Nita Strauss joins Demi Lovato's band, appears on Jimmy Kimmel Live!

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By ( Louder ) published

Watch former Alice Cooper guitarist Nita Strauss play on US TV alongside pop star Demi Lovato, whose band she has now joined

Nita S
(Image credit: Per Ole Hagen/Redferns)

Nita Strauss has joined Demi Lovato's touring band and will play guitar with Lovato on their forthcoming tour in support of their new album, Holy Fvck.

Strauss made her first TV appearance in her new role last night (July 14), appearing with Lovato on populate late night chat show Jimmy Kimmel Live! to perform the pop star's new single Substance.

Earlier this week Strauss revealed that she was leaving Alice Cooper's touring band, telling fans on Instagram on July 11 "I’m on a flight straight into the next adventure as I post this, and I’ll be on stage again much sooner than you think!"

Watch a clip of the performance below:

Last month Lovato, who came out as non-binary earlier this year, shared a hard-hitting video for Skin Of My Teeth, the first single from their new album. 

The song references Lovato's battles with drug addiction, and its video features graphic images of violence, blood and broken teeth, with the singer wielding a flame-spitting Jackson guitar at one point.

The track marks quite a departure for the 29-year-old pop star, who first shot to fame alongside Joe Jonas in Disney's Camp Rock/Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam, and later appeared as a judge in seasons two and three of The X Factor USA.

The singer had promised that Holy Fvck would be "heavy" and speaking to Jimmy Kimmel Live!'s stand-in host Mark Rober they said that the album is influenced by "Warped tour days, the emo days".

In a segment sure to annoy the hell out of heavy metal gatekeepers, Lovato also tells the host a story about attending a show by Norway's Dimmu Borgir as a teenager.

Watch the interview below:

Holy Fvck is set for release on August 19.

Paul Brannigan
Paul Brannigan
Contributing Editor, Louder

A music writer since 1993, formerly Editor of Kerrang! and Planet Rock magazine (RIP), Paul Brannigan is a Contributing Editor to Louder. Having previously written books on Lemmy, Dave Grohl (the Sunday Times best-seller This Is A Call) and Metallica (Birth School Metallica Death, co-authored with Ian Winwood), his Eddie Van Halen biography (Eruption in the UK, Unchained in the US) emerged in 2021. He has written for Rolling Stone, Mojo and Q, hung out with Fugazi at Dischord House, flown on Ozzy Osbourne's private jet, played Angus Young's Gibson SG, and interviewed everyone from Aerosmith and Beastie Boys to Young Gods and ZZ Top. Born in the North of Ireland, Brannigan lives in North London and supports The Arsenal.