Splash House returns to Palm Springs this August 8–10 and August 15–17, bringing back its signature blend of sun-drenched pool parties, infectious house beats, and emerging talent from across the electronic music scene. Now in its 12th year, the festival continues to spotlight the next wave of artists pushing dance music forward.
Among this year’s exciting new additions is Close Friends Only, a DJ/producer collective based in the Coachella Valley, making their Splash House debut.
The group — made up of Bobby Banz, Velvet, Keesco, Angeltiz, JustJake, and JR — has been quietly building a movement from the ground up. They began by throwing DIY pop-ups: think fold-out tables, balloon arches, and hundred-person crowds packing into backyards and unexpected spaces. What started as an invite-only vibe quickly snowballed into something bigger — and louder.
With a genre-blending sound that draws from house, trap, techno, mainstream and underground club culture, Close Friends Only sets are high-energy and community-driven. Viral moments, local buzz, and a growing fanbase have propelled them to bigger stages — and now, to the pools of Palm Springs’ most iconic summer festival.
In late July, we got a text inviting us to meet Close Friends Only in Indio, California, just ahead of a special pop-up event at Gabino’s Creperie — part live set, part rehearsal — where the collective planned to test new tracks and feel out the crowd’s energy before their Splash House debut. The next day, Coachella Magazine caught up with the group as they set up their decks. After a few quick introductions, we stepped outside and grabbed a seat on a café bench with members Keesco, Angeltiz, and JustJake to talk about how it all started, what fuels their chemistry, and what’s next.
“The key is that our personalities are 100% aligned in this collective — and that’s the most special part about what Close Friends Only is.”
JustJake
Origins in the Desert
Coachella Magazine: To start, can you introduce yourselves and tell us a bit about who you are?
JustJake: We’re all producer/DJ/artists here. We all became friends the last couple years, really, but it’s been a journey. We started doing our own pop-up shows, just like what we’re about to do today at Gabino’s and now it’s flourishing into something big. Now we have the luxury and the opportunity to be able to travel around the country and play different venues and festivals and clubs and stuff, but we’re excited.
CM: Who was the first artist that got you into DJing?
Keesco: I know it’s gonna sound cliche, but it’s Skrillix back in the day. Martin Garrix. You know what I mean? Back in the shuffling days when people would make their groups and do shuffle battles, whether it was at school or after school.
Angeltiz: A lot of that pop, EDM, talk radio, like around the 2010s and stuff like that, when that era was going on, that was big. I feel like everyone experienced it, but, you know, that’s where started for sure.
JustJake: I remember when I was in middle school, I had Skrillex in my Skullcandy (headphones) always bump in when I was walking home. Skrillex, DJ BL3ND, Flux Pavilion, Doctor P — a lot of base stuff for sure got me into electronic music.
CM: How did Close Friends Only come together? Who made the first call or sent the first DM?
Angeltiz: I sent the first DM. I founded it back in late 2021, early 2022. When the idea first formed, it was going to be. a label. It wasn’t really a collective or EDM base whatsoever. I was doing different music at the time. I was doing like more rap, pop, alternative, et cetera, just playing around with some sounds. And I created the group as a form of identity for myself, as an artist. Eventually, we got more into the EDM genre and came together as a collective. I thought it would have been a good idea to keep everything under one roof, one goal, and I think it’s been working out pretty well for us.
CM: Is there a story behind the name?
Angeltiz: Yeah, definitely. When I was younger, I had a lot of friends, I was around a lot of people that I probably shouldn’t have been. And, you know, you deal with your trials and tribulations. So it was more of a personal thing to keep the people around that are true to me and loyal and share the same kind of mindset. That’s where the name came about, just having your dear close friends, together.
CM: Did you design that logo also?
Angeltiz: I thought of the initial idea, but we had a designer. It’s called the Hug Man. That’s what we call it.
CM: Each of you brings your own vibe to the group. — what role does each member play behind the decks or behind the scenes?
