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Andrew Perelman and Jonah Zitelli
band in West Philadelphia, finishing
their first album and planning a return
to Kenyon for a show later this month.

The band’s first full album,
“Companion,” is out April 15 on
Bandcamp, Spotify and Apple Music.

What does post-country mean?
Jonah Zitelli: It’s like a tongue-in-
cheek thing I made up when we were
in college. I guess once we started
playing more seriously in college,
that’s where I was coming at it from,
kind of like a hokey, Americana angle.

Andrew Perelman: The post-coun-
try thing is honestly a tongue-in-
cheek joke. But also we like to really
play up the “Twang”.

How has your music evolved
since forming the band in 2017?
AP: It used to be a lot less mellow.

We’ve learned how to kind of reign in
our dynamics instead of just having
one gear, which is, like, as fast as
possible. I always try to write songs that’ll
stay relatable to yourself as time
goes on. So I still enjoy playing
everything, but most of the songs
we’re playing now are from the
record that’s gonna come out.

Where did you draw inspiration
from for the new record?
SASHA ROGELBERG | STAFF WRITER
Courtesy of Andrew Perelman
A ndrew Perelman, Jonah Zitelli and Rutherford B. Hayes
have one obvious thing in common — and no, Hayes
was not Jewish, and Perelman and Zitelli were not sitting
Republican presidents.

But all were Kenyon College graduates who left the abundant corn
fields in search of something bigger.

Perelman and Zitelli, 24, were wrapping up their undergrad work
in 2020, thinking their band Mark Twang, founded their sophomore
year with some Kenyon friends, would release an album and go on
tour around the country. By March that year, the duo realized the
band’s hiatus would last longer than their senior year spring break.

But just as they did as freshman in college — living on the same
hall with a mutual interest in early 2000s emo pop-punk music —
Perelman, a New York native, and Zitelli, a Dresher native and Or
Hadash bar mitzvah boy, found each other again, rebuilding the
JZ: A lot of songs that I wrote for
the record, even those songs, are 2
years old now. And thinking back on
inspiration for them, I wrote a couple
of them after the pandemic started.

I was kind of stuck; I was still in col-
lege; I ended up getting stuck at my
aunt’s house in the suburbs.

My parents were not in town, so
I couldn’t go back to their house.

It was just kind of quiet. And I had
nothing much else to do. And I had
never really sang before on track,
so I was like, well, I’m gonna sit here
and try to write words.

AP: A lot of the lyrics are very
retrospective on my life. A lot of it
was written during Kenyon; a lot of
it was written during that period of
time after we left Kenyon. I was living
at home with my parents, and I was
definitely reflecting on my life up
until that point so far.

As kids, did you imagine
yourselves in a band?
JZ: Absolutely, we fantasized about
that. I grew up playing the trumpet
and then switched to guitar because
I didn’t think trumpet was cool
enough — big mistake.

I grew up listening to a lot of
pop-punk music and I just imag-
ined myself playing super-cathar-
tic music on stage for a bunch
of people. I was very much imag-
ining something high-energy and,
l guess, emotional. That’s what I
would have wanted in my preteen,
early teenage years.

AP: My siblings and I used to per-
form for our parents when we were
little toddlers. We just lip synced to
songs and set up light shows and
just put on performances. I always
loved performance. I think it’s so
much fun, and I’ve always been, I
guess, looking for that. I’ve been
playing in bands since I was 13
with my friends, but it used to be
nerdy. What’s the most embarrassing
thing to happen during a set?
JZ: We played at a bar in Pittsburgh,
which was a smokers-only bar. But
they didn’t like us very much. There
was no one really there to see us. It
was just like a bar full of people who
just happened to be there. We just
didn’t really fit the bill. And then it
was just kind of an awkward situa-
tion for everyone involved.

AP: I had a great time. I remember
really enjoying that. I had a good
time, but the people there were not
happy that we were playing.

JZ: Do you have a different most
embarrassing Mark Twang moment?
AP: Most embarrassing? No, my
pants have never fallen down.

I don’t know how embarrassed I
get because it’s already hyper-em-
barrassing, to be honest. Like you’re
there, you’re just creating this opti-
mistic, energetic person that’s
gonna dance around for 30 minutes
and make everyone want to watch
what’s going on. You’re already
putting yourself out there. JE
srogelberg@midatlanticmedia.com JEWISHEXPONENT.COM
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