Citrus is keeping the North Penn music scene fresh, bringing to their band’s sound an eclectic fusion influenced by jazz, rock, pop, funk, and Indian music. Having made their official debut just a year ago today on May 28, 2024, they’ve already found success: from being the first place winners of North Penn’s Got Talent to playing for the Montgomery County Democratic Convention, Citrus knows how to connect with both their audiences and each other.
Who are the North Penn students behind the band? Neil Anand brings his skill set on bass and guitar, and Derek Ranjan brings his on the piano. Alexander Muto takes on saxophone and vocals, Sean Peters plays trombone and keyboard. Simar Kler is on drums.
The melting pot of styles that the band has taken on is what makes them a representation of North Penn; the mosaic of backgrounds that the student body is made up reflects into their style, mixing musical genres and putting their own spins on covers for their performances. Their sound is the result fueled not just by inspiration from those genres, but rather a collective love of playing music together.
“It’s more just loving playing together rather than ‘I love playing this one type of music.’ When I came up here and didn’t know any of these guys and just wanted experience to play outside of a school sanctioned thing, it was just a great opportunity to do that,” Muto said.
Anand and Ranjan had already played together in a band, having been a part of fusion group “Indium” in their prior years at North Penn. The other former members of the group left for college, but the desire to play music didn’t end there. Bringing together friends with both a passion for music and a want to be a part of a band themselves, Citrus was born.
“Neil and I wanted to make a band, so it was definitely going to be Derek, Neil, and I in the band. We thought of who else we were friends with and who was best suited for what we wanted to play and at the level that it is. I’ve known [Alexander] since literally second grade. When we did a session with Simar it all kind of clicked,” Peters explained.
It was those pre-existing friendships and ability to flow together musically that made the biggest difference in their sound. That moment of “clicking” makes all the difference for Citrus, and it’s the deciding factor that transformed their individual musical ability into a cohesive and compelling sound.
“There were a lot of musicians at the first one or two jam sessions, because we were just trying to try people out. We settled on this group because socially we mesh together. Having been in different groups, for me, how good everyone is musically matters, but honestly, more importantly, it matters how everyone meshes together. Long term, the band won’t make good music if we don’t understand each other on a social level,” Anand explained.
Just this past March, Citrus had a tangible mark of success, capturing the attention and approval of the panel of judges at North Penn’s Got Talent, ultimately winning first place.
Ran through Tri-M Music Honors Society partnered with National Honors Society, the competition of the talent show highlighted the different musical abilities across North Penn students. Anand, president of Tri-M at North Penn, and Peters also helped to organize and run the event alongside having a performance by Citrus in the show.
“I thought we were going to do well and definitely make it somewhere in the top. But, the week before, Neil and I, especially because we had to write the script and MC, was an extremely stressful and busy week and a half, because we were constantly rehearsing. We would finish a jazz band rehearsal that was two hours, then go to Neil’s and rehearse for two/three hours. It was a ton of rehearsal, it was a lot, but it all really paid off at that point,” Peters said.
“The biggest thing that improved when we did the talent show was our stage presence. It’s really easy to just sit there and play. It was a thing when we were rehearsing the day before we literally had to work on moving and playing and dancing while we’re playing,” Peters continued.
Through their performance of “Crazy Race” by RH Factor and “You Give Love a Bad Name” by Bon Jovi, Citrus pulled off winning over the judges.
“Alexander and I did mess up the ending a bit, but I don’t know, I think it’s important to mention that we weren’t perfect and did mess up a bit. We messed up together, so it was fine,” Kler said.
“In these band experiences, there’s a lot of last minute things that happen with every gig, but that’s part of what I like about it. We chose these people because I have faith in all of these people and their musician skills. At the gig, I can always have faith that they’re going to pull through, and even if we mess up we can use our musical instinct to make something sound good,” Anand added.