Keesco: So I would say that me and Jake started DJing first. We all produce music as well. And the thing about Angeltiz, he sings too. So we also want to incorporate him also on vocals for music that we do.
JustJake: When I first joined Close Friends Only or when Algeltiz brought the idea to me — I was just like, “Oh, yeah, let’s do it, I’ll help with some creative direction stuff.” I was just producing music mainly, but coming together, I feel I’m like the main producer. Angeltiz is the main artist here and he’s like the CEO, he’s the boss man. Keesco’s is the dude—he’s great producer, great DJ, and he’s on the camera most, for sure, because Keesco first went viral. I think Keesco’s face is the most memorable out of the collective ’cause he’s got millions of people that have seen his face. But behind the scenes, the three of us split the workload pretty well with everything. The three of us are always taking meetings, working on new music together, and going to all the shows.
CM: Do you want to add to that?
Angeltiz: I think we’re trying to build a a team here where everyone has their own value with their involvement in the group. Given that there’s so many of us, other than just three main guys, I feel we delegate a lot of the work to get the rest of the group used to that hustle mentality and given that there’s so many areas of the the collective that we want to build.
JustJake: I think that’s the key to having a collective is knowing each other’s strengths and knowing each other’s weaknesses and using your strength to help your cohort or close friend and bring them up, so it’s all one level playing field and we can get the most done and win the most together.
CM: You’re all from Coachella Valley. How has the local music and party scene influenced your style and sound?
JustJake: I’ve been going to Coachella Music Festival since I was 17. My first year was 2014. I started producing in 2017. So every time I’d go to the festival, I would just envision myself on the stage. I would go home and feel very motivated. But honestly, we don’t party too much, unless it’s our party. We’re pretty much always locked in behind the scenes working on stuff. But we’ll go to local festivals. We’ll go to the underground shows and stuff like that. We try to get as inspired as much as possible when we leave and take it to the studio and get the work in.
CM: Anybody else?
Angeltiz: We take a lot of inspiration from just trying to target the world in general, not be very closed minded about the potential that you have, whether you’re from here or from a small town in a random state. Thinking outside of the box is always good. That’s the only way that you’ll ever have the faith and power to advance to the next level.
“It’s always good to dream high as possible. Don’t box yourself in, don’t let whatever’s around you close your vision.”
Angeltiz
From Backyards to Breakthroughs
CM: What were your early gigs like? Do you remember the first time you all played together?
Keesco: So our first ever first ever pop-up live event was in my backyard at my house. We had a couple tents set up, and it was literally just a foldable table set up with a tablecloth, and we had balloons and lights and made it look pretty. We had a beer pong table going, and it was cool. It was a free pop-up. We had over 100 people show up and once we saw the impact on how many people we actually brought into that room and were actually enjoying the music that we were playing, it was like, “WOW, this could really be something, you know, something that’s new, something fresh.”
CM: What was the pivotal point you started to get noticed?
JustJake: We went to Beyond Wonderland in San Bernardino. It was an insomniac festival and we went just to see what connections we can build. As we were walking around, it was absolutely mind blowing how many people recognized us, and pull us to ask for pictures. Or we’d be on stage with a DJ in the back and people would be posting us on their Instagram story and tagging us.
That was a moment where like, yo — it’s crazy how public supporters are noticing us in the crowd and telling us, “Oh, you guys, help me through a tough time. I watch you guys every day. I just doom scroll on your guys’ pages” and stuff like that. That was the pivotal moment for sure. Came home with a different kind of mentality.
CM: What’s your creative process like? Do you build sets together, or does each member bring something different to the table?
Keesco: There’s times where we have a group chat and send each other music all the time, whenever we feel inspired at the moment, we always share it with each other. And just like any other artist, you take inspiration from a lot of different songs that we hear online and we always try to incorporate what works in the crowds.
CM: With six group members, how do you make sure the performances feel cohesive and not fragmented?
Keesco: Well, the reality is we’re just being boys up there, you know, it’s us being actual friends, Hence the name Close Friends Only. It’s not really a planed thing. We like to be orchestrated, for sure, and cohesive. If it’s me and Jake mixing, for example, in our Twitch streams, we’ll have Angeltiz on the mic and hype up the crowd. And if Angeltiz is mixing, Jake can get on the mic.
