ALWAYS JOVI, a new Jon Bon Jovi tribute band led by Trixter guitarist, singer, producer and songwriter Steve Brown, played Dr. Pepper Park Amphitheater in Roanoke, Virginia, on May 9 after making its live debut three weeks earlier in Ohio.
Brown said the group is “a tribute like no other,” built around his own voice and a lineup that includes Fred Gorhau on guitar, Kevin Humphris on bass, Joey Cassata on drums, Frankie D'Esposito as a fill-in drummer for Cassata, Chris McCoy on keyboards and Devon Marie as a female singer. The band first took the stage on April 18 at BMI Event Center in Versailles, Ohio, and then brought the act to Virginia as it begins rolling out public dates.
The idea came together after Brown said he kept hearing how much he sounded like Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora, including from Phil Collen and Joe Elliott, who would reference the comparison. Brown said his voice matches Bon Jovi’s at his prime, and that helped push him toward a project built specifically around that sound rather than a standard lookalike act. He has also said he put the band together after hearing how much money some tribute bands are making, a calculation that came alongside his own years of working in tribute projects to help make ends meet.
Brown framed the move bluntly: after 20 years of hearing the comparisons and watching the tribute circuit grow, he decided, “You know what, man? I gotta do this.” He said he studied BON JOVI tribute acts around the world and across the country before settling on a different approach, one that leans on performance and vocal resemblance more than costume or mimicry.
That difference matters because tribute bands now sit in a crowded business where familiarity sells, but only if the execution feels convincing enough to justify the ticket. Brown’s pitch is that ALWAYS JOVI can do that without copying every detail, and he pointed to “Who Says You Can't Go Home” as one of BON JOVI’s biggest hits over the last 20 years, a reminder of the catalog the new act is built to chase. With its debut behind it and another public performance already in the books, the question is no longer whether Brown can sound the part. It is whether ALWAYS JOVI can turn that sound into a working road show.
