We caught up with Ruairi Lynch aka Bantum ahead of his appearance at Hard Working Class Heroes.

The Corkonian electro producer and instrumentalist will play songs from his Choice Music Prize nominated album 'Move' at Dublin’s newest venue, The Underground on Saturday 30.

Who were some of your biggest influences when you started listening to music?

"When I was very young I would have listened to a lot of Prince/Micheal Jackson/Top 40 stuff. I think the first tape I bought was a Def Leppard album (!).  In my teens I went through a mad hard rock/metal phase so Metallica pretty much taught me how to play guitar.

"Alongside that I started to gradually get into the more electronic side of things, so The Chemical Brothers, Fatboy Slim, Daft Punk, DJ Shadow and Leftfield would have been big influences."

 ... And how do they compare to who you listen to now?

"Well, I'm still listening to everything bar Def Leppard!"

Your music is often described as 'experimental'. How do you react to such descriptions? Obviously in terms of artistry, very little happens by accident and it can be frustrating when they work you put in is seemingly undermined.

"I guess I cover a lot of different genres/areas with my music so it can be difficult to define at times. The way I released the album itself was seen by a few publications as an experiment which it kind of was - I surprised myself a few times when putting the tracks together. It was a bit of a journey."

You're obviously a very collaborative artist - who's been your highlight in terms of projects thus far?

"Working with Farah Elle really caught me by surprise. The idea I had was quite sparse and unstructured until I sent it to her. What came back really amazed me and I still listen to Feel It Out quite a bit going "where the hell did that come from?!"

"Working with everyone on this album has been amazing from Loah to Weisman - the way every track worked out has a different story to tell."

... And with that in mind, who's on your radar for future tracks?

"I'm slowly getting back to working on ideas so we'll see!"

How do you approach things when it comes to making an album like 'Move'?

"Initially, 'Move' was going to be an EP, or even a stand alone single (Take It) but I had these ideas that gradually mixed together pretty well. I started putting them together as little mixtapes for friends to see how they would react, and I played the tracks live every once in a while to gauge crowd reaction. Move and Pacing really came into play from live shows.

"Everything started with Take It, where I was looking for a specific synth sound I had in my head, and the ideas built from there. After that I started to gradually approach singers to see if they were interested, and most of them were! Everything came together in about a month or two in terms of mixing, mastering and arrangement, though some of the ideas had been around for years. (I remember playing a draft of Move at Body & Soul maybe 2 years ago!)"

You're originally from Cork yourself (wahep) and you frequently perform and work between the counties. What would you say is the biggest difference between Cork and Dublin in terms of musical landscape?

"Both musical landscapes have changed so much since I started out. I'm seeing a lot of good venues in Cork closing sadly so I'm hoping some more venues will crop up. Going into West Cork you have De Barras in Clonakilty which is still going strong, and Connollys in Leap has been party central lately.

"Dublin will always have a bit of everything going on, but I do miss places like Mabos Warehouse in the Grand Canal Docks where Homebeat used to put on gigs. D-Light Studios seems to be carrying the torch for that right now, I've been to some great shows there this year. I do hope there is space for more DIY endeavors like that!"

How would you sell your show (and yourself) (maybe not literally though) to someone who'd never
"Electro funk LED lights magic ... Something something."

Since Move came out, things seem to be getting busier and busier for you in terms of shows. What's been your highlight of 2017?

"Highlight was definitely playing Vicar Street for the Choice Prize ceremony with Loah (shout out to Zeenie and Esosa!), Farah Elle and Tommy Gray on drums. I got to experience that with my close family and friends which was unforgettable."

Aaaaand what's on the horizon for Bantum in 2018 and beyond?

"New music is the plan for 2018!"

Bantum plays The Underground as part of Hard Working Class Heroes on Saturday September 30th at 10:30pm. You can also catch Bantum on The Sounds From A Safe Harbour music trail at The Sextan, Cork at midnight on Saturday 16th.