Jeff Castelaz is Co-Founder and CEO of two closely intertwined companies: Los Angeles-based Dangerbird Records and The Pablove Foundation.
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As a student at Marquette University in his hometown of Milwaukee, Castelaz was involved in promoting concerts at the school as well as being a DJ at WMSE-FM. He was also the music editor for the now-defunct weekly paper Downtown Edition, and worked as a freelance writer for Milwaukee Magazine and Los Angeles-based Ray Gun magazine. These experiences led to Castelaz being asked to manage local band Wild Kingdom. Eventually Wild Kingdom broke up, and its members started Citizen King in 1993 to pursue more eclectic musical directions.
Castelaz is also credited with inadvertently inspiring the logo design for Milwaukee band Chainfall, which was formed from the ashes of underground stars Die Kreuzen.
As manager for Citizen King, Castelaz guided the band to sign with Warner Bros. Records for their album Mobile Estates. Their single "Better Days (And the Bottom Drops Out)" became a Top 40 hit and went gold in the summer of 1999, ranking on seven Billboard charts including #3 on the Modern Rock chart. The songs from Mobile Estates were also licensed for film, television, trailers and commercials.
While continuing to manage Citizen King, Castelaz began managing other bands including Cupcakes, who were then signed to Dreamworks; and The Promise Ring, which Castelaz moved from Jade Tree to Epitaph's imprint ANTI-. Castelaz also started managing producer Tony Hoffer, who produced the second unreleased Citizen King record. Castelaz and Hoffer have continued their working relationship on records by artists such as Air, Beck, The Thrills, The Kooks, Belle and Sebastian, Marianne Faithfull, Turin Brakes, and more.
Castelaz moved to Los Angeles in February 2000, and continued building on his industry experience with the creation of Cast Management. Cast Management clients including songer-songwriter Peter Walker, the band Division Day and producers Dave Cooley, Tony Hoffer and Justin Meldal-Johnsen. Castelaz continued working with these clients as he transferred the roster to Dangerbird.
Launched in 2004 with co-founder and Chief Creative Officer Peter Walker, Dangerbird encompasses six divisions: record label, management, music publishing, merchandising, licensing and a recording studio. Dangerbird is now home to more than 30 bands—Silversun Pickups, Minus the Bear, Sea Wolf, Fitz and the Tantrums, Hot Hot Heat, Darker My Love, Delphic, The One AM Radio and Eulogies, among others—as well as producers and fine artists. Dangerbird Management represents Eagles of Death Metal, Jon Fratelli of The Fratellis and producer Tony Hoffer (Phoenix, Beck, Depeche Mode, Belle and Sebastian, Air), while the company’s licensing agency represents a growing number of non-Dangerbird artists, including the roster of Brushfire Records (Jack Johnson, G. Love, Matt Costa, Money Mark, Rogue Wave, and others), as well as The Temper Trap, Gotye, Kele Okereke (of Bloc Party), The Boxer Rebellion, The Vaccines, and more.
Dangerbird Records announced that they will release the debut album from Beady Eye in the U.S. on March 1. Different Gear, Still Speeding features 13 brand new songs written by the band and recorded at RAK Studios in London with GRAMMY Award-winning producer Steve Lillywhite (U2, Dave Matthews Band, The Smiths).
In May 2008, Castelaz and his wife Jo Ann Thrailkill established The Pablove Foundation, when their four-year-old son Pablo was diagnosed with cancer and treated at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA), located just 10 blocks from Dangerbird. Pablo died on June 27, 2009, just six days past his sixth birthday. Today, the non-profit organization carries Pablo’s buoyant spirit in its national dedication to funding pediatric cancer research, educating and empowering families dealing with cancer, and improving the quality of life for children living with cancer through hospital play, music and arts programs. The Pablove Foundation’s scientific advisory board is composed of the brightest minds in the pediatric cancer field, including doctors and researchers from Harvard, Duke, University of Michigan, USC, City of Hope and others. Castelaz also serves on the Lance Armstrong Foundation President's Circle board, which advises CEO Doug Ulman in the Foundation’s mission to unite, inspire and empower people affected by cancer.
In 2008, Shirley Manson of Garbage became involved with the Pablove Foundation, reforming her band Garbage to contribute an exclusive track, "Witness to Your Love", to a charity album for the Foundation. The singer also signed a Pablove poster for auction on eBay, hosted a fundraiser headlined by the Silversun Pickups,and performed acoustically on-stage at a second fundraiser with Butch Vig and Tom Gabel, and with Greg Kurstin (for a cover of Pablo Castelaz’s favorite song, David Bowie's "Life on Mars?").
On October 6, 2009, Castelaz appeared as special guest on an episode of Loveline, the syndicated radio show broadcast from KROQ-FM, to promote The Pablove Foundation.
In fall of 2009, Pablove launched its inaugural cross-country bike ride, Pablove Across America, which covered 3,100 miles and included the participation of cycling champion Lance Armstrong. Along the route from St. Augustine, FL to Los Angeles, Castelaz visited the cancer wards at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston, Phoenix Children’s and CHLA. These experiences led to Castelaz being featured as Person of the Week on ABC Nightly News in November 2009.
On October 2-21, 2010, Castelaz completed the second PAA ride, this time covering 1,425 miles from Seattle to Los Angeles, and raising more than $800,000 for the fight against childhood cancer. Along the route, they visited children’s hospitals in Seattle, Portland, Palo Alto, and Los Angeles to deliver Oscar Litwak Foundation mobile playrooms (oscarlitwakfoundation.org). At the ride’s conclusion, Castelaz disclosed details of two $50,000 research grants that The Pablove Foundation has established for childhood cancer research beginning in 2011.
Castelaz continues to try to convey his message of the horrors of childhood cancer to different communities. In 2011, Castelaz is featured prominently in several issues of Peloton Magazine, a Los Angeles based cycling magazine project. Also, as of 2011, both Dangerbird Records and Pablove are sponsors of the Pasadena Athletic Association cycling club, as can be seen featured prominently on the shoulders and arms of the PAA Team Kit.
The two annual Pablove Across America charity bike rides—in which Jeff has personally cycled thousands of miles and visited children’s hospitals all over the country—have raised a combined total of $1.1 million to fund the fight against childhood cancer. Details for the third annual PAA ride will be announced in early 2011 at a benefit concert in Jeff’s hometown of Milwaukee, at Turner Hall Ballroom on Saturday, January 29. This special evening of music will feature a rare, acoustic headlining set from Brian Aubert and Nikki Monninger of Silversun Pickups, along with performances from their labelmates Fitz & The Tantrums and Maritime, and much more.