Kristian Cruz

Kristian Cruz is the live electric guitarist in Mixmode, the hybrid country-EDM duo based in Austin, TX.

Kristian Cruz is a live electric guitarist based in Austin, Texas, and one half of Mixmode. On stage with the DJ, Kristian carries the riffs, solos, and rock-crossover moments that separate Mixmode from every DJ on the bill — moving fluently between country twang, arena-rock leads, and dance-floor melody in a single set.

Kristian Cruz is an Austin-based electric guitarist and touring musician. As one half of Mixmode, Kristian is the live guitar on every song in the set — country hooks, rock riffs, house-scale melodic leads — played live on stage alongside the DJ. Kristian's playing is what turns Mixmode from a DJ-with-a-guitarist concept into an actual band-scale live show. He handles the guitar arrangements across the Mixmode catalog: country twang for the flagship country-EDM set, distorted rock leads for the classic-rock and punk-rock formats, Latin-inflected guitar for the Latin-EDM catalog, and clean melodic textures for the house and sunset sets. Live, Kristian rides the crowd's energy in real time — extending a solo when the room asks for it, stepping back into rhythm when the DJ needs the drop to breathe. It's the kind of stage presence that turns a themed DJ night into a headline concert, which is exactly why Mixmode gets booked for festival slots, corporate main stages, and premium residencies that would normally hire a band. Off stage, Kristian works on the guitar arrangements and rehearsal charts for every new Mixmode production — making sure the songs the room already knows arrive on stage with a real electric guitar underneath them.