The Shogun Assassin himself DJ Friction returns to Adelaide, Cyclone went one on one with one of the biggest names in D&B.

Portugal isn't a destination typically identified with D&B but, in 2008, it may be the music's last frontier. The UK's DJ Friction (AKA Ed Keeley) is visiting the festive country as he plugs his latest compilation, The Shogun Assassins.
Portugal is far from his native Brighton - and its D&B subculture is very... Iberian.
"It's quite a new thing to them but, yeah, it's good," Friction hollers down a dodgy phoneline. "They love it! They go really late, though! Usually when I go to a gig I'm on at 2 o'clock, but here they want you on at 4.30 'til 7. It's like, Oh my God, I need my bed! 4.30 in the morning to start, it's too late - c'mon!"
You could cursorily confuse The Shogun Assassins for a long-lost Wu-Tang Clan spin-off. Indeed, like the Wu, Friction is fascinated by Asian culture. Nevertheless, Friction had a definite agenda for the mix-CD, which, apart from being recorded live, encapsulates his popular remix of Jonny L's Back To Your Roots, which, peculiarly, the cheesy Judge Jules picked up. Friction wanted to showcase his Shogun Audio imprint, yes, but he also aimed to reconcile the divergent facets of his career. The music he releases on Shogun is often deeper - and more chilled - than that he DJs. Fans invariably ask him why.
"I do hear it - people do say it to me. I was talking about it with someone last night," he says. "I go to a lot of places and a lot of people just want it in-their-face, an intense sound. I love that but, at the same time, I love the more mellow aspects as well - deeper basslines and more rolling stuff. That's why I started the label - to literally push that side. That's what the mix-CD is about - it's just showing another side."
Having befriended Stakka & K-Tee in Brighton, Friction's studio debut came in 1999 with Critical Mass as Kinnetix (him and Stakka) on Under Fire Recordings. Since then, he's established his influence in a global underground as 'the new Andy C'. The DJ was even linked to the neurofunk subgenre. Friction launched Shogun Audio in 2004. Today he admits that, in the digital era, owning a vinyl label isn't always viable, but it's about his "passion" for music, not profit. Pete Tong himself has proclaimed Friction to be one of the "big dogs" of D&B. And the Brit is reaching beyond the scene. He's not only worked with nu-skool breaks kids Aquasky but also enthuses about dubstep.  Above all, Friction is a diplomat. 
Some within the jungle fraternity - enter Goldie - revel in controversy yet Friction is cautious. "I stay out of all the dramas as much as I can!," he laughs.
The D&B movement is, he believes, less cliquey than in the past and its players more professional.
"Over the last five years especially, the industry of D&B has evolved," he asserts. "It was all very much being run out of people's bedrooms, and record labels run by mobile phone out of someone's bedroom. Now people have offices and big studios and they have a system and there's a manager to the label. "They're very big, well run labels, even though they're independent. It's very well organised."
Cyclone
Friction plays HQ (Gabriellle’s) on Fri Sep 26 with Patch, MPK, John Doe and more. Friction Presents The Shogun Assassins is out through Inertia.