Phillip J Kriz

Watching Guns N’ Roses from the side of the stage in London, standing on the set of Saturday Night Live with Paul Simon, receiving a signed skateboard from Carrie Underwood, and mixing front-of-house sound for Kiss…   These are just a handful of experiences in the rearview mirror of Phillip Kriz’s extraordinary journey in the music industry as a sought-after “roadie” tech and trusted tour confidant. Following nearly 15 years as a dependable road dog, he embarks on what might be his wildest trip yet, making his literary debut with the fictional novel, The Roadie Cartel, in 2023.    This action-packed thriller follows a family immersed in drug trafficking under the cover of the music business.    It’s about what could go on behind backstage…   “It’s the struggle between good and evil set in a world I know very well,” he says. “It follows a character who believed one path was her destiny, only to find out where she was really meant to be all along.”   Born and raised in El Paso, TX, he discovered music through his parents. Beyond spinning classics by Led Zeppelin and Bob Dylan, mom even played Howard Stern on their drive to school. Predestining a future in the business, she also brought Phillip to his first concert — U2 and Public Enemy at the Sun Bowl. Not to mention, he caught Robert Plant & Jimmy Page and Alan Jackson when they rolled through town. However, a Pink Floyd gig would be the point of no return.   “When I got home, my stepmom asked me how the show was,” he recalls. “I replied, ‘I want to do what they do.’ She thought I wanted to be in the band. I said, ‘No I wanted to be on stage doing what those dudes standing there were doing,” he laughs.   After a stint in San Antonio, he graduated from Full Sail University in Orlando where he also worked his first production gigs. Eventually, he landed his “dream job” at production powerhouse Clair Global. Coming full circle, his first assignment placed him on a jaunt with Guns N’ Roses in 2010. He hit the road for the better part of the next decade. Clients included Alicia Keys, The Scorpions, Justin Bieber, Florida Georgia Line, Paul Simon, Carrie Underwood, and Queen & Adam Lambert, to name a few. At the onset of the Global Pandemic, the business shutdown, and Phillip found himself at home in Nashville.    After hearing former Navy S.E.A.L. and bestselling author Jack Carr guest on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast, he decided to write a book of his own.   “I never wanted to write an autobiography about myself,” he states. “Life on the road is amazing, but it’s not as glamorous as you think. People don’t see the boring side of it. So, I thought, ‘What if the music industry was attached to a cartel? What if all of the tickets, buses, trucks, and shows were hiding billions of dollars in drug money?’ So, the book follows an immigrant family who changed the entire music industry through drug trafficking. Most importantly, it’s a father-daughter story with elements of revenge.”   He landed a deal with independent publisher W. Brand Publishing and will support The Roadie Cartel with a tour of his own — of course!   In the end, Phillip captivates with a fictional world all his own.   “It’s not just a book for music lovers or thriller fans,” he leaves off. “It’s for anybody who has gone through a hard period in life, whether it’s losing a person you love or facing an issue where you don’t think you can ever win. It uses two big extremes to get the point across, but it’s not what you would expect. It feels like a new beginning.”