Cork ex-pat Brendan Gregoriy, better known in techno circles as Chymera, has, in recent years, been earning his crust doing the 9-5 grind while globe trotting across the four corners of the world, making music whenever he has been afforded the time.

Having relocated to Dublin as an 18 year old in search of a more active electronic music scene, he went on to release a number of low-key records on a host of labels between 2003 and 2005, before stepping up on the international stage, where, with the help of respected luminaries such as Carl Cox, Laurent Garnier, Josh Wink, Spirtcatcher and Funk D'Void, he has since enjoyed big success on the techno circuit.

Taking the Detroit template as a starting point, Chymera crafts deep, melodic techno and electro house that is designed as much for the home as it is for the club. By turns both reflective and subtle, hard-hitting and groove-ridden, Chymera's housing of all of techno's sensibilities has helped to make the Cork man an in-demand producer and DJ.

Now residing in Barcelona, having spent the past year working ion Costa Rica, Brendan has finally ditched the 9-5 job to fully dedicate his time to creating music and touring. When the Cork Independent spoke with him ahead of his upcoming show at Electric Underground, he had just returned from gigs in Tokyo and Russia, proof of his burgeoning reputation on the international circuit.

"The move from Europe to Costa Rica was a work based decision," he says. "At that time I was a full time 9-5er and the job opportunity came up. While it was an amazing experience to live there, unfortunately the lack of a proper music scene over there forced me to return to Europe. I moved around bits of Europe, getting a feel for each place and then settled in Barcelona when the opportunity arose.

"There was no major deciding factor in moving to Barcelona. Lots of other people hold it in high esteem, but there's other places I would have preferred to move to before moving here. Just the chance came up to move into a nice apartment with an acquaintance. I find that it's better if you go to a place with no expectations. It forces you to carve out your own appreciation rather than chasing some ideal of how it should be. I'm making music full time during the week, and I play around the world on the weekends. It's going great, if a little tiring. I'm just back from Tokyo, and the previous weekend I was in Russia… the long haul flying takes it toll for sure - that's the real work."

By his own admission, Brendan initially loathed dance music when he began making music in a succession of local rock-orientated groups in Cork. It wasn't until he happened across the now legendary original Detroit techno movement led by the likes of Derrick May, Juan Atkins and Kevin Saunderson, that his view of electronic music changed.

"I got into dance music when I was in college. It was simply right time, right place. I moved in next door to a guy who was a DJ. I was intrigued and he showed me the basics of DJ'ing. I didn't even like the music all that much at first, just the technicality of DJing. The appreciation came soon afterwards. Before that I hated dance music. It was ignorance I guess on my part. But when all you're subjected to is the cheesiest commercial tripe, it's bound to turn you off. It was only when I heard proper underground stuff that I realized what I'd been missing out on.

"Detroit techno grabbed me soon after I started DJ'ing because of the melodies and the power. I've always been a sucker for melodies and Detroit has that in trumps. But it can also be hard and aggressive when it wants to be, and coming from a metal background that also appeals to me very much. It's just a very versatile form of music. There's less rules, and more feeling in my opinion. But it wasn't just Detroit techno that I started playing. I also got into very loopy European techno plus proper electro - oldschool and nuskool electro, and even a smatter of decent electroclash and italo disco, but none of that electro house nonsense.