The story of the fast rise and quick fall of Mikaela Mayer’s teenage metal band

MIKAELA MAYER WAS backstage at a live performance in Colorado ready for her buddy. It was 2018, earlier than Mayer had turn out to be a world champion, earlier than she began to turn out to be extra of a face of ladies’s boxing.

A person approached her and her greatest buddy, Ginny Fuchs, additionally a fighter, and began providing boxing recommendation. Watching from the aspect was the one that introduced them backstage to start with, and all Nita Strauss may do was giggle.

“This man begins speaking to them, like, ‘You bought to steer together with your left,’” Strauss mentioned. “I’m like, ‘Oh my God.’ They had been so stylish, like, ‘Oh, we all know.’”

Mayer was there to hold with Strauss and meet Alice Cooper, as Mayer’s previous life and current collided.

Earlier than Mayer turned a boxer, an Olympian and a world champion, she was a musician. Earlier than she fought in entrance of worldwide crowds and had followers chanting her title in professional fights, she craved the vitality of being on a small stage throughout Warped Tour as a bassist in Lia-Fail, a hardcore metallic band. Collectively, she and Strauss traveled the nation, generally taking part in the early, early set on a present in entrance of bartenders and random stragglers.

Had issues gone in a different way with Lia-Fail, Mayer might not have left the band. She might not have discovered boxing and as an alternative may need made music a profession like Strauss, who’s Cooper’s tour guitarist. She additionally fronts her personal band, Nita Strauss, and is taken into account among the finest guitar gamers on the earth.

“We don’t see one another quite a bit. She’s busy,” Mayer mentioned. “I went to see her carry out, and we had breakfast and did a hike and he or she was off.”

That is how friendship lives between two folks on the prime of their professions — one thing they might have solely dreamed of 15 years earlier as youngsters and bandmates.

“That have, displaying me this world at such a younger age and having no concern and going after one thing that individuals thought was loopy,” Mayer mentioned. “It form of educated my thoughts to be a risk-taker, proper?”

IT STARTED WITH a kind of tween fibs. Mikaela Mayer, a starting bass participant in the hunt for an all-girl rock-metal band to play with in California, lied.

She positioned an advert saying she was a 13-year-old bassist. It caught the eye of three older teenage women placing collectively a band, and so they determined to fulfill on the AMC Promenade in Woodland Hills at 1 p.m. on a Sunday.

Sporting her greatest tank prime with piercings in her ears and black Dickies denims, Mayer’s mother took her to hopefully meet her new bandmates.

“The opposite guitar participant and I walked previous her thrice, as a result of she regarded so younger that she wasn’t even on our radar,” Strauss mentioned. “And at last, her mother got here as much as us and mentioned, ‘Are you on the lookout for Mikaela? She’s proper there.’ And that’s how we met her.”

Strauss and guitarist Tina St. Claire, carrying spiked collar necklaces, linked instantly with Mayer. By the point the mall assembly ended, they invited her to band apply.

Mayer performed bass for a bit over a 12 months, principally with a buddy and her buddy’s father, in the lounge of their house. She discovered to play Black Sabbath’s ‘Iron Man’ first, adopted by an AC/DC monitor and one other Black Sabbath bass line. Mayer was hooked.

“I didn’t assume I used to be going to have an issue discovering a band to be in,” Mayer mentioned. “And I suppose once you’re younger, you’re simply spontaneous and open-minded like that.”

When Mayer stepped into the primary Lia-Fail apply with St. Claire, who was six years older than Mayer, and drummer Kirsten Schluter, three years older, she slot in. Sooner or later in early practices, Mayer fessed as much as her lie. She wasn’t 13. She was 12-and-a-half. They didn’t care.

Mayer was studying from repetition and reminiscence as an alternative of studying music. She didn’t know methods to tune her bass — one thing Strauss did for her on a regular basis. However she was gifted.

She was within the band.

MAYER NEEDED A journey to apply and Schluter — who had her license and lived close by — provided to drive. These quick automobile journeys bonded the 2 youngsters who in any other case knew little about one another.

Their influences had been the identical — Instrument, System of a Down, Black Sabbath — and so they had been doing one thing completely different and surprising. All-female bands had been uncommon. All-female teenage metallic bands had been nearly remarkable.

