National Affair

While National Affair’s sound and line-up are new, its members are familiar. The Goodridge brothers, Jon (vocals/guitar) and Darren (drums), were both founding members of the nowdefunct Vancouver punk band, Complete, who toured extensively under the Spawner Records banner. Kevin Webster (bass/vocals) isn’t new to the scene either – he played drums for Sunset On Broadway (another Spawner alumnus) before rounding out the formidable trio. The band took a back-to-basics approach to song writing, creating more space for melodies and texture to emerge. Kevin explains, “Punk rock is all about going hard and fast. These mid-tempo songs gave us so much more room to play with. A lot of bands try to fill in bottom end with a ton of guitars, but the bass gets lost. Jon doesn’t do that. His guitar playing is all colour and texture – it just makes my bass lines stand out that much more.” Tracks like ‘Waiting’ are a perfect example – the verse is carried by a hauntingly catchy bass melody while guitar feedback echoes in the distance, only to eventually be overtaken by the kind of anthemic chorus with passionate and perfectly imperfect vocals, heavy-hitting drums, and bass that you feel as much as hear – a sound for which National Affair will no doubt become known. The time and effort National Affair have spent sculpting this initial offering has been well worth it. And the band hasn’t missed an opportunity to capitalize on what it does best – deliver punchy rock anthems with enough raw energy to make their punk roots proud. National Affair's latest achievement was finding a spot for their song 'Aiden' on the official 'Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics' video game made my Sega.

Band Members

Jonathan Goodridge-Vocals/Guitar
Darren Goodridge-Drums
Kevin Webster-Bass/Vocals