Zeitlin takes to the road, fine-tunes love for music

If the idea of a cozy office job after graduation has you waking
up in a cold sweat, Jonathan Zeitlin can probably relate.

Instead of settling for fluorescent lights and fax machines,
Zeitlin will be heading out on the road for a year upon graduating
this month. He will be playing guitar with his band, The Few, as
they tour across the United States.

Zeitlin, a third-year English student, officially joined The Few
four months ago, and during the past several weeks, he and the band
have been traveling east, touring in support of their debut
album.

A few days ago, band members turned around and started heading
to the West Coast to make sure they got to Los Angeles by June 13,
when Zeitlin will attend his graduation ceremony and pick up his
diploma. Yet for Zeitlin, a UCLA degree or a good GPA has never
meant much to his career path.

“Music is why I moved to Los Angeles,” said Zeitlin,
an Ohio native. “Going to school was always something I did
because I enjoy it; also because it meant my parents would pay my
rent.”

But while Zeitlin came to Los Angeles to play guitar, he had
plenty of the same uncertainties and occasional panic attacks about
his future that many other graduates face.

Finding a job in this bleak economy may be tricky, but wading
through Los Angeles’ saturated music scene can be herculean.
Finding other musicians that are the right fit can require years of
searching and plenty of luck. Despite his current success with The
Few, a career in rock music was never a certainty for Zeitlin.

“There was definitely a time,” he said, “where
I was living in Los Angeles, having gotten absolutely nowhere with
music, and was completely terrified that I was running out of time
and was going to have to get a financially stable job and give
up.”

Instead of giving up and joining the world of financial
stability, Zeitlin placed an ad in the LA Weekly, seeking out other
musicians interested in putting a band together. Jack Burnside, The
Few’s singer and songwriter, answered the ad four months ago,
as he was frantically searching for a guitar player to help finish
the album and go on tour with the band.

The call turned out to be fortuitous, as the four hit it off
both personally and creatively from their first exchange. Since
their first meeting four months ago, the members have spent almost
every day together ““ either practicing, performing, or
hanging out. Though he is the newest member, Zeitlin has quickly
been assimilated into the group and has begun writing new material
with Burnside.

“From the beginning everything worked out really
well,” said Zeitlin, “I’ve been as much a part of
anything in the past four months as any other member of the band
has.”

The weeks the group has spent on the road so far have increased
this sense of cohesion and Zeitlin has enjoyed his first tastes of
touring.

“Being on the road is incredible,” Zeitlin said.
“Sometimes you get these great shows where people just come
out to find new bands and be involved in music, and it’s just
a blast to be part of that.”

Zeitlin acknowledges that life on the road means living frugally
and not having a bed of your own, but he feels those concerns are
just part of the music-making experience.

While touring and playing music is what he has always wanted to
do, if music didn’t work out for Zeitlin, he still would have
tried to find some way to avoid the real world.

“If I weren’t so completely sure of what I’m
doing with my life, I would stay in school for as long as I
could,” said Zeitlin, “Because as soon as you leave,
the clock starts ticking off how long you have before you have to
get a more stable, responsible and confined life.”