The talent possessed by Citrus has opened up a variety of performance opportunities, allowing them to add to the local music scene of Lansdale outside of just the school. This past October, Citrus played at Round Guys Brewery just off of Main Street at a Dine and Donate event benefiting North Penn Cheer. The band looks back on it as one of their most notable shows, performing in the corner of the bar for an audience of friends, directors, and local community, giving them more exposure throughout town.
“My mom is in a band herself and one of her bandmates does a lot of the entertainment stuff for Round Guys and he reached out and asked me, ‘Do you guys want to play?’ I was like, yeah, and then we did,” Muto explained.
The band Muto references his mom being in, Aaron West and the Roaring Twenties, serves as an example of what local music can turn into; the lead member and Lansdale native, Dan Campbell, has found success in both Aaron West and the Roaring Twenties also in folk rock band The Wonder Years.
“He’s a big inspiration to me because I love his writing style and I would want to do something similar in the future. My mom is also very big on music. She started me on piano when I was very young and I had a musical upbringing ever since,” Muto said.
Another notable experience for the band was playing for the Montgomery County Democratic Convention, opening up their sound to an even larger audience.
“Our band director has links with the people at the Pinecrest Country Club and they hosted a regional Democratic Convention back when Joe Biden was president. We were invited to that, just kind of playing background music for that, and we got paid. It was a fun experience for all of us to play as a band. We then got invited back for the Montgomery County one- the bigger scaled one. They actually told us that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were going to be invited to it, so we thought we were going to meet them,” Anand said.
“It was silly because they were like, ‘It’s Kamala’s birthday, and she’s going to be here!’ Like a week later, we saw she was with Stevie Wonder on her birthday. But we’re a close second place,” added Peters.
“Derek is just Stevie Wonder without sunglasses on,” joked Kler.
“Also, she lost the election in Pennsylvania by just a couple votes,” Ranjan said.
“If she was here, maybe she would have won,” said Muto.
“Citrus decided the presidential election. That’s the headline,” Peters joked.
The link between playing gigs at venues like Round Guys and Pinecrest Country Club were the connections that got Citrus onto those stages. Without those connections, the band would have lost out on an expanded audience. For the band, that’s one of the greatest lessons they’ve learned.
“The biggest thing I realized throughout Citrus is you need to have connections if you want to get anywhere. From Neil and Derek’s old band, someone reached out and asked them to play a wedding, and they were like, ‘that band doesn’t exist anymore, but [Citrus] can play for you. The only reason we got that was through the connection of the other band. The way we got those gigs for the Democratic Convention was through our director. It’s hard to just cold call and work your way in. When you know someone, it’s a lot easier,” said Peters.
“Putting yourself out there is the best advice I can give. I know that’s really ambiguous and hard to follow, but having a good Instagram page with clear ways to reach out is good. We also have business cards,” added Anand.
Having put themselves into the North Penn and Lansdale music scene, Citrus also recognizes the importance of music for community; more than just a form of entertainment and expression, music is able to connect people together, whether it’s in the band or the audience.
“Jazz specifically started in New Orleans and was such a center of community for the people there,” Kler explained.
“You’ve got the people playing it and the community that comes from that, and everybody around the band is also affected. Whether it’s just background music or if you’re actually listening to it and paying attention to what it is, music really brings a lot of people together in so many different instances. People connect through the music, how it makes them feel, the lyrics, the melody; whatever it is, it’s super important, and don’t let it die,” Muto said.
With Anand, Ranjan, Peters, and Kler all being seniors at North Penn, Citrus hopes to get together to play over breaks from college. As for Muto, a junior, he hopes to “carry on the tradition” by starting a new band looking forward to next year. Continuing on in college, Citrus hopes to find themselves exploring the music scenes of where they attend school in the future; whether or not music finds its way into their majors, all of the members will remain linked to music.
You can find Citrus on Instagram at @citrus_the_band, where you can keep up with their latest performances and message to book.
