From left, members of Lez Zeppelin Joan Chew, bass/keyboards, vocalist Marlain Angelides, drummer Leesa Harrington Squyres, and guitarist Steph Paynes. Submitted photo

When she first formed the band in 2004, Steph Paynes was in between gigs, and thought it would be a novelty.

Paynes, founding member of the all-girl band, Lez Zeppelin, quickly learned how the novelty wore off. Since forming the all-girl band, Paynes said they have been performing and been featured on shows that aired on TV networks, BBC, ABC, CBS, MTV, VH-1, FOX, and radio shows which aired on Sirius XM, and NPR networks.

Let’s be clear: the band performs songs by Led Zeppelin, but is not a tribute band. The members pay more of an homage while performing on stage.

And like Led Zeppelin, Lez Zeppelin has four members that perform an energetic live show — Paynes on guitar, vocalist Marlain Angelides, bassist/keyboardist Joan Chew, and drummer Leesa Harrington Squyres.

“We basically do what they (Led Zeppelin) did. We have four members in the band,” Paynes said.

She added that the all-girl band does not have more members, and because more members would be needed, they are not replicating recordings.

“We feel like the fun and the excitement of a concert of playing this music is for the live experience. We don’t consider ourselves a tribute band, because we’re not impersonating,” Paynes said.

Paynes added that some other bands who perform Led Zeppelin songs will play their note-for-note versions of the bands recorded songs. While the band does learn the recorded version of the songs, the key, is to then branch out and improvise. For Paynes, she studies Jimmy Page’s guitar solos, and then, in concert, will launch into her own solos, in the language of Page’s playing. “I have to be so well-versed in what he would play that when I let go, hopefully, it (the solo) comes out like something he might play,” Paynes said.

Page was the guitarist for Led Zeppelin.

Paynes added that Lez Zeppelin members try to play the songs like Led Zeppelin did live including song endings, improvisations, and the interactions between musicians.

“All of that stuff,” Paynes said. “We try to, I wouldn’t say replicate, but one of the words we sort of have used is she-incarnate because we are all girls. That’s what we want to do. We want to sort of channel it (the music). And there is a lot of our own improvisation — I don’t play every note that Jimmy plays.”

According to the band’s website, lezzeppelin.com, in June 2013, Page attended their show in London, and said the of group, “They played the Led Zeppelin music with an extraordinary sensuality and an energy and passion that highlighted their superb musicianship.”

The website adds that what sets Lez Zeppelin apart (from other bands) is the seamless and unique way they inject their gender-bending performance into the original material.

Lez Zeppelin is scheduled to perform Saturday at The Reg Lenna Center for the Arts, 116 E. Third St. For more information visit reglenna.com.

And for the name — Lez Zeppelin — Paynes said her mother came up with it. Paynes said her late mother was a English professor and a poet and since Paynes was age 3, her mother taught her how to write poems. Paynes said one day her and her mother were throwing around names, like some bands do, and it stuck.

“She thought of it. I recognized it. … It’s the best name in the world.”