ifitbeyourwill Podcast
“ifitbeyourwill" Podcasts is on a mission to talk to amazing indie artists from around the world! Join us for cozy, conversational episodes where you'll hear from talented and charismatic singer-songwriters, bands from all walks of life talk about their musical journey. Let's celebrate being music lovers!
Season 5 begins February 21st 2025
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ifitbeyourwill Podcast
ifitbeyourwill S05E01 • Niko Kapetan of Friko
Season five and oh, do I have a great show to start season five off. Half is yours and half is mine. Bit before we hopped on here, but, nico, thanks so much for hopping on here and sharing some of your thoughts about your music and life in general.
Niko:we'll say yeah, thanks for having me, Chris.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's so great, Nico. I always love to kind of get a little history in these conversations. What were some moments that you recall from your early childhood?
Niko:that where music really was there and present and you felt it and you felt like this is something that speaks to me um, I mean like in the earliest sense, like I mean I remember when I was like one of my first conscious moments was when I was like eight and I went to see Love in Las Vegas. The Beatles play.
Niko:And, being an eight-year-old, seeing that I was like and never really listened to the Beatles really much before then, and that is what really got me passionate about music. For one reason or another, really hit and then just listen to music in the car with a mom and dad and just the stuff they like. You know, they like the classic stuff. You know a lot of like, just like Beatles by Marley, led Zeppelin, all the classic stuff. And then as I got older, like middle school, I found like a friend group that was passionate about music, started playing in a cover band and so we'd cover some of these songs and also like new ones at the time you know, like 2000s hits, like float on and like steady as she goes and that kind of stuff, um, and so I kind of just like and then like, yeah, from that point on it was just like connecting with friends, um, and sharing music and kind of like like who's got the next like cool band to listen to?
Niko:Because at that time there was like a new one every week that we discovered. So yeah, that's kind of how it starts.
Speaker 2:And did you start playing guitar very young as well? In high school Was it that you started playing guitar?
colleyc:Was that?
Speaker 2:your first instrument? I guess I should ask first.
Niko:I started on piano when I was like really young and then quit, um, like most kids, and then I went to I played drums in these like bands, um cover bands, until like high school. Um, I started in like fifth grade with drums and I always just played a little guitar just like right, but I never I didn't play a live show playing guitar until maybe like junior year of high school. Um, so guitar was never really at the forefront for me. I really only took up guitar for the point of songwriting, um, but now I, you know, love guitar for many reasons, but it's always just kind of been like a reason to be able to write songs because I couldn't on drums right, right.
Speaker 2:and what do you remember? Some of those first songs that you penned, you know, early, kind of like journalistic, I'm sure, like let's try some out. Like, can you? Can you share a bit of those first tunes that you put together?
Niko:I mean, like I feel, like a lot of people like growing up now, like it was all GarageBand and it was all loops. Basically it would be like live loops to make songsand and it was all loops. Basically it would be like live loops to make songs, just because I was doing it all myself. I would be in my parents' basement, I had a recording setup down there. I could record guitar, I had drums, I had an 8-input Motu 896 that my uncle lended to me and so I just used that and recorded that stuff for a while and it would just be kind of like loop stuff and it was just like years of just doing stuff on my own, trying to figure out like what my like you know voice could be and like what I wanted to do and it was, you know, like most all very derivative for a long time but very useful and necessary absolutely.
Speaker 2:You know, I've talked to so many artists and those are some of their key moments is when they got that four track or that eight track and they started to be able to layer, you know, stuff on top of one another, um, which really started to transform how they, you, you know how their musical careers, you know, would be the trajectory of it.
Speaker 2:And you kind of mentioned something about your voice. Like was it hard to find your voice? Like was that a tricky process that you had to go through? Did it come pretty naturally to you?
Niko:Definitely. I mean I always I would just sing for the sake of singing again, just like write songs, I mean in terms of just singing voice. That just took singing live for a long time, as opposed to songwriting voice. That took even longer probably. I feel like it wasn't until this most recent record where I kind of really realized where I could write music that I really just felt like myself and that's always kind of really realized like where I could write music that really just felt like myself, um, and that's always kind of been the goal, um. But yeah, I mean that took, you know, seven, eight years of writing songs to actually find that amazing and tell me a little bit about your collaboration with Bailey.
