Crown Lands

Oshawa rock duo Crown Lands released their Mantra EP last year, signalling a specialness among their bric-a-brac brethren in the clutter of contemporary rock. Still in their early 20s, guitarist Kevin Comeau and drummer/vocalist Cody J. R. Bowles boast a collective musical acumen far beyond their years, and their new EP, Rise Over Run, continues a deft navigation of the upstart moment they earned themselves with their first release.

The album kicks off with “Constant Motion”, a track resonating with power, precision, and cheekily referencing an 80s rock-ish guitar line in the middle eight. Radio favourite “Misery” is next, brimming with Bowles’ endless drum flurries complemented by Comeau’s crushing rhythms. Albeit slyly, all manner of classic influences can be heard on this record, including an oblique nod to skiffle in the breakdown of ethereal blues stomper “Big River Road”. Comeau’s frenetic slide guitar work shimmers with Zeppeliny gravitas on “Leatherman Blues” and “Mountain”, and Bowles’ swirling, rhapsodic vocal swagger elevates every track on this record.

With Rise Over Run and their previous release Mantra, Crown Lands have established their trajectory into more rarified air – they have the chops, the looks, and the wherewithal to become a very big act indeed. And their next record may well see them do that. - Brent Jensen

The hard-rocking duo, Kevin Comeau of Oshawa and Cody Bowles of Courtice, are fresh off a victory in 97.7 HTZ-FM’s Rocksearch competition and on Sept. 8 release their second EP, Rise Over Run, launching it with a show at Oshawa’s Moustache Club.

“It’s definitely different; it takes more risks, I think, than Mantra,” says Bowles, referring to the band’s debut EP released last year.


“We’re experimenting more; it’s not just straight-up balls rock,” adds Comeau.

The band is known for it’s hard-driving sound, which echoes classic and progressive rock from the past (they are unabashed Rush admirers), without being derivative. But on Rise Over Run, the band shows they’re creating songs that reach out to the wider world.

The album title refers to the mathematical formula for calculating a slope, and the band says the record’s themes include where you come from and where you’re going, adventure and self-awareness. “They tried to wipe us out but we’re still here,” Bowles sings in the bridge to the song Mountain. It’s about oppression, they say, especially the oppression of the Indigenous and Jewish peoples. Bowles grew up on the Alderville First Nation and Comeau’s ancestry is Acadian on his father’s side and Jewish on his mother’s.

“We thought it was really relevant for Canada 150,” Comeau says.

Bowles is quick to say “we don’t want to be too political; we’re musicians.” But, there’s a but when you’re on a stage singing into a microphone for people.

“You’re on a pedestal,” he says. “I guess that’s where we decided to change the direction. We wanted to send a message.”

Together for just two years, the two clicked musically and personally when they met and their partnership has only gotten stronger over the months. - Oshawa This Week