Musician

All my real heroes made instrumental albums. All my own career has been spent playing in bands, but I never forgot that dream of what inspired me to pick up the guitar in the first place.

The guitar player that I'm doing my solo tour with, Angel Vivaldi, he's been releasing incredible guitar albums and people just don't really know about them because instrumental guitar isn't really at the forefront of music these days.

So, as I step out and take these first steps on this journey to do my own thing, I didn't want to have to get anybody's approval on anything. I didn't want to have to ask a record label 'Is this okay for the album cover? What time do you think I should go on tour this year?'

Yeah, of course, there's always gonna be people with their own opinions about a female in rock music and men in rock music, but at the end of the day, it's just about being a good musician.

I'm pretty easy-going and pretty happy most of the time.

The first riff that I totally mastered was 'Come As You Are' by Nirvana. I remember sitting there, plunking along, I remember thinking 'How do they even do this?'

It's not odd to be a female in a band anymore. It's not odd to be a girl carrying a guitar case to a gig.

I've worked my entire life to be this busy. I've worked my entire career to have this many things to do and this many emails to answer. Even when it's overwhelming, it's still a blessing.

I started playing guitar because of seeing Steve Vai.

I really hope that with my album, because I have a bit more of a mainstream crossover following, I really hope that I can introduce some new listeners to this world of instrumental music.

And I was a kid from L.A. and I just wanted to play thrash metal.

All of these really strong females making names for themselves in what were traditionally male-dominated spaces. And I'm not usually one to get too hung up on the male-vs.-female side of things, but it is interesting to see the dynamic shifting and it's happening across the board. It's cool to be a part of that.

You see opportunity... Opportunity is like a window: every once in a while, it opens, if you're ready for that opportunity. So be prepared, work hard, and follow your dreams.

When you're your own business, and my business is called Nita Strauss Incorporated, and I am my business, so it's not like I get to stop working at 5 p.m. and go home and do other things. It's a full-time job.

There are no apologies for being a female in heavy metal and especially not in 2019.

I was not a super social kid and I didn't have the easiest time making friends.

I might come across like kind of a show-off onstage and stuff, but I like collaborating with people.

But when I started playing in bands, everyone would just have a couple beers at rehearsal, at the shows, or whatever, and alcohol is a great equalizer. It's a great way to make friends and interact with people.

I think as long as you're going out and treating everything with respect - you're not going in there acting like a helpless girl - as long as you don't go in there demanding special treatment, I think you won't receive any special treatment.

I love to play guitar. I've never really been the type of guitar player that goes, 'I'll only play this style of music or that thing.'