Crown Lands is a Canadian rock music duo from

Oshawa Oshawa is a city in Ontario, Canada, on the Lake Ontario shoreline. It lies in Southern Ontario, approximately east of downtown Toronto. It is commonly viewed as the eastern anchor of the Greater Toronto Area and of the Golden Horseshoe. It ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

.Jordan Gill
"Oshawa duo Crown Lands hits the road with Jack White on Canadian tour"

CBC News CBC News is the division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the news gathering and production of news programs on the corporation's English-language operations, namely CBC Television, CBC Radio, CBC News Network, and CBC ...

Indigenous, November 8, 2018. The band consists of vocalist/drummer Cody Bowles, and guitarist/bassist/keyboardist Kevin Comeau. With prog-rock influences, the duo compose music and lyrics inspired by Indigenous resistance to

colonialism Colonialism is the control of another territory, natural resources and people by a foreign group. Colonizers control the political and tribal power of the colonised territory. While frequently an Imperialism, imperialist project, colonialism c ...

. They have stated that their name, "Crown Lands", communicates a desire to disrupt the concept of Canadian "

crown land Crown land, also known as royal domain, is a territorial area belonging to the monarch, who personifies the Crown. It is the equivalent of an entailed estate and passes with the monarchy, being inseparable from it. Today, in Commonwealth realm ...

", or government-held lands stolen from

First Nations First nations are indigenous settlers or bands. First Nations, first nations, or first peoples may also refer to: Indigenous groups *List of Indigenous peoples *First Nations in Canada, Indigenous peoples of Canada who are neither Inuit nor Mé ...

. Crown Lands won the

Juno Award The Juno Awards (stylized as JUNOS), or simply known as the Junos, are awards presented by Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences to recognize outstanding achievements in Canada's mu ...

for Breakthrough Group of the Year at the Juno Awards of 2021. The band were also nominated for Rock Album of the Year. Their sophomore album ''Fearless'' was nominated for Rock Album of the Year at the 2024 Juno Awards.

History

The band was formed in 2015 when Comeau and Bowles began jamming in a friend's barn. Comeau studied classical music at Western University in London, Ontario, and Bowles studied psychology and music at

York University York University (), also known as YorkU or simply YU), is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, and it has approximately 53,500 students, 7,000 faculty and staff, ...

in Toronto. Their first EP, ''Mantra'', was released on August 18, 2016. They released their second EP ''Rise Over Run'' on September 8, 2017. It includes the band's single "Mountain", about colonialism and the history of residential schools in Canada. In 2018, the band opened for

Jack White John Anthony White (; born July 9, 1975) is an American musician who achieved international fame as the guitarist and lead singer of the rock duo the White Stripes. As the White Stripes disbanded, he sought success with his solo career, subse ...

on the Canadian leg of his tour. On June 11, 2020, they released the acoustic EP ''Wayward Flyers, Vol. 1'' on Universal, featuring a cover of

Neil Young Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian and American singer-songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, forming the folk rock group Buffalo Springfield. Since the begi ...

's "Birds". Their full-length self-titled debut album was released on August 13, 2020, and was produced in Nashville by

Dave Cobb Dave Cobb (born July 9, 1974) is an American record producer based in Nashville, Tennessee, best known for producing the work of Chris Stapleton, Brandi Carlile, John Prine, Sturgill Simpson, Jason Isbell, The Highwomen, Take That, Rival ...

. The album was preceded by the single "End of the Road", a protest song about the issue of

missing and murdered Indigenous women Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women are instances of violence against Indigenous women in Canada and the United States, notably those in the First Nations in Canada and Native American communities, but also amongst other Indigenous peoples s ...

whose video features narration by Tanya Tagaq. Their March 2021 single "Context: Fearless Pt. 1" is a tribute to the band Rush, a 10-part song with sections referencing Rush's work. They made a demo of the song with Terry Brown, producer of Rush's first nine albums, and later worked on the track with Nick Raskulinecz, co-producer of two Rush albums, and Rush producer David Bottrill. In July 2021, the band released the single "White Buffalo", along with "The Oracle", both produced by David Bottrill. Both songs were included on the band's four-track EP ''White Buffalo'', released on September 16, 2021, on

Spinefarm Records Spinefarm Records is an international record label. Founded in Finland in 1990, Spinefarm was acquired by Universal Music Group in 2002. History Spinefarm Records began as a mailorder distribution company, founded by Riku Pääkkönen. The c ...

/ Universal Music Canada. The band describes "White Buffalo" as the third in a trilogy of songs about Indigenous resistance, including "Mountain" and "End of the Road". In October and November 2022, the band opened for Greta Van Fleet on their U.S. Tour. On February 24, 2023 they released the single "Lady of the Lake". That song and the following single "Starlifter: Fearless Pt. II" were included on the band's second album, ''Fearless'', released on March 31, 2023 and produced by David Bottrill. The band toured across Canada in support of ''Fearless'' in the spring of 2023 alongside July Talk. In the fall of 2023, Crown Lands toured with

Kiss A kiss is the touching or pressing of one's lips against another person, animal or object. Cultural connotations of kissing vary widely; depending on the culture and context, a kiss can express sentiments of love, passion, romance, sex ...

on their final tour. In December 2023 Bowles, who had been raised by a father who identified as

Mi'kmaq The Mi'kmaq (also ''Mi'gmaq'', ''Lnu'', ''Mi'kmaw'' or ''Mi'gmaw''; ; , and formerly Micmac) are an Indigenous group of people of the Northeastern Woodlands, native to the areas of Canada's Atlantic Provinces, primarily Nova Scotia, New Bru ...

, released a public statement revealing that genealogical research had found that they were not indigenous at all, but in fact was of Black Nova Scotian descent.Megan LaPierre
"Cody Bowles of Crown Lands Addresses Indigeneity Questions: 'I Experienced My Entire Life Through This Lens of Being'"
''

Exclaim! ''Exclaim!'' is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly ''Exclaim!'' print magazine publishes seven ...

'', December 11, 2023. They apologized for any harm caused to indigenous communities by their erroneous beliefs about their heritage.

Members

* Cody Bowles (they/them) (vocals, drums) * Kevin Comeau (he/him) (guitar, bass, keyboards)

Awards

Discography

Studio Albums

Live albums

EPs

Singles

* "Mountain" (2018) * "Feeling Good" (2020) * "End of the Road" (2020) * "Context: Fearless Pt. 1" (2021) * "White Buffalo" (2021) * "Come Together" (2022) * "Lady of the Lake" (2023)

References

{{reflist Canadian hard rock musical groups Canadian progressive rock groups Musical groups from Oshawa Musical groups established in 2015 2015 establishments in Ontario Juno Award for Breakthrough Group of the Year winners