The Ragged Flowers

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A bunch of baby-boom teenagers from Montreal, Ottawa, and Toronto playing in everything from punk bands to jazz combos, African drum circles to classical flights of fancy. Then comes a kaleidoscope of education, careers, and creative pursuits. Marriages, mortgages, moves, and seventeen ‘flower children’ follow.

Cut to a twenty-first-century Saturday night — under a festival moon, five sweating, exhilarated musicians take a bow to a dance-stoked pagan crowd chanting five words to the forest skies: “Band, take your pants off! BAND, TAKE YOUR PANTS OFF!”

You’ve just entered the unpredictable, folklectic world of The Ragged Flowers.

From their creative lair in Eastern Ontario, a historic riverside village called Almonte, the band still marvels at their formation by chance in the town’s café scene in 1997. After discovering each other, roving jam sessions for handfuls of people quickly grew into a string of monthly music-food fusion events, pairing folk/rock and jazzy cover tunes with spicy global cuisine and liberally poured libations: guitars chime out, hand-drums percolate, and voices harmonize into something new…

Spurred on by Almonte’s creative community of artists, nature lovers, and eclectic souls, The Ragged Flowers released their debut album Love to Burn in 2000, a live-off-the-floor recording co-produced with Toronto’s Lurch (aka Chris Rudyk) of Broadcast Lane Studios. The album quickly led to several premiere festival gigs such as Blue Skies Music Festival, Stewart Park Festival, and the Ottawa Folk Festival, as well as Ottawa TV appearances and airplay on CBC Radio and indie stations in the UK and USA.

Their 2004 follow-up album Story Be Told was co-produced and recorded with Ken Friesen in Almonte. It leaned into a more electric, psychedelic sound, with a djembe-spiced drum kit fueling the rhythm section. The album features playful lyrics, six-stringed virtuosity, soul-filled vocals, and bright harmonies — everything from brooding folk to hip-shaking funky grooves.

In December 2014, the band released The Ragged Flowers LIVE, an album of past festival and stage recordings ­— a musical wrap-up as members embarked on creative side projects and solo recordings. At this point Ric Denis, a founding member and lead guitarist of The Flowers, left the band, leaving behind a rich musical legacy of guitar brilliance, creative songwriting, and vibrant vocals. Over the next few years, seasoned folk musician Terry Tufts lent his signature vocal and guitar craft to the band’s live shows to enrich the Flower sound.

2017 marked the arrival of a fresh new Flower in singer and multi-instrumentalist George Birchall. With George in the mix, the band re-grouped to create a vibrant crop of new songs from the tangled garden — ranging from ’60s sunshine-pop to mellow ’70s folk/rock, with a splash of saloon-style honky-tonk thrown in for good measure. The result was the 2024 EP Flying Machine, six radiant tracks crafted in collaboration with sonic Zen master Ken Friesen. The release ignited a run of sold-out performances — the band’s first live shows in five years.

Twenty-five years on, it’s been a humbling, unexpected, and adventurous musical journey culminating in a twenty-five-year vinyl retrospective, where “white clothes dance on the line, rockets brush the sky, and ragged flowers shine and sway. Stand back!”

What sound does a Flower make?

From diverse musical paths, The Ragged Flowers have a line-up as unique as their music! All told, five distinct voices, poetic words, fiery rhythms, stirring melodies, tight arrangements, and adventurous song-writing — a brilliant, folklectic garden of music.

• George Birchall brings soaring vocals and multi-instrumentalist creativity to the ragged garden, infusing the band’s sound with acoustic guitar, piano, and melodica.

• Ian Douglas is the Flower’s rhythm-maker, blending a spicy global groove of hand drums, shakers, and drum kit with piano virtuosity and a low, mysterious voice.

• Steve Reside shines with high-energy vocals and striking harmonies set against the warmth of his acoustic rhythm guitar, shakers, and percussion.

• Rob Riendeau provides a sliding carpet of acoustic and electric bass to root the Flower sound while offering resonant backing vocals and band-steadying witticisms.

• Nathan Sloniowski weaves strings of acoustic and electric guitars, as well as ukulele, adding roots and jazz textures alongside his evocative, powerful vocals.