SPILL FEATURE: APOCALYPSE – A CONVERSATION WITH CROWN LANDS’ KEVIN COMEAU & CODY BOWLES

APOCALYPSE

A CONVERSATION WITH CROWN LANDS’ KEVIN COMEAU & CODY BOWLES

Crown Lands remain prolific. The progressive rock duo, consisting of drummer and lead vocalist Cody Bowles, and guitarist, bassist, and keyboardist Kevin Comeau, are on the cusp of releasing their third full-length studio record. Apocalypse, available this Friday, May 15^th, via Inside Out Music, sees the band emerge from a period of change and reflection following the world-music instrumental musings of last year’s Ritual I and II, as they return with their most progressive and challenging record to date.

The road to Apocalypse is deeply rooted in Ritual I and II, a pair of releases from last year based in ambient world music. For Bowles, these records were about “realizing our love for music extends beyond rock ‘n’ roll.” Following a split with Universal, the band had to pivot, “The writing was on the wall, we knew what was going down and we made our peace with it… In that year, we had no label, no recording budget, but we did have our studio that we write and rehearse everything in. All it took was a little bit of finesse to be able to record and mix ourselves there.” Connecting their new studio to Ritual, Comeau continues, “The Ritual II record was the first time that Cody and I produced the record, I engineered and mixed the whole record… It’s really cool that that album is the one that got nominated for a JUNO this year… It’s kinda crazy that a majority of that record was recorded on our couch.” Ritual I and II mark a significant musical departure for the band as they traded riffs and thunderous drums for worldly percussion and soft melodies performed on a series of staff flutes. Comeau added, “Those freaked out our prog fans, which is great. I think if you aren’t freaking people out, you’re not doing the right thing.”

APOCALYPSE ALBUM REVIEW

As the band was dipping their toes into an entirely new means of creating, they had also begun the process of writing what would become their third full-length studio album, Apocalypse. Comeau states, “We started the process of recording Apocalypse probably around the same time as Ritual, maybe even before. I feel like a lot of Crown Lands records take so long to gestate. If a record comes out after one record, we probably started first, but dropped it for something easier, or as we call them ‘side quests.’ The main mission of Apocalypse started before Ritual.” He adds, “We were dropped from Universal and we were wandering this wilderness, and I had demoed this 11-min piece called ‘Apocalypse’ and I kept sending it to Cody, and there would be a different part, a new arrangement… A couple of those original arrangements ended up on the final recording . . .  “Like the Floydy part” Bowles adds. Comeau continues, “We ended up scrapping about half of that original 11-min demo… I think it was the first six minutes that really maintained intact and I think that’s where the song really starts to take off because that was when Cody and I started writing the rest of the music in the studio together.”  With each release, Crown Lands seem to grow more ambitious, writing longer and longer songs.

Bowles laughs, calling this “our unique brand of stupidity.” Comeau highlights elements of how they approach songs like this, “A lot of times I go in with a vision of the final product and Cody, I think, doesn’t want to think about the final product until its done. Its just different philosophies of making art.” Bowles puts it much more succinctly, “If the song’s good, the song’s good.” The result is a stunning odyssey that closes out the album on an incredibly climatic note.

On Apocalypse, Comeau and Bowles are continuing to build their own sonic universe and a unique cosmic saga. Bowles excitedly shares “Apocalypse is the prequel to “Starlifter: Fearless Pt. II.” It’s the rise of the Syndicate, it’s the rise of Blackstar as the prominent right hand of the Syndicate, and the fall of Blackstar, Blackstar’s planet and Karagon.” The record serves as the connection between Ritual and 2023’s Fearless. Bowles further explains, “This takes place in a time where the syndicate has already established a presence on Karagon and have now come back to finish the job. Upon destroying Fearless’ planet, they strip mine it and take all the resources… At the same time, there is a civil war that breaks out on the syndicate’s home world – Blackstar’s home planet – over these resources and over the ideology of the syndicate taking and colonizing space, stripping these planets and attacking solar systems.” As fantastical as this sounds, thematically, Apocalypse is rooted in our reality, “It’s a reflection, absolutely” Bowles states as Comeau demonstrates, “I remember coming to Cody with a concept for “Foot Solider of the Syndicate” … It’s very much about how easy it is to radicalize a normal person… It’s about how a normal person can be seduced by the alt-right. We just had to turn up the fantasy. There’s a lot of that on this record. There are some really uncomfortable things we are facing as a society and we’re just able to embrace the science-fantasy that Cody and I love.” Bowles concludes, “The overarching theme of Apocalypse is hate begets hate, violence begets violence. What you sow in one place will eventually come back to you.”

“Success to me is putting on Godzilla while we’re working with Nick Raskulinecz while working on Apocalypse stuff,” Bowles tells me. With the release of their newest album approaching, Crown Lands are already prepping their next move, which may include a European tour and a Dungeons And Dragons one-shot based on their ongoing science-fantasy narrative. It seems with every era, Crown Lands become increasingly authentic. Comeau elaborates, “We tried to play that game when we were with Universal… It just rang hollow. When we did what we wanted to do, we actually found our audience, not just in Canada, but in Europe, UK, and America. Suddenly we have this community of progressive music fans… You get signed to a major label, people tell you not to embrace the silly side, you start taking yourself too seriously, and then you realize, ‘wait a minute, we play progressive rock. We have 20-min songs about space dragons.’ We need to just turn whatever we love up.” In this context, Apocalypse may very well be their most authentic statement yet. As Crown Lands embrace their passions to the fullest extent, they have honed a distinctive sound and a compelling universe at the same time, making for yet another thrilling album from one of the most vital progressive rock bands of our time.

SPILL LIVE REVIEW: CROWN LANDS @ RICHMOND HILL CENTRE FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS, RICHMOND HILL

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