The first time I listened to the debut single “Sweet Jeans” from the four-man Oakland based indie-pop band, Moon Roof, I told the person I was with that it reminded me of a three wolf-moon tee in the form of a song.

Not to say that as a compliment or an insult–but there’s howling in the song (or crickets?) that is reminiscent of a campfire in the wilderness or a dive bar in Silverlake. And I’ll admit that initially I was put-off by the intro, which runs about a minute long–a third of the length of the entire recording.

That said, this is a song that grew on me to the point where I wanted to sing along. So I asked Danny Santos, the band’s percussionist, vocalist and synthesizer-er, for the lyrics. They read as follows:

Woke up
with a stranger
in my bed

Don’t need to get dresssed
Slept in my jeans

Let’s get some food
go somewhere cool.

Simple, yes, but effective. There is something about the sentiment and the imagery of the situation that intrigues me. The song is a snapshot of a moment, which sounds deceptively passive. However, there seems to be a  certain feeling encapsulated in that moment, one that is so coveted and fleeting that in an effort to capture the feeling, it’s been turned into a song.

“Our music tends to reflect life in Oakland at the moment.” Says Danny, “It’s not about a one-night stand, but more about having so much fun with your friends that you passed out with your clothes on, and boom!–you wake up and you’re trying to get your jam on at that bomb ass taco truck by the lake.”

Danny, along with his twin brother Gabe and Jason Canepa grew up together in Richmond, CA. Erik Stinson is a new addition to the crew and hails from Seattle, WA. “He is tall,” jokes Danny, “and we always accuse him of being vegan.” This comment is typical of the excellent rapport that these guys share with one another. They are self-described “brothers from another mother” (Though Gabe and Danny did literally share a womb) You get the feeling that they don’t take anything too seriously, except that their friendship with each other is palpably the foundation of the band, and clearly at the core of “Sweet Jeans.” Band practice must be fun.

Moon Roof’s music gets made in two ways. It is either a collage of reconstructed hip-hop, electronic and dance-y beats melded with existing recorded vocals or songs, or it is born from scratch with keyboards and acoustic guitar. “Sweet Jeans” was composed on Jason’s computer, with live instrumentation and sampled sounds.

“We are children of 90’s R&B, Hip Hop, and New Jack Swing. And the Beach Boys, for sure,” says the band when I ask what inspires their sound. “Current bands influence us too–we all like the happy, feel good vocal harmony, dance-y and electronic stuff and you can definitely hear contemporary influences in our music. There are so many. Tomorrow we’re probably gonna find two or three more bands to jock super hard. We like metal. And we dig old mexican songs.”

Moon Roof is a band still in its infancy, with the  first show scheduled at a house in Davis, CA on March 26th, along with Portland-based band, WAMPIRE and fellow Oakland band, ManCub. After that they will make the rounds locally, at art collectives and clubs.

“The music scene in Oakland is pretty amazing for the 20-30 year-old demographic,” says Danny. “Everyone is friends and the love is everywhere. As far as making it goes, we just wanna put our eggs in this basket and see what happens. We’ll know we’ve made it when we all have matching corvettes and we’ve got T-Pain on speed dial.”

Sweet Jeans by Sweet Jeans or check out their myspace: www.myspace.com/moonroofmusic

Edesos is the Editor-in-Chief of www.seriousstache.com and an occasional contributer.