DJ Duo Two Friends Went from Skipping School for Coachella to Headliners: 'We Met in PE Class' (Exclusive)

The lifelong pals and EDM deejays will return to the stage for Weekend 2 of the Coachella Music Festival

'One day it's gonna be us up there!'

Who knows if young Eli Sones and Matt Halper ever said those exact words while attending the Coachella Valley Music Festival as kids back in the early 2000s. What is known is that they made their wildest dreams come true.

The hit EDM DJ Duo, aptly named Two Friends, were headliners at Coachella last weekend, surprising fans during their set with a cameo by Bebe Rexha who sings on their brand new song "If Only I." And they are currently gearing up to return to the stage on Friday of Weekend 2, bringing their fan-favorite "Big Bootie Mix" mashups and high-energy performances to festival-goers.

Between Sones, 29, and Halper, 30 — who also partnered up with Absolut, the festival's official Vodka sponsor, and can be found performing a set inside the brand's festival metaverse Absolut.Land — the two LA natives say they have decades of friendship and at least 12-13 Coachellas under their belt.

"We went to middle school and high school together," says Sones of attending the Brentwood School. "We met in 2005 in PE class through a guy named Ben who was gracious enough to introduce us."

Two years later they were two kids jamming out in the desert together for the first time. "It was absolutely life-changing," recalls Halper. "It was the first music festival we'd ever been to and it set the standard so high."

The festival became can't-miss for the pair and their friends, so much so says Sones, that "by the end of high school, so many kids would ditch all their classes on the Friday of Coachella that our school basically decided to cancel the whole day and just add an extra one to the end of the school year."

The event is also where the future deejays formed their deep knowledge and appreciation of music. "The Killers, Girl Talk, JAY-Z, Kaskade, TRV$DJAM, the list goes on and on," says Halper. "Not only was it some of the most fun we've had at shows, but we also saw so many of the acts that inspired us to make music together."

The two went on to separate colleges (Sones to Vanderbilt and Halper to Stanford) but stayed close, eventually teaming up to put out the original "Big Bootie Mix" which garnered national attention. Now they're on Vol. 23 of the popular mix and preparing to embark on their Planet Two Friends Tour kicking off next month. Still, nothing beats Coachella.

Says Halper, "From the very start of Two Friends, whenever we've been asked the question about our dream gig, we don't only always answer 'Coachella,' but we always answer 'the Sahara Tent at Coachella"' where the pair spent the most time watching acts as kids. "It was a dream come true to perform on that stage and we can't wait to run it back for Weekend 2."

So what's it like having your bestie as a coworker? "We know each other like the back of our hands, so we work super efficiently together and can have fun while we do it," says Sones. But there's a downside to that closeness: "We've literally told each other every single story and interesting thing from our entire lives," he jokes, "so we have nothing left to say."

It's also good to be the family of Two Friends. "All our parents were there for Weekend 1," Halper. What started as an obsession well before they were legal, is now a grown-up family celebration. "There was a great moment where we all raised our Absolut Wild Berry Lemonade together. They've always been 100-percent supportive, which makes all of this that much more special."

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