Biography Phil X

Philip Xenidis, better known as Phil X (born 10 March 1966), is a Greek-born guitarist and co-founder of the Los Angeles-based turbo pop band Powder. He also has a second band, the Drills. He is best known as the guitarist who replaced Rik Emmett in the Canadian rock band Triumph, for the Edge of Excess album and tour. The band folded shortly afterwards.

An early opportunity in Xenidis's career came when he was asked in 1990 to tour with Randy Coven, whom he met through Aldo Nova; in 1991, he toured the US with Aldo Nova.

Phil X is a prolific session guitarist, having played on albums by Tommy Lee, Methods of Mayhem, Avril Lavigne, Kelly Clarkson, Orianthi, Rob Zombie, Chris Daughtry, Alice Cooper, Thousand Foot Krutch and many others. He wrote the song "Tired" and also played guitar on Tommy Lee's Tommyland: The Ride album. He has appeared with Lee on Ellen and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. He's one of the most viewed guitar players, especially among youngsters on youtube when presenting vintage guitars for Fretted Americana. He's also known for being very energetic on stage, where he usually throws his guitar in the air and catches it before it hits the ground while playing or even pushes it on his right and makes it spin clockwise, passing through his back and then grabs it back on his left. This can be also seen in the "Up Here" video clip with Powder whereby he adopts a different look with black nail polish and spiked hair. Phil X was featured in the "making of" video for the movie Josie and the Pussycats. He, along with his Powder bandmates, taught the young actresses to appear as if they were actually playing their instruments.

He has performed with the band Frozen Ghost. Phil X is also the inventor of the "Flip Stick," an innovative replacement for the "whammy bar" on Floyd-Rose-equipped guitars.

Phil X also performs in videos for Fretted Americana (a company that deals and sells vintage guitars and related equipment). In the videos he demonstrates an extensive range of vintage guitars playing some classic rock riffs. In the videos he generally uses two different guitar amplifiers; a 1960s Magnatone 'Tonemaster' and a 1960s Vox AC30, however he has recently started playing 15 and 30 watt clones of the Tonemaster, named the 'Evil Robot' Phil X Custom 214 built by John Kasha and sold exclusively through Fretted Americana. The original Evil Robot Combo 214 now been joined by an Evil Robot Head and Cabinet.

Since 2008, Phil X has been a faculty member of Camp Rock, a camp in Ontario for aspiring musicians.

In April and May 2011, Phil X substituted for Bon Jovi's lead guitarist Richie Sambora, who could not be present and was on rehab. He played the last 13 American shows of Bon Jovi's 2011 world tour.

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