SickthingsUK

Nita's recording her first solo album right now (actually, she posted that she just finished the recordings, so it's on to mixing, presumably). She used KickStarter to raise the funds, and met her goal of $20,000 within a couple of hours. She ended up raising over $165K.

http://loudwire.com/nita-strauss-instru ... olo-album/

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hu ... solo-album

VinceLeeRose wrote:

pitkin88 wrote:

cooperrocks wrote:First, let me say anything the great Nita Strauss is involved in, I am buying. I can't wait for her solo album and I love what she has brought to Alice's band and I hope they do an album together as I miss the soaring guitar solos, etc.

I don't have a ton of interest in the Hollywood Vampires project either but the fact is they are drawing big crowds. The occasional show is fine but that's about it for me but that is a matter of preference.

I just wish Alice would open up his setlist more in his solo shows and I know that has been discussed many times. Personally I think his current band is the best of his career and I know this isn't popular here but that includes the great original band. I love the current lineup.

Has Nita Strauss even been in a studio? I cant find her discography.

She is in some band called We Start Wars that has a pretty subpar song out - other than that I'm sure there are some YouTube videos of her playing Number of the Beast and The Trooper

I don't get the fascination - she was a major step down from Orianthi, who actually DOES have some songwriting credits to her name. Alice has a very talented solo band that just seems to get tighter and tighter, but they tried this experiment before with Eyes and Diamonds, and both were only so-so. I'd like to see a full studio album from Alice Cooper, the BAND. Dennis Dunaway's contributions to Paranormal were amazing. It's like they use the original band just enough but then keep them under the radar

I'd rather hear Ryan and Chuck contribute over Tommy and all the outsiders like Denander. I'd also like to Michael, Dennis, and Neal work on songs together and get Ryan in there also and not just rework songs from their separate albums. If it's going to take 6 years to get an album, they should be working together as a band and not using some tapes or already recorded material especially when it is from some guy like Denander.

Rhapsody of Fire wrote:I have nothing against HV. But, the way I see it, it's not a band, just a big fan club, in fact, 3 fan's clubs. The fan club of Alice, the fan club of Joe and the biggest of all, the fan club of Johnny Depp. In my opinion, people go to see Alice, Joe or Johnny, not the HV band. Actually, real fans of the HV band, for the band itself, and not each individual artist, must be rare.

nothing wrong w/ people going to see a band because of a personality and not because they like the music - i did that myself when i went to check out Steven Seagal and Thunderbox. came out quite liking some of the music, which is what happens at HV gigs, i expect. if people like the music just because of Alice, or Johnny, or whoever, then they're still a fan of the band, so what's the prob?

Nita Strauss at the end of an Alice show always gets the second loudest response from fans (right next to Alice of course). She is a tremendous talent that has added so much to Alice's band in my opinion. I was recently having a discussion with a group of people who spent as much time talking about how good Nita Strauss is as they did Alice.

I don't get the fascination - she was a major step down from Orianthi, who actually DOES have some songwriting credits to her name.

Orianthi was technically an amazing player but had zero personality or stage presence, she got slightly better as the years wore on but only a bit, nita is a beast! she flings herself around the stage all night long and gives allot of the songs the kick up the bum they need! (woman of mass distraction for instance) not to mention she seems to push the stalwarts into being more alive and giving more energy.

Nita had that band mentioned earlier (we start wars or something) which was very poor and generic, but orianthi stuff isnt much better other than the steve vai track she did.
Nita might be a demon working with alice (she might be aweful) but i would hope alice would try her out at the very least)

But yeah HV.....odd isnt it

cooperrocks wrote:Nita Strauss at the end of an Alice show always gets the second loudest response from fans (right next to Alice of course). She is a tremendous talent that has added so much to Alice's band in my opinion. I was recently having a discussion with a group of people who spent as much time talking about how good Nita Strauss is as they did Alice.

Buckethead got a huge response from fans too when I saw scab Guns N' Roses back in the day.

VinceLeeRose wrote:

cooperrocks wrote:Nita Strauss at the end of an Alice show always gets the second loudest response from fans (right next to Alice of course). She is a tremendous talent that has added so much to Alice's band in my opinion. I was recently having a discussion with a group of people who spent as much time talking about how good Nita Strauss is as they did Alice.

