Ed Keeley, better known by his stage name Friction, is a

drum and bass Drum and bass (commonly abbreviated as DnB, D&B, or D'n'B) is a genre of electronic dance music characterised by fast Break (music)#Breakbeat (element of music), breakbeats (typically 165–185 Tempo, beats per minute) with heavy Bass (music) ...

producer and DJ from

Brighton Brighton ( ) is a seaside resort in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age Britain, Bronze Age, R ...

, England. He runs his own record labels, Shogun Audio & Elevate Records, and has formerly presented a regular overnight show on

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and Contemporary hit radio, current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including ...

Biography

Brighton-raised Friction is one of many drum and bass DJs to utilise three-to-four decks to mash up his mixes. As a teenager Friction was busy playing and promoting events in Brighton when he began collaborating with local producers Stakka & K-Tee who were heavily involved in

Andy C Andrew Michael Clarke (born 7 April 1976) is an English DJ, record producer and co-founder of RAM Records, a label in the drum and bass genre. Music career Early years Andy C was a DJ in his own right but gained a strong reputation and more ...

's Ram Records label. In 1998 Friction released his debut single "Critical Mass" under the stage name Kinnetix, attracting the attention of major labels. Soon he was releasing tracks on renowned labels such as Valve, Tru Playaz, Trouble On Vinyl, 31 Records, Hospital, Charge and Renegade Hardware alongside his own Shogun Audio imprint. Friction is regarded as one of the biggest DJs in the drum and bass scene, with an extremely fast rise to success. Highly regarded for his various mix CDs and releases on labels like Hospital, Tru Playaz and Renegade Hardware. One of his biggest tracks was the "Back To Your Roots Remix" on Shogun Audio in 2007. Friction is the founder of Shogun Audio, and was a regular DJ on the

BBC 1Xtra BBC Radio 1Xtra is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It broadcasts Black music and urban music, including hip hop and R&B and is a sister station to Radio 1. Launching at 18:00 on 16 August 2002, it had been cod ...

D&B M1X Show. He is not to be confused with London-based Skam Artist DJ/producer Fricktion, who specialises in open format genres, or Bobby Friction of the BBC Asian Network. Friction has collaborated several times with

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

singer-songwriter and rapper

Example Example may refer to: * ''exempli gratia'' (e.g.), usually read out in English as "for example" * .example, reserved as a domain name that may not be installed as a top-level domain of the Internet ** example.com, example.net, example.org, an ...

. Since Friction's 2011 remix of his #1 hit single "

Changed the Way You Kiss Me "Changed the Way You Kiss Me" is a song by British singer Example from his third studio album, '' Playing in the Shadows''. It was released on 5 June 2011 as the album's lead single, after it had premiered on BBC Radio 1 as Zane Lowe's 'Hottest ...

", Example has co-written songs for Friction ("Led Astray" and "Long Gone Memory") and Friction has co-produced an album track for Example ("Snakeskin"). Friction also collaborated with English electronic musician

Skream Oliver Dene Jones (born 1 June 1986), known professionally as Skream, is an English electronic music producer based in Croydon. Skream has released records on several British record labels, such as Tempa, Tectonic, and Big Apple Records, and ...

in the 2013 song "Kingpin" (featuring UK

grime Grime may refer to: * Dirt, in the form of black, ingrained dust Music * Grime music, a genre of music * ''Grime'' (album), a 2001 album by Iniquity * "Grime", a 2023 song by Macklemore from ''Ben'' * "Grime", a 2024 song by Kittie from ''Fire ...

MCs

Scrufizzer Amary Lorenzo, better known as Scrufizzer, is an English rapper, MC, singer-songwriter, and record producer from West London. He first gained recognition as a grime producer before building a reputation for his bashment-influenced flow and v ...

P Money Paris Joel Moore-Williams (born 8 April 1989), better known by his stage name P Money, is a British grime MC, rapper and songwriter from New Cross, South East London, who is also active in the drum and bass scene. He is best known for his li ...

and Riko Dan from

Roll Deep Roll Deep (formerly Roll Deep Entourage) are a British grime crew. They were founded in 2001 by Wiley shortly before the disbandment of UK garage crew Pay As U Go Cartel. The group have had two UK No. 1 singles, " Good Times" and "Green Lig ...

