It doesn’t matter where they say they came from or how they were formed, one thing that will immediately draw listeners to The Roosevelt is their sound. It’s surprising to hear a new band write such polished songs with memorable hooks. Maybe there is something in the water at the building in Northwest that they're named after. As of right now, the band’s discography consists of a handful of mp3s available on their site. But an EP is on the way, and the guys are ready to spread the word.

Through the magic of e-mail, DCist recently was able to “sit down” with the band, Jon Mosher (vocals), Scott Remley (bass), Sam Mitchell (guitar), and Chris Carney (drums), to discuss the important things in life – like origin stories, the Flaming Lips and ninjas.

You have to explain the bio on your Web site. Did your parents give birth to a rock band? And if so, why does everyone have a different last name?

[Sam]: Actually, we were all born to different fathers. It gets a little complicated, and we just didn't want to get into all the sordid details of our home life in our bio. Thanks for bringing up painful memories, though. Seriously, it's cool.

Truthfully -- and this may come as a surprise -- we made all that stuff up (except the part about making peasants cry back in time -- that really happened). That bio started as one of our "blast" e-mails that we send out to our mailing list before every show. We try to make them funny, with mixed results. That one was received well, so we threw it up on the site. Our original bio, which was far more accurate, explained that we 're all displaced New Englanders who independently found our way to D.C. over the past couple years. And that's the God's honest truth.

More after the jump.

Of all places, what drew you guys to New York to record the upcoming EP?

[Jon]: I'd been recording songs here and there with John Davis for the past few years, and it's gotten to the point that The Bunker Studio has become something of a second home to me. I 'd heard the work John was able to do with bands like Ambulance LTD or his own band, Phonograph, and came to him as a matter of comfort more than anything else.

Was there a temptation to go back and record different versions of songs like "American Drunk" and "Tranquilizers" (currently available on the site) or did you want to start fresh with the EP?

[Jon]: Of course there was. We still play the older stuff in our shows and we don't plan on dropping them from rotation anytime soon. But the new songs sort of won out in the recording process. I guess one could take the EP and recognize a distinct direction we've chosen as a band.

[Sam]: To add one note to Jon's answer, there were a couple songs among the older group that we've tinkered with since they were initially recorded, and those were the ones we were most interested in laying down again. But, like Jon said, the new stuff won out, I think largely because those are our current favorites to play.

What was the last CD you guys bought? Individually, of course. It's always one thing to state influences, but sometimes music purchases reveal a little more. Any really good or really bad purchases out there?

[Sam]: My most recent purchase was Rilo Kiley's record More Adventurous, which I was not terribly thrilled with. The most recent purchase I really liked was Wolf Parade's Apologies to Queen Mary. As a friend once put it: "I have to be careful where I listen to this album. It often sparks epileptic fits."

[Chris]: Most recent new disc: Deleted Scenes' cd, bought at their DC9 show a week or two back.

Really good recent purchases: I really like the Deleted Scenes' disc, but other recent favorites include the New Pornographers' Twin Cinema and a Silver Jews album.

[Scott]: I think the most recent thing I bought was probably the new Built to Spill.

I can tell you a few CDs I've gotten ahold of in the last year or so that were really worth it: Silent Alarm by Bloc Party, Husker Du' s Warehouse: Songs And Stories, We Have the Facts ... by Death Cab and Trial of the Century by the French Kicks. The French Kicks easily tops the list -- FANTASTIC.

Biggest regret of the last few months: Joy Division's Permanent. I tried really hard to like them, I did. But Joy Division is terrible. There, I admitted it.

[Jon]: There are always good and bad purchases out there. But there's something enjoyable about a gut-level purchase. That's how I stumbled across Ted Leo/Rx -- I really liked their soccer jersey-based album cover on Hearts Of Oak. Sometimes you crash and burn too.

My latest purchase was The Flaming Lips' new album. Highly recommended.

Interesting thing about the Flaming Lips CD. I've been "arguing" with a friend over the value of this album. She can't get past the hilariously bad lyrics, but I think the music (like everything else they do) is so innovative and fresh that it trumps the badness and still makes the album great. Do you think music wins over lyrics sometimes? Or vice versa?

[Sam]: For me, music almost always wins over lyrics, at least in attracting me to a band, album or song. Once I've separated the good music from the bad music, then I start really appreciating lyrics, but there are a lot more songs that I love that have good music and atrocious lyrics than the other way around.

[Jon]: I think that entirely depends on the artist. You can't say Dylan is a virtuoso on the harmonica, and frankly sometimes is outright terrible, but his lyrical brilliance dominates to such a point that we all just sit back and call his harmonica solos "charming." Then there are bands that might have a great sound, but throw lyrics in there just to fill in the gaps – rhyming for the sake of rhyming – and it's terrible. I will agree with your friend in that terrible, really, horribly bad lyrics will cause me to turn off the CD player or walk out of a club… For the most part, though, I'm with Sam. It's the music -- the interesting chord changes, the challenging melody -- that draws me to a band first.

[Chris]: Usually, music over lyrics for me. An example - I love Leonard Cohen's stuff from his old days - Songs from a Room, Songs of Love and Hate - where the lyrics and music are both bone-chilling. As he got older though, his lyrics stayed great but the music went downhill. Some of his later stuff is great spoken word over synthesizer schlock and muzak.

[Scott]: Look, what does your friend expect? It's the Flaming Lips. Of course it's going to be out there -- that's their thing. Would something like Ben Gibbard or Bruce Springsteen work over that? Probably not. But what the Lips produce works in their context. I think it's when contexts clash that you end up with a problem. If you play dark music and have rainbows-and-kitties lyrics, you're going to crash. If you're playing math-rock with AC/DC lyrics, you're going to crash. As long as you respect the built-in confines of what you're writing, you're fine. Tell your friend to just embrace the weird already -- love it for what it is.

So any plans to tour on the EP (besides the show this Friday)? How far is the band from a full-blown East Coast tour?

[Jon]: The full-time job factor for each of us, while being highly un-rock n roll, makes scheduling tours tough. But we're in early talks with some friends in NYC about an abbreviated tour for some time this fall. We'll see how that goes, and then talk Atlanta and Maine.

[Sam]: I don't have much to add to what Jon said, other than to say that recording the EP has us all really excited to play out more, wherever it may be.

I always like to throw in a last-minute random question, so here it goes:

Who would you rather have next to you in a fight: pirates or ninjas?

[Scott]: Ninjas. No question.

The Roosevelt will be at Velvet Lounge on Friday with The Timothy Bracken Complex and Deleted Scenes. Photo taken by Matt Gallivan.