Following an instrumental set from metal giants Meshuggah, Soul Cycle guitarist Chris Catharsis opines on instrumental music and the options (or lack thereof) that we’re afforded as listeners. Read his thoughts on the subject below.

Suddenly there I was, living the dream in Mexicotown, USA.  Put down those trumpets, stereotypical mariachi band in my head.  I didn’t exactly ride into Santo Poco like Steve Martin on the hunt for El Guapo.  Let’s just say that if everyone there had to take a foreign language class in high school, it was probably English.  The Quality Inn I would call home for the evening was strategically placed between two separate restaurants featuring “Pollo” in their name, followed by either an incredibly obvious or an equally obscure identifier.  The garbage I ate at McDonald’s earlier in the day would have to last, because I sure as shit wasn’t taking any chances with my bowels at Pollo Caliente or Pollo Mario.

None of it really mattered, because I was in Orlando to see Meshuggah for the first time ever.  It would cost me $80 in gas, $40 in hotel accommodations, $30 in cab fares, $30 in PBR tallboys, and two paid vacation days, but the experience was sure to be priceless.  Viva la vida, as those self-righteous gringos in Coldplay would say. After a few hours of waiting around, tapping kick pedal and snare patterns on the dresser, I took a terrible cab ride into downtown Orlando with a geographically oblivious Jamaican driver.  We were forced to rely on my phone GPS to find The Beachem because he did most of his driving around the Disney resorts.  How very nouveaux riche of him.  Were those resort tips not enough to finance his weed habit AND a Garmin?  A plebe like me could only wonder.

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