Artist On Artist: Chris Lanzon And Ber Discuss The Power Of The 'Cover', Internet Friendships & Being Kinder To Yourself

You’ve never truly known the depths of beauty, whimsy and longing that music can hold until you’ve heard the dulcet tones and heartfelt writing of Eora-based singer-songwriter Chris Lanzon and US-based singer-songwriter Ber. 

Together, they’re a force unaccounted for – like a rare seashell on the shoreline, or an undiscovered gem in a cave of stone. That glimmer of light and colour that shines through darkness is the best description for the works of Lanzon and Ber together.

Lanzon has been on the up-and-up for several years, consistently releasing an array of EPs that trail the sounds of indie/acoustic pop and alternative rock. With a pen that cuts deep, the artist has been able to speak to an attentive audience from all over the world. Most recently, his words found solace in the heart and mind of Ber, who praised Lanzon for his song You’ll Find It, which caught fire on TikTok this year. In September, Lanzon released his EP Angel Litany, his song Lilo captivating Ber further, so much so, that she took to social media to release a tender cover of the song. This sparked a wave of online covers from fans and pushed for an extended version of the song featuring the musing of both artists.

A distant dream soon became reality for those fans as Lanzon officially released the extended version of Lilo featuring Ber last week, bringing the already touching track to new heights.

In light of their collaboration, Chris Lanzon and Ber get together to talk about the power of the internet, covering major tracks and self preservation. 

Chris: Where do we even start? Maybe I’ll start with the first question. Wouldn’t that be crazy? We've spoken a lot about the internet and the kind of love hate relationship we have with social media as artists. But for all it's- oh, f*ck, this feels so weird reading questions. laughs 

Ber: It's okay. It's just weird because we're friends, which is a good thing. So that's fair. 

Chris: Okay. For all its negatives, the internet can be pretty magical too. We wouldn't have met if I hadn't posted a snippet of Lilo that you happened to stumble across, right? Do you remember when you first came across my stuff? 

Ber: Yes. Well, I remember I was like, doom scrolling, back when you first started teasing Lilo and I don't think it had really done numbers yet or gone viral. I had seen your content before, but I wasn't following you yet. And actually, I never have this feeling, but I remember immediately after just listening to you sing the minute of Lilo that you had posted, I remember commenting on it and then going to your page and following you and messaging you. And I never do that. Like, I never feel the need. I think I was feeling so low about the internet in general at that point in time, because it had been kind of like a rollercoaster for me. And I remember being like - if I posted a video of my song and it actually stopped someone in their tracks, the way that that had just done for me, I would want them to know. And I was not expecting you to message me back. But you did immediately. And then I remember like we just started chatting and I sent you my EP. And then you were nice about it. But it was really funny because I remember like when I clicked into your profile, I saw that you were the paintbrush guy.

Chris: Oh, “the paintbrush guy”. Classic. 

Ber: I banked the paintbrush method in my head after seeing your video and showed it to Brad (my producer). And we did that on the guitars for Middle of Nowhere. And then when I sent you my EP, you were like, “Middle of Nowhere is so good. How'd you get those guitars to sound like that?” And I was like, literally because of you. And I don't know you. 

Chris: Yeah, that’s crazy. It was almost like we already knew each other in some way. 

Ber: The internet's weird like that. Something that you and I both do is just give a lot of ourselves to it. You have to, like, show the ether who you are and what you do. So when you get to that point where you actually connect with someone on a level that way, it does feel like there's a jumping off point, even if you're a complete stranger, it's very strange. 

Chris: Yeah. Well, thank you for sending that message. And then you did a cover of Lilo. Which I didn't expect. 

Ber: Yeah I also don't know what possessed me to do that but…

Chris: That was like, the best thing ever. I think at that point I feel like it had been about a month or so from us first talking and then me diving into your world and just becoming such a fan of what you do. And then you sang Lilo and I was just like, “woah, this is awesome.” And I feel like that was also one of the first covers of my music really out there. I hadn't really experienced that before. And then from that point, I don't know if you were a catalyst in this, but it just took on a life of its own. So many people just started covering that song.

Ber:  I don't think it had anything to do with me, but you're very sweet to think that. But there were a lot of covers. I've had people cover a few songs of mine before, and it's such a crazy feeling, but I don't think to the extent that we were seeing people roll covers of Lilo in. Like, that just really stuck for a lot of people. That must've been insane.

Chris: Yeah, it still is. Just because it's been so consistent and so many people. It's wild because I know what it feels like to cover a song since I've done so many covers myself. To have people do that for one of my songs is surreal.

