“One, two, three, fah!”

That’s how Eric Michaels usually starts his nights at work, at least since he became Paul McCartney.

No, this isn’t a “Paul is dead” hoax. Michaels is very real and will be assuming his role as McCartney when Beatles tribute extraordinaire American English takes the stage at 10 p.m. tonight at Otto’s Night Club, 118 E. Lincoln Highway.

American English currently consists of Tom Gable (Ringo Starr), Frank Canino (John Lennon) and Danny Leavitt (George Harrison).

Band members will assume the roles of their Fab Four counterparts, recreating timeless Beatles music note-for-note.

No shortage of Beatles tribute bands exists, but what sets the group apart from its contemporaries is its “Fifth Beatle,” keyboardist Ken Zemanek.

Unlike other Beatles tributes, American English does not use loops or backing tracks to recreate the string and horn lines written by longtime Beatles producer George Martin. Instead, Zemanek treats his Korg keyboard as a jack-of-all-trades, using it to replicate violins, French horns and piccolos.

“We have all the ingredients,” Michaels said. “We need to have this fifth guy … to do it as the Beatles did.”

American English explores the Beatles’ entire catalog, performing rockers like Please Please Me‘s “I Saw Her Standing There” to spark-your-lighter anthems like “Hey Jude” to rarities like “For You Blue” and “Old Brown Shoe.”

Not only does American English stay as close as it can to the Beatles sonically, the members also dress the part.

Each American English show consists of three sets: the band begins each show clad in black suits to perform early Beatles songs. Next, the group dons its best psychedelic clothing to recreate trippy tunes off Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. One more wardrobe change, and the band comes back in the clothing the Beatles wore on the famous Abbey Road cover to wrap up the show with late Beatles songs. Michaels even goes so far as to play barefoot during the last set of the show, just as McCartney was pictured on the 1969 album cover.

Michaels said the idea to dress up in full costume was inspired by a fan.

“We saw some girl in the audience with a Pepper outfit, and we’re like, ‘Why don’t we do that?'” Michaels said. “Then we can play a bigger repertoire. You can’t play [Sgt. Pepper‘s] songs in a black suit. It’s against the law!”

Theatrics are an integral part of the American English experience, and no show is complete without a light show, bubble machines during “Yellow Submarine” and “Octopus’s Garden” and Canino belting out garbled lyrics to “Tomorrow Never Knows” through a megaphone.

American English is known for its set-list diversity, which brings crowds back time and time again. Tonight marks the third time the group has played Otto’s in the past year.

“The great thing about Otto’s is it’s a fun club,” Michaels said. “It’s a college town and those are always the most fun. We get to play some wacky stuff.”

That is not to say that the group only plays small college towns. American English has played all over the country and internationally, including Great Britain, Guam and Mexico.

Michaels recalled one particularly raucous crowd the group played for in Japan.

“We’re doing a concert at a music fair, and the interpreter guy comes out and goes, ‘Now you play, and people applaud, then you go off stage,'” Michaels said. Michaels said the interpreter instructed them not to play an encore because it is not traditional in Japan.

“So we go out there and end with a big hit … maybe the back side of Abbey Road,” he said. “People started getting up and applauding and they wouldn’t stop, and we’re backstage, and the guy comes running and says, ‘Come, come, you play encore now!’ I just had to smile. It never fails.”

The following American English has cultivated is impressive considering recreating the sound of the greatest pop act in human history is just about as easy as it sounds.

This daunting task has led to turnover in the band and has resulted in a couple of new Harrisons and Lennons in the last few years.

“It’s like I tell new band members when they join the band, ‘I’m warning you ahead of time: when you join American English, it’s like joining the Beatles Marines,'” Michaels said.

Assuming the persona of someone else onstage every night is not an easy task, Michaels said.

“You’re half-actor, half-musician,” he said. “But you’ve got to be whole of each.”

Still, Michaels is happy to be bringing Beatles music to the masses.

“It’s been a life-changing thing,” he said. “I fell in love with it from the beginning.”