The DUSK Issue: Friko
Words by Easton Parks & Photos by Elliot Novak
There’s a sense of vulnerability when you open your home to others, especially strangers. Gathered with many friends in their sunlit living room playing video games and chatting, we were offered hashbrowns and water by the kind members of the band Friko. Their comforting hospitality was warming on a particularly windy day in the windy city. They left and prepared a room for us that felt just as lively with white walls and a bright magenta seat-covered loveseat.
Before I dive into our conversation, I must introduce our hosts, Bailey Minzenberger (drums, vocals) and Niko Kapetan (vocals, guitar) of Friko. Originally from the suburbs of Chicago, Friko originated in 2019 as a three-piece with Luke Stamos (bass), who has since departed the band as of summer 2023.
As a modern staple in the exhilarating Chicago indie bubble, along with groups like Horsegirl, Lifeguard and Post Office Winter, Friko has been steadily growing, having toured the US and Europe as well as Japan and China. Their debut album, Where we’ve been, Where we go from here, has been out for over a year, garnering acclaim. Across the project, Niko’s vocals ring with this aforementioned vulnerability as if he’s talking to a close friend about concerns he has for them. Bailey’s drumming is tastefully melodic as each hit either bolsters the melody or creates an interesting counter melody. The drums are more than a backbeat; neither overwhelming nor oversimplified, they are an integral part of the album. Interspersed with big piano and string ballads but counterbalanced with rocking indie slappers, they blend inspirations from 19th-century composers and more contemporary art rock. While managing to be authentic, Friko walks a tightrope of artsy, sometimes-punky indie rock, and it’s thoroughly impressive.
“We’ll always think of ourselves as a Chicago band, I’ve always said I’m gonna die in Hyde Park,” Niko said. Chicago has been a breeding ground for indie since the ‘80s, with bands like Smashing Pumpkins and Wilco being rooted there. The perfect mix between a big city and an affordable city, Chicago itself plays a large part in its own indie music scene. Niko explains that the Chicago scene was “the only thing that we had at the beginning. We would just play Chicago like four times a month for like a year before we even played anywhere else.” Community is vital when fostering a healthy scene, with Chicago bands honing their craft and meeting other creatives at events like Free Mondays at The Empty Bottle in Chicago, which lets local bands play to a decent room. Friko preaches a scene predicated on kindness: “Be nice to other people in the scene,” Niko said. Bailey added, “But it’s funny that’s like something that you have to say, you know, people should just be nice.”
“In the scene, I feel like you gotta make those friends around you, that’s how we met, and you have to make those connections. Once you find that group of people, if it’s a band you can make something special with, then you need to work really hard at it and just all be committed on the same page,” Niko said.
While connections are inherently important to the success of a group, an underrated and often overlooked element is fun. Even when challenged, passion should be at the center of your art as expressing your emotions can be a gratifying outlet. “There’s definitely going to be difficulties in playing music, just because it’s such an innately emotional thing. But I think that, no matter what, it should always be fun. You can still have difficulties and go through the entire up and down of the process, but all in all, you should be having a good time and you should be excited about it,” Bailey said. Niko later added, “I don’t know how all these bands tour that hate each other.” He explains that you need to have fun in life, and if your band is your life, you better enjoy extended time with your bandmates.
Even though they tour globally, Friko stays connected to their roots by playing DIY shows back home in Chicago. Whether it’s a fundraiser or an opportunity to play new music for friends, it’s like a breath of fresh air to play DIY shows after some of the more grueling aspects of touring. Friko had played a show at the DIY space Not Not with friends Sharp Pins the night before we met with them.“It felt really fulfilling to play a DIY show after it’s been a minute; it’s so much more intimate and that’s how we started, just playing DIY shows. It’s really nice to come back to that and share space with people,” Bailey said.