Speaker 2:Like she's your, your drummer, right that that plays. Do you guys co-write together, or is it pretty much you bring the songs in, or she'll bring a song and you'll collaborate Like she's your drummer, right, that plays? Do you guys co -write together, or is it pretty much you bring the songs in or she'll bring a song and you'll collaborate together, or do you actually write songs together?
Niko:Well. So as of now, we'll talk about future stuff. But it's much more, much more collaborative now, and even with other band members. But this last record was kind of like I would have a song written on guitar or piano and have the vocal for it, bring it to Bailey and Luke at the time and everyone would arrange their parts for the most part, and that's how this record and stuff before that went. Now it's kind of like the opposite.
Niko:I feel like it happens a lot of the time now because, like you know, before, like the 2010s, when there was no garage band or like stuff like that or logic and stuff um, it would be going from like a four track and like you doing stuff with a band and then being like oh, we can layer stuff, we can do all this stuff. Versus for me, it always felt like there was unlimited. I could record hundreds of tracks on garage band at a time, which honestly made it harder to find a voice. And now we're writing stuff where it's like this next record, we want to go in to be able to record it all pretty much live. It's almost going the opposite trajectory, just fighting against what you started with, because it's just more fun to record like that too. It's more fun to play with the band. It's in a room. All the old records that I love sound the way they do. It's because they were all just playing together in a room.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. I I read too somewhere that, um, you had said, after you guys recorded some of the, some of the songs off of the record that came out in 2024, where we've been in and where we go from here that that the emotions sometimes were so overwhelming that it would end in tears. Can you paint us that picture, a little bit of of of that experience, of the overwhelmingness of of getting yourselves down on on tape?
Niko:Yeah, I feel like that specific story was where we've been. The song it didn't have the ending refrain where we all sing the where we've been, where we go from here, that whole part. It was like we were doing a few takes and didn't feel right. And our producer, scott, and Jack, who produced the record and engineer it, scott, came in the room and was like the song doesn't feel done and you know we were recording the album. So it's like what the hell is that man? And so we kind of just sat on it for a second.
Niko:It was already very emotional and like we're just like all right, let's just try it. Like Bailey will go dramatic, like and we just did that and I was yelling, you know I was yelling stuff over the top of it and it was just it felt like everything just kind of like called us to that that moment and we just kind of all broke down and especially because that was the first time we played it that way, so it was like it was real. That's kind of like the moment a new door opening.
Speaker 2:Yeah, totally, oh, that's so amazing, yeah yeah, definitely those, uh, those moments say two together as a group, and you know a bunch of humans, coming with different ideas and experiences, just colliding together it sounds like wow.
Niko:It's what you hope all the like hours you put in can lead to. Like one moment of that, like every couple years.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. And how is it for you now, like you launched this record that was much anticipated. I mean it got amazing reviews and I mean it's just a fantastic record from start to finish. How do you kind of look back on it now a little bit with that distance, like, do you see it in a different way than than than when you were inundated in it, when you were just, you know, listening to over and over and over? Has that distance given in a different way than when you were inundated in it, when you were just listening to it over and over and over? Has that distance given you a different perspective on what you created?
Niko:Yeah, I mean we're actually playing a DIY show this Saturday in Chicago because it's the one-year anniversary of the record. So I have definitely thought about that a little more than usual. I mean, it changed my life, it changed our lives, you know, completely, even though you know and like in like a indie music kind of way and like it wasn't a huge thing, but for us it was and it it kind of made the whole like music is like a thing you can do for your life. Things seem actually conceivable versus like it was just a complete dream before. Um, and just getting, like you know, playing europe, playing japan, china, it's like it's like things we like were, like you know, only dreamed of.
