Perhaps the best way of starting to tell the (unfinished, it seems!) story of Passion d’Flower is by quoting Exclaim! Magazine’s Matt Mernagh:

“Passion d’Flower: Return of the Ugly Warrior

By Matt Mernagh

Published Dec 01, 1999

The best release from Toronto label Fading Ways Music comes from a band that imploded under the strain of a glimmer of poetic genius. This seven-song collection of remastered songs proves that Skutch Shimoda was a truly gifted songwriter, backed by a raw band that showed promise and talent. His passion for love in “The Legend” is overshadowed by the hot sexy rhythm that massages your erogenous zones. A little Spanish zest has been added for the sultry number “Shoulderman.” On this particular number, Shimoda can be heard chatting away to the band, but fails to distract them from the task of creating beautiful music. For a moment in 1992, Passion d’Flower were capable of provocative music and this back catalogue release highlights that, but as they are no longer capable of creating this moment again, Return of the Ugly Warrior could be looked upon as a failure. (Fading Ways)”

By the time Neil Leyton’s label (Passion’d Flower’s bassist) Fading Ways Music released the above named CD in 1999, the band had already imploded.

That was after a series of false starts dating back to the George S Henry Secondary School (later the George S Henry Academy) in North York in the late 80’s and early 90’s; songwriter-singer-guitar player Sameer Giwani aka Skutch Shimoda, bassist Neil Leyton, drummer Devin Barker Stoneham and guitarists Vince Strnad and Daniel Dutnoff gathered at Norm Barker’s Studio 92, at the old Donlands Theatre, to record a series of songs that led to that “Return of the Ugly Warriour” CD release.

Passion’d Flower as a band would not be heard from again for another 20 years.

Neil Leyton went on to become the lead singer in glam-art project The Conscience Pilate and a sequence of solo records; Vince Strnad started his own project, Vaslav; and Devin Stoneham released a solo album after his own band, Madame Tussaud, also stopped playing.

Now, in 2019, the 5 musicians gathered again in a Toronto studio for two magic days to record 4 brand new songs that will be released one at a time, with the first new single, “Radio”, scheduled for a December 6th release. The EP “Until We Met Again” will come later in 2020.

Someone please tell Matt Mernagh… the band ARE once again capable, and making provocative music together… watch this space for more news…