Hailing from the corners of Oklahoma, Chat Pile has become an enigma, and with the release of their newest album Cool World, they are finally becoming recognized by wider audiences and becoming extremely popular in the small circles they are recognized in. They have been able to grow from a hobby with friends to a full-length tour in support of their newest album. They have created an extremely insightful look into the issues of violence that are ignored and accepted in our society, while still being able to stay humble with their unique sound and approach to music.
When originally starting, they had to create stage names so it would be harder for their work to recognize them on their “sick days.” The band features guitarist Luther Manhole, bassist Stin, drummer Cap’n Ron, and vocalist Raygun Busch. The band starts unconventionally with all the recording in a guest house in Stin’s Backyard and production being done on a laptop. The whole process is extremely untechnical, mostly because it is, and Stin is very open about this fact stating, “We’re just making the most of what we have, which is a very Oklahoma mindset, I think.” While they all share an interest in heavy metal and noise rock music, their music branches into extremely different styles. Stin is a huge Korn fan and 90’s heavy metal fan, while Cap’n Ron is very open about his love for jazz fusion. A big underlining influence is music produced or made by Steve Albini, such as Big Black, Silkworm, Shellac, or the Jesus Lizard. Their biggest influence isn’t music though. They all share the background of growing up in Oklahoma. Oklahoma’s drab and overall bleak quality lends to this growing frustration in all of them. Oklahoma was voted 45th best state to work out of 50, which isn’t good. Almost 50% of all residents have experienced physical or sexual violence. 23.6 out of 100,000 Oklahoma citizens commit suicide every year. Stin has described Oklahoma as having a “very specific style of suffering.” The grimness of Oklahoma has bled through into Chat Piles’ music and creates a visceral and angry experience. The atmosphere is nerve-wracking and uncomfortable, mainly because of Chat piles off-kilter style. The singing is similar to David Yow’s of The Jesus Lizard with its almost spoken word style with screams, grunts and cries mixed in. The instrumentals are usually tight, interwoven, and perfectly bouncing off each other which makes Busch’s vocals even more out of place and desperate. The instrumentals themselves are usually recorded with the band playing together instead of each recording their instruments separately, which can give off this palpable energy that is lost when recording tracks separately. The way the instruments bounce off of each other is also extremely unique, with the bass usually acting as the driving force and leading the band along with its incredibly sludgy and noisy tone. The guitar usually has a much cleaner tone and serves to bring balance to the high end, with it usually mixing in elements of shoegaze. The drums are tight and are recorded on an electric drum set instead of the usual drum kit. To help with the industrial sound of Chat Pile, the drums play samples that can be manipulated in production. The tricks and hurdles they go through to create the horror show of their music are incredibly intuitive and are incredibly unique compared to similar bands in their scene.
After releasing two EPs in 2019, with considerable traction being gained from their Remove Your Skin Please EP, they released their debut album God’s Country, which received critical praise from around the board. The album even received Pitchfork Magazine’s “Best New Music” award. The album’s main focus was to fully concentrate on the injustice and issues of humanitarian aid in the United States, having overlapping themes for the whole album instead of each song like their early EPs. The album’s stand-out song is “Why,” a horrifying song on the state of homelessness in the United States, questions why as a society we’ve decided that most homeless people got themselves into poverty or it was a choice on their end, even though this new surge of homelessness comes at the same time as the spike in affordable housing. Most people couldn’t go through what they go through every day, let alone have to be raised in that environment. Why, in a proclaimed developed nation, does homelessness exist? At the climax of the song, sirens from Oklahoma’s weekly tornado siren test blare to life as Busch exclaims that this is a “Real American Horror Story.” As of January 2024, the state of Oklahoma had at least 1,838 people living homeless, a 28% increase since the previous year. In response, Oklahoma cities have started criminalizing homelessness, paying nonprofit shelters based on performance, making it illegal to feed more than four homeless people without a permit, and continuing to turn a blind eye to the growing crisis. The album is filled with depressing realizations of the current state of our country, with the abuse of the working class “Slaughterhouse,” the constant mass shootings that are accepted as an unavoidable fact of life found in “Anywhere.” Your worth is determined by how fast you can make money seen on the song “Tropical Beachs Inc,” which is based on the self-proclaimed “King of Infomercials” Don Larpe. The album ends with a nine-minute nightmare of noise. This whole album feels invasive and disgusting in the best way possible. Its songs can feel overwhelming, yet can still stay enjoyable music with its inventiveness and addicting rhythms. It constantly tries something new and never talks down to you. Chat Pile isn’t trying to exploit you with cheap tricks or fence-sitting opinions, they give you an uncomfortable truth of the reality we live in.
