INTERVIEW: Chris Lanzon Gives Advice On Life, Love And How To Move On
Chris Lanzon. Photo supplied.
If you asked me to pick an artist whose music captures the feelings of 2020 the best, I’d say Sydney singer/songwriter Chris Lanzon. He’s released a string of singles this year, as well as his debut EP Melancholy, and each of his releases are heartbreakingly fragile. However, they also leave you with the resolve to keep on fighting. Chris is a lover, not a fighter, but he’s taken a few punches from life in his time. Despite that, he’s gotten up every single time.
His new single New York, Falling Apart, captures his all-too-brief relationship with the city of New York. Like the rest of his music, the lyrics for the new single draw from lived experiences, and you can feel Chris’ emotions with every word. He’s able to capture a time and place in his music that transports you there, and places you in Chris’ shoes.
To celebrate the release of New York, Falling Apart, I spoke to Chris about his 2020, the story behind New York, Falling Apart and how he mended his broken heart. I also spoke to Chris about being an artist in Australia, and the effects that streaming services have on an artist trying to find their place in the world.
Ben Madden: Firstly, can you introduce yourself and your music?
Chris Lanzon: For sure! My name is Chris and I make music. I write & produce all my stuff in my home studio space.
I like to take my experiences and emotions and turn them into songs to give them a place to be liberated, and hopefully through doing so, create an opportunity to make someone else’s life a little bit better when they hear it.
You’ve released a lot of music this year – how have you managed to channel the events of 2020 into writing music, and have you found you’ve had more time to write than you might have otherwise had?
It’s been exciting to start getting my music out into the world this year, as crazy as the circumstances have been. The first EP, Melancholy, felt strangely relevant to what a lot of us were feeling through lockdown. As I tend to write about my current experiences and emotions, I guess the events of 2020 naturally worked their way into the songs.
Everest was very much about feeling stuck and overwhelmed, and writing that song was a way for me to deal with those feelings through lockdown. New York, Falling Apart similarly reflects on a nostalgic longing for the past world (pre-pandemic), which feels almost foreign now.
New York, Falling Apart was inspired by a brief visit to NYC – what was it about that trip that stood out to you?
I was lucky to visit NYC on my way to LA last year for a short writing trip. It was my first time being there and I was only there for a few days. I wish I had more time to explore and get to know the city. From first impressions, the scale of the city blew me away - and the diversity of people from fashion, to food, to lifestyles.
Riding the Subway into the city from Brooklyn each day was an experience you don’t get in Australia. There were so many interesting characters everywhere you went. I’m not even big fan of cities, but New York felt so alive. That whole experience was eye-opening.
The song also talks about the desperation behind salvaging a broken relationship – what advice would you give to readers about moving on from a relationship?
That’s a tough one. I’ve been in situations where I feel super attached to someone and the feeling isn’t reciprocated. I think in those cases it can become pretty toxic and one-sided, and it’s best to let it go. I think the best way to move on is to focus on bettering yourself, and more deeply understanding yourself. Read some books!
I personally loved reading The Alchemist and The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck recently, they’ve helped me through a lot. Try meditating, solo walks/drives, blast music, or listen to nature… just spend time with yourself to heal. Remember that you can’t fully love someone else until you love yourself.
You’re playing your first headline show as part of the Great Southern Nights gig series – how have you been preparing for the occasion?
I am! In like a week!!! (Nov 27th). I’m pretty nervous, but mainly just so excited about the opportunity. I didn’t think I would get to play a show this year, especially with all that’s happened, so it is pretty surreal.
I think the Great Southern Nights initiative is super cool and it is great to see live music being supported by the Government. I’ve been rehearsing every day and am so excited to play all my music live for the first time ever. There’s still a few tickets left if anyone reading this wants to come along!
Your music draws from a range of genres – where do you see yourself sitting in the Australian music landscape, and how do you view the Australian music industry?
I arrived at my current sound through a bunch of experimenting and eventually getting to a place that felt natural and instinctive; true to me. I do draw from a lot of genres, because I’m inspired by such a wide range of music. I’m excited to keep developing my sound, that’s the part of songwriting I love the most.
Right now in the Australian music landscape, I feel I’m sitting in a space of being one of the few emerging artists who write, produce and mix all of their own music themselves. I think this puts me in a unique position where everything listeners hear within my music was performed by me, and each sound serves an entirely intentional purpose. I’m super inspired by other artists who embrace this process, and it’s cool to see more of them appearing within the Australian scene.
Streaming services have been a hot topic of conversation recently. As an emerging musician, do you think these streaming services have a positive or negative effect on your career, and how do you best utilise the features of streaming?
I think it’s a mix of both positive and negative effects. Streaming has opened up a world of opportunity for the discovery of emerging musicians. Listeners no longer need to buy a song or album to see if they like it, they instead have access to almost every artist’s entire catalogue, pretty much for free!
This means more people can listen to more music, which is exciting for emerging artists like me to get discovered. I make the most of services like Spotify and Apple Music by regularly updating my visuals on the platforms, curating engaging playlists for my audience, and making my profile an inviting space that tells new listeners who I am and what I’m about. That’s super important to me.
On the downside, streaming pays about $0.004 per stream to artists, if that. So doing the maths, releasing music is no longer a very profitable thing - so it makes it really tough for new artists like me to stay afloat and to keep making music. And now Spotify may be bringing in a Payola type system… which I’m not sure how to feel about.
I think generally with patience, quality and consistency, the positive aspects of streaming platforms are a great tool to (hopefully) help emerging artist’s fanbases to blossom, and allow their music reach people it otherwise wouldn’t have.
Apart from music, how have you been keeping yourself busy in 2020, and do you have any hobbies that fans might not know about/expect?
It’s been mainly music occupying my time this year. I’ve been writing, recording and mixing my next EP. But I think outside of that, one thing I’ve really gotten into recently is house plants, believe it or not!
My bedroom and studio are full of them now, which keeps nature present in my space, and it just feels nice having something to care for and tend to, and watching them grow is strangely rewarding?? Haha that sounds so weird for me to say. Does this make me old now? That I care about plants? Oh boy.
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Finally, what are the next few steps for you, both personally and music-wise?
Personally, I want to keep growing and keep learning about life, about myself, about my relationships. I think life is a constant journey of growing and that excites me. I hope to take a little time off in the new year to go on a road trip and get away for a few days, as I’ve spent so much of this year inside.
Music-wise, right now I’m focusing on preparing for the show next week! After that I’m going to finish off the next EP and plan its release for early next year. Hopefully the pandemic restrictions will ease in 2021 and I can do some sort of tour. That would be awesome.