“We’ve got stalkers - two of them are in their sixties!”

Hilarious' is the view of another, and after being Mick Jagger's partner and wife for 22 years, Jerry Hall should certainly have some authority on the matter.

The Counterfeit Stones were formed 13 years ago and performing in front of Jerry has been one of their highlights.

Speaking on their National Music Awards gig, where they were asked to play after Mick et al cancelled, Steve said: "I was in mid scissor jump and I saw Jerry Hall. I thought I can't stop now.' She was very complimentary of us afterwards."

Steve started his music career at an early age: "I've been an employed musician since the age of 13. I was asked to perform at a wedding reception in 1964. Even then I was doing Stones' songs."

His love of the Stones continued, he won a talent competition with a Stones' song in 1965 and the first song he learnt to play on his guitar was Not Fade Away.' A pattern soon began to emerge, but Steve's repertoire wasn't just limited to Jagger's warblings. "I've always been a bit of a mimic so if I was playing The Beatles I'd be John or Paul," he said.

The ability to mimic his heroes then turned into a profession as he wrote and produced music for Stones sound-alike band Broken English and played in his first tribute band, The Strolling Bones. He has also worked with Status Quo, Eddy Grant and has written material for Latoya Jackson.

It was through these music adventures that The Counterfeit Stones was formed, after a former Bones member asked Steve for a rock and roll band to perform at the San Diego Del Mar Grand Prix in 1991.

"It went so well we formed the Counterfeit Stones. We just thought, rather than do covers why not actually be the Rolling Stones?"

And so Steve's alter ego, Nick Dagger, was born.

The group embarked on a dizzy tour of concerts, gigs and festivals. Steve has certainly been kept busy with the band: "We have been backwards and forwards and in and out of the country."

The group has performed in many different countries around the world including Finland, Japan and parts of the Middle East. Next year they are booked to play in Australia and New Zealand.

Their act varies depending on their audience; corporate events feature mainly loud, vibrant numbers but, of course, no gig is complete without a rendition of Satisfaction.' The Counterfeit Stones are now about to begin their first residential run in a London theatre and then, as Steve says, they will be "all over the country like a rash."

The Get Your Doo Dahs Out' tour will start at the Riverside Studios, Hammersmith, on Tuesday March 30.

The band has worked especially hard for the show, writing and filming a series of video clips documenting a spoof history of the Rolling Stones, to be played during costume changes.

Some of the clips will make reference to the band's decadent lifestyle for which they are so famously remembered.

The Stones' drug bust' hit the headlines again recently, after new allegations emerged that the drugs were planted in the flat, where a semi-naked Marianne Faithful was also found, clad only in a sheepskin rug.

But it is these events which Steve claims led to the Stones lasting longer than some of their quieter rock and roll counterparts. He said: "The whole drugs bust is riddled with mythology but it has done them nothing but good. That's what makes the Stones so fascinating, they had these calamities but if they hadn't had these events people may have forgotten them. People enjoy the legends."

The Counterfeit Stones promise to be only slightly less risqu. At the age of 53, Steve may have a few more years of youth compared to Sir Mick, but he hasn't necessarily got the list of leggy blonde conquests.

However, he insisted: "We have got stalkers. Two of them are in their 60s. We've asked them to sell our merchandise - if they're going to follow us they may as well do something useful."

The group has a varied fan base: posters advertise the show as suitable for those aged 10 - 90. Steve puts this down to the wide appeal of the Stones: "We've got the old generation for nostalgia and the new generation for curiosity."

A determined effort has been made into making the show as authentic as possible. It starts with the band in their 1963 Cuban heel' era and, with costume and set changes, brings fans right up to date.

The costumes, Steve explains, are copied and made up by BBC costume workers and a girl on the Kings Road.' Some of the articles and instruments are originals but as Steve says, Its got more and more hard to find things that are genuine old stuff.' There was almost the possibility of Nick Dagger performing in a Brian Jones fur coat, which Steve had tracked down to France. Unfortunately, the owner pulled out of the sale at the last minute. "I think she realised just how valuable it was," Steve lamented.

The missed opportunity was felt more because of the influence Steve feels Brian had on the band: "I think I liked the Stones' early years best because when they first came on the scene, with Brian Jones in 1963, they were a little bit threatening and they were more varied. After he died they became a very good rock band, very colourful but a bit more main stream."

You can see the self styled legend in his own underpants,' Nick Dagger, along with Keef Rickard (Pete Whittard), Charlie Mott (John Prynn), Bill Hyman (Alan Mian), Nicky Popkiss (Charlie Evans), Bryon Jones, Mick Taylor-Made and Ronnie B Goode (all performed by Justin Sandercoe) at the Riverside Studios from March 30 to April 12.

Tickets are priced at £15 and can be obtained by calling the box office on 020 8237 1111.