Chicago’s Citrus are looking to expand their touring westward. The seven-piece band are making arrangements to play Veishea’s newest event, Terrace Music.

“We rotate between Gabe’s and Gunner’s about every six weeks,” lead singer Jason Miller said. “Iowa’s one of our favorite campuses, but we’re looking forward to expanding to central Iowa.”

Students looking for an adventure over break can travel to the famed Chicago club, the Metro, to catch Citrus. The bar is lowering the age limit to 18 for the show, welcoming all college students home for the holidays.

“Our style is hard to describe,” Miller explained. “There are so many influences, mainly Latin and jazz. The music is really about the beat and groovy rhythms. Mike (Bizar) describes us as polyrhythmic pop.”

However you describe them, there is no doubt that a Citrus show is something special. Chicago’s WLUP producer, Jim Flanagan, describes Citrus as “intensity, only with the rock sound of a generation of influences.”

After coming together from different areas of the Chicago music scene through some unusual circumstances, Citrus entered the market about a year and a half ago. The common philosophy of “playing music that makes people happy” made the task a bit easier for the band.

“It is really unique how we came together,” Miller said. “Mike and I were trying to decide what to do as a band, when he brought in all these people one day and it just happened. It is a totally bizarre mix, that I would have never guessed would combine.”

Miller’s plays rhythm guitar with Bizar on lead, Nancy Antevski on vocals, Mark Murphy on bass, Tracy Shepherd on drums, Bob Garrett on percussion and P. Ano Bench on Keyboards.

“What we have been about is our show,” Miller added. “It’s what we put our energy toward. In January we are finally going to try creatively putting that on CD. We want to capture what we have been working on in our shows.”

Citrus’s success has led to recent shows with the Samples and the Radiators. While touring the Midwest college circuit, their mailing list has swelled to 1,500-plus names.

“Everyone writes their own parts,” Miller said. “I write the lyrics and Mike will play with it musically to make it more creative.

“I try to get everyone involved in the process, for instance, we are going to try writing a song starting with the rhythm.”

Citrus shows are said to include extensive jam sessions, comparing them to such college idols as Phish. “We plan out a lot of it, but there is an element of improv in our shows, probably from our jazz background,” Miller said. “We use it to build up to the climax of our show. One person usually takes charge and we go from there.”

“We’ll be on stage and the energy level going back and fourth between the audience will be phenomenal. Then we’ll listen to the tape and realize that we didn’t sound that good. Sometime it’s the other way around, but our goal is to do both.”

Citrus will have no problems with energy when they headline the Metro on Friday, December 22. Doors open at 11 p.m., with tickets available by calling (312) 559-1212.

“We are happy with our music,” Miller closed. “Staying open to new ideas is really important to us. You have to be open-minded to create.”