Robotnik is Chris Morrin, a highly challenged boy from Dublin.

Possessed, unhinged and strikingly original, Robotnik channels a more furious Beck, a more sporadic David Byrne and through a frenzied mix of lyrical laughs, YouTube adventures and outrageous live shows, has become one of the rare wonders of the Irish music scene.

The terminally wild Robotnik has had many jobs in his time, from assisting his stand-up comedian father on stage as a lad to the construction line in a nut factory to a telesales post that earned him €800 a week (which he promptly squandered on pills). A stint working in a fruit and veg market brought about the perfect moniker for the musician, when his Polish counterparts dubbed him Mr. Robotnik (Polish for worker). The word struck a chord. Morrin liked what it represented – an insatiable appetite for one’s labour. As he groans on ‘A Secret Cake Experience’; ‘I am always wanting more…’

Baby Robotnik was a giddy loner; an introspective young pup from Baldoyle with a semi-serious pornography addiction and an indisputably serious chocolate addiction, both of which he has carried with him into his 20s. “I always found where my parents had hidden the chocolate – it was a running thing where I would get fatter and fatter. Then they had the clever idea of putting the chocolate into a suitcase, locking it and putting it under my own bed. Eventually, I found it and when I was looking for the key and that’s when I found these porno mag’s. That was that really – my innocence just went out the window”.

‘I was an only child so there was nothing going on but Chris. Then I met this guy Paul and he had two friends Darragh and Steve – they were the first people who I felt like I wanted to hang around with. I bought a guitar for like £40 and that’s when I started doing music, just to keep friends. I wasn’t even thinking ‘I want to be a songwriter’. It was just not in my head.”

Morrin spent the remainder of his teenage years fronting “Weezer-esque” Dublin foursome the Wesleys with his new mates, before getting thrown into the Dublin singer songwriter scene. “Everyone was doing this Damien Rice-style music and I ended up getting sucked into it a little bit. I released an EP as Chris Morrin called The Mucky Kid EP because my Mam used to sing me a Cilla Black song called ‘Mucky Kid’ to put me to sleep all the time. It was a very sincere EP. That’s when I started taking a lot of drugs. I stopped doing music and I lost my head a little bit.

“It was a really weird situation”, Morrin admits. “I just stayed at home, I was on anti-depressants for a year and I was really not well. But after that I felt like I could get on with my life, I was happy just to be doing music again.”

And so began a love affair with all things electronic; Today, the noise Robotnik makes is a mental adventure of pop, electronic beats and melodic musings on relationships, fantasies and twenty something-dom; “Music is possibly the best art form.” Morrin enthuses. “It’s just the most amazing thing because you can’t hold it and see it or taste it. It’s pretty amazing. I love the universe. I love how the universe works. I’m big into quantum physics and I love how sound works. I just think it’s incredible how a car alarm can be instantly horrible and how Beethoven can be instantly beautiful.”

The buzz around debut album, 2008’s Pleasant Square, soon scored the young Dubliner support slots with Crystal Castles, Telepathe and Laura Marling, and the video for single ‘People Walk Away’ was quickly snapped up by MTV2 in the UK.

Somewhat of a Renaissance man for the electro-pop era, Morrin continues to thrive on his worker status. He hosts Robotnik’s Random Rampage, a radio show on national broadcaster RTE, and is in talks to present his own TV series. He is also something of an internet phenomenon, having garnered a dedicated following with his vBlogs and web casts. And all this while perfecting the cornerstone of his act; a truly unique live performance.

To enter a Robotnik show is to offer up your senses on a plate, as well as your dignity. During ‘Pat The Baker’ he famously ravages a loaf of bread at the audience; at various points he’ll be rolling around on the venue floor, drenching the crowd with a super soaker and generally just tearing the place apart.

Recalling his first performance as Robotnik, he says; “All my mates were just like ‘What the fuck are you doing?’ They just thought it was stupid. But it was something different, I didn’t want to just sit there with a guitar. When I think about that moment, I realise I definitely have gone way out there on the edge of things now.”

Veering even closer to the edge, Morrin is currently in the process of recording his experimental second album; “I’m writing a lot about my primal needs at this point. It’s pretty harsh what I’m writing about at the moment.”

Throughout 2009, Robotnik has developed into a powerful two-man live force with the addition of producer and collaborator Martin Osborne, whom Morrin lovingly refers to as his “extra hard drive.”

“We decided to build a huge desk to make the whole thing more visually appealing. Sonically, there’s so much scope for the duo to develop into other things, it’s something that can definitely evolve over time.”

‘I know I can bring it to another level. For example, the band Underworld that I love so much – it’s just two guys on stage with a big massive desk, lots of visuals, a nice big sound. People love to dance and ultimately, I just love it when people move.“

While Morrin and Osborne perform frequently as a duo, Robotnik also operates as an intimate one-man show.

“The solo show is very up close. It’s so personal. I did a show in Berlin in a living room – 40 Germans this side of me, 40 Germans this side of me. I’m standing in the middle of the room in a house and it’s like a lecture. It’s not really like a gig, it’s an occasion and it’s really, really special. There’s 60-year-old men there, there’s old couples and then there’s children as well. It engages all type of people.”

‘Whether I do a band show or a solo show, my biggest thing is just connecting with people. For me, the biggest thrill I get is to communicate with people and feel like they can go home and they’ve been entertained and feel like they’ve experienced something original and special and someone that’s just… honest. That’s all I want.”

ROBOTNIK’s as of yet untitled EP including single ‘People Walk Away’ gets its German release in March 2010.

Debut album Pleasant Square will be released in Germany in April 2010, with a German tour following in May 2010.

“Nobody else could get away with what he does.” – State Magazine, 2009

“The whole thing’s a load of glorious bollocks and what should be pure novelty becomes one of the city’s most enthralling live shows.” – Hot Press Magazine, 2009

“Robotnik’s upbeat tunes are brilliantly bonkers and sweet, and should be investigated immediately by all persons interested in dancing around like loons.” – BBC Northern Ireland, 2009

“What the fuck is he gonna do with that loaf of bread?” – Various spectators, 2006-2009