Nita Strauss recently explained what her audition process for Alice Cooper’s backing live band was really like. While talking to Ultimate Guitar in a new interview, she explained how the whole thing wasn’t about her technical skills but rather what Alice Cooper fans wanted to hear.
When reminded of the audition, Nita confirmed that the process was only entirely based on video recordings. Asked what it was like and how the whole thing went down, she replied:
“It’s funny thinking that now we could have just zoomed and they could have given me notes like right there. But no, it was a series of sending videos back and forth and them sort of giving me notes and sending it back.”
“It was a big learning experience for me because when I was making those first videos for the first round of audition videos, I pulled out every stop, and used every trick in the book, you know, I was playing over the neck playing sweeps, tapping, all this kind of stuff.
“The harsh critique that I got was, ‘…Have you ever heard an Alice Cooper song? Do you know what these songs sound like?'”
“And I realized it wasn’t a technique audition. They wanted to see if I could play Alice Cooper songs the way that Alice Cooper fans wanted to hear them. So it was a cool learning experience.”
“And if it hadn’t been by video like that if I had been in the room with 10 other guitar players, I very well might not have gotten it because of that reason. So… all things considered, I’m lucky it happened the way it did.”
During the chat, Nita also looked back on Alice Cooper guesting on her own solo album. Titled “The Call of the Void,” the record features Alice on a track called “Winner Takes All.” However, the process wasn’t as exciting as one may think:
“Well, he actually did it remotely. So I was not there for the recording of his vocal parts. In fact, that’s how it was actually for the majority of the guests on this record. It’s just sort of the way of the world right now.”
“I was there for a few, but not as many as I would have liked to be. Alissa [White-Gluz] was in Germany, Alice was in Phoenix, Anders was in Sweden. Everybody was just spread across the globe. So I wasn’t able to be there. But I also think that if I had been, I don’t think I would have directed him too much because that was one of the vocal parts that we gave to him.”
“Tommy Henriksen from Alice’s band and I wrote it for Alice and sort of handed him the finished thing and said, ‘Hey, here’s the idea. Do your thing on it.’ And the song we crafted really was sort of an Alice Cooper song.”
“You know, we weren’t reinventing the wheel. We weren’t having him sing any long, high-sustained notes or anything. We sort of tailor-made the song for him. It’s an Alice Cooper song, but on a bit of a heavier track, you know, a bed of a more modern hard rock metal song instead of more of that classic rock that he usually sings over.”
“So he sang it exactly as I imagined he would. If I had been there in the room, I don’t think I would have given him a single note because he’s a pro. He knows what to do and he executed.”
In another recent interview, Nita Strauss also reflected on some of the negative comments that she got online after joining Demi Lovato’s live band last year. She explained:
“I wrote a song about it. There’s a song about it on [my upcoming] record [‘The Call Of The Void’] called ‘Digital Bullets’ with [guest singer] Chris Motionless [of Motionless in White]. And it really talks about these trolls online firing the ‘digital bullets’.”
The song in question is now out and you can check it out below.
Nita then continued:
“They’ll never come to you to your face and say, ‘You suck,’ ‘You whore,’ ‘You money-grubbing whore,’ or whatever. No one has ever said that to my face, but you go on social media and it’s, like, ‘I hope you die in a fire.’ [Laughs] It’s just people being tough on the Internet. It’s not new. It’s not going away.”
“My boyfriend said it to me personally one time… And it was hurtful — I can’t lie and say that it was not hurtful. Of course it was hurtful. But he said, ‘You know, no one’s coming and spitting on your face in the street. People aren’t coming to you, being rude to you. It’s just fake. It’s just online.’”
She also added:
“People will talk online. And they have a saying, ‘Living well is the best revenge.’ So those people can keep spending their time on Facebook, talking their shit.”
“I will keep touring the world, eating fabulous food, staying in nice hotels, playing guitar with some of the biggest stars in rock and pop and metal. And I think that’s a good compromise. I’m happy with that. [Laughs]”
Photo: Raph_PH (AliceCooperO2 250522 (44 of 133) (52101102553))
