When they get past the moments of bickering like a married couple, living under one roof can create a collaborative cohesion within a band.

The New Suffer Jets have known each other for eight years, but they didn’t officially form until 2007. In September, the lead singer, Mike Swanberg, dropped out of college to play music and moved to Chicago with his bandmates Chris Hayes and Steve Minogue.

After playing their first Chicago show in their shared apartment and getting the cops called on them, the trio is on their way to becoming regulars at Lilly’s, 2515 N. Lincoln Ave., with their third show in a month scheduled for Halloween night.

The members draw from different influences to play indie-rock with a lead singer who sounds eerily similar to indie crooner Conor Oberst.

The Chronicle talked to Swanberg and Hayes about their band name, getting busted by the cops and what it’s like having three guys live in a two-bedroom apartment.

The Chronicle: What does The New Suffer Jets mean?

Mike Swanberg: It’s the women who fought for the right to vote.

So are you fighting for women’s rights to vote?

MS: No, hardly at all.

Chris Hayes: Definitely.

MS: Wait, are we?

CH: Absolutely.

MS: Alright we are, with the political climate the way it is. Well, we’re not for or against women voting.

CH: We’re neutral.

MS: We are for planes that can feel feelings.

Who are your influences?

MS: RC PRO AM. It’s a blackgrass band [a mix of metal and bluegrass] from Lexington, Ky.

CH: The music I listen to isn’t necessarily how I play. Big bands that have influenced me are The Who, Rancid and Alkaline Trio.

What’s it like living together?

CH: I feel that one of the reasons this band is so much fun to play shows [with] is because you’ve got your best friends up on stage with you [who] know everything about your life.

I know when Steve is going to start yelling because I know what affects him emotionally, or he’ll give me that look and I’m like, “All right, here’s the part where we all go a little nuts.”

As far as living together making that all better? Yeah. This kid [Swanberg] is practically attached to my bedroom—we practically sleep in the same bed. When he has to wake up to go to work, I have to wake up and make sure he gets up.

MS (to Hayes): We only have one alarm. I don’t know what you want from me.

What is your most memorable experience from playing live?

CH: [For our first show in Chicago] we set up our band here, invited a bunch of people in Chicago over to our apartment [in Edgewater]. We had another band play with us, too. [During] the first three or four songs we got a knock on the door from, maybe the upstairs neighbor. He told us to turn it down.

CH: So we turned it down. Then about eight songs into it, we heard the buzzer go. And our dumb a—s go ahead and hit it, thinking more people were on the way. And it was a cop.

MS: She was like, “I could hear you from down the block. Are you serious, playing music this loud?”

CH: Yes, we were serious.

What is the process you go through when recording?

MS: So far, we’ve done strictly live recordings. When we were in Kentucky, we hung a single microphone from the garage door hanger and just played to it. Here, we just hung a microphone from the ceiling fan and recorded like that because we don’t have the time or the money to do studio recordings.

Where do you see the band going in the near future?

MS: Hayes needs to get a job with reasonable hours; then we can book more shows. We’ve all been friends for so long. Whether we’re making money or not, whether it goes anywhere or not, we still intend to be playing music together.

See The New Suffer Jets play at Lilly’s for a Halloween show at 9 p.m. on Oct. 31. For more information, visit MySpace.com/TheNewSufferJets.