Carl Gantzer was a teenager struggling to deal with a challenging family situation when he picked up a set of drum sticks and discovered that making music gave him an outlet he desperately needed.

“I was immediately hooked,” said Gantzer, who now is a senior. “Creating music gave me a feeling I’d never had before. It helped me reflect and express myself in a different way. It relaxed me. I loved it.”

After an inspiring night at The Rave in Milwaukee, Gantzer was hooked on electronic music. He began to DJ at his high school dances, gaining confidence and motivation as he watched his classmates “go nuts.”

Once enrolled at UW-Eau Claire, he continued to build his sk ills and his understanding of the artistic and business sides of the electronic music industry.
“After five years of being a DJ, I’m now more interested in creating music so I can market it and be in front of people with it,” Gantzer said.

Gantzer now is part of Elv8d Entertainment, a company that throws its own electronic dance music parties in La Crosse.

“We do dance parties that feature three or four headliners,” Gantzer said. “We organize everything, set up the stage, the sound and the lights. We’ve done several of them and they’ve gone really well. The last few shows have sold out with us selling about 300 tickets.”

While he’s not making a lot of money from the shows given the costs involved in their production, the experience he’s gaining is worth the time and energy he invests in the business, Gantzer said.

“Things are really blowing up in the electronic music business,” Gantzer said. “There are new artists and new techniques coming out all the time. It’s exciting because it’s a growing industry that’s going to have more and more opportunities. That I’m already so involved in it is going to mean even more opportunities for me as it becomes more mainstream.”