Buckethead got a huge response from fans too when I saw scab Guns N' Roses back in the day.

If you want to learn guitar theory, it is a capability that most people can learn. It is time consuming, but practice makes perfect. It does not mean that you can write a solo worth listening too, much less a song that draws people's interests. Some people believe that playing more notes or knowing every scale or at least a vast array of scales equals more talent, and it is not the case at all. You can train yourself over time to play faster and faster if you desire too and to learn different scales since it's all about repetition and muscle memory, but it's much harder to train yourself to understand melody, harmony, and tonality (three things that I think Roxie understands which makes him the anchor of the band and why I feel like Alice has brought him into the ACG fold), because these things are not set in stone. One tone does not sound good across the board. When writing songs, you need to understand much more then theory. Most of the shred worthy guitarists have tones that I find worthless and have no understanding of pop melody, harmony, etc. which is what creates hooks and guitar riffs that become infectious and draw a listener in. Satriani's guitar tones on Hey Stoopid are so thin and pathetic. He does a hell of a job playing his fingers off, but Slash's much more simplistic solo on Hey Stoopid which just sounds like anything else Slash does stands out to me much more than anything Satriani did on that album that generally just came off as a disruption to the actual song. Vinnie Moore's two songs are the best of the lot on that album, and I think if we need somebody that can shred Vinnie should be brought back now that UFO seems to be done, because unlike Kane and Satriani and his disciples, Vinnie creates solos that actually fit into a song without it sounding like a detour into tastelessness and still has the shredding element that some people love.

Nita may very well be capable of creating interesting solos herself. All we do know is that she has released a song or two from the studio that have not seemed to be impressive to most people, and otherwise she has played in bands that were either cover/tribute bands and a re-formed version of Femme Fatale who recorded one album in the 80s and never wrote material with her, so she has always learned the parts that has been created by somebody else. Yes, she can is fun to watch live, but the premise of what she does is rooted in something already established, so who knows what kind of originality or creativity there is?

guttertrash wrote:

VinceLeeRose wrote:

cooperrocks wrote:Nita Strauss at the end of an Alice show always gets the second loudest response from fans (right next to Alice of course). She is a tremendous talent that has added so much to Alice's band in my opinion. I was recently having a discussion with a group of people who spent as much time talking about how good Nita Strauss is as they did Alice.

Buckethead got a huge response from fans too when I saw scab Guns N' Roses back in the day.

If you want to learn guitar theory, it is a capability that most people can learn. It is time consuming, but practice makes perfect. It does not mean that you can write a solo worth listening too, much less a song that draws people's interests. Some people believe that playing more notes or knowing every scale or at least a vast array of scales equals more talent, and it is not the case at all. You can train yourself over time to play faster and faster if you desire too and to learn different scales since it's all about repetition and muscle memory, but it's much harder to train yourself to understand melody, harmony, and tonality (three things that I think Roxie understands which makes him the anchor of the band and why I feel like Alice has brought him into the ACG fold), because these things are not set in stone. One tone does not sound good across the board. When writing songs, you need to understand much more then theory. Most of the shred worthy guitarists have tones that I find worthless and have no understanding of pop melody, harmony, etc. which is what creates hooks and guitar riffs that become infectious and draw a listener in. Satriani's guitar tones on Hey Stoopid are so thin and pathetic. He does a hell of a job playing his fingers off, but Slash's much more simplistic solo on Hey Stoopid which just sounds like anything else Slash does stands out to me much more than anything Satriani did on that album that generally just came off as a disruption to the actual song. Vinnie Moore's two songs are the best of the lot on that album, and I think if we need somebody that can shred Vinnie should be brought back now that UFO seems to be done, because unlike Kane and Satriani and his disciples, Vinnie creates solos that actually fit into a song without it sounding like a detour into tastelessness and still has the shredding element that some people love.

Nita may very well be capable of creating interesting solos herself. All we do know is that she has released a song or two from the studio that have not seemed to be impressive to most people, and otherwise she has played in bands that were either cover/tribute bands and a re-formed version of Femme Fatale who recorded one album in the 80s and never wrote material with her, so she has always learned the parts that has been created by somebody else. Yes, she can is fun to watch live, but the premise of what she does is rooted in something already established, so who knows what kind of originality or creativity there is?

