Nita Strauss, the Los Angeles-based guitar shredder for the ALICE COOPER band, has confirmed to Meltdown of Detroit’s WRIF radio station that the legendary rocker is continuing work on the follow-up to last year’s “Detroit Stories” album. “I actually have a call with [the Cooper camp] this weekend to discuss the progress of it,” she said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). “The last that I heard, we were in Nashville working on it. The band and I sat down and recorded quite a bit of music for this upcoming record. The band did also have a huge part in the writing this time, which is the first time that’s happened in the eight years that I’ve been in the band. So it was really, really fun — really exciting for us to get to work with a legend like [produer] Bob Ezrin. [It was] a huge, huge honor to be in the studio with him and Alice creating what we hope will be some more Alice Cooper music to just add to his legacy.”
She added: “I’m on the [Alice Cooper] live DVD. I’m on the live album releases, the live tracks that are bonus tracks and stuff, but [this is my] first studio album with Alice. I’m actually the only person in the [current lineup of Alice‘s] band that hasn’t recorded anything with Alice before, so this is huge for me. [I’m] very, very honored.”
Asked about a possible release date for Alice‘s new album, Nita said: “I don’t have that information. I can tell you a lot about my [upcoming solo] record, but when it comes to Alice, I’m a hired musician, just like the rest of ’em. Right now we are still touring on ‘Detroit Stories’, which just came out last year. So I don’t know that it’ll necessarily be immediately that we’ll see the next one. But please don’t take my word for it. It’s not my band. I don’t wanna speak out of turn. But I know we are gonna be touring on ‘Detroit Stories’ a lot this year.”
Less than a year ago, Alice told Australia’s Heavy that he wanted to record his next album on the road with the current lineup of his solo band. “I like it — I like the idea,” he said. “I brought up the idea because my stage band is so tight. They’re not even on [‘Detroit Stories’]. But they’re so tight that they can play anything. And I said, ‘Well, then why don’t we write the songs on the road about the road? Let’s write the songs about what happens on the road.’ Or just it could be funny, it could be tragic, it could be whatever. I said, ‘But let’s make this album rock, like you guys do. And I’d love to play it live during soundchecks.’ Instead of playing ‘Eighteen’ or ‘School’s Out’ or doing a soundcheck every day, I said, ‘Let’s rehearse these songs.’ And then, at one point, somewhere on the road when we have two days off, we’ll set up the next gig and record them all — record them live in a venue.’ And I said, ‘That would be unique. Nobody’s ever done that. So let’s do something nobody’s ever done.'”
Alice went on to say that he had every confidence that the members of his current solo band — Strauss, Tommy Henriksen (guitar), Ryan Roxie (guitar), Chuck Garric (bass) and Glen Sobel (drums) — would be able to rise to the occasion and make an album while on tour. “If you get the right players, you can do anything,” he said. “I’ve got Nita Strauss in there. Nita is just a monster guitar player. She was voted ‘Guitarist Of The Decade’ magazine in Guitar magazine, and my drummer was voted ‘Best Drummer In Rock’ last year. And the great thing about this band is they never have a bad night; they’re good every night. And they’re all best friends. I never hear an argument; I never hear an ego pop up; I never hear anybody yelling at anybody unless it’s funny. All I hear backstage is laughing.”
Released in February 2021, “Detroit Stories” was recorded with Ezrin, mostly in Royal Oak with Detroit musicians and featuring a mix of original material alongside covers of songs by Bob Seger, the MC5, Mitch Ryder‘s DETROIT and OUTRAGEOUS CHERRY.
In 2018, Cooper issued “A Paranormal Evening At The Olympia Paris”, a recording of his December 7, 2017 concert at the world-renowned Olympia venue in France. The effort captured Cooper and his current bandmates performing a choice selection of classic Cooper hits, in addition to some highlights from 2017’s “Paranormal” album. Alice later said that he wanted to release a document of his band’s onstage prowess because they “deserved a live album.”
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