"I was a dangerous addict." Demi Lovato and Alice Cooper guitar hero Nita Strauss on the struggles of staying sober while touring

Nita Strauss playing her guitar on stage — (Image credit: Getty Images)

Uber-talented metal guitar hero Nita Strauss has opened up on her issues with alcohol and substance abuse in a brand new interview with Metal Hammer. Speaking to Hammer writer Dave Everley in their new issue, out now, the Alice Cooper and Demi Lovato guitarist explains that while her problems with addiction weren't always obvious to those around her, they still took their toll.

“I wouldn’t say I hit rock bottom, she says. "I’m not like Nikki Sixx, but I was a dangerous addict, because whether I was doing drugs or drinking, I was very highly functional. I was doing all these things that could have got me in trouble, but I never played a bad show, I was never falling-down sloppy. But it was really insidious, because it was bleeding into my personal life. Some of the guys in the band had noticed it, but it took my partner Josh, who is now my husband, saying to me: ‘If you’re gonna be like this, I don’t know how long I’m going to be with you. I can’t watch you destroy your life like this.’ This was the highest point of my professional career so far, and it just seemed unfair – I couldn’t understand why I was getting picked on, and why I had to be boring and go to sleep early.”

Strauss goes on to say that she was "too shy" to go to Alcoholics Anonymous and "just white-knuckled" her way to sobriety, but explains that staying sober on the road is still a big challenge.

“It is difficult, it really is," she admits. "My husband still drinks, my friends still drink, Alice has been sober a long time but he doesn’t mind if people drink, so there’s bottles of wine in the dressing room and bourbon on the tour bus. The only thing we do differently on my [solo] tour is that we don’t put alcohol on the rider and don’t stock it on the bus. People can have a beer on the bus, but I say, ‘Please don’t keep a bunch of beer on the bus.’ But it’s hard. It puts your ethics and morals into perspective – I have every opportunity to drink and no one would know, but sobriety, for me, is what you do when no one’s looking.”

Strauss' solo album The Call Of The Void is out now via Sumerian. Read more of her interview in the new issue of Metal Hammer, out now.

Matt Heafy and Matt Tuck on the cover on Metal Hammer — (Image credit: Future (Photo: Jake Owens))

Merlin was promoted to Executive Editor of Louder in early 2022, following over ten years working at Metal Hammer. While there, he served as Online Editor and Deputy Editor, before being promoted to Editor in 2016. Before joining Metal Hammer, Merlin worked as Associate Editor at Terrorizer Magazine and has written for Classic Rock, Rock Sound, eFestivals and others. Across his career he has interviewed legends including Ozzy Osbourne, Lemmy, Metallica, Iron Maiden (including getting a trip on Ed Force One courtesy of Bruce Dickinson), Guns N' Roses, KISS, Slipknot, System Of A Down and Meat Loaf. He has also presented and produced the Metal Hammer Podcast, presented the Metal Hammer Radio Show and is probably responsible for 90% of all nu metal-related content making it onto the site.