It's not every day that a State College music fan can find a local band that lists "Inspector Gadget and beef jerky" as its two main influences. But Alchemy is not an everyday local band.

After only a year and a half, the group has established a place for itself in the local scene through parties at its home base, 250 S. Atherton St., and more recently, with regular weekly gigs at The Brewery, 233 E. Beaver Ave. The five-piece band has already opened for national acts such as Psychedelic Breakfast, Dr. Didg and Three Degrees of Freedom.

Association with those bands is no coincidence, however. With complicated, genre-bending originals, covers by artists such as the Disco Biscuits and prolonged periods of instrumental improvisation, Alchemy is no stranger to the rules that make up the "jam band."

"It has evolved a lot," said drummer Todd Evans, the only non-student in the group. "We started out as a straight-ahead rock band, but as we've gotten more proficient and played with each other more, it's changed."

Alchemy is made up of guitarists/vocalists Stanton Custer (junior-geosciences) and Josh Dominick (junior-environmental interpretation), bassist/vocalist Ben Thonus (junior-environmental soil science), percussionist Zack Scott (junior-forestry), and Evans.

Each member's musical background extends to his high school years or before, though they range from classical training (Thonus and Dominick) to learning by ear from Led Zeppelin albums (Evans). The members all had experience playing in other bands while in high school, however.

Custer, Dominick and Thonus met up about one month before the end of their freshman year at Penn State. The three recalled finding each other through walking around in the dorms or playing acoustic guitars around campus.

"As soon as I got up here, I wanted to find people to play with," Custer said.

The trio practiced as a percussion-less "triple guitar threat" during their second year at college, but it was obvious that they needed a drummer. Thonus knew Evans from his high school years in Harrisburg and called him up to join the group. The drummer, who had been working at the time and had gone through a series of other bands, jumped on the offer and relocated to State College.

The early days of Alchemy saw the band practicing frequently in Thonus' basement. The group learned a few covers, but the members of Alchemy all decided that they did not want to be considered a "cover band."

"We waited to get a gig at the bars until we had a decent amount of originals," Evans said. "We try to avoid [Grateful] Dead covers. We don't want to get lumped into that group."

The group built up a following by throwing parties in the house and performing for friends.

"Basically, we bribed our friends to come over, have drinks and listen to us," Custer said with a laugh.

The addition of Scott's percussion this past Thanksgiving has allowed the group to explore its boundaries even more, and, most recently, the band decided to bring its sound into the bar scene. Without even submitting a formal audition recording, Alchemy earned a weekly spot performing at The Brewery
and has become a staple of the bar's music schedule.

"They have a group of regulars that come to their shows," said Matthew Carlson, talent buyer for The Brewery. "Everyone seems to dig them."

A regular bar gig for a band that plays about 75 percent original music is not common in the area, but Alchemy is proud to be gaining recognition for it.

"I think a lot of people are scared to play weird music that people won't get," Dominick said. "A lot of people don't want to offend other people's ears."

With influences ranging from Phish to Soundgarden to the Mahavishnu Orchestra, and with so many complicated musical ideas and such diversity, one might expect the group to consist of straight-ahead, stern musicians. But behind the music, Alchemy is made up of five guys that love to (jokingly) rip on each other, throw a memorable TV show theme song into the mix and belt out those "jerky jams."

Such influences are reflected in originals such as "Twist Your Head Off," a song with a harmonized guitar rock/country feel that unexpectedly breaks down into a slow reggae groove several times. In true goofy jam band fashion, the group even places the theme song from "Gilligan's Island" into the intro.

But as their audience continues to grow, so do the members of Alchemy. The group is hesitant to examine its future beyond the college years, but for now, it is happy with the niche it has created for itself.

"We still have a lot to learn," Custer said. "We're all going to be here for at least one to two more years."