Crown Lands is a Canadian rock music duo from

Oshawa Oshawa ( , also ; 2021 population 175,383; CMA 415,311) 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 G ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

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

CBC News CBC News is a 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.ca. ...

Indigenous, November 8, 2018. The band consists of vocalist and drummer Cody Bowles, and guitarist, bassist and keyboardist Kevin Comeau. Bowles is Mik'maq and

Two-Spirit Two-spirit (also two spirit, 2S or, occasionally, twospirited) is a modern, , umbrella term used by some Indigenous North Americans to describe Native people in their communities who fulfill a traditional third-gender (or other gender-variant) ...

, while Comeau is

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

. With prog-rock influences, the duo compose music and lyrics inspired by Indigenous resistance to

colonialism Colonialism is a practice or policy of control by one people or power over other people or areas, often by establishing colonies and generally with the aim of economic dominance. In the process of colonisation, colonisers may impose their relig ...

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

crown land Crown land (sometimes spelled crownland), 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. ...

", or government-held lands stolen from First Nations. Crown Lands won the

Juno Award The Juno Awards, more popularly known as the JUNOS, are awards presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music. New members of the Canadian Music Hall of ...

for Breakthrough Group of the Year at the

Juno Awards of 2021 The Juno Awards of 2021, honouring Canadian music achievements, were presented on 6 June 2021, observing the 50th anniversary of these awards. The main ceremonies were televised on CBC. The ceremony was originally scheduled to take place in Ma ...

. The band were also nominated for Rock Album of the Year.

History

The band was formed in 2015 by Kevin Comeau and Cody Bowles, who 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 (french: Université York), also known as YorkU or simply YU, is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's fourth-largest university, and it has approximately 55,700 students, 7,0 ...

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

Universal Universal is the adjective for universe. Universal may also refer to: Companies * NBCUniversal, a media and entertainment company ** Universal Animation Studios, an American Animation studio, and a subsidiary of NBCUniversal ** Universal TV, a t ...

, featuring a cover of

Neil Young Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian-American singer and songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, joining Buffalo Springfield with Stephen Stills, Richie Furay ...

's "Birds". Their full-length self-titled debut album was released on August 13, 2020, and was produced in Nashville by Dave Cobb. 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 (MMIW) is an epidemic of violence against Indigenous women in Canada, the United States, and Latin America; notably those in the FNIM (First Nations, Inuit, Métis) and Native American communities. Acros ...

whose video features narration by Tanya Tagaq. Their March 2021 single "Context: Fearless Pt. 1" is a tribute to the band

Rush Rush(es) may refer to: Places United States * Rush, Colorado * Rush, Kentucky * Rush, New York * Rush City, Minnesota * Rush Creek (Kishwaukee River tributary), Illinois * Rush Creek (Marin County, California), a stream * Rush Creek (Mono Cou ...

, 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 Nick Raskulinecz () (born February 4, 1970) is an American record producer. He resides in Nashville, Tennessee. Production career Raskulinecz is from the Bearden area of Knoxville, Tennessee. He first produced and recorded bands in Knoxville ...

, 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 /

Universal Music Canada Universal Music Group owns, or has a joint share in, many of the record labels listed here. According to UMG official site, the main labels are Abbey Road Studios, Bravado, Capitol Music Group, Decca Records, Def Jam Recordings, Deutsche Grammopho ...

. 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 will open for Michigan rock band Greta Van Fleet on their U.S. Tour.

Members

* Cody Bowles (vocals, drums) * Kevin Comeau (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)

References

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