Earlier this month, guitarist Nita Strauss shared an update after undergoing surgery for a torn meniscus.
“With all the mobility and strength work we’re doing, I’m going to be doing 360 jumps off stage risers in time, but now better and stronger than before,” she wrote on social media.
Back in October, Strauss released a new single and video, “The Wolf You Feed,” which features a guest appearance by Arch Enemy vocalist Alissa White-Gluz. Her new album is set to arrive sometime early this year.
Strauss recently appeared on Knotfest’s “She’s With The Band” podcast (co-hosted by MLW’s Alicia Atout) where she talked about the challenges of getting started in the hard rock and heavy metal business as a woman.
“I had so many people telling me what I needed to do in order to be successful,” she said. “’You can’t say that you’re dating anybody because you need to appear available’; ‘You need to show more skin’.”
“I wanted to be known as a guitar player and that was it,” Strauss continued. “I started really dressing down. I dyed my hair darker… to stand out less. I’d wear a men’s large t-shirt onstage and baggy cargo shorts and started touring with heavier bands. I was like, ‘I don’t want to be the hot chick. I just wanted to be the guitar player.’ But that’s not who I am either, you know?”
Strauss said she had a tough time finding her true self within the confines of rock.
“I kept getting pulled back and forth through this dichotomy of ‘No, you have to be the sex symbol.’ And it’s like, ‘No, you want to be a serious musician.’ But the reality is, where I am doesn’t fit into either of those molds.”
Talking about her personal life, Strauss added: “Fans don’t need to think they have a chance with me in order to be respected and have people come to my shows. I just wish that I could go back and tell my younger self to stop trying to fit into what other people tell you you should be, and just be who you are.”