Ber: What made you want to cover Iris when you did? I know that was forever ago and I know that it's not something that you necessarily think of really transformatively right now. But when that happened–because, I mean, I know why I wanted to sing Lilo, but like why is it that you wanted to sing (Iris)? Why do you think it connected with people? 

Chris: I just have so many vivid memories of that song coming on shuffle in the car and just like having to turn the volume up to max and just feel it to my core. I think it was getting to the end of 2020, which was obviously just a crazy year for everybody. I was wrapping up everything for the year and realised I hadn't done a cover in a long time. And I had this gut feeling of, “I want to get back to doing covers for a bit, just for fun”. Just to get back to what I like, the songs that I love, ways I enjoy exploring them. I don't know. I sat down with that song one afternoon and just filmed it and put it on the internet. And that was that. And, it actually didn't do anything. It didn't blow up. And then a week later, I had another gut feeling, like, “I think I posted the wrong snippet of it.” I posted a different snippet, and that blew up. And then from that point, it was just all gut instinct. I'd never wanted to record and release a cover officially, because I thought, “I don't want to box myself into being a covers artist.” 

Not that that's a bad thing at all, but I think I was so hung up on wanting to prove myself as a songwriter. But there was something so pure about the whole thing that I just went with it. And it's so interesting because I think that feeling is what I'm chasing now with everything I'm doing.

Ber: Well, if that's not pure, then music is fake. Half of the equation of music is the listener. 

Chris: Totally.

Ber: I think it's so cathartic for us to be writing music and to be pouring ourselves into it. Like, yes, that's a massive thing, but the way that it hits people is so interesting, whether it makes them dance or like, whether it makes them think. Whether it takes them back to a place where they're like in a car with their family and wanting to blast it. It's something that transforms people, or places them somewhere else, you know? You talk about following your gut all the time. And I think that that's really, really real to where you're at at the minute. 

Chris: What's your relationship to covers? Have you done a lot of covers?

Ber: I like a cover. I have the same relationship to them as you. I think when I first started posting on the internet, I definitely wanted to do more of the originals thing. So it's not something that I do a lot of, but I've really enjoyed it this year. It's something that I kind of circled back to. I got to do a cover of Time After Time for Mahogany this year and that felt really special. I think because it reminded me of my grandma and I just love that song. It's a classic and it's held my hand in a lot of crazy scenarios and when they told me I should do an original and a cover. It took me so long to pick. I was texting you about it. Like, “I don't know what to do!”. It's hard to pick a song to do a cover of, cause you want to do it justice. There's nothing worse than a bad cover. 

Chris: Laughs That’s so true. But I think you can't go wrong if it has that pure thing for you, like you're saying, you had a connection with the song and that's all that matters really. 

Ber: It's also, as someone who has been an opening act for a lot of artists, it is actually a really nice way to pull an audience into you a little bit and just to let them in. Rather than shoving a set of sad original music down, and forcing that to connect. 

Chris: I think it's that familiarity enough that they can connect to it in some way, but then presenting it in a new way that introduces them to what you do and who you are. It's a really good tool for that.

Ber: I think even less deep than that, it's like, “Hey, I like this song too! Do you want to sing it with me? Like, let's just do that.” I think there's something really beautiful in its simplicity sometimes. And that's 100% the experience that I've had whenever I've done tours and covers on tour. It's just a fun way to… it's like an icebreaker in a conversation. 

Chris: Yeah. That's a great way of looking at it. 

Ber: And I mean, even to this extent - you and I having grown a friendship out of it is kind of weird.

Chris: Yeah I actually heard something similar to this in a Lizzie McAlpine, like podcast thing I listened to the other day. She was talking about how she started out, kind of covering people's songs on social media. She would tag the artists a lot of the time. And that was how she ended up forming a lot of friendships with people that she's like now collaborating with and it was this gateway to her career. I think it can open so many doors in a weird way. 

Ber: It is, it's like extending a little thread. That's why I think it's so cool too when people are covering your songs, that you're reposting them and involving them and making them feel like they're right there with you. Like, I think that's not something that is normal. That's really beautiful. It’s cool. It’s good. You did a compilation video of everyone’s covers, it was sick.

Chris: I had to! That's exactly how it felt, like they're right there with me. Like every single one, it's just… you would have felt this when people have sung your songs before, but it's just like, it's so strange and- I actually can't think of the words for it. Other than like, “parallel lines”. It feels like all these people are on the same frequency somehow. 

Ber: That was just so-

Chris: That was cringe.

Ber: No, but I liked it. It's true. I think you're right about it. 

