When he was around 12 years old, a girl he had a crush on told him that bass was the “sexiest instrument”. Later on, at 13 years old, Linder switched to bass guitar. One of his first childhood bass idols was Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers after listening to the band’s song "Aeroplane" from the album "One Hot Minute". In addition, Linder later discovered groups like The Brecker Brothers and Tribal Tech, featuring Gary Willis on bass. Gary Willis would become one of his greatest influences. Linder also started taking lessons with a local Swedish bass player, Robert Sudin. At age 16, Linder was already a busy Stockholm session musician and played with many different groups. Linder attended secondary school at Södra Latin, and afterwards, studied jazz at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, Sweden. While studying, he collaborated with his childhood friend and drummer Aron Mellergårdh. As classmates at the Royal Academy of Music, they would both practice and jam together as much as possible. Later on, Mellergårdh and Linder started working with another one of their classmates and childhood friends, pianist and vocalist Jonah Nilsson. Their collaboration eventually led to the creation of Dirty Loops in 2008. Aron Mellergård grew up in Gislaved Sweden where he was inspired to learn to play the drums from a musical family. He met future Dirty Loops bandmates Jonah Nilsson and Henrik Linder at Södra Latin, a secondary school in Södermalm Stockholm. He then attended the Royal College of Music in Stockholm before committing to Dirty Loops.