The Roosevelt is the name of a building in Washington, D.C., that just happened to be in the background during the band's first photo shoot.
They loved it immediately.
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We'd throw stuff out there, and nobody liked what others came up with," said guitarist Sam Mitchell, talking over beers at the Mount Pleasant dive The Raven, one of the band's favorite hangouts. "(The Roosevelt) was simple. Wasn't overly thought out. I like it."
The Roosevelt is one of those up-and-coming bands in the DC area, featuring addicting hooks, crafty lyrics, and fun, well-created indie-pop sensibility.
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That's like the most impossible question," said Jon Mosher, when asked how to describe the band's sound. "Indie-pop is fine. There are other bands whose sound we like. We like to listen to music. That's a 'What do you guys sound like, add two bands together' question. It doesn't necessarily work that way. It's a feel. On a certain day I like Wilco. On another day, it's Broken Social Scene."
Mosher is the group's primary songwriter. While what he comes up with ultimately becomes a collaborative effort, Mosher is always busy at work, creating and reworking tunes.
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I get these crazy, crazy dreams," he said. "A lot are sketch comedy, a lot are just cool imagery. When I write, a lot of it is just me fucking around on the instrument I have at the time. What the song is about is a very abstract thing.
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It's never ever the exact same thing I put down the first time," Mosher continued. "That way it's collaborative, though I start the process."
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Writing a song is among the most challenging and the most fun things to do," he concluded.
The Roosevelt formed in early 2006 and began to hit its stride in 2007, playing in the Six Points Music Festival, rocking frequent nights at venues such as DC9, and releasing an EP over the summer.
However, that momentum came to a screeching halt when drummer Chris Carney injured his shoulder rock climbing and required surgery.
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It was disappointing to the extent we all like playing together," said bassist Scott Remley. "We like practicing and playing together and it was disappointing not to be able to do that."
However, the idea of continuing without Carney never seriously was considered.
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There are certain drummers you think alike with," Remley said. "Chris and I think alike. It works really well."
With the forced hiatus, the band was able to focus more on songwriting.
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We've tried to redirect that (time)," Mosher said. "We stopped and took all the old songs and started from scratch. It's been a great process, but slow."
The result, hopefully, will be a debut full-length album out sometime in 2008.
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I don't know about soon, but we have the vision laid out," Mosher said. "We pretty much know it's 10 to 13 songs long. We like it. We really, really like these songs. If it's not out in 2008, I'll be crushed."
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We're all ready to play a show," Remley said. “I think January is going to be the point we start putting shows together. Chris is at the point now where he feels confident enough with his shoulder to play for 60 minutes straight. It's our opportunity to go back out and play shows again."
For more on The Roosevelt, visit www.theroosevelt.net.