Looking Back at Friction

Well, it’s been a year since Matt and I started Friction. It ran on the roof of Marketplace every Thursday night for four months. If it rained we pulled it inside to the lounge. Running on a Thursday night was always an uphill struggle but Friction immediately gained a very loyal following who came religiously every week. 

After four months  we made two big decisions: first to move from Thursday to Friday nights and second, to make the night monthly. Sadly t only two Friday Frictions followed from these decisions:   Marketplace decided to launch a new Ladies night running every Friday and after only two months Friction lost its home. 

That was a big disappointment but we negotiated with the club to promote a new night on the eve of public holidays. The first one that came up was Merdeka Eve 2010. We called it Freedom and the rest is history!

Here’s an interview that we gave on our group page as Friction was launching. I think it’s kinda fun to see where we were at and what we’ve achieved in a year.

 

The Underground Soundz Team - I'm Soundz, he's Undie

Nicholas Teh grabs Underground Soundz duo  Matt and  Oran  to ask them about their new Thursday night party at Friction, on the roof of Marketplace.

Q. Why did you decide to start Friction?

MM I was getting irritated! I love Oran’s music but I’d been trailing around him listening to him spin in one empty place after another. He deserves more people! Starting Friction was partly about getting a different kind of music – great music - out there to more people.
OB Probably everyone has a vision of their ideal club – the kind of people, the kind of music, the atmosphere. Friction is ours: it’s the kind of club we want to go to!

Q. Why Thursday nights?
OB In London the clubs and bars are full every night of the week, except Tuesday. Nothing flies on a Tuesday! But Monday, Wednesday and especially Thursday are all busy, busy, busy. I’m sure there’s a space for a midweek party in KL. Especially an early one. Friction runs from 10pm till 2 am. Early bird gets the worm!

MM The roof is such a fantastic space. We've rearranged everything so there's a dancefloor, bar area and chillout, right underneath the Twin Towers! It's an awesome sight. 

On the roof

In the lounge

Q. What’s your musical background? I was a guest at your fiftieth birthday party last time. That was the best party I've ever been to! But at 50 you’re quite, how can I say ...advanced in years! Have you been deejaying all your life?

OB (laughing) No, I haven’t. Actually I only started learning to deejay a year ago, right here in KL. But I was a musician for a long time before my day job took over and I think I’ve got a good ear for music. And London is one of the musical capitals of the world. I cut my teeth in clubs like Substation, FF and Trade, all at the cutting edge of dance music. It was an amazing time. I got exposed to the very best of everything. It trained me. I love electro and techno. People hear the word 'techno' and get scared off, as if it's some kind of disco heavy metal but it isn't. Some techno is so uplifting and magical - your feet just pull you onto the dancefloor before your brain even knows it.

MM I've always been into underground music, from the early days of punk, to indie rock and electronica and now with electro and techno. For me an artist needs to have an original voice. Only the truly unique gets a seat at my table. We want to provide a more sophisticated atmosphere. Let someone else play top forty remixes...

OB Yah, there are other people can do that much more skilfully than me.

Q. What do you think of the current gay deejays?

OB I’m full of admiration for them. The Superbimbos, for example. Fendie has been spinning for a long time. He’s always reinventing himself, always changing and experimenting. Thomas is more new to the scene but very focused and committed. What they do isn’t easy. But every Saturday they get the excitement going and they keep it going. And they are both really nice guys, both very friendly and down to earth.

Q. What about the guys at Princeworld?

OB Princeworld have been market leaders in KL for a long time. Sometimes they struggled a bit, like when KLIQ was thriving but everyone knows them and respects the brand. Not just for their events but also their commitment to the community. They have always had a social conscience and they have gone out of their way to do good things for the PLU community here. 

MM The problem is they have their formula and they’re not willing to depart from it. So you get the same deejays playing the same songs.

OB I remember my first public appearance. I was extremely nervous. Fendie was there. He was very kind and even wrote to me the next day. He told me that a deejay’s set is a compromise between the taste of the deejay and the taste of the crowd. That was very helpful. A lot of Princeworld’s crowd are quite conservative musically. Those young Chinese boys! And Princeworld cater to that, a bit too much, in my opinion. I think deejays should lead as well as follow.

MM But it’s not just Princeworld, or just KL. The gay dance scene worldwide has become much, much more commercial in the last few years. We’ve started to follow fashions, not create them. I mean are we really falling behind the straight scene? That’s what Friction is here to change!

Well, that was then and this is now! Deejaying is one of those things that you can only learn by doing. By its nature you can only practise playing in front of a crowd by doing it. Friction was fantastic training for me, both as a deejay playing a weekly set and as a promoter, working with Matthew to create a weekly party. We learned many lessons, some the hard way! 

Friction was a unique night: the atmosphere, the regulars and the music combined to make something new and different. For the first time ever, there was a PLU club night that that was presenting dance music that was completely different to anything played on a Saturday. Many of Friction's best aspects were carried forward by Freedom. Onwards and upwards, people! Make Friction, make sparks!