With
only a couple more days left in 2011, I find myself reminiscing about
how we started out, and what we've been through since we did. This is
the time of year for reflection, and I want to share with you the whole
This is lizzard story...
When I met Roland, I was blown away by his professionalism and
experience. By the time our paths crossed, he'd already toured in
theaters with his own formation, worked with some of the greatest
artists in the Netherlands, won numerous awards, studied here and abroad
under the best of the best. He was made to make music, and has had
years of training doing just that. I, on the other hand, am completely
self-taught. I've never had a singing lesson, but have developed my own
techniques over the years to improve and control my voice. Singing has
always been a very personal thing for me, something I kept to myself. It
was Roland's belief in me and my voice that coaxed me out of the
closet!
Back in the late 90's, at exactly this time of year, Roland and I made
music for the very first time together with one very clear goal in mind:
we wanted to score a hit. Big time. He had the music, I had the lyrics
and the voice - nothing could stop us. We wrote lots of tunes, sent them
to all the record labels (and there were
way more than just three back then) with no luck. Our music, which was technically spot-on, lacked one essential ingredient:
soul.
It took a catastrophe for us to realize what we were doing wrong. 9/11
affected us as it did most people - it forced us to turn inwards and
look at who we were, and what we were doing. In order to cope with our
emotions, we expressed ourselves with music. Music that came directly
from heart and soul. We dropped the facade and 'lizzard' was born.
Unfortunately,
it didn't take long before another disaster occurred. Just as we were
well on our way to conquering the music scene back in 2003, I went and
got hit by a car which brought everything came to a screeching halt.
Roland spent the majority of his time perfecting his recording-studio
techniques while I recovered in a wheelchair. Whoever said 'life is what
happens when you're busy making other plans' hit the nail on the head.
Times were tough, we were forced to prioritize and our music got pushed
to the back burner for a long time. So long, in fact, we sort of forgot
how to do it.
I
guess we needed a reminder of why we ever started making music together
in the first place. That reminder turned out to be a little slice of
paradise on Earth called Orcas Island. From the very first moment we
stepped on 'The Rock', it's been our home away from home and our
geological muse, so to speak. We met Gene, the third member of the
group, who completes our music in a way no other musician could. For us,
Orcas is synonymous with making music, and the bulk of our new material
was - and probably will be - written there.
Not long after we discovered the most motivational place on Earth, we
found another source of inspiration, possibly even more powerful than
any other: our children. We had our daughter Mia in 2006 and our son
Bram in 2008, who teach us daily to live in the here and now, and to
laugh. I mean
really laugh. And to make music. Armed with
perpetual sources of inspiration, love and skill, Roland and I
re-introduced ourselves in 2011 as 'This is lizzard'. This year alone,
we managed to record, produce and release two albums! Finally.
I'm not a black-and-white-minded kind of person, but I do think there
are basically two types of musicians. There are those who make music
with the purpose of scoring a hit, going viral, becoming rich and famous
(even if it is for five minutes), and then there are those who make
music because they simply can't
not make music. We started out in
that first category, but now I place myself and Roland firmly in the
latter with all my heart and soul.
Sure, we'd like everyone in the world to hear our music (which is why we started our
crowd-funding project on Sponsume),
and yeah, we'd like to be able to pay our bills like any other
struggling independent musician, but our ultimate goal lies in composing
and executing the song.
Just the song. When the song is done, so are we. On to the next.
There are so many reasons to write a song, and we've got a whole lot of songs brewing in us yet, just yearning to come out.
I can't wait to hear them.
So here's to the good things that have come from the years before us,
and to the anticipation of the good things yet to come in the years
ahead.
Wishing you love and music in 2012, from the bottoms of our hearts.
Lizanne and Roland
This is lizzard
p.s. The new EP
'The Orcas Sessions' is on sale till the end of the year on bandcamp - that's all 6 MP3s + artwork + lyrics + Christmas in Summertime video for only $2.99! Use the code 'tosmas' at checkout and enjoy!
We performed for the first time with an excellent musician, Jayson Bouwens, pictured here. It was great performing as a trio again - as most of you know, we've only ever performed with Gene Nery as a trio in the Pacific Northwest. It's awesome having a versatile and dedicated musician like Jayson to perform with here in the Netherlands.
