The Mark DeRose Band plays "feel-good" music.

"You can't listen to a Mark DeRose song and feel bad," said Dan Brenner, drummer for the band.

The band will perform its "acoustically driven rock" at 9 tonight at Café 210 West.

Mark DeRose, the band's vocalist and guitarist, said the main demographic he wishes to reach with his music is the college market.

"The music has gotten labeled and described as feel-good music, so from that you look at who wants to kick back and have a good time," he said.

College students also have the time to devote to a band, he added, and DeRose would like to build a following with students by encountering them while playing shows.

Tonight's performance will be the first time DeRose will play in State College with this band, he said, though he has played here many times in the past while he was a Penn State student.

The Mark DeRose Band formed after DeRose's release party for his first solo album, DeRose said. The release party performance was supposed to be a "one-time gig," but Brenner said he just fell into DeRose's music.

"His songwriting is phenomenal," Brenner said. "The guy writes great stuff. I'm just happy to be a part of it."

Before his self-titled band formed, DeRose said he played for a band called the Ernest Goodlife Band until September 2006.

This band did not have any kind of volatile breakup, he said, but the group split mostly because some members married and had kids.

"The realities of being a full-time band got to be too much in comparison to the realities of everyday life," he said.

DeRose took a graphic design job after the band split, but he said he quickly realized he could not live without playing music.

"I quit on a Friday and went in to record the following Monday," he said.

DeRose said the band has recently finished working on a self-titled EP, which is its first recording as a band and is due out in April.

The band will also record a live album on April 18 in the Capitol Theater in York, Pa., DeRose said.

He added this recording is the biggest show on the band's plate right now.

"I know it will be a lot in one night," he said. "It will be pretty amazing but kind of overwhelming."

Although the band is not used to recording live, DeRose said the members are excited for the end result.

"There's a little bit of something that happens when you record live," he said. "So we want to capture that."

DeRose added he hopes the crowd will respond well to tonight's show.

"We just have a good time playing our music," he said. "Hopefully that will carry over to the crowd so that people can have a good time with us."

Local band Whipple Jam will take the stage after the Mark DeRose Band. Whipple Jam will play its first show following its Interfraternity Council/Panhellenic Dance Marathon performance.