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Local Guides
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THE CREEPY CRAWLY KNID
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by
View
February 10 – 16 |
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A few years back, it was hard to believe that Brantford
would become such a hotbed of activity for Southern
Ontario’s indie rock scene. But while a few factory
closures and a monopolistic real–estate stranglehold
has made Brantford a ghost town of boarded windows
and empty streets, a small venue in the heart of
downtown has breathed new life into the tiny suburb.
Brantford teenagers come out in droves to The Ford
Plant to soak up the finest in indie rock, making it a
must–do tour stop for many of the country’s most
talented bands and a household name for independent
music supporters across Canada. And while any band
that plays the venue will find a crowd of loving, receptive
people, Brantford’s most beloved band has got to be The
Vermicious Knid—because if it weren’t for them, The
Ford Plant probably wouldn’t exist.
Bassist Brian Ward explains, “I think Tim [Ford, the
Knid’s guitarist/vocalist and co–founder of the Ford
Plant] just knew that if he could find a venue, people
would come out because there’s nothing else to do. He’s
lucky cause he gets to bring out his favourite bands from
Southern Ontario, out East and other places and people
actually get into it. Who would have known? I never
would have thought that this many people from Brantford
would be into these kinds of bands. Back in the day,
Brantford was a pretty punk rock town. That’s all there
really was. We were kind of the odd ones out back then,
but now we’re almost like hometown heroes.”
Though they never expected to be kings of their town,
they couldn’t be more deserving of the title. After only a
few years of playing music on stage (guitarist/vocalist
Ryan Stanley was the only one that had been in a band
before the Knid; a hard rock cover band at that), the
quartet have become an all–out powerhouse of catchy
melodies, intricate stop–start timing and bona fide indie
pop anthems.
The band have been hard at work on the follow–up to
2002’s Days That Stand Still EP (released by Ryan Mills’
Antiantenna imprint), hoping to have something to show
for themselves by the spring. Though the EP was
recorded with Simon Head and Mark Ganassin at Insight
Recorders, the Knid (rounded out by drummer Jesse
Shanks) opted to go at it alone this time around, tracking
the whole record in the basement of the Ford Plant.
“We started it in the summer of 2004. It’s been coming
together pretty slowly but I think we’re all pretty happy
with it,” says Ward, “We have maybe one more recording
session to do and then we’re gonna get it mixed and
mastered and then hopefully it will come out relatively
soon. We’re all pretty excited about it because we’ve
had total say over everything. Because Ryan [Stanley] is
at the helm, we can talk in our gibberish, non–technical
ways and he can figure it out cause we’ve been playing
together for so long.
“Honestly, we just want to put this thing out already,” he
adds, sounding anxious. We’ve been recording for a
long time and we’ve been quote–unquote ‘selling’ the
EP for so long now. The EP definitely isn’t representative
of our band anymore, so we want to get this record out
as soon as possible.”
If their recent live shows are any indication, the new
record should be a big hit around these parts, melting
together the beautiful back–and– forth of Pinback and
Heavy Vegetable, the call–and–response guitar work of
The Wooden Stars and the rhythm section momentum of
the upper crust in pop–punk. Though tour plans hinge
on the weighty task of finding funds for a van, the band
hope to get out to play as much as they can.
The Knid are excited to get back to Hamilton this Friday
for the Inflation Kills CD fundraiser, as the Brantford
blahs of the mid–’90s were often eased by field trips into
our city for shows and the Sonic Unyon store. And now,
finally, Hamiltonians can return the compliment by
getting out to Brantford for a show at the Ford Plant. I
know you can’t believe it, but one of the best venues in
the country is waiting just next door. V
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