). On 10 January 2012,

Zane Lowe Alexander Zane Reed Lowe (born 1973) is a New Zealand radio DJ, live DJ, record producer, and television presenter. After an early career in music creation, production and DJing, he moved to the UK in 1997. He came to prominence through pr ...

made Friction's song "Led Astray" his Hottest Record in the World. On Monday, 2 April 2012, Friction started presenting his own drum and bass show on

on Mondays from 2am to 4am. The show moved to Sundays from 3am to 5am and was also simulcast on

BBC Radio 1Xtra BBC Radio 1Xtra is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It broadcasts Black music and urban music, including hip hop and R&B and is a sister station to Radio 1. Launching at 18:00 on 16 August 2002, it had been ...

. In October 2017, after 6 years of building the show into a global broadcast staple of the drum & bass genre (and a previous return to Mondays from 1am to 3am), the show made one final move to Tuesdays from 1am to 3am. Shortly thereafter, Friction announced he would 'pass the baton' to Canadian DJ/producer, Rene LaVice, who would take over as host of a new drum and bass show on 1Xtra in November 2017. In 2015, Friction created an alter-ego alias under the name FineArt which would step away from drum & bass and would concentrate more on bassline and house. His first release was a song titled "Ruffneck" which was released on

Sony Music Entertainment Sony Music Entertainment (SME), commonly known as Sony Music, is an American multinational music company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony Group Corporation. It is the recording division of Sony Music Group, with the other half being the ...

. A few months later would be the release of another single, this was a collaboration on My Nu Leng's "Horizons EP" with a single titled "Set It". Later in 2015 another single called "I Don't Wanna Rush" which featured vocals from Rachel K Collier was released with a bunch of remixes. In 2017, FineArt & My Nu Leng announced the launch of their label called Maraki Records, the first release was from FineArt with an EP titled "In Too Deep" which featured collaborations with fellow record label owners My Nu Leng, and Taiki Nulight. In March 2016, he launched the label "Elevate Records". Its first release was Friction's ''Dare EP'' with the title track, ''Dare (Hold It Down)'' containing an interpolation of

Gorillaz Gorillaz are an English virtual band created by musician Damon Albarn and artist Jamie Hewlett in London, England in 1998. The band primarily consists of four fictional members: (vocals, keyboards), Murdoc Niccals (bass guitar), Noodle (gui ...

' 2005 song

Dare Dare may refer to: Places * Dare, Vera Cruz, a ''suco'' in Vera Cruz administrative post, Dili Municipality, Timor-Leste * Darè, Italy, a comune * Dare County, North Carolina, United States * Dare, Virginia, United States, an unincorporate ...

. Elevate Records later expanded to release music from a variety of dance-floor drum & bass artists, including Turno, Kanine and Macky Gee. Accolades Friction has won numerous accolades such as: * ''Best Newcomer'' in the Drum&BassArena Awards (2002). * ''Best Breakthrough DJ'' at Knowledge Awards (2003). * ''Best Newcomer'' at Accelerated Culture Awards. * ''Best DJ'' at MTV Romania Awards (2007). * Runner Up ''Best DJ'' at Drum & Bass Awards 2009. * Runner Up ''Best DJ'' at Drum & Bass Awards 2011. * Hall of Fame in the Drum&BassArena Awards (2011). * ''Best Radio Show'' for his BBC Radio 1 show at Drum & Bass Awards 2013.Drum and Bass Awards 2012 Results
Drum and Bass Awards. Retrieved 27 February 2013. * Runner up ''Best DJ'' at Drum & Bass Awards 2013. * ''Best Radio Show'' for his BBC Radio 1 show at Drum & Bass Awards 2014

References

External links

Official website
*
DJ Friction discography at Discogs
{{DEFAULTSORT:Friction BBC Radio 1 presenters English drum and bass musicians English remixers Musicians from Brighton and Hove DJs from Brighton and Hove Living people BBC Radio 1Xtra presenters Year of birth missing (living people)