Space Shift

Internet Is Dead Release ‘Zine About Time Travel

Fringe ArtsAshley Opheim — Published October 5, 2010

“I really love it. I think it’s all tied together with living a creative lifestyle and how it is easy to feel alienated from the ‘norm’ of today’s society,” said Erik Zuuring. “To me that feeling just comes out in frequencies.”

Sami Charlebois, another third of Internet Is Dead disagreed. “I don’t believe that it’s a new trend in music,” he said. “It’s more a goal of sharing colours that you never saw in life, or touching substances that you have never touched before, or [experiencing] senses you have never felt.
“Deep seas and space are so unknown. I see them as the biggest trances that your brain could reach.”

Internet Is Dead is an emerging artistic collective in Montreal ran under the reigns of Zuuring, Charlebois and recent addition Borden Phelps.
Although Zuuring and Charlebois met a mere three months ago, their first meeting, as Zuuring explained, “was like a cosmic explosion.”

The name, Internet Is Dead, just “came out” one night while the two were planning an issue of their ‘zine Time Travel Yes! “It’s kind of funny because right now we rely on the Internet as our framework. We are all so attached to the Internet these days [but] it’s important to see the yonder to that.”

Charlebois added that “killing the Internet could be a new era. It would be so funny to see the whole Earth’s reaction.”

Originally conceived as a ‘zine project, Internet Is Dead has quickly evolved into something much greater.

“One night it hit us. [We thought], why don’t we turn this into something more?” said Zuuring. “From there we went around talking to our friends about it and we decided then and there to build a spaceship of creativity.”

Right now their crew consists of young artists and musicians from both francophone and anglophone backgrounds. “We really want to bridge the language barrier between the scenes of Montreal,” said Charlebois.

The collective is run out of their Plateau apartments and creative space the Torn Curtain. For the sake of this collective, let’s hope it doesn’t end up where similar setups such as Lab Synthèse and the Friendship Cove did—shut down due to police interference and hefty fines.
They view Montreal’s newest effort to quiet down the city, deemed Project Noise, ridiculous. “The last thing the city should be doing is trying to dampen the prosperous music scene,” said Zuuring.

“We will fight against it,” he added. “Live in the suburbs if you hate sound.”

Phelps, who acts as Internet Is Dead’s producer, explained that the places he and his friends go to se shows are either venues that aren’t licensed to foster shows or illegal venues altogether.

Part of Project Noise’s platform is that they want clubs and venues to invest in soundproofing. “I can tell you as someone who has built studios and has a background in acoustic engineering that soundproofing is extremely expensive and hardly ever effective,” Phelps said.
“To isolate sound to the extent where nothing above 50db (what the law requires) can be heard outside would be impossible for a lot of places,” he continued.

Phelps doesn’t believe that the law is the answer to noise control.

“The answer is for the people who made these 5,000 noise complaints last month to move the fuck out of the Plateau and go live in the suburbs or the country. Or, you know, wear earplugs or move into a soundproofed apartment,” Phelps said.

“If you want to live in a building that’s 100 years old in a neighborhood where you can walk to restaurants and bars and shops, you’re probably going to be subjected to noise.”

A statement well suited to a collective who are all “noise driven and experimental,” as Phelps explained.

One integral aspect of the label is the idea of community. Internet Is Dead exists for and is dependent on creative collaboration.

“Basically to us it’s like a big family that gives everyone the accessibility to really do what they love,” Zuuring said.

Adding to this collective effort, Internet Is Dead wants to bridge the gaps between artistic endeavors in Montreal. Their ‘zine, Time Machine Yes! will soon be releasing interviews with local bands from Montreal label Arbutus Records. “The whole idea of our group is to showcase and support the Montreal community,” Zuuring said.

At the moment, all their artwork is done internally. However, they are eager to work alongside other spacey Montreal artists, labels and creative seekers.

Internet Is Dead’s first EP release is happening this Thursday with Voices by Cop Car Bonfire and the EP Fiercefields by CKRCKR.
Some other things they have planned for the near future is to expand their website. “We a have a series of short video profiles on local artists and bands, the first installments of which will be posted by the middle of the month,” Phelps said. “We also intend on organizing some art shows and film screenings in the near future.”

Internet Is Dead is throwing a party to celebrate their first issue of Time Travel Yes! The event will take place this Friday at a secret location.Local bands Flow Child (from Pop Winds), SuperFossilPower, Cop Car Bonfire and CKRCKR will be playing, followed by a DJ set. The event is bring your own beer and pay what you can. Be proactive about finding out the secret location.

This article originally appeared in Volume 31, Issue 08, published October 5, 2010.