The mission-driven Canadian rock duo, Crown Lands, release their powerful new single, “End Of The Road”, with Universal Music Canada. This is a month ahead of their August 13 release of their self-titled debut album.
“End Of The Road” is a track that “pays tribute to the Indigenous womxn, girls, and two-spirits who have gone missing or have been murdered on Yellowhead Highway 16 in British Columbia, which is referred to as the Highway of Tears.” According to Crown Lands, “End Of The Road” is a “reflective address of the disproportionate violence and ongoing injustices experienced by Indigenous communities with hopes to encourage education, discussion and action surrounding this national crisis.” The band wants to use their “voice to bring awareness and help make a difference.”
Statistics Canada states that from 2001 to 2015, the homicide rate for Indigenous Womxn in Canada was almost six times as high as the rate for non-Indigenous women.
Lead vocalist and drummer, Cody Bowles (they/them) expresses the personal experience that influenced the creation of ‘End of The Road’ explaining,
“End of the Road is an outcry for awareness and action surrounding the colonial horrors of the missing and murdered Indigenous Womxn, Girls, and Two-Spirits that still haunt Indigenous communities today. Violence against Indigenous people is something I have witnessed first hand throughout my life. I am half Mi’kmaw and grew up spending a lot of my childhood in and around Alderville First Nation. I identify as Two-Spirit and dream of a better world for the brilliant Indigenous womxn, girls, and 2SLGBTQ+ people who face adversity every day for their very existence. It’s up to all of us to make this world a better place for future generations, and this song is a small message of hope adding to the rising wave of Indigenous resistance throughout this land.”
Crown Lands also released a music video to accompany the single. The video “opens with a narrative by Canadian Inuk singer Tanya Tagaq, contextualizing the devastating facts of this ongoing issue.” The band use dancers to “represent the souls of the missing and murdered womxn and the red dresses are inspired by the work of The RED Dress Project, a collection of 600 red dresses by community donation that is installed across Canada as a visual reminder of the staggering number of womxm missing and to draw attention to the gendered and racialized nature of violent crimes against Indigenous womxn, girls, and 2SLGBTQ+ people.” To aid in the creative process, the video was co-produced by Sage Nokomis Wright, co-directed by Tim Myles, alongside Alex P Smith, and features a cast of Indigenous dancers with drone footage from The Highway of Tears. The dancing was choreographed by Teineisha Richards, a Mi’kmaq artist from Bear River First Nations, Nova Scotia, raised in Toronto.
“End Of The Road” is one of the tracks from Crown Lands’ self-titled debut album set to be released on August 13. This album also includes the already released tracks “Spit It Out” and “Howlin’ Back”. “Making music that brings together a range of influences from folk and blues to psychedelic to prog rock, and drawing on their own intense personal chemistry, Crown Lands are a startlingly fresh jolt of energy.” Stay tuned!
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