Zomb: So let’s kick this off super simple, how old are you and where are you from?

FLTR: I am 17 years old and I'm from central Denmark

Zomb: Denmark is definitely a place I haven’t dove into before. What were your early years like? Tell us a little bit about growing up in Denmark.

FLTR: I mean growing up was a split experience. My first few years of life were spent here in Denmark, but when I was about 2-3 years old my family and I moved to the western part of Germany, close to the Dutch border. The move was due to something to do with my Dad's military work, and we moved down close to a NATO base. After a few years his term at that base was over and we moved back to our home, In Denmark. My childhood was a very average one. I had friends, I played soccer/football and I actually got good enough at it, that I was offered a spot on a D1 soccer team, but I had to decline, as the training sessions were a 2-3 hour drive away. Not much else has really come from my childhood. It's a pretty ordinary example of a basic western childhood, comparable to a normal American childhood.

Zomb: Super insightful, I love the background here. So you had a pretty tame upbringing, what was music like for you around then at that age? Who were some artists/groups you remember listening to early on?

FLTR: A bit of a throwback question. I remember listening to a TON of The Beatles, due to my mom always listening to them in the car. I've always liked their witty songs like Yellow submarine, even though I know critically it isn't their 'best' song. I also listened to a lot of Punk music, such as The Offspring, Green Day, etc. A lot of the music i've been exposed to has been through my parents or my brother, and they LOVE distorted music, such as The Offspring's Pretty Fly (For a White Guy) I was also exposed to a lot of this rather not-so-popular german pop-rock band called Tokio Hotel, specifically their song Monsoon. A lot of my vocal inflections come from punk-rock and rock music in general, so it makes sense.

Zomb: Right right yeah the influences definitely add up for sure, it’s so funny how our parents influence our music taste subconsciously. You mentioned you were pretty heavy into football but couldn’t pursue it at the time, so when did creating music come about? When did you initially start creating for the first time?

FLTR: Music has actually always been a part of my life. Since my childhood i've been playing the piano and recently got into the Uke and the Guitar. My mom actually made me start going to Piano lessons when I was about 6-7 years old, so I've been playing for a solid 10+ years. CREATING music is a whole different thing though. One of my old classmates from the 9th grade was making music at the time and I thought it was really cool seeing him translating his feelings and emotions into, albeit, bad music. But it was a start, no one expects a 14 year old kid to come out with 3/4 written melody segmented ballads.I was genuinely just observing him, until I one day asked him what software he used to make the music he made, and he said FL Studio 20. So I went home, downloaded the trial version and started from there. Keep in mind I was about 15 at this time, so this was 2 years ago. I just played around, taught myself some basics like making my first beat and such, before I actually laid down vocals. Around the end of 2021 I laid down vocals on my first ever song, Slide.

Zomb: What an insane journey. It’s super sick you were influenced in both ways, traditional and DIY. So this was around 2021, did you continue to record at that point just at a basic level for yourself? Or did you want to  continue to improve and pursue your own artist journey. At what point did you decide to take yourself more seriously when it came to creating?

FLTR: I've always taken myself seriously to a certain degree. That's necessary for artistic growth and evolution. But i think the point where i started taking my creation process more seriously, was when i got my first 1.000 streams on spotify, on my song 2 Cool, which features my good friend Dreijs. It proved to me that getting a fanbase was possible with the type of material I was putting out.

Zomb: Definitely a tipping point for sure, so before we move forward did you always have the stage name of FLTR? Or did you actually go by an earlier name? Tell us the thought process behind the FLTR name.

FLTR: I've always been called FLTR. I've probably had another stage name in the past, but I genuinely cannot remember that far back. As well as you know me, my music is quiet.. unfiltered. So the name FLTR is a bit of an oxymoron, hence my music being unfiltered and fully saturated. Genuinely i stole the idea of removing the vowels in filter from a producer i really liked at the time, called WNDWS, he's worked with City Morgue and a lot of people in the Trap Metal scene, as well as Trippie Redd. So it's a bit of an inspired name with my own twist on it.

Zomb: That’s super clever, I love the wordplay as well. That’s some rare FLTR lore right there if we’re being honest. So continuing on to 2022, you continued to release music and see results. What was the next step for you? Was the first goal just expanding your library and working with potential collaborators?

FLTR: Yeah I mean I tried to work with everyone in the niche of music that was possible for me at that time. My next step was just grinding out more music, teaching myself how to mix better, and at this point I started getting into actually mastering my own music. All self taught. I did release an album in the summer of '22, as well as in December.

Zomb: Perfect, the FLTR library started to grow and you sharpened the sword so to speak. That brings us to the current time of Summer 2023, what are some of your plans for the Summer and rest of the year for yourself?

FLTR: I have a whole album planned for september. With the second lead single releasing on the 6th of august, which you premiered on AMM, called Deep End, featuring Apoorv Sharan, an indian singer/songwriter. After the single and album, I'll have to sit down and think about what I wanna do. I wanna keep my listeners interested, so I won't be sticking with the same style of pop/music in general with every album release. You can hear that if you listen to my album: everything my life was made for, as well as Crisis, and now my upcoming one.. you'll hear a shift in sound with every release. Authenticity in my sound is also a big part of everything, i don't want anything to come off as fake, so i'm trying to stay authentic but touch as many genres and subgenres as possible.