Drumming from the age of 6-years-old, Jackson Katz knew from a young age that music was his calling.

Now at 18-years-old Katz has bigger ambitions than just drumming, with the help of his friend and bandmate Reed Kanter, they are establishing themselves in the music industry as the record label, Danger Collective Records.

Before making it big, Katz grew-up and still resides in Westlake Village. He was heavily involved in the after-school program formerly known as School of Rock, now, Rock Nation.

While drumming at Rock Nation, Katz met many people, including his friend Emma Berson who he first started writing music with and Kreider Dane, another band mate, from Casinos.

“First, Emma Berson [and I] would write songs, so we would kind of jam and do that whole thing, and then I met Kreider at Rock Nation and we would jam [again] for awhile too,” said Katz. “We were super into punk, like Dead Kennedys and Sex Pistols.”

While writing music, Katz influences range from punk music to 80’s dance music.

“David Bowie. Classic, in the hat, easy,” said Katz. “Everything he makes is amazing, but more recently Depeche Mode is really great, also LCD Soundsystem.”

Katz also shed a light on how the writing process starts for his band, with the help of another Casinos band mate, Rafe Noonan.

“Rafe normally comes up with some little riff and then we work around that,” said Katz.

Just playing the music was never enough for Jackson and his band, so when Kanter approached the band with the idea to build a record label for their self described “L.A. D.I.Y. Scene,” Katz was immediately on board.

“I feel like going to shows wasn’t enough for us,” said Katz. “We wanted to do more.”

When asked to be a spearhead in the project Katz couldn’t be more eager to get the ball rolling.

“I was pretty stoked, it seemed like a cool idea,” said Katz. “We had gone to a few shows in this whole ‘scene’ that we are involved in and we kind of wanted to be a part of it.”

Kanter, the label mastermind, is extremely excited Katz is a part of the record label and says he helps out a lot.

“He’s very, very helpful with everything and I’m stoked he’s on board,” said Kanter.

Kanter also revealed the influence behind the label and the name, Danger Collective.

“We were really influenced by James Murphy and his label DFA and wanted to be him in a sense,” said Kanter. “The name came from our high school friend group, which was called Danger Collective.”

The label’s unique distribution method of releasing music on cassette tapes definitely characterizes the vintage feel of the scene’s edgy style.

“A lot of kids have older cars with cassette players in them, its also kind of a novelty thing,” said Katz. “We’re doing a few vinyl releases as well.”

Katz mother, Alison Kraft Blue, has always been supportive of his journey through music and loves the things he is pursuing with Danger Collective Records.

“When Jackson told me he was going to start this record label I was very supportive and encouraged this venture,” said Blue. “He was young and passionate about getting others’ music out to the public.”

With 20 bands and 27 releases to date, Danger Collective is definitely picking up speed by creating a larger fan base and providing music to fans.

Although Katz enjoys the label there is some time-consuming tasks he does not enjoy.

“Shipping always sucks, it’s a lot of time at the post office,” said Katz.

He also reveals the hard task of bringing an audience to many of the shows the label books.

“We’ve been really successful, which is cool, in putting on shows, but occasionally they’ll be duds,” said Katz. “So just being there when no one is there kind of sucks.”

Kanter also shed light on upcoming projects for the label that both he and Katz are extremely excited about.

“Right now we are prepping our band, Casinos, new album titled ‘An Album’ which is out Dec. 26,” said Kanter. “We also have a tape coming out for Los Angeles band, Ferbus, which I’m very excited for.”

Blue is positive about the future for Katz and Danger Collective.

“I have no doubt Jackson will succeed in some aspects of the music business because it is his soul,” said Blue. “This is the only thing that he knows and loves.”

Katz’s label, Danger Collective Records is constantly releasing new music. To keep up to date with everything Danger Collective be sure to check out their website, dangercollectiverecords.com