By Bryan Rolli

I haven’t produced a single piece of writing in nearly three months.

That’s probably a mortal sin in this world, right? Shouldn’t I be stricken from the journalistic community and left to wither in my own irrelevance? Even if I’m allowed to stay, my creative muscles have probably atrophied past the point of no return. I’m lucky I even managed to eek out the last five sentences!

Seriously, I’m deeply sorry for not upholding my end of the deal as your Music Editor. But I promise, there’s a reason for my absence. Last month, my band spent 10 days in Cleveland recording our debut album, Fight to Live (which you can stream for free at http://thelastremark.bandcamp.com/). Yesterday, we embarked on our first month-long tour across the country in support of the album. Tonight, we play our first show at the Loving Touch in Ferndale, and in case you were wondering, the drive here from Philadelphia is mind-numbingly boring. There are only so many trees one man can see before he wants to tear his eyes out. It made me long for the bone-dry desert hills and endless tumbleweed to which I have become so accustomed over the past year in Austin.

We don’t have much free time or many days off, so I’m going to keep these posts fairly brief and sporadic. In between playing grimy dive bars, intense rounds of trick attack on Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 and binge-listening to Nikki Minaj’s Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded, I’ll try to give the most vivid account of tour life I can. As a journalist and avid listener, I’ve completely immersed myself in Austin’s live music scene this year. Now, I’m ready to gain some firsthand experience and learn just what it means to be a touring musician.

I’m still not entirely sure what to expect. Maybe all of the horror stories about life on the road are dead-on. Maybe they’re all just lies designed to scare us kids from even trying. One thing is for sure: over the next month, I’m destined to find out. All I can hope for is to come back from this trip a more seasoned musician with a better perspective and a lifetime’s worth of memories.

As I write this, we’re packing our bags and picking our favorite pairs of skin-tight black jeans to wear to the venue tonight. Fingers crossed it’s a success. I’ll let you know as soon as I have another spare minute.

Keep up with Bryan and The Last Remark on Facebook and Instagram (@thelastremark).