The Alco Beat

The Alco Beat is a 5 piece rootsy rock and roll band from Southern Ontario. Its songs rich with melody, jangly guitars, close harmonies, and bittersweet lyrics bare comparisons to those of an early Tom Petty, or Neil Young. The swing of the rhythm section would suggest homage to The Beatles or The Stones, with bass lines that dance gracefully along with sparse soulful drumming.
The Alco Beat began life as a trio in fall of 2005; co-led by singer/songwriter/guitarist Stephen Corbett and singer/songwriter/bass player Steve Mills. Along with drummer David Saylor the trio played a few well received shows through out the Niagara area and recorded a 6 song demo before disbanding in September of 2006. Each member went his separate way reuniting to record 1 song in hopes of finding "the magic" but it was not to be, and The Alco Beat was dead.
Then fate stepped in. While committing rock and roll suicide playing classic rock covers, Corbett found himself killing time at work by writing a song. "It was new and exciting, it felt better than everything else I had done, and I just needed a band to play it with!" Knowing that 1 song does not a band make, and not wanting to tread old ground, Corbett began to write furiously. "It happened very fast, within 2 weeks I had enough good songs to get started." So in February 2007, he called former Alco Beat drummer Dave and some new friends discovered in his cover band. Dave and Theresa Norsworthy are a husband and wife, bass and keys duo from the Hamilton area. "I wanted to enjoy myself more than anything else," says Corbett, "Dave and Theresa are the easiest going musicians I have ever met. Plus they can play like madmen!"
The foursome rehearsed sporadically for 2 months then hit the studio. Their 5 song demo was completed in 4 days at Sound Decision studio in Port Colborne, Ontario co-produced by the band and B.R. Ventura. Plans were made, and then put off...
"I wanted something bigger, something meaner; something that could sing like The Byrds but played like The Stones." Corbett explains. "So I called up the biggest, meanest most singingest sombitch I could think of!" Enter Steve Mills, fresh off rediscovering his first love, the guitar. “It was incredible. The band was tighter than ever and we sang better than we ever had. Did I mention his guitar playing blew me away." says Corbett "I knew we were on to something."
The new 5 piece band called itself The Alco Beat, started to line up gigs. Within a few weeks, drummer Dave bid farewell to pursue other interests. Gigs were postponed, but spirits remained high. The Alco Beat hired drummer #2 Ben Schlitz and went back to work. Ben had to leave for personal reasons after 6 short weeks.
Feeling cursed at best, The Alcos decided to take some time off. "We needed to rest, and recharge. We were playing who is our drummer, and that can get you down pretty fast," says Corbett,” I didn't want anyone to give up, I felt like we were really close to something. So we took December off."
The Alco Beat reconvened in January 2008 with drummer #3 Jason Gautier. "It was really funny," says Corbett, "the day after I had hired Ben; J sent me an email asking if I needed a drummer. So I emailed him 30 seconds after getting Ben's resignation...Hopefully the rest becomes history."
The Alco Beat was reborn, and is now looking forward to a lot of work; shows, recording, and making a ton of new friends!
But in the end Corbett offers these thoughts,” If coming back from the dead was easy, everyone would do it."