters and bleeps like a metallicized CABARET VOLTAIRE, underpinned by a sledgehammer pulse and infectious digi-riffing. “Crawl” is a somewhat perfunctory alt-rock ballad, and arguably the album’s weakest moment, but that momentary lapse is forgiven and forgotten once “Dead/Gone” skitters into earshot, with its bubbling, faux-techno underbelly, and bursts of riotous robot-metal. Equally great is “Ghost”, which gleefully cranks up the rasping ’80s synths amid a whirl of grinding mechanics and pop sparks. Impressively, Hall’s voice sounds stronger than ever throughout.

The closing “The End” is the only moment on “Chasing Ghosts” that dares to think fully outside the box. An undulating haze of black ambience attached to a wonderfully melodramatic melody, it provides a dark, dubby and progressive contrast to everything that precedes it. It also suggests that STABBING WESTWARD may only be scratching the surface of their renewed potential here. Either way, it’s good to have them back.

There may be (at least) two Portlands, but there is only one grindcore band called Fake Dust.
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