In With the New

What is it about inspiration? Some days, you can't find it even if it were standing smack in front of you, and other days, it sneaks up behind you and plops right down in your lap.

Roland picked up the guitar last week and together we wrote three new songs. It never ceases to amaze me how our music develops and changes through the years, and these new songs are a whole new direction for us, yet again. It's not exactly pop, not exactly rock, it's not exactly anything. Bare naked soul, that's what I call it.

You see, we just can't stick to one genre. We both think music is too diverse and awesome to confine ourselves to only one style, which admittedly, can be confusing for some, but a breath of fresh air for others. But you know, trying to make music with the sole purpose of pleasing every single person who hears it is an exercise in futility. We make music because we can't not make music, and that music comes from heart and soul, regardless of genre.

I'm looking forward to playing live and intimate on Saturday June 30th at my old stomping grounds, 't Paardcafé in Den Haag. I spent many a late night and early morning there, attended concerts there, even performed there in my early 20's as a very ambitious and spotlight-happy young woman. The thought of jumping back up on those boards again with a whole new musical message to convey sends me straight into the 'lake of me' - wow, have I come a long way.

So with all these old memories going on, I guess the need for something new was too strong to ignore. Old times, new songs. Makes sense to me.

How It All Began...

Recently, I discovered inside a folder in a folder in a folder on my Mac, a folder full of our very first recordings. It's been so much fun, rediscovering our 'older' songs, some of which I've uploaded to our Soundcloud account.

This was us, back in 2001! When Roland and I met in 1998, we collaborated on a studio R&B project together, but were getting nowhere fast. It was actually 9/11 that changed the way we lived our lives, and how we made music...

After that tragic event, Roland and I walked around in a daze, like everybody. The only way we knew how to cope with our grief, anger and frustration, was to make music.

Roland grabbed a guitar that had been gathering dust in the corner of the living room (despite being a multi-instrumentalist, it was the only instrument he'd never played before). We wrote and recorded this song the very next day...
"Don't Let People Walk Away"
It's been exactly ten years, and we've been through some serious highs and lows since then. I remember how good it felt, that we found a way to communicate through heart and soul, which has always been our goal as musicians, and as a family.

Rediscovering our musical past has been a journey back in time - I've been reminiscing about the people we touched, the awesome venues and tours we played and, of course, the music we made.

We've come a long way, and our musical past is very much a part of who we are now - I can't wait for you to hear it.

Download any of these tracks free on Soundcloud!

Take Her Home 
Rosie's Cafe 
Suddenly 
Any Day Now 
Never Mind

Because We Love You...

Here's a Valentine's Day gift for you!
Download FREE the lullaby for lovers, 'Wake Up and Dream' from our EP The Orcas Sessions! This romantic duet is just the song to surprise the one you love on February 14th. Enjoy!

February Give-Away!
Every month, we dedicate the title track of our debut album 'Won't Give Up' to an especially inspiring person or organization that teaches us the meaning of never giving up when it comes to making dreams come true and changing the world.
Now, we are asking YOU: Who would you dedicate 'Won't Give Up' to?
Who or what inspires you to never give up reaching for the stars and achieving goals?
Tell us who teaches you to never give up and why, and you could win a personalized video performance of your favorite This is lizzard song!
Come on, let's inspire each other!! You can send us an e-mail, or tell us on our Facebook page.
The winner will be announced on February 29th.

This month, This is lizzard dedicates 'Won't Give Up' to War Child, an organization that helps change the lives of children all over the world. Dutch Radio 538 has started a musical campaign in collaboration with War Child that we support 100%!



Help This is lizzard Reach the World!

Our Sponsume campaign to reach thousands of new listeners with our music will be closing in a few weeks, so if you want to be instrumental in helping us reach the world, go have a look at our project now! In exchange for a donation, you will receive free music, video performances and more, not to mention our eternal gratitude and credit here on the site! 




Thanks so much for your support and love! You rock!
Lizanne & Roland
This is lizzard

Here's to YOU!

It's the first day of 2012, and I haven't made a single resolution. Thing is, I don't believe in resolutions, because they imply you've been doing something wrong all year long.
I believe in dreams, and never giving up in achieving them.

And, I love the fact that I'm not alone. I've met so many inspiring musicians this past year who have reminded me why I love making music so much. So this month, the very first month of 2012, we are dedicating the title track of our debut album 'Won't Give Up' to the independent musician.

Here's to the creative spirit who creates to survive, not to pay bills.

Here's to the inspirational individual who can't stop expressing him-or-herself, no matter what obstacles may lie in his-or-her path.

Here's to the determined artist who will never give up reaching for the stars.

Here's to you and all that you will create in 2012 and many more years to come!

Time to Reflect

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!