Variety: "Guitarist Nita Strauss Is Hard Rock’s Queen and Demi Lovato’s Secret Weapon”

When Demi Lovato debuted her fresh, hard, alt-rocking material on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” earlier this summer, the blonde guitarist headbanging alongside the vocalist tore into her six strings as if they owed her money. That was Nita Strauss, the Los Angeles-based guitarist whose crunching chords and pummeling rhythmic interplay lift the rocking arrangements and curt, hurt lyrics of Lovato’s “Holy Fvck” tracks to another level in a live setting.

“Once the sonic journey that my latest album, ‘Holy Fvck,’ takes listeners on became clear,” Lovato tells Variety via email, “I knew I wanted to bring in a band for the ‘Holy Fvck Tour’ that is not just very skilled at live instruments, but also know how to have a good time on stage, and are performers in their own right.

”Nita fit that description and more – we have so much fun rocking out in rehearsals and on stage. My band also happens to be all-female, which is empowering to me. Working alongside Nita has helped me rebuild my skills on the guitar and she’s definitely someone who I learn from each day. I admire Nita for being such a bad-ass rock guitarist in a male-dominated field.”