I was hoping we’d be done with this by now.

Not the column—the band problems. I thought maybe in the last issue we cleared the air, said the awkward parts out loud, shook the van crumbs out of the cushions, so that everyone would go back to fighting about tempos and guitar tones like (semi-) normal people. But no. You’re still here. Which means the band is still together. Or technically together. Or together enough to keep rehearsing and not quite enough to stop resenting each other.

I don’t know why these questions always seem to arrive in clusters, like everyone’s band decided to fall apart at the same time. Maybe musicians really do talk to each other more than they admit. Or maybe once you start listening for certain problems, you realize they’re everywhere. Maybe it’s just the moon. Either way, this round feels different. Less about ambition. Less about "making it." More about endurance.