Talk This Way Podcast [E18]: Nita Strauss

The guitar virtuoso’s sophomore album arrives next week

On the latest episode of the Talk This Way Podcast, renowned rock guitarist Nita Strauss checks in from the road to chat about her new solo album, finding the right talent to appear on her songs, and more. Stream the full chat above now.

Nita’s new album The Call to The Void arrives on July 7 via Sumerian Records. Despite not being releases yet, the record has already gained some major momentum. The lead single “Dead Inside” featuring Disturbed’s David Draiman arrived in 2021 and shot straight to No. 1 on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock chart. The instrumental “Summer Storm” followed, and then Strauss unleashed “The Wolf You Feed” featuring Arch Enemy’s Alissa White-Gluz. The official video for the track has amassed 8.5 million views on YouTube. Three more singles – “The Golden Trail” with In Flames’ Anders Fridén, “Victorious” with Dorothy Martin, and “Winner Takes All” with long time collaborator Alice Cooper have all garnered favorable attention from fans.

Currently, Nita is out on the road letting the new songs rip as part of her U.S. headlining tour.

“The response has been amazing,” Strauss said of her new material. “It’s especially special for me because, you know, this technically was a pandemic album for me. You know, I wrote and recorded most of this during the quarantine period and it’s taken a long time to come out. We’ve got a lot of guests, a lot of sort of ‘red tape’ to get through with having this many people feature on a record. And, for me, the album was already feeling like it was gone, like it was over and done before it even came out. And being out on the road playing these songs live and hearing people’s reactions to hearing them for the first time, it’s reinvigorated my excitement and my fire for this upcoming record. It’s coming out in eight days from the day that we’re doing this interview, and I have this renewed fire and excitement of, ‘Yes, I cannot wait for the world to hear this record.'”

Overall, the record is supremely heavy. While Strauss seamlessly floats around to different sectors of rock music when performing with Alice Cooper and Demi Lovato, The Call of The Void is pure molten metal that rarely sees Nita taking her foot off the gas. It begs the question if it was her intent to turn up the volume, or if that’s just naturally her personal style.

“No, that’s just what I sound like,” Strauss laughs. “If you listen to my first record Controlled Chaos that came out in 2018, I think it just sounds like a more raw, undeveloped version of what I’m doing instrumentally now. If you listen to the instrumental songs on both my records, that’s what I sound like as an artist. So, playing with someone like Alice or playing with someone like Demi or doing my [Los Angeles] Rams gig, or anything else like that, is a great exercise for me in stepping out of the selfish way of just being a musician and playing how you want and stepping into the role of a good hired gun where you’re there to execute the best Alice Cooper show that Alice Cooper fans have ever seen.

You know, it’s not about going in there and doing Nita show – shredding faces and sweeping arpeggios in every song. You have to go in there and do an Alice Cooper show. So, I like doing the solo stuff because it just gives me a chance to be authentic and play however I want, and just show my personality and my style without having to execute someone else’s vision in the process.”

Nita’s super-packed summer continues with her own headlining dates through July 14. Tickets to all shows are on sale now HERE, and VIP Meet & Greet passes are available HERE. Later this summer, she links back up with Alice Cooper for some exclusive North American shows supporting Def Leppard and Mötley Crüe. In August, the Freaks on Parade Tour kicks off alongside Rob Zombie, Ministry, and Filter.

Fans can pre-order Nita’s new album The Call of The Void now HERE on CD and several vinyl variants, as well as digital download.