Coming off a breakthrough year including receiving their first Juno Award nominations for ‘Rock Album of the Year’ and ‘Breakthrough Group’ earlier this week, today, powerhouse Canadian rock duo Crown Lands – Cody Bowles (vocals and drums) and Kevin Comeau (guitar, bass, and keys) – make their mighty return with two new songs ‘Context: Fearless Pt. 1‘ and ‘Right Way Back.’
Backed by Universal Music Canada, the band premiered the tracks and the seven-minute official video for ‘Context: Fearless Pt. 1’ with Rolling Stone who say, “The multi-part, three-years-in-the-making suite ‘Context: Fearless Pt. 1’ may well be one of the most overt Rush tributes ever attempted, with a direct musical nod to ‘Red Barchetta’ and modal riffing straight out of the Alex Lifeson handbook.
“…Last year’s self-titled debut album from the hirsute young Canadian rock duo Crown Lands is an accomplished, chops-heavy take on blues-rock…” Check out the Rolling Stone story here.
The songs bring Crown Lands back to their prog-rock roots and point the way to a limitless future while connecting the group to their legendary countrymen Rush, the band that served as their initial inspiration, in ways they never could have expected. ‘Context: Fearless Pt. 1’ is a full-circle moment for Crown Lands as their admiration for Rush is returned back to them by three producers who were vital to Rush’s iconic career.
Bowles reflects, “To have grown up with nothing but the purest adoration for this band, to have finally scaled the impossible summit together and sit at the table with our heroes is a humbling surreality unlike anything else. Working with these legendary producers-now-friends is something we hold near and dear to us. If life is a wheel, please let it spin.”
Early last year, Crown Lands revisited ‘Context: Fearless Pt. 1’, a song they had been working on for years. They cut early demos with Terry Brown, Rush’s producer for ten years – a dream come true for two massive Rush fans. After touring and performing the song live, it got sharper – so they decided to re-record it. This time around, they travelled to Nashville to collaborate with Nick Raskulinecz, Rush’s producer in their later years. “These guys are the two most important producers in Rush’s career,” says Comeau.
But the day before the scheduled session, Rush’s legendary drummer Neil Peart died after a fight with brain cancer. Crown Lands assumed the trip was off, but Raskulinecz texted them with a message: “you guys need to carry the torch—you need to come down here.” In the studio, the producer brought out a drum kit that Peart had used on the 2007 Snakes & Arrows album for Bowles to play – in what they call “the most spiritual experience in my life.”
Finally, to produce the vocals, the duo hooked up with David Bottrill—who remixed Vapor Trails, Rush’s 2002 comeback record. “He’s the mythical third Rush-associated producer,” says a disbelieving Comeau. “This one fucking song had the triad of Rush producers!”
The second new song, ‘Right Way Back‘, is a tribute to Peart that came almost effortlessly. They brought it to Nashville as a rough demo, working out the chorus and writing the lyrics on the spot. “It’s about the feeling of trying to carry on from where your heroes left off,” says Comeau.