Niko:And um, looking back the record, it's like very, I just like objectively like fond of it now as like just what it is and, like you know, I'm not critiquing like any like guitar sounds or anything like that anymore. It now as like just what it is and, like you know, I'm not critiquing like any like guitar sounds or anything like that anymore. It's just like I can see it objectively for what it is and be like this was a really important thing for us and you know, going forward from it now, but um, I'll always. Definitely it'll be a special place in my heart, for sure for sure, for sure.
Speaker 2:And, nico, did you have that sense when you were so in it? Like, did you, did you? Did you guys feel like you were creating something that was going to be special, that it it was sounded different, it combined a lot of different styles, it was very individual to you guys? Did you feel that, when you're kind of writing these songs and assembling them?
Niko:yeah, I mean it felt it. It felt it. There were moments like the where I've been moment or, like you know, we were tracking the guitars for like crashing through and I would, I was just me and Jack and we were like we had just like done a long day of recording. We're like, damn this, there's like something feels special about this. You know there's it's just moments of like intense, um catharsis and I was like there's got to be something to this.
Niko:But, like you know, for the majority of it, you know, after we recorded, we mixed it for, like because we mixed it pretty much ourselves for like hundreds of hours, like it was so much learning because we didn't we haven't mixed it, like jack does mixing and like now has much more experience doing that, but like at the time we were all so new to it, we were just doing ourselves. It was like it was just like. It was just angst and it was like a lot of just like sadness and like you know. So it wasn't. There were moments of feeling it, but like there also was mostly just like being in the angst of it for sure yeah, no, that's so cool.
Speaker 2:And how, like if you had to kind of describe this record in a theme like, what are the themes that tend to come out for you or were coming out when you're writing these songs that you turned into songs?
Niko:like I mean, it was like because of how often felt defeated, like I was working a full-time job in like a warehouse still at the time making this record, and so I was doing that and then, you know, covid was happening and everyone around was like feeling the same way, and so it was very like. It was very like feeling defeated but trying to, you know, use this as like the one thing that we can like make something like make it feel better. Um, and so that was that was the main overarching theme of just like everybody was feeling so low and like you know, it's happening again, it's always happening. It's kind of just like how to get that joy and catharsis amount of like the like deep feeling of sadness kind of.
Speaker 2:it's not that specific, but no, I mean, that's I love it. I love it. You know, one of the songs that, um, I just can't stop listening to is until I'm with you again. Um, because you do have these fast, slow, fast. Like a lot of your songs have a kind of feel structure and this one feels like you held all that back and delivered this like I don't know the most heartwarming song that I've heard in a long time. Um, with that song particular, do you remember writing that song? Do you remember the idea that then turned into the song?
Niko:Yeah, I mean, that was one of those songs that was like it kind of sounds like it, but it was like written in one night, because it was. I always think of that song. It's like a kindergartner could play it and like I love that. I love songs that like yeah it was. I mean I was on the. I was on, like that.
colleyc:Yeah, I'll run, I'll fight, I'll sail the night, I'll tuck your sheets beneath my feet, beneath my feet Until I'm with you again. Remember this, my friend, that I'll be with you again. I know it's hard, my friend. I laugh, I plead, I scream.
Niko:I laugh, I plead. I was writing in real time and we were just sitting out there. It was a real nice moment for sure. And it was nice because sometimes songs like that that you don't really have to work too hard on, it's real nice to have those sometimes.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's when it felt very natural and just kind of flowed out of you. I was so curious about how that process of that song came to be. So, nico me like in retrospect a little bit. I mean, things happened really quickly. Um, what were some of those like poignant moments that really amped all this up to to? I heard that, um, the, the festival, uh, bonaro was, was one of your, like, best weekends of your life.
Niko:You described it yeah, I mean that was just fun from like a friend, like we were just all hanging and having a good time. I mean we were playing, we were, we played a couple shows and they were all like the smallest stages in front of like 40, 50 people. So it wasn't like it definitely wasn't career changing, but it was. It was just really fun. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, no-transcript.
