DJ Justin Blau says living in Las Vegas a life-changing experience

So here is this 21-year-old guy (his stage name is 3Lau) who regularly remixes Kaskade and Skrillex songs around the world, while simultaneously building a school in Guatemala.

But let’s start in New York. That’s where he was born.

Blau’s grandfather was Jimi Hendrix’s studio engineer. His mom was a Broadway dancer, on her way to a career in philanthropy. His dad started a magic business that worked Britney Spears’ birthday party.

“My whole family is supermotivated,” says Blau, who performs Monday at Marquee.

The family – parents, Blau and his brother and sister – moved to Las Vegas when Blau was 13.

“Honestly, it was the best decision my parents could have made,” Blau says, “because I love Vegas culture outside of main Strip culture.

“My high school was really life-changing – the professors I had there, the friends I made there. I would just grow a lot closer with the kids from Vegas than anyone from New York.

“I developed a lot more as a person in Vegas than I did in New York, which is a weird thing to think about but it’s true.”

He says he learned to work hard at The Meadows School, where he founded an international microfinance fund.

“We made small loans to female and male entrepreneurs in developing countries to jump-start their businesses,” Blau says.

To make sure he was doing it right, he attended seminars and studied the nuts and bolts of philanthropy financing. And he was doing that in addition to high school debate and playing piano on the side.

Then a few years ago, he found his musical calling. He and a friend took a trip to Sweden. This was before electronic music exploded in Vegas. So he was blown away by this dance music that was new to him.

He came back to Vegas and began applying his piano and guitar knowledge to dance music. Since he was new to production, his early work was in mix-ups, mash-ups and bootlegs.

But he still wanted to go to college. So he enrolled as a finance major at prestigious Washington University in St. Louis.

While there, it didn’t take long for him to catch a break in music. Young listeners dug his online viral songs. The next thing he knew, he was getting offers to tour the world, to accept a residency at Marquee, and to perform at big parties such as Electric Zoo in New York.

He attributes his musical success to two things: 1) His effort to create a signature 3Lau sound that stands out from others (rather than replicating fellow DJs’ music) and 2) appealing to Americans in his age group.

“Kids identify with someone like me who is just a college kid who is following his dream,” he says.

To facilitate his career, he is on a leave of absence from college – a move he made only after getting parental approval.

“I have so much respect for my parents,” Blau says.

“I took my dad to a 5,000 person college show in Fordham University (in New York). It was the first show (by the younger Blau) he had ever seen.

“After the show, he looked at me, and he was like, ‘I get it. I understand this is what you have to do.’

“Now that I have my dad’s approval, I can do this.”

Blau is very excited about original songs he plans to release in the next few months. He mixes the chord progressions of trance with progressive house.

“I think it’s the best music I’ve ever written and produced in my life. I kind of want to see where that goes,” he says.

If he reaches the point where he wishes to jump back into college, he’ll go back to Washington University, where his sister is a freshman.

But he will always be a philanthropist, he says. He dedicates portions of tour money to Pencils of Promise, his charity that’s building a school in a village in Guatemala.

“We’re really excited” about that school, he says. “It’s being built right now. It should be done in the middle of December.

“I’m going to go down to Guatemala for a couple of days to check it out and make a video to show what people contributed toward.”

EDM and charity go hand-in-hand, he says.

“Dance music specifically is such a culture and a uniting force between young people that you might as well incorporate philanthropy into that cultural sphere,” he says.

Just think about Blau’s crazy life. He’s constantly on the go and meeting idols.

“Like Hardwell,” Blau says. “I look up to that dude so much. I played Electric Zoo in New York and went to his after-party. And he ran up to me and hugged me and said, ‘Thank you so much for coming to see my set.’

“Dudes are so humble in this business,” Blau says. “Every DJ I’ve met is the nicest person. They don’t judge me for being smaller than them, or for being 21 and American.”

But Blau also runs his charity from home, and he lives with his parents in Summerlin about two days a week, in between tour dates.

“My parents practice the whole, ‘You have to make all your own money’ rule. So after this tour, I’m going to settle down, get a place and base myself out of Vegas, because it’s become such a capital for dance music.

“This is all happening so fast.”

Doug Elfman’s column appears Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. Email him at delfman@reviewjournal.com. He blogs at reviewjournal.com/elfman.