Strauss and St. Claire wrote unique songs. Mayer and Schluter had been the backing. They’d visions of fame.

“We had been all-in just about,” Schluter mentioned. “Yeah, we had been younger, but it surely was nice. All of us wished to do that full-force, be a band. Tour. Earn money. Make a dwelling, a way of life, all the pieces. All of us had the potential for that and Mikaela was the s—.

“It was loopy. And she or he was younger.”

Mayer turned 13. Strauss labored together with her on taking part in method and methods to learn and write music. On Sept. 6, 2003, they debuted in the identical West Hollywood venue that when hosted The Doorways, Janis Joplin, Motley Crue and Weapons N Roses: Whisky A Go-Go.

It was a pay-to-play gig, which means they needed to promote sufficient tickets to get on stage. They bought to household and mates, and dressed up of their band garments outdoors the Viper Room and Rainbow Bar & Grill promoting tickets to construct a following. Mayer, Strauss mentioned, was “fearless.” She’d go as much as anybody, discuss to them, convincing them to purchase a ticket or three. To them, it wasn’t an opportunity to play a legendary room — it was attending to play any room to start out their careers. “We had no thought, actually,” Schluter mentioned. “Now, trying again, once you hear bands [say] the Whisky [is] all iconic, and we performed there and they’re clearly not from California, but it surely’s to me, we play the Whisky on a regular basis, however I notice that we had been actually lucky to try this.

“Not solely play there for a present, but in addition, like, we performed there over 20 instances. They knew us by title. It was a killer expertise. And I didn’t notice that till most likely not too long ago.”

The primary present wasn’t their greatest efficiency. Nevertheless it was actual, in entrance of individuals — a few of whom they didn’t know. The present on the Whisky led to a second one two months later. Then appearances at The Knitting Manufacturing unit, Palisades Excessive College and venues all throughout Southern California.

They garnered some followers. And when college was out for summer season, Lia-Fail determined to go on tour.

THE FOUR OF them — and Mayer’s dad, Mark — had been uncertain what to anticipate. All they knew was they wished the following step, so from June 25-July 2, 2004, they launched into a four-show mini-tour in Arizona, Colorado, Utah and northern California.

St. Claire known as venues, saying they had been a Los Angeles band on tour and requested if there was a slot to get on. They borrowed a van to lug themselves, their gear and Mayer’s dad from place to put.

This was the style of the life they actually wished, getting out on the highway. It wasn’t organized the very best, but it surely was a tour.

“It wasn’t glamorous,” Strauss mentioned.

They had been neophytes, however native promoters booked them. Mark Mayer was the fixed cheerleader and part-time bass tech, providing recommendation and an individual to protect gear in the event that they had been capable of sleep in a resort for the night time.

The final day of the tour, Mayer’s dad was nowhere to be discovered. The ladies figured he ran out for espresso. He returned to the resort room quickly after.

“He had a bandage over his arm and we’re like, ‘Oh s—,’ ” Mayer mentioned. “He acquired the band brand tattooed on the again of his shoulder. He nonetheless has it. My dad was the good dad ever.”

It was additionally the final tour Mark went on. He’d seen what he wanted to. From then on, Lia-Fail traveled on their very own.

THROUGHOUT THE 2004-05 college 12 months, they performed California reveals, from Victorville to Canoga Park and, after all, the Whisky. College ended, and so they had been enhancing, gaining a following in Los Angeles and some tremendous followers who adopted the band wherever they went.

Mayer remembers hanging out with the band on the home of Jack Osbourne — as within the son of Ozzy — one night time and never understanding who Jack Osbourne was.

Lia-Fail continued succeeding, touchdown three reveals as a part of the Vans Warped Tour in 2005. They performed a aspect stage, removed from headliners Avenged Sevenfold, Dropkick Murphy’s, Fall Out Boy and My Chemical Romance.

This was the band’s alternative to expertise pageant life earlier than kicking off their very own summer season tour. The Plain White T’s and Fitness center Class Heroes, each bands a 12 months or two from stardom, performed a number of the identical Warped Tour dates as Lia-Fail, simply on completely different phases. On the identical Shiragirl stage later that summer season, an up-and-coming band named Paramore performed for a few weeks.