Ber:  Okay, I have a question for you. The original version of Lilo was only one and a half minutes long. Was there any reason behind it being so short and what made you want to extend it? 

Chris: There wasn’t really any reason, other than it just felt like I’d said everything I wanted to say with it. But as it came out, there was this looming thing of like, “is there more to this?”. I remember sitting down one day, and thinking, “where could this song go?”. And obviously you were on my mind because you’d covered it, and we met through that song and I feel like we'd become so close through it. I was thinking “would Ber want to do this with me?” and you texted me right in that moment. I told you that, and you were like, “if you're serious, count me in.” So that's why I wanted to extend it. Because I was like, “you know what? I don't think I can do this alone.” 

Ber: Oh, it was a no-brainer because we'd been talking about doing something together for a while already. It's cool too, because it's such a short song. So when you and I went to rewrite it- I guess rewriting it is the wrong word- when we went to extend it… we kind of had to be like, “what is this about? What are we going to do to this?” It felt like adding a limb rather than… 

Chris: I think one thing I really didn't want to do was just drop in where it ended, like just copy and paste what the original thing was and add to it. It felt like if we were going to do it, it had to feel like its own thing. And I think we really did that, and it was so nice to explore that with you. It felt really great having another perspective on it and hearing your own relationship to the song and what you felt from it.

Ber: Yeah. I was really nervous, I remember. 

Chris: Really? 

Ber: Of course, because I love this song. 

Chris: Yeah. I think it was good that we approached it from like “this doesn't have to be anything. Like, let's just see, for fun.” And I love that we're here now, and it's a thing. I hope people love it as much as we do, honestly, it's been so fun.

Ber: So what actually is a Lilo? Have we figured out what you meant that to be? 

Chris: I mean, I always thought it was an airbed and it was a metaphor for like being… you know, lifting someone up when they're drowning, metaphorically. Being there to support them. But then you-

Ber: I love it because when I heard that lyric, I was like, “I don't know what you mean, but count me in. Like, I don't know what that is, but sign me up.”

Chris: Laughs You and many other people, apparently. And then you sent me the definition. 

Ber: I was like, “I don't know if you meant to do this, but…”

Chris: The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows. “A friendship that can lie dormant for years only to pick right back up instantly as if you've seen each other last week. Derived from lifelong and lie low.” Which is like, exactly what the song is about. It’s crazy. And I love that you were the person to tell me that.

Ber: Hey, obviously, I was thinking about this song a lot because it was number three on my Spotify Wrapped.

Chris: That's crazy. 

Ber: I listened to it like 782 times. 

Chris: No you didn't. 

Ber: Yeah, it was really easy to, though, because it's only a minute and a half long, so... And I would keep showing it to people. When I was doing my Mahogany session, which was so sweet, one of the questions that they asked me in my interview was, what's your most recently saved song? And I was like, “Oh, it’s Lilo.”

Chris: Oh, no way! 

Ber: What have you learned this year that you feel is helping you be kinder to yourself as a creative? Because you are someone who puts a lot of pressure on yourself. 

Chris: Oh, really? laughs

Ber:  Yeah, we both are. We’ve bonded over this. 

Chris: I know. Yeah, definitely. It feels sometimes like an endless spiral of things being good and then not great, and then good, and then not great. I think being kinder to yourself is so important and it's something that I'm always trying to work towards because I've not been good at it for the longest time.

Ber: Yeah. I think you're doing a better job of it now, but I remember when you put your EP out, you weren't even going to celebrate it.

Chris: You were a big part of helping me to do that. I think it was like the day that EP came out and you were like, “What are you doing to celebrate?” And I was like… “sitting at home, checking the internet.” 

Ber: I think I like, told you off, I'm really sorry. Laughs 

Chris: No, but I needed that. I always thought of celebrating as this big deal. Like “I'm going to have a party or I'm going to go out with a bunch of friends and we're going to celebrate” you know? But you made it very clear to me that it doesn't have to be that at all, all it is is just, marking a moment, just taking a second to be like, “this happened, I want to acknowledge it, let's just enjoy it for a second.” You inspired me a lot to just try and make more space for that in my life. I think I needed to hear it from someone that I knew related very specifically to the feeling of what we go through, doing what we do, you know? 

Ber:  Oh, and likewise. Are you kidding? I’ve said this before, but I think it's like a weird thing because in this business, you never get to the top of anything, and even when you do, there's like another top to get to. I'm glad that you're doing that more because you have done so much this year, it's crazy. 

Chris: So have you. You've had a crazy year. 

Ber: Isn't that funny - like, sure? But I'm sitting in my room feeling like, “oh yeah”. Like that's what happened.