In front of the Hard Rock Café in Phoenix, adoring fans flock toward Tony, Paul, Bret, Donnie and Erik.
Their names might not be well known across the country, but in the world of West Coast Bon Jovi cover bands, they're famous.
Their band, New Jersey, named after the hometown of Bon Jovi and one of the first Bon Jovi albums, performs to packed houses several times a month in California and Arizona.
"It's not like we're on tour in a van for four or five months in a row. We just play every weekend," says Tony Pagni, founder of the band, who plays the role of Bon Jovi drummer Tico Torres.
Pagni says he got the idea for the band a year and half ago while he was at a party. "I was talking to a guy that said, 'I would rather pay to see a band that plays music I know than music I don't know,'" Pagni explains. "I've always been a Bon Jovi fan, so I thought, 'Let's put an ad in the paper and get a Bon Jovi thing going.' A year-and-a-half going strong and here we are."
The original band was made up of Pagni; Bret Simpson, who calls himself Bret Jovi and plays Jon Bon Jovi; Paul Amorosi, who actually looks like Eddie Van Halen, played guitar and sang as back-up vocalist Richie Sambora; and Donnie MacDonald, who plays the role of Bon Jovi's previous bass guitarist Alec John Such. The band has since lost Amorosi.
Unlike a lot of busy musicians, the band agrees that their families are extremely supportive (probably because they aren't on the road all the time, the band suggests). Erik Ogden, who now plays Bon Jovi keyboardist Dave Bryan, smiles as Pagni announces that Ogden and his wife just had a daughter, but that his wife still went to every show.
"His wife puts up with him going to rehearsals and going to shows in California," Pagni says, as Ogden adds that she usually makes it to the shows in California, too.
Their fans are made up of their friends and family, but also include the real Bon Jovi fans, according to Pagni.
"You always get the supporting friends and wives that see us," Pagni says. "But a lot of them are fans. Our fan base is growing on a daily basis. We started our Web site www.azbonjovitribute.com two months ago and had zero hits, now we have 1,500."
And it's no surprise that the band shares one quality in particular with most of their fans: They're Bon Jovi fans. But although the band has made several attempts to contact the real "boys from New Jersey," they have never been to a show.
Although they perform as the big-haired, cowboy-boot-wearing, '80s Bon Jovi, they have made attempts at the modern-day, denim-pants, layered-hair look. "We started out with the semi-modern to '90s look. We got a lot of feedback from people who saw us," Simpson says. "People can see Bon Jovi nowadays, and they are a great band. But they can't see Bon Jovi like they were in the '80s. When people go out to see Bon Jovi, they want to see 'Slippery When Wet.' And they don't do that anymore: We do."
Seeing the guys transform from jeans and T-shirts to the band New Jersey is an interesting and fun process for the audience. Five minutes before a show, the band members sit with their friends and family in the audience. Then, Pagni rounds up the band members to change. After changing one-by-one in the bathroom, they come out looking like some of the most famous men in the world.
Simpson comes out in Jon's signature '80s Superman shirt and leather pants; Ogden comes out wearing Dave Bryan's laid back clothes and beret; Pagni is dressed in a sleeveless shirt, which Tico Torres is famous for; MacDonald is wearing the black-on-black that Such did; and now-former member Amorosi decked out in a Richie Sambora cowboy hat.
"If you're a real fan of Bon Jovi and you like a certain band member, you know about their quirks and we try to match that," Amorosi says the night of the show. "It's as close as you can get without seeing the real band."
Simpson goes as far as to use Jon's catch phrases, which include "You gotta talk to me!" and "Is there a doctor in the house?" The fans in the audience knew exactly how to respond - and happily did.
The audience also enjoys getting into the act. Screams of "We love you, Bon Jovi!" and "You give love a bad name!" pump up the guys as they climb on the stage.
So the next time any fan needs be "Livin' on a Prayer," these guys can give them a "Shot Through the Heart" or help them lie in a "Bed of Roses."
Reach the reporter at farrah.kaye@asu.edu.
