When it's your own name that is the business, the business never stops.
— Nita Strauss
If I go on stage and I think I look cool and I think I'm playing well, that's what it's all about, I think.
The important thing to remember is you control you. Nothing else can control you.
The biggest challenge was the whole learning curve of being solo artist. I've been in bands for so long that being a solo artist was completely new thing.
I will champion this forever - that the rock and metal scene is absolutely the most inclusive, amazing, supportive community that I've ever been a part of.
The first wrestling event I ever went to was PCW Ultra in L.A., and it was insane. They had RVD wrestling, Shane Strickland, Penta, and all these incredible indie wrestlers.
A big part of the Alice Cooper sound is the big classic rock licks, the big, classic thematic kind of... It's not about going crazy, it's not about playing super fast.
I think my best advice for young guitar players is that it's not an easy road - definitely not; female guitar player or male guitar player, it's not an easy road at all.
So, as I step out and take these first steps on this journey to do my own thing, I didn't want to have to get anybody's approval on anything. I didn't want to have to ask a record label 'Is this okay for the album cover? What time do you think I should go on tour this year?'
I remember sobbing myself to sleep because I couldn't play an open G chord.
I do remember being a kid and hearing Van Halen. My dad was always playing Van Halen in the car.
Yeah, of course, there's always gonna be people with their own opinions about a female in rock music and men in rock music, but at the end of the day, it's just about being a good musician.
Go in, do a great job, be super professional.
Me personally, I've had really great experiences. I'd be lying if I said it was all roses and perfect, but, by and large, the metal community is so incredibly supportive.
To put my name on a track as a solo artist was a big deal to me. There was no band to act as a buffer.
During those years with the Iron Maidens, I felt I had to be great and really prove myself at every single show.
I started playing guitar because of instrumental guitar music.
The thing that I don't like is the selfie when people turn their back to the stage. I'm playing my heart out, I put everything that I have into my performance. If someone turns their back to me like a zoo animal... that drives me absolutely bananas.
But at the end of the day, I'm a girl. I'm from Santa Monica. I'm going to look how I want to look and play how I want to play, and if people don't like it, then they don't like it.
But when I started playing in bands, everyone would just have a couple beers at rehearsal, at the shows, or whatever, and alcohol is a great equalizer. It's a great way to make friends and interact with people.
If I can give that back to one little girl, much less thousands, and if they start on this journey because they saw me do this, then I did a good thing with my career and my life.
I think in a new relationship it's really important to at least respect each other's interests, even if you don't get super into everything.
I didn't start watching wrestling until 2015.
You see opportunity... Opportunity is like a window: every once in a while, it opens, if you're ready for that opportunity. So be prepared, work hard, and follow your dreams.
You know, I try not to think too much about women guitarists versus men guitarists; the world does that for me.
So, to see the response to the Kickstarter, and to see people actually really want to see, hear what I'm doing, hear what comes out of my own mind, is really an incredible experience.
I was definitely not one of those kids prodigy guitar players.
I love my regular job playing with Alice Cooper, I love doing my solo stuff, I love doing guest spots and guest tours. So I just love to play, and I'll play with anybody that'll have me, just about.
I don't really find it to be a man-dominated industry. I mean, I guess when you look at it, it is, but I don't really look at it as a female or male thing, or female or male guitar players or whatever.
I think as long as you're going out and treating everything with respect - you're not going in there acting like a helpless girl - as long as you don't go in there demanding special treatment, I think you won't receive any special treatment.
I record everything myself, I engineer everything myself.
I dreamed of recording a guitar album since I started playing, but I just never felt ready. I never felt like I was the player that I wanted to be. But I had this epiphany: you're never going to feel ready.
The solo album is really my way of branching out and doing my own thing. I'm mostly known for playing other people's music, so this is a way to just do something that is purely from my heart and my creativity. So it's really exciting.
I always was a fan of Alice Cooper's, but I got a new appreciation for his music playing in his band. It's really amazing to see how his music transcends age.
I was always listening to the records that made shredding sound fun - Steve Vai, Satriani, Cacophony, Paul Gilbert. I think that's what's missing from modern shred guitar; so many people are playing so many amazing notes, but a lot of it doesn't really sound all that fun.
I'm a total tomboy at heart. If I don't have to be on stage or doing anything that day, I'm always in band t-shirt and yoga pants and sneakers.
I was not a super social kid and I didn't have the easiest time making friends.
It's not odd to be a female in a band anymore. It's not odd to be a girl carrying a guitar case to a gig.
My boyfriend and I haven't taken a vacation in years. Usually, when we travel, I have to play. It's not really a vacation even if we do fun stuff to do because I'm always running around sound-checking and taking care of business stuff. And he is my manager, so he is taking care of more business stuff than I am.
And I was a kid from L.A. and I just wanted to play thrash metal.
So, really, I just try to be the best guitar player I can be - not the best female guitar player, not the best 'X amount of years' guitar player, or whatever - just the best guitar player.
Yes, of course, I've been dreaming about it since I was a kid. Even now, I'm 31 years-old now and I've never been on a cover of a magazine. It makes you feel in such a way to do it with my signature guitar and to have it be Guitar Player magazine, it was really just an amazing experience.
And for it to make the statement the way that it did, for 'Controlled Chaos' to debut in the Top 10 of the iTunes rock chart... We debuted behind Queen and Chris Cornell, so it's not like we were just hidden away in the back of the instrumental metal category.
The first riff that I totally mastered was 'Come As You Are' by Nirvana. I remember sitting there, plunking along, I remember thinking 'How do they even do this?'
I love to play guitar. I've never really been the type of guitar player that goes, 'I'll only play this style of music or that thing.'
It never really occurred to me to seek out a female influence, a female musician.
And I would say that the main thing that I faced as a female in this industry was being underestimated. But being underestimated isn't always a bad thing. It's nice to get out there and blow people's minds when they think you're not gonna be any good.
And, of course, there were some times when I had writer's block and I had a hard time figuring out how to express what I wanted to express.
There were always people in the audience that judged me on the way I looked. They just assumed, because I was a girl, that I wasn't going to be any good, and it motivated me to improve and nail it every night.
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.