While much of the previous album was played at Not Not the previous evening, it was also a testing ground to play much of Friko’s new stuff. Writing closer to a singular moment in time than the sprawling timeframe of their debut, they find themselves leaning into collaboration as they plan to record this summer. Having toured for much of 2024, their live playing has evolved into more confident and natural musicianship when recording.“I think because we did so much playing last year, I’m definitely physically feeling it, like things are coming a little bit easier. It’s easier to translate an idea that’s in my head into my hands, which is really cool. I think that kind of comfort, within itself, lends to a different kind of exploration too; you just try everything and it feels like it’s kind of flowing,” Bailey said.
“We just try to write songs that we enjoy. I feel like we have a gauge for a song, like if it feels good when we play it as a band. We’re having fun if it feels honest and it feels like we’re the ones to write and play this song,” Niko said.
“The second record is going to be that band band record, which I’m really excited about. Like a band in a room, everything live,” Niko said. Bailey added, “I think there's a level of that that just happens naturally when you spend that much time together. There’s definitely a cohesiveness within us just as a unit, as friends and everything that’s come from basically being roommates for half of last year. You really don’t get any alone time when you’re on tour, it brings a particular kind of closeness with people. I think it translates into writing just like a little bit of a hive mind.”
Differing from the lengthy recording process of their debut, Friko can afford to record their next project in a more consistent studio environment. “We kind of are purposely doing it the exact opposite way [than our debut] because we’ve never been able to do that. Now starting a record with a label, it’s an actual possibility, and I’m so done with hundreds of hours of mixing,” Niko said.
Friko’s music is incredibly relatable, especially to zoomers, as it works toward themes of catharsis, connection and nostalgia. That feeling of losing years of high school or college to COVID-19 and the confusion and loneliness that spread across the early 2020s is captured in a way that feels simultaneously emotionally raw and musically polished. Speaking on this relatability Niko said that he feels “like when it’s people your age it’s kind of just cause you’re all growing up with the same shit and you kind of feel the same things.”
“It’s always about just trying to connect with your generation, cause that’s the music I grew up with. If it feels true to us, hopefully it feels true to others,” Niko said.
As of this magazine’s publication date, Friko is in the midst of a tour with support from Peel Dream Magazine, youbet and Starcleaner Reunion, with a notable homecoming show in Chicago supporting Black Country, New Road on May 15th. Our Wisconsin readers should also take note of their upcoming show at Summerfest on July 3rd as well.
“I’m so excited for the bands we’re playing with; youbet, Peel Dream and Starcleaner, they’re all amazing. And just the feeling of not only being excited to play the night of the show, but being so stoked to just watch music is very energizing. I’m stoked, it’s going to be really great,” Bailey said. “I’m going to say this now so we can hold ourselves accountable for it: when we went on tour with Water From Your Eyes last year they asked us to go bowling a few times. We got dinner and that was really fun. It can be hard on tour to find time to do something recreational, but it’s so worth it. I wanna do that, I want to ask them to hang out outside the venue.”
Friko’s hospitality and music embody this dichotomy of dreams and nightmares–with dreamlike ambitions and love rooted in community and creative expression. Despite this, life in a band isn’t idyllic as touring cycles get physically draining and the pressures of relying on your passion as a living can weigh heavy. They seem to carry the spirit and down-to-earthness that a band needs to have to survive today. They aren’t just a band we admire; they encapsulate the community we serve and hold dear many of the qualities we search for in our scene. Friko stands as a new beacon in the lineage of genuine Midwest artistry, so don’t be afraid to be caught on the wrong side of the shoe again.
Sitting and talking with them, their authenticity was bar none. They were grateful and intentional. As we interviewed them, there was constant chatter and laughter from their group of friends in the living room, who were also kind to us even as we took their friends away for an hour. During our photoshoot, it was as if the sun came out from behind the clouds and the cold went away. I’m not one to believe in fate, but I’m not sure we could have found a more deserving cover for this issue. Sometimes a cliche is the most beautiful outcome.
