Cody Bowles

Cody Bowles is one half of the powerhouse rock duo Crown Lands, playing drums and lead vocals. Cody is a reconnecting Mi’kmaq, growing up learning from elders of Canada’s Alderville First Nation reserve and identifies as Two-Spirit. 

Crown Lands are born storytellers. Advocates for the LGBTQ+ and indigenous communities. Counter-culturalists for the 21st century, informed by a cocktail of ancient voices, social injustice, science-fiction, and musical narrators from Rush to Paul Simon, Led Zeppelin to John Butler. Since meeting in 2015 at a band audition, singer/drummer Bowles and guitarist/keyboardist Comeau have cultivated a diverse sonic and lyrical palette. Touchstones range from the mistreatment of Canada’s indigenous population to Buddhist meditation master Chögyam Trungpa, the worlds of J.R.R. Tolkien and Dune author Frank Herbert.  

Originally, they got their foot in the door with raw blues rock, on their Juno-nominated, 2020 self-titled LP, working with Grammy nominated Dave Cobb. This paved the way for an introduction to three of Crown Lands heroes: Terry Brown, Nick Raskulinecz, and David Bottrill – all prolific producers that worked with them on their breakthrough track “Context: Fearless Pt. 1,” which premiered on Rolling Stone. After a steady stream of new music, the band’s fresh approach and mission-driven catalogue garnered them the 2021 Juno Award for “Breakthrough Group of the Year.” With the latest instalment of tour dates and stacked with new music, Crown Lands are ready to bring elegant, clever, progressive rock to the masses.

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#ReconcileThis artist statement

“I wanted to join the #ReconcileThis campaign because we have a couple of songs that talk about very important Indigenous issues – both current and historic, that would be a perfect fit for what this campaign is trying to do. I felt that if more people took away from the messages in our music when listening to us (or bands that have messages like this), then it would start important conversations in their own social circles. It may take a very long time, but I believe that the more conversations we spark surrounding our stories, our experiences, and issues, then the more people will think about them and there they enter the reality of people’s inner world. In my opinion, education combined with decolonization and land back are the only vehicles by which any true reconciliation will happen, if at all. If more people know about the history, and the continued struggles of so many Indigenous communities across so-called Canada and the United States, then people might will be more willing to start that work, and hopefully listen and care enough to help make a better future for all.”
– Cody Bowles