By Will McGuirk
Oshawa rock duo Crown Lands have been on an upwards curve for a while with 2020 being the year when all the work pays off. Their most recent single, “Spit It Out” had been picked up by radio and getting the Spotify spotlight. But the Covid-19 pandemic has everything on hold.
“Everything has been pushed back due to this ever-evolving situation. The entire music industry has been hit particularly hard. We’ll still be releasing new music this year and hopefully be on the road again!,” says Kevin Comeau and Cody Bowles in a email to slowcity.ca.
Kevin has been active on social media, live-streaming lessons on his Instagram account while Cody has kept a lower profile during this time. Its an unusual situation for the two pals who have been creating together in the same space since inception.
“It’s hard to be creative when dealing with the fear of the unknown, but we’ve been trying to make the most of this newfound time. Writing on our own is something we haven’t done before but because of social distancing it’s imperative to keep the creative spark alight. We’ve taken advantage of the live-streaming platform to teach music lessons,” but as both guys are apart don’t expect any online live performances just yet.
This unexpected bonus of time is an opportunity to fuel up on music however, they say, to dig back into the music which inspired them and to follow tangents in to other bands.
“This has been a great time for woodshedding and learning music that we otherwise wouldn’t have time for. The pressure to create original music can sometimes be insurmountable. It’s nice to lean into learning music that we wouldn’t have otherwise. Learning music is a great way to gain a new perspective on writing your own music.”
They are also taking the opportunity to think about what being a working musician is and why they are musicians to start off with.
“Nowadays it has moved back to the pure form of what is it to be a musician - to hone your craft on your respective instrument. We have been finding the joy in simply playing again, without the view to craft a live set. When those parameters have been lifted, it’s a good time to focus on simply creating.”
Crown Lands have rescheduled their upcoming Toronto date at the Mod Club to July 27 2020. Wine Lips will open.
