ALICE COOPER On His New Guitarist NITA STRAUSS: 'She Just Nails It Every Night'

During Alice Cooper's appearance on the February 9 edition of Eddie Trunk's SiriusXM satellite radio show, "Eddie Trunk Live", the legendary rocker spoke about the latest addition to his band, former THE IRON MAIDENS guitarist Nita Strauss. He said: "Well, we had Orianthi in the band, and Ori was great — I mean, just one of the great guitarists around. And people were a little bit shocked that I had a girl guitar player, but hey, I'd put Ori up against anybody out there. She then decided, 'Well, I've done three years. I've gotta do my own album.' And I went, 'Absolutely.' And her and Richie Sambora [formerly of BON JOVI] are working together on an album. And I said, 'That's a great idea. Go do it.' I've never, ever said, 'Oh, no.' Please don't go. You can't leave me now.' I've always said, 'If you have an opportunity to do your own album, go. Go do it.' Then I found Nita Strauss. She was doing THE IRON MAIDENS."

He continued: "Knowing I was gonna do the MÖTLEY CRÜE run, I said, 'I need more of a shredder.' I've already got two great rock and roll guitar players. I said, 'But I do need a shredder.' And I heard her play, and I went, 'That's the girl right there.' She had the right spirit. She got on stage and she wanted to play and she wanted to perform, and I looked at her, and I said, 'That's our girl right there.' And she just nails it every night… She was a natural."

Cooper added: "Normally, I have to take somebody that's been in other bands and I have to say, 'Okay, now it's Alice Cooper… I know you can play. Now you've gotta perform. It's not just standing up there and playing; we know you can play. Now I need for you… When I come back, you've gotta take over the front, and that means you've gotta sell this. And I have to usually tell that to… With her? She was there. As soon as she got her spot, she would run up to the front and just kill, and then drop back. And I said, 'Okay. All right. So I don't have to teach you that. You already know that.' [Laughs]"

Strauss, a longtime Ibanez signature series endorsee who made her name with THE IRON MAIDENS, FEMME FATALE and LA Kiss, told NI Rocks about the actual experience of performing with Cooper: "There's definitely a lot going on. There's a lot going on visually and a lot going on musically. You definitely as a guitar player in a three-guitar lineup have to be mindful of what you're playing, not to make extra string noise and stuff like that. You really have to be mindful of what everyone else is playing and also where everybody else is on stage. There's a lot of people on that stage and a lot of props. Pretty sharp swords and guillotines! I know Tommy [Henriksen, guitar] got cut by the sword once. There's a lot going on, for sure! There's a lot going on from the audience perspective, but there's even more going on from the musicians' perspective."