Nita Strauss is taking maternity leave this summer, and before she left she did something most people wouldn't bother doing: she found her own replacement, vetted her, vouched for her publicly, and handed her the gig. The result is Anna Cara — 22 years old, from Newcastle, and as of last night she's playing live with Alice Cooper.
Cara made her live debut with the band on April 2 in the US, the first night of the Alice's Attic tour. Cooper announced her as "a beautiful dynamic shredder in the vein of Nita but with a style of her own." Strauss, who has been mentoring Cara in the lead-up to the tour, put it more directly: "When I was asked in an interview who I thought was the best up-and-coming guitarist, I had no hesitation."
How You Actually Get This Gig
The path here is worth paying attention to because it isn't the usual story. Cara didn't audition cold. She didn't go viral with a shred clip and get DM'd by a manager. She built a following on social media with playthrough videos — real playing, not algorithms — and somewhere along the way ended up working with Marc Storace of Krokus and Tommy Henriksen, who plays with both Cooper and Hollywood Vampires. By the time Strauss needed to recommend someone, Cara was already in the room.
Proximity to the right people matters. So does being undeniably good when you get there.
What She's Walking Into
Alice Cooper's live show is not a casual gig. The production is theatrical, the catalog is 50-plus years deep, and the audience expects a guitarist who can handle everything from hard rock riffing to melodic leads without flinching. Strauss raised the bar considerably during her run with the band. Cara is 22 and playing her first night in front of that crowd.
"This is like a dream come true," Cara said in the band's announcement. "Back when I started playing guitar at 14, I was watching Alice Cooper live shows on YouTube dreaming of joining one day." She called Strauss "a tough act to follow" and credited her for being "so encouraging." Which, given that Strauss literally nominated her for the job and trained her for it, seems like the understatement of the month.
The Alice's Attic tour runs through the US and Europe this summer. Strauss is expected back after maternity leave. Whether Cara stays in the orbit after that — as a touring guitarist, a solo artist, or something else entirely — is the more interesting question. This is the kind of gig that doesn't end when the tour does. Ask anyone who's ever stepped into a high-profile slot and delivered. They don't go back to obscurity.
It's been a good few months for live guitar stages landing unexpected stars. Zakk Wylde's Ozzy tribute at the BRITs back in March reminded everyone what it looks like when a guitarist steps into an enormous moment and owns it completely. Now Cara gets her version of that — a different kind of stage, same stakes. If you want more live guitar on the calendar, the Crossroads Guitar Festival in Austin this September is shaping up to be the event of the year.