Becoming an entrepreneur and sustaining a business that is successful is a hard task to accomplish at any age. Furthermore, it is very unlikely for a high school student to say that they have accomplished just that. Interestingly enough, Perry is no stranger to successful student business owners. In 2010, former Perry student Bella Weems founded a now multi-million dollar company, Origami Owl, in an attempt to buy her first car. Now, two years later, the talk around campus is a student owned DJ company cleverly named Decibel Duo, created by juniors Jack Baker and Jake Billingsley. And while most businesses are serious, this one’s all party.

It all started back in late 2015, when Billingsley got the idea from watching videos of his uncle performing when he was in college running his own DJ business. “I saw videos of him up on big stages and thought, ‘wow, I want to be there too,’” he commented. “It’s all about making people happy.” Baker also added that they both, “have always wanted to run a business and we set goals and made investments and the necessary actions to achieve them. From there we just got the ball rolling.”

Since the birth of the company back in November 2015, the Decibel Duo has had countless gigs, ranging from a party at Legacy Traditional Middle School and a birthday bash at Northern Arizona University to church events and gigs in Flagstaff and Payson. Following their opening parties, Baker and Billingsley even started up their own company YouTube channel with almost 6,000 views and 200 subscribers. In their most popular video log, Billingsley explains how everything works before the show starts, and how they even show appreciation to their supporters by doing courtesy giveaways. Though most of their parties have been relatively small so far, ranging from 200 – 400 people, that’s all about to change.

On 20 May from 9 to midnight, Jack and Jake will be throwing possibly the largest dance party in Arizona at the Nile Theater in downtown Mesa. Holding up to about 1000 people, Baker comments that the rager at the Nile is going to be, “basically one night to kick off summer in the best way possible. All high school students and people who just want to show up are allowed to come.” Tickets are on sale now for $7, $10 at the door.

As for the future of the Decibel Duo, it’s looking very bright. Ambitious, Billingsley added that his goal for the company is to, “create the next music festival that everyone can come to, just like Coachella.”

As the company’s reputation builds and their big gig at the Nile is thrown, the Decibel Duo is destined to garner the attention of partygoers. And hosts across the state and possibly out of state, and even bigger and better parties will be thrown. But for now, it’s party up front and business in the back for Jack Baker and Jake Billingsley, as dancers and students alike are hyped to see how far sound waves and bass drops will take the Decibel Duo.