Current Alice Cooper guitarist Nita Strauss was in town this past Monday rocking El Corazon in support of her new album "The Call of the Void" which released today! Nita's 2nd solo album is a shredding explosion of killer metal and hard rock songs with a ton of special guests. 9 total including Alice Cooper, Alissa White-Gluz (Arch Enemy), Lzzy Hale (Halestorm), Anders Friden (In Flames), David Draiman (Disturbed), Chris Motionless (Motionless in White), Lilith Czar, Marty Friedman and with Dorothy on the track "Victorious" which currently sits in the Top 30 rock charts.
Did you know Nita is the first solo woman to Top Mainstream Rock Airplay Charts in Over 30 Years with "Dead Inside" featuring Disturbed's David Draiman?! So it's great to see things are happening for her after all her hard years of work. As a woman in this male dominated industry it's no surprise she's had to dodge all the online keyboard warriors sitting in their mom's basements, but today she released a new video on that subject called "Digital Bullets" featuring Chris Motionless. Order the new album/merch here!
So this past Monday at El Corazon Nita and her band crushed El Corazon with an hour set of guitar acrobatics and various tracks from both her solo albums.
Setlist included Summer Storm/Our Most Desperate Hour/Mariana Trench/Alegria/Lion Among Wolves/The Quest/Drum Solo/Pandemonium/The Wolf You Feed/The Golden Trail/Through the Noise/Victorious/Dead Inside/Cowboys From Hell(Pantera cover). Nita really showcased her amazing guitar shredding, songwriting talents and showmanship that shows why she was the first female guitarist endorsed with her own signature guitar model with Ibanez! She's now up to 4 different JIVA models (see here).
Nita's band was loaded with talent including the great Katt Scarlett (ex-Femme Fatale) on keyboards and her (as of last night at the LA show proposal) power house drumming fiancé Josh V!
The surprise of the night was Nita's introduction of her new found tour singer and TikTok sensation 20 year old Kasey Karlsen (Deadlands). She handled all the special guesting singing album tracks pretty good when ya think about all the different vocal styles she had to cover. Her first tour ever so building that vocal stamina will come with time. Great young talent for sure!
Opening the show was Lions At The Gate. Lions at the Gate was formed in 2021 by ex-Ill Niño vocalist Cristian Machado and guitarists Ahrue Luster and Diego Verduzco. Get live set and energy. Kinda in the Ill Niño meets FFDP, In Flames vibe. Nothing new but powerful. Their debut album "The Excuses We Cannot Make out August 2nd! Preorder link here.
Also on the bill was two awesome local Seattle acts Moon Fever and Aisha. Moon Fever are a 4 piece up and coming hard rock act headed by the son of the legendary Seattle singer Travis Bracht (Second Coming) Triston Bracht. Just like his dad, power vocals of the Gods! These guys are fresh and rockin! Rockstar's in the making for sure!!
Also opening was Aisha, a classic rock female solo artist here in Seattle that sings and plays some groovin guitar. Her debut album is available on her website here.
