NITA STRAUSS: 'Controlled Chaos' Solo Album Details Announced

Nita Strauss, the incredibly talented guitarist who has rocked out on stage with ALICE COOPER, FEMME FATALE, Jermaine Jackson, THE IRON MAIDENS and more, will release her debut solo album, “Controlled Chaos”, on November 16 via Sumerian Records.

The electric and fiery music video for “Our Most Desperate Hour” is the first look into what’s to come from this new chapter of Nita‘s career. You can check out the clip below.

On the upcoming album, Nita shares: “From bright and fun to aggressive and dark, from peaceful to chaotic, this album is a way for me to give the listener a glimpse into my personality and what goes on inside my mind.”

“Controlled Chaos” is available for pre-order at NitaStrauss.com.

Strauss has been fighting to make a name for herself in the guitar world for years. She is one of the most sought-after clinicians in the industry and has done extensive clinic tours across multiple continents. Her consistent touring schedule has shown her to play in front of over a million audience members per year consistently for the past several years. 2018 has already proven to be a banner year for Nita with her being named as the first-ever female Ibanez signature artist in the company’s 60-year history. She played WWE suprstar Shinsuke Nakamura‘s entrance music at “WrestleMania” in New Orleans in front of an audience of 78,000 fans and millions streaming worldwide just before surpassing her Kickstarter campaign eight times over, allowing her to self-produce and record “Controlled Chaos”.

The 11-track album was a challenge to Strauss and an opportunity for her to reconnect with what inspired her to pick up a guitar in the first place. She says: “I started playing guitar because of instrumental guitar music. 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.”

“Controlled Chaos” track listing:

01. Prepare For War
02. Alegria
03. Our Most Desperate Hour
04. Mariana Trench
05. Here With You
06. The Stillness At The End
07. The Quest
08. Hope Grows
09. Lion Among Wolves
10. Pandemonium 2.0
11. The Show Must Go On

Earlier this year, Strauss said that she always intended to keep the production costs for her solo disc relatively low. “I’m not planning on making a ‘Chinese Democracy’ here,” she said, referring to GUNS N’ ROSES‘ last studio effort, which reportedly took more than a decade and cost in excess of ten million dollars to record. “It’s an instrumental guitar record. I can make it on a good budget. I have a home studio, so the only thing I’ll really need to spend the money on, as far as recording, is some equipment and, of course, drums, ’cause I don’t wanna do drums at my house, and mixing and mastering. So the budget for the actual recording is fairly modest. And the rest of it already was planned to go towards a tour and towards publicity for the record and making it as cool as it could be. So now that we’ve reached the goal and then some, there will definitely be a tour. And there will definitely be quite a few tours to support it.”

Asked if she has given any thought as to whether she might use the same musicians that are playing on the album as her backing band on tour, Nita said: “I’ll definitely use the same drummer; yeah, it my boyfriend [Josh Villalta]. He played drums on my single, ‘Pandemonium’, which came out last year. And besides it being really great to work with somebody that you have such great chemistry with, he’s also the best drummer that I know, so it’s a match made in heaven right there. And then as far as bass and second guitar, it really just depends who else is on the tour. I’m not gonna be putting really a band together for this project; it’s really just gonna be me and the backing musicians, aside from the consistent drummer, of course, Josh. So I’ll either be sharing a backing band with some of the other musicians on the tour or hiring people on a need-to-hire basis.”

Strauss will perform at this year’s U.K. Guitar Show on Sunday, September 30.

Nita‘s skill, exuberant stage presence and love for all things about her instrument have earned her a stellar reputation in the music industry and endorsements including Ibanez Guitars, Marshall Amplification, DiMarzio pickups, Monster Energy and more.

Photo credit: Larry Dimarzio