The Questionaires survive member changes and the recession to bring genuine R&B to Vancouver clubs

hans sipma photo, circa 1984

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON JUNE 3, 1983

By Steve Newton

“An interesting thing about our band,” says Questionaires vocalist Mike Jacobs, “is that we were semi-late bloomers. We were really pretty old for some of us to be starting careers in music. At 26 or 27, that’s where I really gave up doing anything else.”

That was three or four years ago for Jacobs, now 30, but considering the loyal local following his band has acquired in that time, it appears they’ve blossomed under ideal conditions. At a recent Railway Club gig Jacobs and his bandmates–guitarist Gord Bedard, drummer Raymond Lee, bassist Bob Popowich, saxman Gordie Bertram, and keyboardist Gordon Kennedy–had ’em dancing in the aisles.

“At first we were just trying to be a semi-creative dance band,” says Jacobs, sipping iced tea in a sunny Broadway deli. “We had no airs to originality, but were just making dance music that wasn’t Top 40. We were trying to keep away from the more current, trendy stuff and get back to where our roots were in R&B.”

The first version of the Questionaires, in 1981, included bassist Chris Haddock, drummer Jim Young, and keyboardist Paul Niederhauser, along with Bedard, Bertram, and Jacobs. But according to Jacobs, the current Questionaires lineup is more professional, schooled, and hard-working.

“We really try to keep fresh material coming in. The big problem with writing original material for us is that, just when you’re getting to the point of working on new ideas, something will fall apart. A guy will quit. I’ve had it all happen; everything but death.”

The Questionaires did fall apart for six months late last year, and became the five-piece Doctor J. Saxman Bertram, guitarist Bedard, and bassist Popowich left and were replaced by Dave Vidal on guitar and Laughlin Clement on bass.

“Doctor J came about as a diversion,” says Jacobs, “because things were getting so bad for bands period. With the turnout at the clubs really waning, and so many going out of business, they wanted to pay less and less money.

“And I was told, on the advice of several agents who were booking us, that the band had a bad rep as the Questionaires. Not with the audiences, but with certain club owners who were being less than pleasant to deal with. The music was never really the problem, it’s just that if you get a reputation for not saying the right thing on stage you can make some less than friendly relations.

“But the main issue was really not the Questionaires having some disagreements with club owners and not being able to rise above it. People were just broke everywhere at the time. We were trying to compact the band into a smaller, more workable group that could make a living and not have to pay that sixth cheque.”

Doctor J helped get its members through the worst of the current recession and also, says Jacobs, worked as a catalyst in bringing the original members back with added incentive.

“When Bertram came back to the band and the original guitar player came back, I knew that I’d really just been treading water with Doctor J. And then when Bob came back on bass it just gelled. Since then it’s been a laugh. We’ve been working more than ever and getting paid reasonably well. And the original spark of energy and creativity seems to be coming back. The friendship, you know, being able to stay together.”

There’s no denying that the Questionaires are a tight outfit. Onstage Bedard’s searing blues chops are tempered by Bertram’s rich, soothing sax breaks and Kennedy’s loose, funky keyboard work. Lee and Popowich hold the bottom down while Jacobs, always moving and shaking to the beat, croons the tunes. Totally engrossed in the swaying rhythmic blues, Jacobs becomes a human dance machine. It’s not surprising that his greatest influences were Little Richard and Ray Charles.

“I grew up in Buffalo,” he says, “where there is a huge Black community. And there were the obvious setbacks with a lot of racism in my mostly-white neighbourhood. The Blacks were the same way. We didn’t mingle a lot.

“But I was brought up in that whole Vietnam War era where we started to spread out a little more and care a little bit less about what most people thought. My sister was always real progressive, and she used to bring home these crazy Little Richard, Bob Dylan, and Ray Charles records And I used to sit around and just go nuts over Ray Charles. Little Richard had all the energy and the rock and roll, and Ray Charles had all the soul.”

The Questionaires have transplanted some of that soul in the Vancouver club scene, each member bringing a bit of it from his respective home base. Bertram is the band’s only original Vancouverite. Bedard is from Nelson, Lee from Regina, Popowich from Winnipeg, and Kennedy from Toronto.

Bertram and Popowich have each played in a couple of other local bands as well, Bertram in Blue Northern and Powder Blues, and Popowich in 6 Cylinder and Sweet Dick.

“There’s a lot of people in town playing R&B,” says Jacobs, “and a lot of them do a good job of it. I think one thing about the Questionaires that is semi-unique is that we really feel good about the way we interpret the music. And we’re a solid unit. We like to play together and we like each other personally.”

The Questionaires will be playing at the Coach House June 7 to 12.

To read over 100 of my other interviews with local Vancouver musicians since 1983, go here.