What makes a musician decide he wants to be the lead singer in an Aerosmith tribute band? For Danny Deane, it was a combination of love of the original band, audience desire and the promise of steady gigs.

Deane, who portrays Steven Tyler in Aerosmith Rocks, came up with the idea for the band back in 2008 and worked to get the tribute band off the ground, but it took a few years to really get going.

“I always identified that there was room for another Aerosmith tribute on the West Coast, specifically in Canada. We don’t have one – there’s a couple of Aerosmith tributes out of Toronto… I just knew that there was great demand for this band and managed to work with a great lineup of guys,” said Deane.

Aerosmith Rocks made its debut in Victoria last year, performing as part of Victoria Idol, which Deane said was almost appropriate.

“We played our premier show about a year ago at the Royal Theatre for a cool little show, the city’s first Idol competition, so very similar to Steven’s involvement with American Idol,” he said.

Since then, the band has been working to hone their performance and stage presence, work on costuming and deciding the right set list and are now touring across Canada.

Trying to master Tyler’s stage presence has taken a lot of energy, according to Deane.

“It’s probably the most taxing side of this thing, not to mention that’s he’s literally a bit of a phenom when it comes to vocal stuff – nobody can compare to him, he’s like the energizer bunny in that he can do that plus be this incredible ball of energy,” he said.

The band performs Aerosmith hits from across the entire 40-year catalogue, everything from Sweet Emotion to Janie’s Got A Gun to Jaded.

Deane had been told by several people that he had a Steven Tyler vibe to some of his vocals, and he just decided to roll with it.

“It’s always been identified by other people, I didn’t really see it immediately, just kind of a handful of vocalists that I do, do well,” he said

Deane noted that as working musicians get older, playing in a tribute band starts to become more appealing.

“Of all of the stable gigs that you could look for as an aging musician, tributes have become a more common thing for more seasoned musicians to turn to in terms of stable employment in this industry. And of all the bands to pay tribute to I thought [Aerosmith] were the richest in terms of 40 years of history together, they’re still together, they’re still relevant,” said Deane, pointing out that people from the last few generations likely had Aerosmith songs playing at their high school dance, from the 70s to now.

Deanes said the band is eager for Aeromith to release their newest album, which is scheduled to drop in May, so they can add some more songs to their repertoire.

As for what Fort St. John Aerosmith fans can expect when Aerosmith Rocks rolls into town tonight, Deane said it was simple:

“It’s a visceral and live experience – the guys that I play with we built to play this music. This isn’t about a cover band that goes ‘yeah, we sorta know that’ – these guys were built from the same lineage… let’s face it, Aerosmith is probably never going to roll up into Fort St John, unless the car breaks down, so we’re the next best thing. Given that, I think that it probably a treat for both – us to roll into Fort St. John and for folks to come out and see us.”

Aerosmith Rocks plays the Lido Theatre tonight at 7 p.m.