Having clocked up more than 150,000 album sales, racking up 3 gold albums and one platinum album since their inception in 1997, Infected Mushroom are THE most successful outfit on the psy-trance scene at present.

Infected Mushroom are Erez Aizen and Amit Devdevani (nicknamed Duvdev) two globe trotting, party smashing producers specialising in releasing the most cutting edge electronic dance music onto the global dance floor.

Here in the UK, Infected Mushroom appear exclusively for Antiworld and launch their fifth (yes fifth!) artist album ‘IM The Supervisor’ by headlining the monstrous psy-trance bash ‘Paradise City 001’ at Alexandra Palace in December.

Track It Down caught up with the ‘Shroom’ during their once in a blue moon day off at home in their native Israel… but instead of letting them unwind for the day, we got ‘em to answer a load of questions…

TID: It's safe to say you're at the top within the psy community, what is the next step for Infected Mushroom - are you actively pushing to become a mainstream act?

IM: no, all the time we just make what we really like, and luckily we had quite a big success with it. The only thing that we really care about is to make people go mental on the dancefloor every time.

TID: Have you changed the sound or the way you arrange your tracks to suit a wider audience?

IM: in general we always try to change our sound, but defiantly not to suit a larger audience. For the psy community we might be considered more commercial with some of our last tracks, mainly because we used some vocals, but the reason we made was just to add a new sound to our tracks because its really hard to innovate and bring new sounds to every track, after all its our 5th album.

TID: Do you think mainstream recognition will affect your status within the psy community?

IM: Most of the old school psy lovers will not support us or anyone else that will be titled as a ‘mainstream act’ but the majority of the people don’t really care, it's all about music after all no matter what scene you are.

TID: The online psy community are only too quick to moan at those who are successful producers, saying things like 'you shouldn't be doing it to make money' what is your response to this?

IM: Funny that you say that because the upcoming album name is "Puking On Moaning People"

TID: As a relative newcomer to psy trance, we’ve been blown away with the vibrancy of the scene. You’re spoilt with quality music and fantastic parties! Where has been your favourite place to play in the last year and of all the festivals and parties across the globe, which would you recommend as a must?

IM: The No.1 place for partying is Israel, without a doubt the wildest events happen in Israel, other than that we can say that 2nd most favoured place is Japan.

TID: Why is psy trance so popular in Israel?

IM: We think that its because of the constant political tension in Israel, during weekends people simply go out in order to forget all their daily stress, and a psy trance rave is one of the best cures for that.

TID: Does living in Israel effect you production?

IM: Of course. when you produce in a place where you have the best parties, food and Girls it just makes everything more easy. That’s why you can find most of the best psy trance producers in Israel.

TID: Do you try to get a message across in your music?

IM: No. we just hope that people will like it and will be able to produce a joy from it :)

TID: Are you good cooks, if so what is your speciality?

IM: we are both horrible in cooking!!! Isn't McDonald's a well-known chef?? ;)

TID: Travelling the globe constantly must tire you guys out... What is the life of a superstar act really like?

IM: We are two monsters that never get tired, and we don’t consider our selves as superstars at all. We run hectic but rather normal life with the exception that most weekends we're out of the country performing somewhere on the globe, we're not being picked in limo's, this lifestyle doesn't attract us at all, we're respected for being a good example where a psy-trance act works its way up within 8 years to a stage where we're at the top of this scene, superstars we're not!
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TID: MP3 downloading is being touted as the next step in buying music. Do you think it is a good thing?

IM: It’s a great thing…

TID: As an artist, do you see it as a profitable way to survive?

IM: If you succeed so yes. If not, no. But hopefully we will be able to make just music and live from it.

TID: Do you buy online?

IM: We just bought plug-ins online (for music making) but we never bought music yet.

TID: Finally, you're launching your latest album 'IM The Supervisor' at Paradise City... what can we expect from your live set?

IM: You can expect to hear and see our new guitarist called "Erez Netz" (No.1 Guitar player in Israel), he's the latest addition to the Infected crew, also we will perform the complete album with some remixes from older projects and maybe some new tunes from projects ahead. Also the main thing is to watch closely and catch us dance - live !! :))))

Thanks guys, now feel free to put your feet up and relax… As mentioned above after selling out the Brixton Academy in April, Infected Mushroom return to the UK for their second live performance at ‘Paradise City 001’ at Alexandra Palace on Sat Dec 4th. For more info visit www.antiworld.net

Words: Tom Real & Evy Magoulas.