frank friend

Often mislabeled, always inventive, Frank Friend is a risk-taker from Bradenton, Florida. A multi-instrumentalist, composer, arranger, singer, & MC, creating a unique brand of homegrown hip-hop meets indie.

“Friend won't be stopped. I've seen him win over noisy crowds of several hundred at places like the Distillery in Bradenton”–Wade Tatangelo (Bradenton Herald Staff Writer)

Someone who insists on remaining very productive and always evolving. This energy is focused into two main efforts: solo work and Daylight District.

Solo Work - 2007 saw two releases from Frank Friend. The first “early saturday morning” contains ten self-produced home recordings, featuring Friend's brand of hip-hop with his vocals/production on all tracks. This release showcases many unique collaborations with guests Travis Hampton, Nathan K, Kid Bazooka and Bobby Griffin. The second “Musical Wallpaper (2003-2007)” includes thirteen dynamic instrumental tracks that leave the listener feeling calmer and refreshed, featuring no guests. These are the third and fourth solo releases.

Daylight District - A four piece band formed in 2004, where Friend is the featured composer/keyboardist/MC. On May 9th of 2008, Daylight District released a full-length album “Beautiful, Historic.” It's the band's second release to date. Both were engineered by friend and inspiration, Greg Marchak at Audio Lab Studios in Tampa. Sadly, Greg passed away before completion of the beautiful, historic album. Wes Price took on the difficult task of finishing the last of the work. With a new album out, DD is gaining momentum. Recently, they appeared in Orlando Weekly's "Best Of" issue among the top hip hop groups, and earned the title "Best Emo/Hip Hop Act" in Tampa's Creative Loafing Magazine. 2009 will see new releases from Frank Friend and Daylight District.

On Daylight District's "Beautiful, Historic:"

"Orlando/Bradenton quartet Daylight District's full-length Beautiful, Historic melds funk, punk, emo and hip-hop in a highly distinctive manner. Keyboardist/vocalist and chief songwriter Frank Friend alternates between melodic rapping and singing. The lyrics largely focus on personal struggles -- but there are also a couple odes to partying. Tim Heller's bass lines, Aaron O Tobin's drumming and Paul Solorzano's guitar work flesh out Friend's eclectic musings and keyboard foundations. One of the disc's finest numbers, "Are We There Yet?," finds Friend playing acoustic guitar and rapping over a melody that climaxes into a gripping mash-up of indie-rock and funk."
–Wade Tatangelo (Creative Loafing, Tampa)

"…eclectic bass styles, skronk jazz guitar, and change-em-up beats come together easily throughout, whether the vocals are rapped or sung, they provide a foundation that's both interesting and consistently, reliably melodic. The best tunes are still the ones with more mellifluous vocal passages, like "Snapshot," "7am," and "Sad Situation," but even those who hate the whole indie-kid rap thing have to respect the originality and musical prowess displayed here, and folks who are into stuff like the Anticon set would do well to scarf it up"
–Scott Harrell (REAX, Tampa)

On Daylight District's first E.P., “This is Now:”

“It only has six songs on it, but they are all excellent tracks” – Kayla Anderson (Connections, Orlando)

“…for such a brief record, it's impressive indeed.” – Mark Sanders
(Weekly Planet, Tampa)