Before God’s Country, Chat Pile never thought they would be able to leave their home state. Oklahoma continued to treat them like prisoners, never letting them fully leave. With the success of God’s Country, Chat Pile was able to finally leave to do small tours across the U.S. and the U.K. They’ve gained a reputation for their down-to-earth and humble nature and Raygun Busch chatting about movies in between songs. Quitting their jobs at the start of 2024, they have since been fully into their music as a career. On October 11th, 2024, Chat Piles Sohpomore’s album Cool World was released, again to critical acclaim. They took the themes of God’s Country and expanded them to a macro scale. The album touches much more on the culture of violence that society has accepted. The senseless violence that churns through thousands and thousands of people every day that countries continue to fund and ignore those affected by it. The album itself is much easier to listen to than God’s Country, with a focus going much more into highlighting the instrumentals and more subdued vocal performances. The opening track does not have those subdued vocals though. In one of Busch’s angriest performances, “I Am Dog Now” sets the album up perfectly with its gut-punching riff and vocals. The song talks about how human life is becoming disregarded and treated as nothing more than rubbish. How people give so much to their leaders to be beaten and left to be remembered as flowers on a gravestone. “Shame” is the album’s first big stylistic deviation, with lyrics and singing akin to a poetry reading. The prospect of civilian deaths in a pointless war has become just a headline, and it’s harder to imagine what those people can be going through. “Funny Man” is straight out of 90’s Nu Metal with its very Korn-inspired riffs. Similar to “Shame,” the lyrics and singing are straight out of a poetry reading, with Busch talking about the illusion of war and the indentured servitude that comes from it. Veterans put life and limb to help their country see a better tomorrow, but only to be blindsided and receive no support once they leave the military. They’ll be remembered as a hero, but they were left to shine their leader’s trophy cases until their legs give out so that they can give their children a sliver of a chance. “Camcorder” and “Tape” are like sister tracks, both discussing how the internet has desensitized the world. The instrumentals on this album are much more experimental. The guitar is much more separate and operates on a very clean tone, which is extremely unique for a noise rock band. Cap’n Ron’s influence on Jazz Fusion and Prog is incredibly apparent here, with “Frownland” having an incredibly busy drum section. With the guitar having a much cleaner tone and delving more into a shoegaze style, the bass takes up most of the sound with its pounding tone mixed with simple basslines. This all comes together to help with this nerve-wracking yet incredibly addicting listen. While this album is a much easier listen emotionally compared to previous work, the song “Masc” is an incredibly unique song for Chat Pile, delving fully into shoegaze similar to “Pamela” on the Gods Country album. “Masc” takes a break from these incredibly widespread topics and grounds itself in the everyday household. It discusses the mental abuse in an interpersonal relationship. The lyrics are incredibly self-deprecating with incredibly contained vocals showing this refusal to speak out and slow acceptance of the character’s position in life. The song becomes much more frantic near the end with an admission of defeat with Busch exclaiming “Cut me open.” The song ends with the character appealing to the demand for self-sacrifice for the sake of playing their part in society, a theme that has been present throughout this whole album, to “Trust and Bleed.”
Chat Pile’s music is important for their incredibly unique approach to songwriting. As they grow, they are undeniably going to leave an impact. Their music provides so many unique angles to the songwriting process and shows how anybody can create music. All of what Chat Pile has been able to create is through what they had at the time. They are continuing to innovate by partnering with Hayden Pedigo, an Avant-garde folk musician, and the recording is finished and is said to be released later this year. This leaves us with the question, why listen to Chat Pile? Why put yourself through the incredibly bleak experience of their music catalog? The answer is because it’s real. Unlike a lot of political bands who sacrifice some of their image and songwriting to become more accessible, Chat Pile wants to show the full extent of the point to where our society has taken us, but we can change that. Stin puts it well, “I feel like it’s sort of our position, having the eyes on us that we do, to make sure that the local community can benefit. That’s really important to us, because at the end of the day, Oklahoma City is our home, and I want our home to be cooler.” Their live shows are an incredible example of this. Their shows are intense yet incredibly raw and down to earth, with the band electing never to use a setlist and decide on what to play on a whim. They also aren’t the gothic dreary figures you would expect. Luther calls themselves “ goofballs.” Most live shows involve Busch ranting about movies and running around shirtless while the band plays some crushing rhythms. Chat Pile has a bleak vision, but their story of creativity and speaking out inspires change and people to enact their creativity. We all can create and speak about what we believe no matter where we are or what we have. Many of your favorite musicians have been able to create and inspire change when they also started from nothing. No matter where you are, you can create art. Whether it be to spread awareness, have fun with friends, or just have a creative output, anybody can create and it’s never too late to start.
Sources:
https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/local/oklahoma-city/2024/06/03/homelessness-okc-rose-28-percent-2024-but-progress-happening/73921185007/
https://oklahoma.gov/oag/news/generally-speaking/2024/october-breaking-the-silence-oklahomas-fight-against-domestic-violence.html#:~:text=Overall%2C%20it%20is%20estimated%20that,families%20and%20communities%20in%20pain.
https://www.kosu.org/local-news/2023-11-30/efforts-to-criminalize-homelessness-growing-in-oklahoma
https://nowflensing.com/pages/about-us
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/oct/11/chat-pile-band-metal-interview-cool-world-gods-country
https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2022/aug/26/the-guide-chat-pile-why-protest-songs
https://www.guitarworld.com/artists/bands/chat-pile-cool-world
https://www.popmatters.com/chat-pile-noise-rock-interview
https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/chat-pile-gods-country/
https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/chat-pile-cool-world/