Niko:I feel like we first really felt that at the Metro release show in Chicago, because that was the first time playing in front of a full room of 1,000 people who were there to see us. We've always loved that venue and watched so many videos of bands passing through and stuff, so that was just so cool. I feel like it was like. I feel like the shows like in Asia were craziest because a culture that we never experienced in person, and it also just feels so different the fact that, like when we played Fuji Rock in Japan and that was like it was it was like 8,000, you know, people were. It was like the biggest stage, like the killers were playing that stage last night. We had no idea how we were there and we we just I don't remember any part of that show, but, like you know, people were clapping, sing along. That was just like so trippy.
Niko:I think the most emotional moment, though, was china and shenzhen, with people singing along like some lyrics, because, like it's not a political record in like a front sense, but there's a lot of like you know, there's a lot of charges, speak on a lot of that stuff, and like just being in china and, like you know we have a lot of same issues the us as china does and all these, all the countries do right now but it's, it was just like felt different, especially because china was a place we never, ever thought we'd play music in. Right, that was like the last place we'd ever think we'd get to play it was amazing.
Niko:The people were amazing, the food, the everything. So that was definitely that was.
Speaker 2:That must be special too, like going to a country that you know is so culturally diverse than what we're, what we're used to, and they're all singing along to your songs. That's amazing yeah music right there, right like for sure. It's crazy, the universal language that that that just happens because of of what it can do to us as people it's very inspiring. Yeah, yeah, very cool yeah so, nico, to kind of wrap this up again, thanks so much. This has been a real treat to to talk with you and kind of hear your story.
Speaker 2:I mean really uh fascinating. What, what, what, what's coming down in in 2025 for uh frico, what's up?
Niko:yeah, I mean anyway, yeah, we're working really hard on new music and we're gonna be in like the middle of the year going to be recording another record, yeah, and just excited Because we've been I mean, this record's only been out for a year, but the debut record we've been playing it out for years now, two or three years. So we're very ready to have a next thing. And, like I was always saying, with the first record, we kind of realized what we were in the middle of it and then got a little bit lucky that it all worked out in the end, um, but like this record, we get to start kind of knowing, um, the kind of thing that we want to make, um. So I'm really excited to for people to hear it. And, yeah, we're in the road again in the spring or in like a couple weeks. Yeah, canada and the us for the next like couple months.
Speaker 2:Yeah right on, right on, and could you give us a little window into the new record is are you, are you going for something different sounding or are you maintaining staying close to your roots from the first?
Niko:it's definitely. There's definitely like difference in sound and like some of the ways, but I think it is meant to be even like from the album cover idea to like it's meant to be like a continuation, slash, cap, um, the first record since that since, because I felt like we realized in the middle of first record, none of it was like it was like realizing what we were, and like the second record's like putting a staple on that and like like you know it, I don't. I don't feel like it's time for us to like shift completely. It feels like it's like time to like just lock down on like a bunch of songs that just make sense and can like get through it. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and were the songs that are coming off the new record? You started writing those like in 2024, or are they also a compilation from you know past years?
Niko:for the most part it's after 2024. A lot of songs. You know much more songs about. You know travel related and you know hot air balloons and planes and because there's a lot of traveling is yeah, yeah, I'm very excited for it right on, right on.
Speaker 2:Well, I wish you all the best. Um. Thanks for putting this record out. It is it's been one of my favorite listens in a while, so I really appreciate it and I really hope I'll get to run into you when you come through montreal. Um yeah, I look forward to seeing you guys that energy on stage.
Niko:Yeah, that's cool yeah, please come say hi thanks for having me yeah, thanks, so much Sickness Brought you to your parents.
colleyc:A life of only errands Won't make her full of love, and your teeth hurt more than Than the day before. It's time to get another job. Four feet between a wall and a dome, break your wife for widow, so throw the gun with the round. With the round blade. The truth is hard to tell. So we'll be waiting here till sundown. Save the hope that comes. Now We'll stand away from it. For me, between a wall and a stone, four feet between the walls, don't make sure I move it on. Don't throw your heart. Don't make me feel like I'm in, watch it. I feel like I'm in. Don't throw your heart. And it feels good. Where we've been, where we go from here, I let it all slip away. Where we've been, where we go from here, I let it all slip away.
