Guitar virtuoso Nita Strauss recently looked back on joining Demi Lovato’s live band in 2022. While chatting with Ultimate Guitar, she was asked to weigh in on what were some of the “important lessons” she learned while working with the pop singer. However, as Nita explained, this was pretty much a usual rock-focused gig and it wasn’t a mainstream pop one as plenty of rock and metal fans thought. She replied:
“I got so lucky with the Demi gig because she wanted to do a rock tour. She put together an all-female rock band and we did a rock show.“
In fact, as Nita further added, she wishes that it was more of a pop gig:
“So I wish I had more of that pop, I wish I had a good story about being in the pop world to tell everybody like, oh, it was so different and it was so regimented or this or that, but we really just went out and did our thing.“
“We had a good time, we threw it down every night and we had a blast. We all in that band got very lucky because we were hired because she liked us.“
“She liked our personality and our performance style. So there wasn’t like, you know, [any directives like] don’t go too far here or don’t play like this. We were there to be ourselves and create this rock show with her. So that’s what we did.“
During the interview, Nita was also asked to explain how she defines success as an artist. And, according to her, it’s pretty simple:
“I think success as an artist is doing the things that you love to do on your terms and being content and happy with it.“
However, she then also reflected on some of the negative comments that she tends to receive, mostly from people who always have ideas about what her music should be like. Nita continued:
“Because we’re never going to be able to please everybody, right? Like, I put out a song with David Draiman and I put out a song with Alissa White-Gluz. And you look at the comments on these two songs and on the Draiman song, people were like, ‘Oh, this song sucks. You should do more songs like the song with Alissa.‘”
“And then I put out the Alissa song and people would comment like, ‘Oh, this sucks, I hate all this screaming stuff. You should make a whole album with David Draiman.‘”
“There’s always gonna be people telling me how I should be Nita Strauss and what Nita Strauss should do next. I think as long as I’m happy and content with the way that my career is going and the people around me are happy and content with the way that things are happening, a rising tide lifts all boats.“
She concluded by adding:
“Everybody should come up together. I think as long as you’re doing your thing on your own terms, remaining true to who you are, that’s success.“
Earlier this year, Nita Strauss was asked how the whole Demi Lovato gig came to be in the first place and how she decided to leave Alice Cooper’s live band. As she explained, there was no drama but only sound business decisions and mature talks:
“There was no big moment where I threw my guitar in the air, stormed out, and quit. It was more, ‘Hey, I have this opportunity with Demi. She’s working a lot this year, and Alice isn’t. What do you think if I go and do this?’ And Alice said, ‘Go do it; I love it. Go off; have fun. We support you completely.‘ Demi was working a lot, and Alice wasn’t. I go where the work is.”
“I definitely plan on doing Demi and Alice. I’ve always been a hired gun. You have to be willing to be versatile, take risks, and try different things instead of staying in the same place, even if it’s a safe place.”
When asked what it’s like to work with completely different singers and how they compare to Alice Cooper, she said:
“I’ve been working with him for many years, so I understand what he likes and doesn’t like to sing over. Having probably played on over 50 Alice Cooper songs at this point, I think we’ve got it dialed in. Besides that, collaborating with so many different singers has been incredible.“
“But I never imagined myself as the type of musician with songs like this; I used to think of myself as a solo guitarist who would only stay in that world. So, to be able to do this has been a fascinating process.”
Photos: Raph_PH (AliceCooperO2 250522 (101 of 133) (52101067381)), marcen27 (Demi Lovato 5 (40988741730))