“We had been on a tiny little stage that folded out of the again of a truck and we had been looking throughout the best way at these huge phases with Avenged Sevenfold and Pennywise and the most important bands in our style on the time and simply considering like, ‘Someday,’” Strauss mentioned. “And the stage we performed on was nice. I’m not knocking beginning someplace however I simply keep in mind considering at some point we’re going to go from this little stage over right here to that massive stage over there.”

After their Warped Tour stint, Lia-Fail packed up in Schluter’s model new 2005 silver Toyota Tacoma with a camper shell on the again and hit the highway on a 15-show, 13-state tour — a baseball bat beneath the driving force’s seat in case they bumped into any bother alongside the best way.

THE ROAD WAS robust. They made sufficient cash to make it from place to put — barely. They made their very own merchandise, burned their very own CDs on the market and generally slept in both the camper or the truck. They navigated shady promoters and outdrove a twister.

“It takes a variety of balls for a gaggle of youngsters, women no much less, to roll into a brand new city with folks you’ve by no means met and go give the efficiency of your life, hungry and chilly and drained each night time, to folks you’ve by no means seen earlier than and are by no means going to see once more,” Strauss mentioned. “No crew, no assist, no guitar tech, drum tech serving to us put issues collectively and take issues aside and deal with the cash and discuss to promoters, all this sort of stuff.

“It takes quite a bit to go on the market and try this. Having that mentality early on in life actually ready, particularly Mikaela and I, very well for the place we ended up going.”

Nevertheless it turned an excessive amount of. Nobody can precisely keep in mind town it occurred in, solely that the breakup came to visit breakfast. Strauss thought-about going a distinct musical route. Mayer had a boyfriend she wished to spend extra time with. They had been out.

“We had been struggling. We had been having a troublesome time,” Strauss mentioned. “It was like, ‘That is an excessive amount of. We’re combating on a regular basis. We’re not having enjoyable. We will end out the tour or we may simply drive house.’”

They determined to complete touring and make their manner again to California.

After getting house, Mayer removed her gear and didn’t play bass once more. She changed into a “silly teenager” for a few years till she determined to stroll right into a health club to start out studying methods to battle.

“I used to be simply completed,” Mayer mentioned. “Like if I may return and simply inform my 14-year-old self simply don’t cease taking part in. Don’t be in a band, however don’t cease taking part in.”

THEY’D LOST TOUCH, although there can be random interactions, till assembly up once more at considered one of Strauss’ birthday events.

“It was the good factor,” Strauss mentioned. “And all of us hugged and apologized and all people apologized and we didn’t actually begin hanging out after that, but it surely was good to have that closure.”

It was additionally time-sensitive, despite the fact that they didn’t realize it but. St. Claire, based on a narrative written posthumously by her fiance, was recognized with an aggressive type of mind most cancers in December 2015. Strauss didn’t notice how sick St. Claire was — she’d simply employed St. Claire to do some graphic work weeks earlier than. Strauss was in Spain educating guitar lessons when St. Claire died in March 2016. They had been all grateful they rekindled their relationships earlier than St. Claire died.

Strauss and Mayer have been in nearer contact not too long ago, as their pursuits are as soon as once more changing into intertwined. Mayer not too long ago acquired an electrical guitar as a present and reached out to Strauss to inform her she needs to start out taking part in once more — recreationally.

Strauss does FightCamp coaching and has practiced Muay Thai and Brazilian jiu-jitsu. When Mayer fought within the 2016 Olympics, Strauss was on stage with Cooper and ran backstage between songs to catch glimpses of her previous buddy pursuing her boxing desires.

When Mayer fights, Strauss and Schluter textual content forwards and backwards together with Strauss’ boyfriend, Josh Villalta, who doubles as her drummer.

And Strauss and Mayer have one other plan: To get again on a stage — a distinct kind of stage — collectively once more sometime. Mayer needs Strauss to stroll her out earlier than a title protection — a good distance from the Whisky-A-Go-Go and the again of a silver truck.

“It’s going to be a terrific, nice feeling to look throughout a stage at her once more,” Strauss mentioned. “I do know that Mikaela-walking-on-stage face, and I can’t wait to see it up shut in particular person once more.”