Electronic band Infected Mushroom plays its first Athens show tonight. The group, formed in 1996, toured worldwide.

'Mushrooms' to infect crowd of fans

By: ANNA KRAKOVSKI

Posted: 10/10/07

The effects an infected mushroom may have on the human body upon consumption are questionable.

Erez Eizen and Amit Duvdevani of the band Infected Mushroom may have previously dabbled in the fungus, but Duvdevani said psychedelics are not what inspire the Israeli electronic trance musicians.

"Some people call [our music] psychedelic, we call it electronic," Duvdevani said. "And it [might] go with drugs, but is not influenced by them."

Coincidentally, certain Infected Mushroom songs bear evident psychedelic references, like "Drop Out" on the album "Converting Vegetarians."

The song begins with an excerpt from a speech by Timothy Leary, a 1960s psychologist and a strong advocate of psychedelic research and use, who coined the phrase, "turn on, tune in, drop out."

Since its formation in 1996, Infected Mushroom has toured all over the world.

In the last year, the band has been to festivals like Coachella and Virgin, and will be performing at Vegoose in Las Vegas later this month.

Although Infected Mushroom has played in Atlanta several times, tonight will be its first show in Athens.

Duvdevani said the duo likes to break into new markets, and he considers Athens to be just that.

INFECTED MUSHROOM

When: 10 tonight
Where: Georgia Theatre
More Information: www.georgiatheatre.com
Price: $17

He and Eizen will be bringing Tom Cunningham, an American guitarist who has been playing shows with them since 2004, and Brazilian percussionist Rogério Jardim.

"Everything is live. The computer is in the middle of the stage, but nobody really touches it," Duvdevani said. "The computer is a ready arrangement and we play above it."

Infected Mushroom, like most electronic groups, has a wide variety of equipment to help ignite its musical genius.

Duvdevani said he sits on the Internet everyday and constantly searches for new apparatuses.

"We've collected equipment since the beginning of time. [We have] 11 years of plug-ins and computer stuff," Duvdevani said. "When new stuff comes out, we get it. This is what we like [to do]. We are basically collectors of gear - anything you can come up with, we have it."

The continuous additions to the equipment collection and innovative inspirations - wherever they may come from - keep the group's sound progressing with every album.

"'Converting Vegetarians' was a mixture of everything put on two CDs," Duvdevani said. "'Vicious Delicious' (the newest album) is one CD with a lot of styles on it - we took [the CD] to a more diverse level."

Fans can expect to see the group's music in a new light tonight.

"The live show is much more intense than the CD," said Duvdevani. "We're going to expect to blow the place up. Let's hope the crowd is ready."

Christopher Escobar, a freshman from Alpharetta, is more than eager to take on the challenge.

"I'm expecting the show to have other kids who like to listen to some techno [and electronic], which is great because I've kind of noticed that this isn't exactly mainstream music, as far as UGA is concerned," he said. "I like Infected Mushroom because they are the epitome of GOA Trance. They have everything Trance does, with more awesome added in."