Headbangers on a high

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Word of mouth is something that works like a charm in the music industry; but when psychedelic-trance group Infected Mushrooms performed in the capital recently, the mood was literally infectious as as attested by the massive turnout and stampede-like situation at Blue Frog.

The Israel-based artists churned out some of their famous tracks and performed till the wee hours. We spoke to the group about their success story in this unusual genre of music.
When they tour as a band there are four musicians on the stage and one sound technician. This time the group performed with Duvdev, Eisen, as well as guitarist Erez Netz and drummer Cary White An excited Duvdev mentions, “We have performed in India more times than I can count. It is like our home away from home. We love being in India, it is always an honour to play in the country that gave us so much inspiration throughout the years.”
The artists, who are busy promoting their new album Army Of Mushrooms, reveal more about their music. Drudev, one of the core members of the group, says, “Psy is part of the music we make and we also like to incorporate elements of rock, breaks and electro. The music is produced in a studio by Erez and me, we then bring the music to our band so we can work out the live performance. Typically our drummer and guitarist have license to jam out, but the tunes you hear on the alum were made by just us two in the studio. Army Of Mushrooms was a natural evolution of our sound — we have always enjoyed guitars, and we are big fans of aggressive forms of electronic music. So incorporating those elements was just a matter of time for us.”
Even though the group has ruled the psy-trance music scenario for a decade, the artists feel it is still a very niche genre. Drudev says, “Psy-trance will continue to be niche for eternity, simply because it isn’t a popular form of EDM. This is what makes Psy so special though it will always be the music of a group of people — the bohemians of dance culture. What we do see happening these days is psychedelic music being incorporated into popular genres and the resurgence of acid/electro house, the explosion of dubstep etc.”
Drudev mentions, “We are always working on our “next album” and we have a number of productions in the works, including a number of exciting collaborations. I think 2013 will be a great year for dance music, and for IM. Performing as an electronic musician in this day and age almost necessitates additional elements of production, whether it be lights or enhanced sound, all the big artists are doing it. We just started touring a brand new 3D mapped visual stage production in North America. It’s spectacular, and hopefully we can one day bring the show to India.”