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Jonathan Zeitlin (left), along with Jack Burnside, Pauline Mu and Jamie Zwick, are The Few.

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.”