Rings friends out East (5)
I believe the answer is:
peals
'rings' is the definition.
(pealing is a kind of ringing)
'friends out east' is the wordplay.
'friends' becomes 'pals' (pal is a kind of friend).
'out' is an insertion indicator.
'east' becomes 'e' ('E' can be a synonym of 'east').
'pals' going around 'e' is 'PEALS'.
(Other definitions for peals that I've seen before include "Lapse in bell sounds" , "Loud sounds of bells or laughter" , "Leaps about with bursts of laughter" .)