“This has been one of the best years for Infected Mushroom. Its been successful, Vicious Delicious was great. I have been on vacation for the past two months and the Australian tour is the opening of the year – we are really looking forward to that.”

And so it goes. Duv Dev is such a pleasure to interview. He is generous with his answers and responses, humble, eloquent, endlessly positive and you get this continual feeling that he’s grateful for life and the opportunities that it brought him. And plentiful have those opportunities been: Infected Mushroom are one of the favourite international acts of Australia’s electronic music scene, dating back to their hot sweaty gigs at small clubs, to the seminal performances under a thundering sky at Earthcore. And the 2007 gigs were no exception.

“Both of the gigs in Melbourne last year were brilliant. The Metro of course, the power of the stage, so many people. The Australian crowd really gets into it. The Prince was more of a cosy show. Who knows, maybe we will do a sideshow again this year.” When I suggested that the maybe that particular gig was more like a punk rock show, he responded, “This is exactly what the Infected Mushroom sound like now. It is more of a band feeling… The drums are more together, the guitar is more together. We have been touring together like this for one year now and so the show this time around will be better. From the very beginning, and still today, Infected Mushroom has always been about how are we going to break a dance floor… This is the essence of Infected Mushroom. We still try and stay on an electronic base but there is more of the heavy metal influence. We have so many influences… Linkin Park, System of a Down, Metallica, Simon Ponsford. We listen to so much stuff today.”

When we last spoke in April 2007, infected had recently finished recording with Ray Manzarek, the original keyboardist from The Doors, with the intention of putting some of this remix material on the new album, due out in August 2008. “Nine of the tracks of the new album are ready. At least one of The Doors remixes will make it onto this new album. While I didn’t get to choose which track would be on the album, I am very happy with the one we have done. You will hear it in the show. In this album the guitarist was more involved, the drummer was more involved. Erez and I still do 99% of the composing, but the live drums and the live guitars make an amazing difference.”

For many Infected Mushroom fans, the revolution of the sound from album to album has been a real challenge, particularly between Supervisor and Vicious Delicious. Has the crowd caught up? “Sometimes the old school fans just take a little bit more time to get on board. I remember when we released B.P. Empire, my old school friends, they nearly killed me. But even today they say they miss the B.P. Empire sound. I can understand this, it just takes time to change. Our music is still electronic… There is so much in the genre of electronic; I won’t say trance. It has that heavy influence. The new album has taken [what we did with Vicious Delicious one step further.”

Referring again to 2007, Duv Dev spoke of a creative restlessness, a desire to do more, to expose more people to the Infected Mushroom sound. Since then Infected Mushroom have settled in Los Angeles, got their hands on some of the most sought-after original recording tapes in history (the Doors), and are getting ready for a new album and tour. So where is Infected Mushroom at today? “We started in our own studio. Infected Mushroom is a bit more (financially) comfortable, but we continue to invest the money we make back into Infected Mushroom, to be able to produce that high-end musical sound. This is a dream after so many years, being a band for 10 years, now we can build THAT studio. It’s a wonderful feeling. Its very cool.”

Following the trend of so many other artists that ‘make it’, egos begin to expand, attitudes get in the way and perception to life can begin to alter in response to the extra attention. “I don’t think so. We are still passionate about our music, every day I think about tracks, every day I think about how to dance to it on the dance floor. It’s hard to me to say how this has all affected me. I believe I am still centered, I believe I still have my feet on the ground.”

The coming months for Infected Mushroom are going to be busy with a new website, new videos, new t-shirts and of course production and release of their latest album. Having personally been to more than a few Infected Mushroom shows over the years, from Earthcore to last year’s gigs at the Metro and Prince, I can confirm that we can expect an exciting performance. Get your arse down there for the show of the year!

Infected Mushroom will be playing the following shows around the country…

Sat Feb 23 – Brisbane, Arena
Sun Feb 24 – Sydney, Home Nightclub
Tue Feb 26 – Adelaide, Channel Complex
Thu Feb 28 – Hobart, Syrup Nightclub
Fri Feb 29 – Melbourne, Palace Theatre
Sat Mar 1 – Cairns, Kangaventure
Sun Mar 2 – Perth, Metro City

And check out this amazing footage from some of Infected Mushroom’s recent international gigs…