Infected Mushroom Defend Dubstep, Say They're 'Bored' by Other Music

Posted on Oct 19th 2011 5:00PM by Anupa Mistry
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Courtesy of Infected Mushroom

Prolific, as constantly touring DJs should be, Infected Mushroom have been creating and releasing music virtually every year since their inception in 1997. 'Pink Nightmares' is the psytrance group's frantic, pop-tinged 2011 showpiece. Formed in the Israeli port city of Haifa, Infected Mushroom has since relocated to Los Angeles -- a nod to the group's success and tendency toward stitching together seemingly disparate genres like metal and pop with their brand of hypnotic trance. With an American tour about to launch, founding member Erez Eisen talks with Spinner about the resurgence of electronic music, dubstep and the difference between European and North American scenes.

What are your thoughts on the commercial resurgence of electronic music?

It doesn't affect us in the sense of "Lets do something commercial or stupid that everyone will like." If we make stupid stuff it's because we like it and it's fun. We've done some dubstep tracks, too. Lots of people are saying because dubstep is big it means you're getting commercial as well. But, to be honest, we like the sound a lot; we're big fans of Skrillex and Nero. I don't see Skrillex as a commercial artist at all. He's difficult to listen to at times but he's also No. 1 on iTunes in the dance charts -- he's commercial like Prodigy used to be, in a good way.

Has your style of mixing genres, from metal to dubstep, helped or hindered you?

People that follow us know not to expect too much because we try to do things that don't sound like the album before -- I do believe we've succeeded in that. So this is hopefully how we educate our fans. I was so happy to discover dubstep because I was bored, to be honest. I like rock, pop, hip-hop, psytrance. I like Deadmau5 a lot. But after you listen to these things for so many years, you want something fresh. I was really happy when Skrillex came around, and Pendulum as well, who are more drum'n'bass. It's something that wasn't there before and I hope to hear more like that.

How has the scene grown or changed since your start?

In the U.S., the growth of big festivals like Electric Daisy Carnival has made the biggest change. So many people are coming, and lots of young people, which is really important.

Infected Mushroom relocated from Israel to North America: how do the two scenes vary?

In Europe, it's been big from the early '90s -- even before that -- so it's nothing new, they're not so excited. In America, I want to say that electronic music is getting discovered on a larger scale in the past seven years and people are getting excited about it. I've also performed in other places like Japan, Brazil and Mexico when it was fresh, and you really feel that vibe.

Watch Infected Mushroom's 'Pink Nightmares' Video
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