The So So Glos are the reason I went to live shows in the first place; a kind of energy, enthusiasm and a lyricism that is hard to come by in a world of corporate hooks and mass-marketed gutter snipes. Come flophouse or concert hall, they've never turned down a gig.This band of brothers (quite literally) live, and when not performing or suffering from various maladies, build out the Market Hotel. Goddamn they're good.

Chief Magazine: You guys are all from Bay Ridge, right?

Zach Staggers: Yeah that’s where we were originally grouped together through the divorces of our parents. You know how that goes, we moved all over the area, but we like New York for sure... I play drums.

Matt Elkin: Guitar, and this thing sometimes

Is that a keytar?

Matt: It’s a melodica, but he [Zach] got a syndrome from it.

A syndrome?!

Zach: Yeah I got a twisted rib from it, from playing it. It’s a weird syndrome called Teitzes syndrome. It’s a real thing.

Teitzes?

Zach: Yeah it’s a weird disease from when you breathe too deep in your lungs. It like, shifts a rib and it gets loose and aggravates the tissue around it.

That’s ridiculous.

Alex: Yeah, we’re a bunch of neurotic Jews with health problems. [Laughs] That’s punk rock.

Health conditions are serious issues.

Matt: We were on this weekend trip to Baltimore—we played Baltimore, North Carolina, and South Carolina and came back for Memorial Day weekend, and I woke up with pinkeye. I woke up at five in the morning the day we were supposed to leave and my eye was glued shut.

Zach: Just riddled, riddled with health problems.

So you played it like that? I’m sure people were wondering what the hell was wrong with you.

Alex: I also have a rare metabolic disorder.

Matt: Yeah, do you know how you get pinkeye?

---

Yeah [pause], I heard you can get pinkeye when someone farts on your pillow

[Laughs]

Matt: That’s how I got it actually. He farted on my pillow.

Alex: My name’s Alex Levine.

Matt: Alex played a six-string bass last night.

Alex: I play bass and I sing.

Ryan: I’m Ryan Levine, and I play guitar.

Alex: [Playing] is not about technicalities; it’s about having fun.

Matt: Except for me, I grew up listening to Prog Rock like Rush and Yes... No I’m just kidding.

Hey, I grew up listening to Rush! When you’re from upstate you really don’t have a choice.

Zach: Matt’s really the only one who knows things and that’s why we need him.

Ryan: And he’s good at playing guitar.

How’d you meet Matt?

Zach: From Le Rug.

Ryan: Matt was playing in Le Rug, and we had this guitarist named Yolli [Lyons] and, ah, he’s a really great guy, but it was hard to play music with him for me. So, we were kinda looking for a new guitarist, but not really, you know what I mean? We had an open eye, but not necessarily looking for a new guitarist. We’re really bad at the confrontational things, and kicking people out of the band.

So you’re passive-aggressive and you all have health problems.

[Laughs]

Matt: I was healthy until the pinkeye incident.

Ryan: We played this show at this place called RayHands' [Hatmaking Studio] in Brooklyn, and Matt was playing with Le Rug…

Alex: It was a Le Rug, the Beets, and So So Glos show, and it was the first show that we played since my jaw. My jaw was broken and it was the first show that it was unhinged. It was a three-month hiatus.

Zach: Yeah, I broke his jaw.

Alex: So it was an exciting show, and there was a lot going on, mostly because it was like a rebirth.