Today we’d like to introduce you to Ptar Flamming.
Ptar, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
As a boy growing up in the Druid Hills area, I found myself being pulled more and more into music. My interest in other classes and activities really diminished in High School, and I started skipping classes and dropping activities like soccer in order to do more music or occupy the band room. I really stopped caring about a lot of things, however, music continued to grow in importance. Marching band really felt like family, and I attribute a lot of my work ethic to the band program at my high school. Moving forward into college, I never doubted that music would always be a part of my life, but I never dreamed that I would be as involved as I am now.
I started writing music in my room and ended up creating a couple whimsical performances involving dance, theater, and scoring. It truly was creating for creating’s sake, and these ridiculous performances gave me the experience and confidence I needed to begin writing music for others. Dance collectives like The Mediums Collective, Kit Modus, and event spaces like The Bakery and 368 Ponce gave me my second musical family and I found myself involved in bands, performances, DJing, and scoring in the city.
Has it been a smooth road?
Anxiety and depression are a lifelong struggle for me. After years of trial and error and trying this and that, I finally found ways of managing my depression and anxiety- at least enough to function and move forward. Anxiety and depression can really prevent a person from feeling like they can do what needs to be done to find success in their life. It took me years to feel confident and comfortable enough with myself to really begin to push my music and get involved in my community.
Can you give our readers some background on your music?
I think every artist or musician begins to find their niche over time, whether through trial and error or through simply doing what they like best. I was in bands here and there, performing on stage, doing weird performance art, just essentially rolling in art as much as I could. I eventually ended up working with Porter Grubbs from Kit Modus in 2017, scoring their 20-30 minute dance performance.
It was incredibly challenging and activating~ Writing music for moving pieces while trying to musically interpret abstract concepts like “the downsides of social media” was definitely something that immediately interested me. I found that I was actually really good at it, and since then, scoring gigs have slowly cascaded and now I find that most of my work is commission based and involving a choreographer or film. My personal music has always been dreamy and atmospheric, and even dark and crunchy at times, and while that never really was best for making music for a band or dance music, that style seemed to work perfectly for scoring. I am most proud that I was able to stay true to my craft and find my own niche without sacrificing the aspects that made my music feel like me.
Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
I grew up here, but once of the best things about the city are its variety of neighborhoods. It’s like I lived in a completely different city for years growing up, but I live just across the city. People tend to get along well here, and Atlanta is undoubtedly one of the hubs of the world, with the busiest airport and also being one the best tech cities in the US.
But there inst any pretentiousness there, “ATL hoe” doesn’t mean that we think we’re better, we just like it here and want you know. It’s a good place to find both comfort and excitement. Atlanta is still growing as an art hub, and even though opportunities exist, finding the right opportunities and finding the funding is still difficult here. Things are growing, though, as the city itself grows.
Contact Info:
- Email: peterflamming1@gmail.com
- Instagram: @ptar.roguejury
Image Credit:
Jordan Neal
Mallory Edwards
Christian Cody
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