Two Friends (DJs)


Two Friends is an American DJ/producer duo made up of Eli Sones and Matthew Halper. The Los Angeles-based duo gained popularity for their remixes, original discography, and hour-long ‘Big Bootie’ mixes. They have most notably remixed such classics as Blink 182’s ‘I Miss You’ and The Killers' ‘Mr. Brightside,’ with official remixes for Lana Del Rey, Tove Lo, The Chainsmokers, Tori Kelly, Vicetone and Echosmith as well.

Early life

Eli grew up in Los Angeles, while Matt moved around before settling into LA at the age of ten. They met each other in seventh grade while attending Brentwood School throughout their middle and high school years. At the very end of high school, the duo formed Two Friends, coming up with the name together during a Senior Seminar class they had both enrolled in. They began working on hip-hop beats in the software Pro Tools, producing for several up-and-coming rappers before pivoting towards the electronic realm. After visiting the Sahara Tent at Coachella and being slowly introduced to electronic music by some friends and family, they became even more fascinated with the emerging genre and soon dove in head-first.
Growing up, Matt had a strong background in music, starting guitar lessons at the age of eight, training in music theory, and singing in his high school choir. Traditionally his listening interests were dominated by alternative rock and rock classics such as Blink-182, Led Zeppelin, and Bon Jovi.
Eli's focus was more centralized around DJing and mashups. During high school, Sones went by the moniker "The Friendly Giant" before linking up with Halper and forming Two Friends. His early musical interests were predominantly hip-hop and indie rock.
Soon after starting to create music together, Eli moved to Nashville, Tennessee to attend Vanderbilt University and Matt to Palo Alto to attend Stanford University. Matt majored in Product Design and Eli in Human & Organizational Development, but much of their time was dedicated to the Two Friends project. For the most part, the first four years of Two Friends was long-distance; however since graduating and returning home to LA in 2015, Matt & Eli have been working the Two Friends project full-time.

Musical style

Two Friends recently described their music as "songs that are fun and get you dancing and moving, but also hopefully resonate with you on a more emotional level at the same time... kind of a melting pot of a lot of different elements and influences- whether from dance music, from pop, even from alternative rock or hip-hop."

Music career

One of their first big opportunities came in 2014, when their remix of Lana Del Rey's “Born To Die” was added to regular rotation on SiriusXM’s EDM Station BPM. Later in 2014, they released two singles with the band ‘Breach the Summit’ titled “Our Names in Lights” and “Long Way Home”.
Their next originals came in 2016 with “Forever” and “Overdose” on Armada Music, both amassing millions of plays throughout Spotify, Soundcloud and other streaming services. In 2016 the musical group toured more vigorously than ever before, playing frequently across North America.
Their second and most popular EP “Out Of Love” was released in early 2017 through Spinnin' Records, featuring what would become two of their most popular songs, “Out Of Love” and “Pacific Coast Highway”. They subsequently embarked on the “Out Of Love Tour” in the beginning of 2017. The remainder of 2017 saw the releases “Emily”, “While We’re Dreaming” and “Just A Kid”, with the accompanying tours including shows at major venues and festivals such as Electric Forest Festival, Terminal 5, and more. The “Just A Kid Tour” is scheduled for early 2018 with an extensive, US-dominated calendar of dates.
The duo has amassed over twenty-seven #1 tracks on Hype Machine, as well as garnered praise from The Chainsmokers, who named them “Most Underrated Artist” in a 2017 Reddit Thread. They have recently undertaken official remixes for artists such as Steve Aoki, Louis Tomlinson, Audien, 3LAU, Vicetone and many more.
They are signed with LA-based management company Deckstar and represented by Creative Artists Agency.

Radio show

In 2012, Two Friends debuted their mix series Friendly Sessions, which feature thirty minutes of their favorite songs across the dance realm alongside a thirty-minute guest mix from producers and DJs. Friendly Sessions has featured acts such as Lost Kings, Louis the Child, Mako and more.

Awards

In November 2015, Two Friends received the “Award of Independent Excellence” from Hollywood Music in Media Awards.
In December 2017, they received “Top DJ Set” honors from Soundcloud in the 2017 Soundcloud playback for “Big Bootie Mix Volume 11”.

Discography

Extended plays

Singles

Remixes

2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019