The Mooney Suzuki is a rock band in the most primitive sense – we’re talking New York Dolls-style, bone-thumping, floor-pounding, visceral rock and roll with the amps turned up past 11. You may not have heard of them, but anyone with ears and a television set has certainly heard their track “Alive and Amplified” in an oft-played Suzuki car commercial. It’s pure glittery-glam, power chords and cowbells and is more than enough to make Marc Bolan smile beyond the grave.

And for those who somehow missed the car commercial, The Mooney Suzuki also penned the song “School of Rock” for the Jack Black flick of the same name. The band will grace the Washington area with its presence tomorrow night; it plays at the 9:30 Club with The Whips and The Ambitions.

Starting in 1997 in a chance meeting between two art students (guitarist Graham Tyler responded to a “musicians wanted” flier), The Mooney Suzuki spent its early days touring relentlessly without the help of management or hired publicity hands. The band members self-produced and distributed their first EP, and by fall 2000 had released their debut LP, People Get Ready.

The next year was a non-stop tour around the United States, and the band forged a reputation for what its website describes as “cathartic” live performances. The Mooney Suzuki’s work ethic paid off when producer Jim Diamond (The White Stripes) brought the band to Detroit, a longtime haven for garage-rockers dating back to Iggy & The Stooges. The album forged from the 2001 summer sessions, Electric Sweat, brought the band to the next stratosphere of musical creativity.

Soon, possibilities opened up left and right for The Mooney Suzuki, including appearances on Late Night with Conan O’Brien and MTV, opening duties for The Hives and The Strokes, a Columbia Records deal, mainstage gigs at Coachella and Lollapalooza and scribe-duties on Black’s School of Rock.

And so, with the pieces in place for full-blown breakout success, the New York City boys prepped their latest studio endeavor, Have Mercy, for a January 2007 release on the V2 label. The Moonies had previously re-released Electric Sweat in 2003 on Columbia Records and later chose to move to V2 before recording the new album.

But January rolled around, and V2 – via parent company Sheridan Square – announced the label would focus on back-catalogues and distribution. Everyone from the White Stripes to the Mail-room Boys was cut loose and given artistic freedom, but The Mooney Suzuki was left in limbo – and they are still there.

In a SPIN magazine newsbrief, lead-singer Sammy James Jr. said the band would move on, vowing to find a way to release the album in some form despite all the unsolved legal turmoil. Currently, only one Have Mercy track, “99 Percent,” can be found on the band’s MySpace page, but James Jr. mused that they might stream the whole album.

The road has been good to The Mooney Suzuki, so with the album buried in litigation, the band sets out for a cross-country trek with 17 dates spanning the East and West Coasts. The tour kicks off on Valentine’s Day in Washington. Instead of fretting over Have Mercy, the band comes out in true-to-form rocking fashion: Shut up and play, and it’ll all be alright.

The Mooney Suzuki will play Wednesday night at the 9:30 Club. Tickets are $15.

Contact reporter Zachary Herrmann at zherrm@umd.edu.