American DJ/producer duo Two Friends closed out Saturday night on Perry’s stage with an exhilarating EDM set that showcased not only their talent but also their long-lasting bond.
Made up of Eli Sones and Matthew Halper, the duo has known each other for 20 years, and in an interview with The Daily Illini before their Perry’s set, they discussed their partnership and their beginnings.
DI: Can you tell me a little bit about how you guys got started in DJing?
Sones: We have known each other since middle school, seventh grade, which was 2005 … But it wasn’t until the end of high school that we decided, “We’re going to form a duo, we’re gonna call ourselves Two Friends. We had no idea what we were doing, but we were like, “All right, we’re going to learn how to make some music…” And then we split up for college, but we kept at it, and we would do long distance partnership. Then we graduated college in 2015 and just dove full-time right into it. Here we are, 10 years later, still at it.
DI: Who were your early influences starting out?
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Halper: We listened to a lot before electronic music … We kind of came from somewhat different spots, but when we started electronic music, at least in the U.S., it just started to hit the radio. You’d hear an Avicii song or a Swedish House Mafia song … and we were like, “Woah what is this? I want to make stuff like this.” It kind of showed you that electronic music are songs too. That’s probably 2012 when it really started taking over the U.S.
DI: This goes off of my previous question, but what about electronic music drew you to it?
Sones: The simple answer was that it was new and exciting, and not a lot of people were necessarily even aware of it. So you’d go to a music festival, and you go to the tent where the DJs would play, and it was just crazy. You were like, “Oh my God, this is just so fun,” that you want to dive in and learn more about it, and find more artists and songs. Part of it, too, was just very little barriers to entry. You could have a laptop and a pair of headphones, and you can produce with just that … you can kind of control your own path.
DI: How would you describe your development as an artist and transition towards your own voice?
Halper: I think it’s never-ending, you’re constantly evolving and figuring out what you’re trying to make and what your sound is. At least for us, it’s been a slow-moving transition of sounds. It’s not like we’re necessarily following the current trendiest thing going on. So if you’re not, it’s more about “alright, what do you want to make and what feels good to you?” Then some songs will maybe sound more familiar, and some songs would be like, “Damn, that just sounds just like Two Friends.”
DI: So what do you feel like some of your main challenges were when starting out, and how have they changed as you’ve evolved?
Sones: One that comes to mind is sometimes a disconnect between what you see online and what reality is. You might get frustrated because you’re like, “Oh, this song on SoundCloud did twice as good as my last song. Why are people not buying tickets?” Or, “Why am I not getting booked?” And I think that was an important lesson to learn that, like you really need to put up effort to build a community and audience … I think that was really important for us early on was that, you need to put in the work to really give people a reason why they should care about Two Friends. There are all sorts of challenges along the way. I think having two people in a duo makes it a lot easier, especially when you have a second person, but when they happen to be your best friend. You feel comfortable doing stuff, you have someone to lean on, kind of each have your strengths, your weaknesses, things you do together versus separate.
DI: How does it feel to be at Lollapalooza?
Halper: We’ve been here once before as fans, and it’s cool, kind of coming back and being able to play, especially at such an iconic stage, a lot of history there. We’re pretty pumped … Crossing my fingers everything goes well.
DI: What kind of preparation do you put into a set like this?
Sones: We got the whole crew, this might be the most amount of people in the Two Friends crew that we’ve brought to a single show. We’re bringing out all of the stops … We put in a lot of hard work, everyone has. Honestly, now, it’s just have some fun and hope it all comes together.
DI: How do you guys measure success, and do you feel like you’ve reached it?
Sones: I think you always have to stay hungry no matter what. You want to be proud of certain accomplishments, but you don’t want to be like, “You’ve finished now and you’re done.” I think sometimes it almost takes some perspective to really appreciate the grind.