Angeltiz: It’s orchestrated for sure. I feel like on screen and online it looks kind of all over the place and chaotic. But there’s definitely a formula to everything we do and very strategic. We basically plan things with a lot of intention but most of it ideally is very organic, because it is just us being ourselves at the end of the day.
CM: What genres or sounds would you say defines Close Friends Only set?
JustJake: Which is funny because we’ve been bouncing this idea back and forth for the last couple months now since we’ve been starting to get more booking. But we have a main stage sound with an underground energy. A lot of it is just like, house to techno to mainstream, but we love to throw little curve balls that may include trap or dubstep drops or underground, songs that are being remixed.
We try to like make sure that we’re still catering to what our audience really likes. especially outside of the electronic music community too. Because we have a lot of fans and supporters that have told us, “I never listen to electronic music until I started following you guys.” And now they fell in love with the genre.
CM: What’s been your favorite moment performing together so far?
Angeltiz: The first pop-up. You can’t beat that. We weren’t viral, we didn’t have any social media presence whatsoever. It was just local, but having all those people in a tent and everyone singing along and screaming, having a good time — that was such a crazy moment for us. We just looked at each other like, “Yo, there’s something special here.” I think that moment was cool.
“Thinking outside of the box is always good. That’s the only way that you’ll ever have the faith and power to advance to the next level.”
Angeltiz
The Gabino’s Pop-Up
CM: You’re expecting 600 guests tonight in Indo — how are you feeling about it? What kind of energy are you hoping to bring?
JustJake: It feels great. I’m excited. If 600 people show up, that’d be crazy. It’d be definitely something, one for the books, so energy is going to be high. I feel like our energy is always high. That’s probably the thing we do the best on stage, just bring high energy the whole time — that’s our personalities off-screen, too. The music’s going to be great. We have a lot of new songs previewing tonight that nobody else has ever heard before. So we’re excited.
CM: Is this like a rehearsal leading up to Splash House in August?
JustJake: A little bit. We’re going to be testing the waters and just seeing what songs work with the crowd and taking note. The Spash House set is going to be way more orchestrated than this for sure.
CM: Do you have any pre-show rituals or inside jokes before hitting the decks?
JustJake: I mean, I don’t know, nothing crazy. Maybe taking a shot for the nerves? We always like to say a prayer before we go up on stage. I always try to keep our faith first.
And I always have to go to the gym before I perform and then do some type of cold plunge to get my mind right. If you go in it with the a relaxed state of mind or a peaceful mind state, it’ll be fine, but as far as fun stuff, we should probably need to find something.
Keesco: Hey, we’re preparing for it. We’re definitely very, very, very prepared for 600 people to pull up. Even if it were 20 people that were gonna pull up, we’re going to put on the same show that we would if 1,000 people would show.
“If they leave inspired and a part of a community, that’s the most important thing to us.”
Angeltiz
Splash House Debut
CM: Splash House is a big deal. How does it feel to be on the lineup?
Angeltiz: Man, I think this is our first festival officially, right? I think it emphasizes a lot about what’s to come in the future. And it being local just makes us very proud. I feel like this valley needs that for sure. A good example. And more inspiration for the kid down the block that has a dream, because that used to be us with the same dream. So we’re very grateful, We’re very proud. and excited for what’s to come.
CM: What can we expect from your Splash House set this August? Are you trying anything special or unexpected?
JustJake: We have quite a few new tunes that we’re working on. New remixes, new originals, remixes from friends and stuff. The energy we’re going to have on stage too is going to be memorable and people can actually go see us live. It’s going to be one of the first times that, especially because we have a lot of fans that are from Southern California, they can actually go see us in a live setting instead of on screen while live streaming on Twitch or on TikTok or whatever it is. So we’ll be playing a lot of good music for sure.
CM: How do you balance staying true to your identity while growing your audience and playing bigger stages?
