11-year-old DJ, drummer and pianist making a mark on Las Vegas music scene

Jeremiah Klein’s love for music started when his father introduced him to the electronic music duo Daft Punk.

He was only an infant. A few years later he started drumming and learning piano, and by 6 years old, he was gifted his first DJ set.

Now, at age 11, “DJ Dragon” is setting out to make a name for himself in the electronic dance music and house genre.

“Jeremiah’s growth as a musician is astounding to me,” said his mom, Tori Klein, who is president of local music group The Kollection. “Plugging him in with all these different mentors, I’ve seen him explore a lot. So, I’ve seen growth as in breadth. He’s got a wide breadth of things he can do — things that he wants to do, things that he’s challenged by.”

The incoming seventh-grader has already performed at South Point, Sunset Station and other Las Vegas venues.

His latest gig? A birthday party for his mom at the residential event venue in the southeast Las Vegas Valley: “Kasa de Klein.”

Though Tori Klein said her son was just supposed to play drums for about three songs, perform a DJ set and jam briefly with other artists, he was on the makeshift stage in the backyard for most of the night.

Accompanying fellow local musicians such as Fly Disco Butter, DJ APlus Las Vegas, Blake Wisner and others, DJ Dragon performed for hours on end at the party last month, playing the drums with a serious expression and executing the occasional solo to applause from audience members who sipped cocktails and sat in lush couches or seats scattered throughout the yard under string lights.

“I was blown away because I didn’t expect him to play 3 1/2 hours straight of drumming,” Tori Klein said.

Jeremiah closed the night with a DJ set that got people on the dance floor — not faltering a bit for being just barely as tall as the equipment — and plucked the piano keys a bit too.

It’s nice to have the support and encouragement of his family when it comes to music, Jeremiah said.

“It’s fun when the people are dancing, because it shows that my set is making them vibe, I guess,” he told the Sun, fresh off his DJing performance. “And I like collaborating with the artists here.”

In Las Vegas, compared with their previous home of California, the Kleins have access to many other budding musicians, spanning ages and genres, who are willing to help DJ Dragon and play music with him, Tori Klein said.

“I think it’s because (with) Jeremiah you see him, and (he) just really loves music,” she said. “And he’s not trying to be a big shot headliner — he just wants to play music or wants people to listen to his music.”

One such mentor is his drums teacher, Francisco Nanne, who occasionally swapped places with Jeremiah on stage at Tori Klein’s party.

Jeremiah works hard to play as well as he does, Nanne said, so much so that his drumming instructor does little to correct him. He lauded the 11-year-old’s creativity and noted that they play together a couple hours every week.

“I just hope to see him succeed,” Nanne said. “He’s a good kid. He listens. But, once again, he works hard. Everything you see — it’s not (just) talent. He works for it. He puts (in) the six, eight hours a day, if necessary.”

Jeremiah does “whatever he wants,” his mom joked, dropping his own music without asking anybody, and forming his own marketing strategies.

“He’s actually a pretty smart little businessman, too,” she said.

His newest goal is to get a couple of songs signed by a bigger label, Tori Klein said of her DJ Dragon, especially now that he has a more extensive catalog. His songs, including “All I need” and “Let’s get lost,” are available for streaming.

Jeremiah, who currently has a little over 70 monthly listeners on Spotify, said signing with a bigger label would allow for more promotion and ultimately more followers.

“I just want to get more people to listen to my music, because all the people that do like it a lot,” he said, describing his music as house EDM, with heavy baselines, dubstep and the occasional hip-hop beat.

“So I want to spread it throughout the world and get bigger.”

His parents ultimately just want their son to continue playing his instruments, bearing in mind that he is still only 11, Tori Klein said. Having kids interested in the music industry can be scary, she said, but through her son she’s learned that the whole house-genre world seems to be cool and collaborative.

Overall, he’s surrounded by good people and continuing to hone his craft; and she and her husband just encourage him to be a musician first, Tori Klein said.

“To see that he can play a lot of different things and actually produce his own music that can go across genres,” she said, “that’s kind of the thing that boggles my mind.”

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