Crashing Through: Friko Interviewed

One of the most remarkable albums to be released this year is the debut full-length from Chicago band Friko, ‘Where we’ve been, Where we go from here‘. It’s the kind of record that hits you immediately and profoundly, a collection you’re sure must have existed in some form before; its songs so familiar and connected that it’s like they’re already in your blood. Their debut is a rush of arena-sized anthems, collar-grabbing pain, emotion and mythology – an actual album-with-a-capital-A that’s wise beyond the years of Niko Kapetan and Bailey Minzenberger, the pair at the heart of Friko.

Ahead of a short UK tour which starts today in Brighton, we caught up with Kapetan about a week after they supported Australian indie-pop duo Royel Otis in Brooklyn – and just a few days after the tire on their tour van exploded. Speaking over Zoom from his base in Chicago, Kapetan muses on Friko’s affinity for darkness and catharsis, and the chimerical magic of their live shows.

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First things first, how are you? That incident with the van looked awful.  

Kapetan: Yeah, the tire exploded and the battery died. We were heading back yesterday and we got sold a bum tire when we replaced that one, so we had to go do all that tire stuff again. But, you know, that’s part of it when you’re van touring. We’re very tired, but luckily we have like a week home in Chicago before we go to the West Coast, which is very good. 

There was a real exuberance to your performance in New York the other day. Your show had so much more energy than you’d expect given the overarching sadness of your album.  

Totally. Other people have mentioned that, too. When we made the record it was a much darker time for all of us, but when we’re on the road it definitely helps a lot more to lean into the upbeat and joyful side. There’s been times where I’ve gone through dark times on the road and it’s not helpful. It doesn’t make for better shows. It doesn’t do any of that. It’s so hard already to just be travelling city to city with the band and one tour manager. So having a good time is way more important. And you know, we’ll play the sad songs still and they’ll be sad enough, but we definitely lean into the joyful side of it. 

Listeners and fans often assume musicians are the exact same people that are in the songs. That’s not necessarily the case. You can tell the truth from fiction: Springsteen has always done that, for example. Is it the same for you?

Yeah. I think that’s why we try to have a large plethora of different types of songs. When we do songs like ‘For Ella’ or ‘Cardinal’ live, they’ll always be sombre just because they’re sombre songs. And ‘Get Numb To It’ is melancholic in a way, but when we play live it’s intense and fun. I think for me, growing up loving bands like The Replacements so much, they’d have emotional, melancholic songs, but when they played them live it was just a good time. And if that comes naturally that’s always the best way to go. 

It was interesting when you when you played ‘Cardinal’ in Brooklyn. It’s such a beautiful, haunting song but people were just talking loudly through it. Were you aware of that? 

When we’re doing this opening run for such big shows, that’s kind of just what happens. Our Chicago shows now are incredible; it’ll be people moshing for the upbeat songs and then people silent for the ballads. It’s cool for us to see that we can create crowds like that. As we keep going, hopefully, we can create crowds like that city by city. I think bands can put that energy forth for what the sets are going to be like, but on this we were the opening band, and that’s just how it goes sometimes. 

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You just take it on the chin and not too personally?  

Sometimes you want to say something but it’s only going to hurt you. People are going to revolt against you if you say ‘Be quiet!’ They’re going to be like ‘I didn’t pay for tickets to see you!’ So you’ve kind of just got to do your thing. 

How do you relate to these songs now? You said it was a really dark period but that it’s a very cathartic album. Are you still in that place? Or have you moved on?

I feel like we’re living at this different point with them where they exist only in this live sense, where we’re talking about the light show or the stage design, discussing how we’re going to make these songs as interesting and engaging as they could be live. We talk about that every night. That’s kind of how we live with them now. Emotionally, I feel them differently every night as they exist in the night that we play them. Obviously we’re not listening to the album – we definitely got enough of that while making it! 

As your profile and fanbase grows, do you find that these songs you wrote for yourself at the time has become this exchange with the listeners and the audience? That it’s not entirely yours anymore?

Yeah. Which is a beautiful thing because I think you do the performing for yourself … I mean, you get that every once in a while, but after playing them a lot, you want to do it for the other people. I’ve gotten everything I needed to get out of the songs on the first record. That’s why we’re thinking ahead at this point with new stuff. There were a lot of tough times and a lot of tough work with the first record. If people want to make these their songs we’re down for it, because that’s always the best feeling. 

There’s a lot of regret on this record. On ‘Crashing Through’ there’s the line “I haven’t said what I meant to say/Haven’t done what I meant to do.” Where does that sentiment come from?

It definitely feels that way. Especially when you play opening shows and you’re in the same place you were a few years ago with trying to get through to people with the songs. It comes down to us knowing who we are as a band more than ever and just being excited to work on new stuff. We love albums, and our goal is to make a perfect album akin to the albums that we grew up loving and that are true, full artistic statements; it be Cocteau Twins’ ‘Heaven Or Las Vegas’ or something much more niche like The Microphones’ ‘The Glow Pt II’. There’s so many different ways to define a perfect album, but that’s what we’re shooting for. 

How has its reception affected you in terms of pressure and expectation for what comes next? Is there a big weight on your shoulders now? 

It was great to see that, critically, people loved it. The people who got into the record loved it as well. We’re still a relatively small band. We’re about to do headlining shows next spring at 300-500 capacity venues. We just want to get through to people. This music is for people who love music, but it’s also about getting through to people who don’t usually think of music as their life. I think that would be a beautiful thing.

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The expanded edition of ‘Where we’ve been, Where we go from here’ lands November 22nd on ATO Records.

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