All this x10000 - well said

If you want to learn guitar theory, it is a capability that most people can learn. It is time consuming, but practice makes perfect. It does not mean that you can write a solo worth listening too, much less a song that draws people's interests. Some people believe that playing more notes or knowing every scale or at least a vast array of scales equals more talent, and it is not the case at all. You can train yourself over time to play faster and faster if you desire too and to learn different scales since it's all about repetition and muscle memory, but it's much harder to train yourself to understand melody, harmony, and tonality (three things that I think Roxie understands which makes him the anchor of the band and why I feel like Alice has brought him into the ACG fold), because these things are not set in stone. One tone does not sound good across the board. When writing songs, you need to understand much more then theory. Most of the shred worthy guitarists have tones that I find worthless and have no understanding of pop melody, harmony, etc. which is what creates hooks and guitar riffs that become infectious and draw a listener in. Satriani's guitar tones on Hey Stoopid are so thin and pathetic. He does a hell of a job playing his fingers off, but Slash's much more simplistic solo on Hey Stoopid which just sounds like anything else Slash does stands out to me much more than anything Satriani did on that album that generally just came off as a disruption to the actual song. Vinnie Moore's two songs are the best of the lot on that album, and I think if we need somebody that can shred Vinnie should be brought back now that UFO seems to be done, because unlike Kane and Satriani and his disciples, Vinnie creates solos that actually fit into a song without it sounding like a detour into tastelessness and still has the shredding element that some people love.

Nita may very well be capable of creating interesting solos herself. All we do know is that she has released a song or two from the studio that have not seemed to be impressive to most people, and otherwise she has played in bands that were either cover/tribute bands and a re-formed version of Femme Fatale who recorded one album in the 80s and never wrote material with her, so she has always learned the parts that has been created by somebody else. Yes, she can is fun to watch live, but the premise of what she does is rooted in something already established, so who knows what kind of originality or creativity there is?

That is a very reasoned argument and well put, but when it comes down to the nitty gritty it is all in personal taste.
I think Mr. Satrianis' guitar solos on hey stoopid far outweigh any of the others (other than when vai and satriani duel it out on feed my frankenstein - a song that to my ears has never sounded good live apart from that first tour with steff burns and pete freisen, i seem to remember). Slashes solo sounds to me like slash 101, fine but not great.

I think Roses on White lace has the second best solo of the entire alice discography (behind pass the gun around by Mr Wagner) closely followed by wind up toy (the afor mentioned satriani/burns)

So while i appreciate what you say about skill, determination and style i also respectfully disagree. But isnt that the point? we cant all love the same stuff. My style is of the 80s "shred" kind, yours is clearly more in a blues based groundwork, i appreciate both but i love a good shred

As mentioned before, i haven't really though Alices band has been great since the hey stoopid tour. I have enjoyed them for what they are but much prefer the energy and style of the 80's/early 90's. I think nita has just injected fun and energy back into a line up which i have felt was getting tired. (again a personal opinion)

Buckethead got a huge response from fans too when I saw scab Guns N' Roses back in the day.

I also saw bucket head and wow, yeah the guy is nuts (on stage and in studio at least) but man he can play like no one else. he was fantastic, not G'N'R for sure but amazing and Chinese democracy is a stunning album on its own merits. (but again its all just my opinion)

To get back to HV - people have said the band seem engaged and are having fun, this is good and i hope it rubs off on the crowd and everyone can enjoy it.

Saint&Sinner wrote:

I


I also saw bucket head and wow, yeah the guy is nuts (on stage and in studio at least) but man he can play like no one else. he was fantastic, not G'N'R for sure but amazing and Chinese democracy is a stunning album on its own merits. (but again its all just my opinion)

Chinese is the only GnR release I really ever listen to anymore - ha. The first show with Buckethead from House of Blues leaked recently on YouTube - great band

I was lukewarm at first but I now really like the Hollywood Vampires. I want to see Alice perform but get bored of repetitious set-lists. It's pleasing to see Alice and be regularly surprised by the next track.

I like Alice's cover songs. I'm cool with Joe Perry and Johnny Depp. By all rights I should love the Hollywood Vampires. But I don't. The studio stuff is bad for the most part, but I could place the blame for that on the producers or whoever. What's surprising is that they sound bad in their Youtube videos. I know that that isn't the best way to judge a band, but they really do not sound good to me. Maybe it's the quality of the recording, I don't know.