Vermicious Knid’s Hometown Devotion Brantford indie stalwarts call it a day
By Patrick Finch
Never let it be said that nothing good ever came out of Brantford.
Really, after Wayne Gretzky, the city’s been pretty bereft of, well,
anything––up until a few years ago anyway. In 2002 Browntown
became an unlikely breeding ground to be reckoned with when
the Vermicious Knid released their second CD, Days That Stand
Still, on the lamentably short–lived label AntiAntenna, (also home
to long– lost local heroes Gaffer).
Following that release, things got busy for the Knid. They
toured all over Canada and established themselves as a force to
be reckoned with, as well as one of indie–rock’s greatest new
hopes. The new attention, and the respect of their peers, afforded
many new opportunities for Tim Ford, Ryan Stanley, Jesse Shanks,
and Brian Ward. Stanley has since become a solo artist of much
local renown, having released Nothing Left Unsaid, and Let’s Start
Our Own Parade, (two full– lengths in two years), while the Knid
slaved away on their third release. Most notably though, Ford
initiated the greatest coup when he opened the Ford Plant in
downtown Brantford. The town’s only all–ages venue not only
brought many amazing bands to town that would otherwise have
passed right on by, (Meligrove Band, Controller.Controller, By
Divine Right), while doubling as perhaps the most important
Canadian indie label since Sonic Unyon. The Ford Plant is home to
the Vermicious Knid and Ryan Stanley, and to The Sourkeys and
Silent Film Soundtrack who’s rising profiles have surely sent the
Plant’s stock through the roof.
But things rarely end as we’d hoped. Two years spent locked
away in the Ford Plant’s basement, writing, recording and
perfecting a follow–up record has finally yielded the Vermicious
Knid’s first full-length album, Smalltown Devotion/Hometown
Compulsion, but not without it’s consequences. Though it will
stand as the Knid’s definitive statement, they won’t live on to
Never let it be said that nothing good ever came out of Brantford. 
