ARTIST PROFILE: Get to Know Friko

Artist:
Friko (Niko Kapetan and Bailey Minzenberger)

Genre:
Indie Rock

Nashville wish list: Eating barbeque, checking out Lower Broadway and indie record stores such as Third Man Records.

Friko, the indie rock band comprised of Niko Kapetan and Bailey Minzenberger, have played in Nashville in the past. But that’s before the band, known best for their indie rock ballads, released their debut album, “Where We’ve Been, Where We Go From Here” in early 2024. Friko returns to Nashville in August as part of Bobby Hotel’s Backyard Sessions, which is kicking off its sixth year.

Kapetan is looking forward to the show. The band, which takes its name from his high school nickname, has been on tour, which he says has become even more fun since the album was released and audiences are now singing along with some of their favorites, including the title track, “Where We’ve Been.”

But even for Friko newbies, he promises, “We will give a good show, for sure. We try to make it dynamic.”

Poetic, explosive, and sublimely raw in feeling, “Where We’ve Been” brings an equally visceral intensity to brutally heavy anthems and heart-on-sleeve ballads alike.

“We went back in and reworked it and came up with something that was very much a group effort and doesn’t follow a pop structure at all, and it felt incredible—we were all sobbing afterward. It was something I’d never really felt before in music.“

Spin magazine graded the debut album an “A,” citing the breadth of sound in the Chicago-based band’s LP. Indeed, Kapetan counts everything from The Beatles to ‘60s retro pop to Sonic Youth to The Cure and The Smiths, as some of the band’s influences. That said, he’s looking forward to exploring the country classics on Lower Broadway when in Nashville for the Backyard Sessions show.

As is the case at many Backyard Sessions shows, the experience is intimate, and it can be easy to meet the musicians. Kapetan encourages audience members to stop by the merch table and say “hi.”

Backyard Sessions is a five-month-long free summer music series that features local, regional and nationally recognized and up-and-coming indie acts in all genres. In 2024 Backyard Sessions will host 10 different artists thanks to a new partnership with WNXP, part of the Nashville Public Radio family, WNXP is a local, listener-powered and member-supported nonprofit organization. Other musicians on this summer’s lineup include: Medium Build and Brother Bird (June 12); PawPaw Rod and Casper Sage (July 25); Jalen Ngonda and Britti (Sept. 26); and Meg Elsier (Oct. 24), with more acts to be announced.

Friko will be joined on August 8 by Dehd, another Chicago-based indie band.

Backyard Sessions takes place on the iconic Bobby Hotel rooftop, looking out on the city.

Shows are free, but require advance R.S.V.P. and are all ages.