Last year, Vancouver sent it’s very own DJ Hedspin to the Thre3style BC Regional Finals, he won. Then he was sent off to the Canadian Finals, he won. Then when the world’s top DJs descended on Vancouver for the Red Bull Thre3style World Finals, he won that too. Following in those shoes this year is BC’s DJ Friktion.
The soft spoken DJ was crowned the BC Regional Champ this past week, and is getting ready to go to Halifax on May 26th to compete with the best DJs in Canada. If DJ Friktion pulls out the victory, he will follow in Hedspin’s shoes and represent Canada at the World Finals (held in Chicago this year). As he prepares to head off to represent our province, I had the chance to chat with DJ Friktion.
The nature of the Thre3style competition, has DJs facing off head to head and being scored by a selection of judges. Originality factors into the score, and since Red Bull has a “go-to” star studded judges panel, DJs must switch their sets up. “I think it (Canadian Final set) will be about 50% brand new. The BC finals set I played was a mix of what I’ve been playing for the past few months.”
DJ Friktion is (at least to me) a new DJ on the scene in the Lower Mainland. I asked him a bit about his development as a DJ – “To be honest, I started DJing on a PC. After awhile, I moved onto a Macbook Pro. Now, I am travelling light and just using my Macbook Air.” Since he brought it up, I wanted to know just how light he packs – “(laughs) I am going to be packing light for sure for this trip (to Halifax). I’m not gonna spend too much time thinking of my wardrobe or anything. I have my mind on my set now and I’m staying focused on it until I take the stage.”
Only time will tell now where DJ Friktion goes. Will he rise to the top of the ladder like Hedspin did last year? One thing I do know for sure, regardless of how things go the rest of the way in the Thre3style competition, DJ Friktion will be a household name in the Vancouver club scene by summer’s end.
Keep up to date with Friktion’s road to the Canadian Finals on Twitter.
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