Only a handful of live electronic music acts retain their ability to be spontaneous and keep it 100% live whilst staying more in touch with their crowd than a catholic priest. I guess the two are one and the same; by being totally flexible, unrehearsed and able to adapt they can react precisely to a crowd’s vibe and energy. Infusion are definitely amongst that handful.

“The crowd makes all the difference. When you see them get really into it then you know you can push it more – you can read if they want it harder or to mellow out. We give it back to them,” says Infusion’s Jamie.

“[Just jamming totally live] really gives us the edge. You can evolve with the crowd and watch what they’re getting into and know what’s really working and adjust. You can create something right there for that particular evening, that gives it the complete edge and it keeps us excited too. Live is really good because it’s so spontaneous, you can come up with something different each time you play – you’ll never come up with that again. I could not imagine playing off anything set, I really don’t know how people can do it. It’s just the way we’ve always done things.”

After humble beginning in Wollongong defined by cheap second-hand synthesisers, the three members of Infusion: Jamie Stevens, Manuel Sharrad and Frank Xavier, have emerged as one of Australia’s premier electronic acts both in the studio and on stage. What has really singled the lads out is their ballistic live sets, which tend to create enough energy to keep a small town going for a week.

“I think [our energy live] is due to nature of how we play. We do jam – nothing is set at all, it’s totally up to us as to what direction we go with a track and how it works with a particular crowd. The more energetic the crowd gets the more energetic we get, you feed off that and change the way we play – each time is very different. We get the energy back from that because we are creating it there on the spot, you get really really in to it!”

Although gaining their sizeable rep as an in-you-face berserk live act, the lads have also spent more than their fair share of time in the studio. After the ARIA nominated Smokescreen and Green, Thunk Recordings became the lads’ home. Their initial 12” Thunkers Weekend Favourites and Flinch gained major international kudos, scoring 5/5 dancing men in Mixmag UK. But the real biz began when they released Spike, a more dark and atmospheric yet still dancefloor savvy tune that found its way into record boxes of visionaries like Digweed, Sasha and Bushwacka.

The single set the vague flavor for the long player Phrases and Numbers, which dropped late 2000. Their debut album saw the lads explore a range of styles, jumping genres and blurring boundaries with stunning and often surprising results.

“We thought we needed to explore different musical avenues that we’d always wanted to, but cant necessarily explore in a 12” or a live set. Live and recording is definitely a twofold thing – we could never take one over the other. We get a lot of fun out of playing live but we got an equal amount out of writing our album; it’s really good to focus on ones’ recorded product, really develop it fully, concentrate on the detail.”

The album explored everything from lush soundscapes through to more pumping affairs, with everything in between included as a bonus. What really caught most peoples ears, and surprised many in the industry, was the sheer breath of their musical style and resistance to be a just breaks, or techno, or house outfit. Put simply they were just Infusion and they weren’t going to fit into any pigeonhole (even if its fur lined and the size of a three car garage).

“People are so concerned with pigeonholes. There’s something about the dance music community that people have to know what style it is. We just use electronics as out tools – I’m gonna sound like a wanker there – but it’s just what we use to get our music out.”

“It depends what kind of format it is when we make the music as to what kind of music we make; when we play live it’s about the energy, having people dancing and having a good time, so it comes out a particular way. We always try to create something that has got this kind of dirtiness and funk to it, no matter what kind of style it is. We try not to put too many barriers up by just doing a particular style.”

And it seems the formula, or lack thereof, seems to be working with international remix demands streaming in, rave reviews and bigtime DJ affiliation for their last two 12s Fallen Angel and Legacy, tracks coming on Freeland’s Marine Parade label, a wad of nominations at the Australian Dance Music Awards (a nearly coincidental acronym…I think not!) and amazing responses to their live sets both at home and across the world - the response from the US, UK and Japan overwhelming the lads.

“It pretty surreal. It’s fantastic that people know what we’ve done, and we get feed back that Hybrid are really big fans, and we’re kinda like ‘na na na na no, it doesn’t work that way’. It makes you realise how universal this music is, it brings everything together and you realise why you’re doing it: that is does get to people.”

Infusion are 100% live for Twisted Republic @ ANU (Canberra) on the 8th June alongside John Creamer and a bagful of locals, as well as regular sets around the country.