To quickly summarize the biographical essentials: The Doubts are a Top 40/classic rock cover band with members from Toronto, Mississauga and Hamilton. Formed as a quartet in 2003, over the years, the band expanded, matured and blossomed. The Doubts now boast not one, not two, not three, but four singers who trade off leads and anchor stellar harmonies — power-packed front gal Erin Benoit, keyboard player Eric Lam, bassist Neil Teixeira and guitarist Mike Spriggs. Rounding out the lineup are guitarist John Daly, who also pitches in with lead and back-up vocals, and Jorge Giorno on drums.
The band’s size and range allow it to pack an astonishing variety of songs into the repertoire. The core is current hits and classic bar favourites, but that means that the Doubts cover just about every popular genre from the 1950s through to todays Top 40 Hits. How many bands do you know who can pack songs by Neil Diamond, Santana, Fleetwood Mac, Gloria Gaynor, the Tragically Hip, Rage Against the Machine, Metallica, Guns N’ Roses, Dua Lipa and Bruno Mars into one show? How many do you know who can combine excerpts from Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Young MC, the Sugarhill Gang, Kris Kross, Wild Cherry, Prince — and sometimes more — into one killer funk/R&B dance medley?
Because the Doubts play so many corporate events and weddings they are often adding even more styles to the mix, including standards, lush Italian ballads and horas (one lasted 20 minutes). That range of events and audiences also means that the Doubts don’t play the same show by rote every time. The only things that really remain the same from show to show are the commitment, groove and the good feeling that lasts for days afterward.
The Doubts: We got ’em covered. Indeed.
... the whoosh of energy, the rush to the dance floor, then up to the front of the stage — hips shakin’, fists pumping and voices singing. Audiences of every age and description do it — eight-year-olds at charity walks, 20-year-olds at university-town bars, boomers at classic rock nightclubs, 60-year-olds in gowns and tuxedos at weddings and corporate parties.
Can you still sing along with Journey, Black-Eyed Peas and Lizzo songs when you’re 60?
Oh yeah, baby.
It happens at pretty much every Doubts show ...