JustJake: It’s a great question. Yeah, I mean, like we mentioned earlier, everything we’re doing is very organic, and the personalities you see on-screen, that’s who we are, but off-screen too. And you can ask, really anybody that’s been around us or if you’ve come up to us after your show or at a festival or something, you can tell we’re all good friends and we all joke around with each other and laugh at each other. The key is our personality is 100% aligned for this collective. That’s the most special part about what Close Friends Only is.
Angeltiz: I think fans also gravitate towards that because they see themselves in what we are. I think when you capture something so organic that, you don’t really see much, a lot of people maybe put on fronts and or try to be a different kind of person. It’s very refreshing to see a group of boys that maybe it reminds you of your friends and yourself. So it’s cool to see that, it’s very relatable in a lot of aspects. I think we’re very relatable not just as artists, but as just human beings. We’re seeing the — what’s the word? We’re seeing the growth from that, I guess. The fruits of the labor, just being ourselves.
CM: What’s your ultimate dream venue or festival to perform at?
JustJake: [Laugh]
Angeltiz: It would be Coachella.
JustJake: Easily Coachella,
Angeltiz: It’s always been number one.
JustJake: We want to be the first group from the hometown to headline Coachella Festival. And it will happen 100%. It’s definitely in the bucket list. So we’re manifesting it right now.
Angeltiz: You have to dream high, if you don’t dream high, then you get to a certain level and you say, “Fuck I should have dreamed more. I should dreamed higher.” So it’s always good to dream high as possible. Don’t box yourself in, don’t let whatever’s around you close your vision. I think protecting your dreams is very important, because everything we’re doing now is the epitome of that. We had a lot of people who did not believe in this project. A lot of people said pivot to something else and we figured it out. Protecting your dream is a big thing because that’s how you end up somewhere and have a moment of realization like, “WOW, it was all worth it, you know?
CM: If people remember only one thing from your show, what do you want it to be?
Angeltiz: If they leave feeling like they’ve connected in any way, whether it was the music we’re playing or seeing locals do big things et cetera. If they leave inspired and a part of a community, that’s the most important thing to us, because a lot of those type of artists who built communities, we were heavily inspired by. It’s good to have an example. Because, you see it in front of you and it gives you more of faith to understand that it could be anyone with a good mindset that just works hard.
“Protecting your dream is a big thing, because that’s how you end up somewhere and have a moment of realization like, “WOW, it was all worth it, you know?”
Angeltiz
Manifesting the Future
CM: What’s next for Close Friends Only after Splash House, any upcoming releases, collabs, or surprise shows that you can tease?
JustJake: We have some cool collabs on the way on YouTube and Twitch. Big collabs. And festival season is going to be around the corner again. And also be prepared for CFO to come to a city near you.
Angeltiz: Right. And also be prepared for 2026 ‘cause we’re trying to gear up for next year, bookings are back to square one and we’re trying to target the whole world, and hopefully be everywhere. And really grow to a crazy, dynamic extent.
CM: Where do you see CFO going in the next five to ten years?
Angeltiz: I think longevity is huge. Being excited for the future definitely keeps you on your toes every day. We wake up every day knowing that this could all be gone tomorrow. Because the worst mistake you could think when something’s going right is that it’s going to stay that way. But, you know, the power that you hold within, keeping it that way is up to you. So in the next five to ten years, hopefully we build a huge empire here with our ideas and we also give a lot of opportunity to kids like us.
CM: Last question. What do you love most about being Close Friends Only?
JustJake: Just experience what we go through as best friends and the closest people in my life and just being able to create with them and just keeping each other accountable for a lot of things and having a strong friendships that keeps building, especially through DJing, through music making and stuff like that. It’s more than just a friendship. This is a spiritual connection, in my opinion as well. It’s definitely a lot of fun. I wouldn’t change it. This is what I want to do for the rest of my life.
CM: All right. Thanks for your time.
Angeltiz: Of course.
Follow Close Friends Only on social media.
Get more information about Splash House here.