Chat Pile

They told us that it would be a long wait for more music. Thankfully, that wasn’t true! Their latest album, Cool World, was released in October and it is wild!

I don’t always know whether or not to share Chat Pile’s music with my friends. I have a fairly unique affinity for fringe genres, at least in comparison to most of my peers. So this noise rock band, as Chat Pile labels themselves, is reserved for those who won’t run away once I hit play! Thankfully, I have a few liked minded buddies in my tribe and they love this stuff! I was thrilled when they released a new single, I Am Dog Now.

In the vain of bands like Daughters and The Austerity Program, Chat Pile showcases vocals that are somewhere between shouting and hysterical crying. There is a feeling of desperation, anger, even panic at times that pulls the music along for the ride. With the loose canon quality of the vocals and the sludge and doom feel of the music, listening to Chat Pile is like watching a psychological horror film; thrilling, scary, and memorable. I don’t walk away from a Chat Pile album without a lingering feeling of heightened awareness, very similarly to how I felt after watching films like Hereditary and Midsommar, just to name a couple.

It makes me feel as if I should look away out of politeness.

I had a phone Chat, (see what I did there?) with Stin, the Chat Pile bass player, who minored in film criticism. He shared a bit about Chat Piles history and the process the band uses to create their visceral sound stories. For instance, the band uses stage names, which adds to the subtle theatrics of their work.

• Raygun Busch: Vocals
• Luther Manhole: Guitar
• Stin: Bass
• Cap’n Ron: Drums

When writing lyrics, Raygun, strives to let loose all of the things we know we have to keep reigned in. Our dark impulses, rage driven desires, and our knee jerk reactions to the absurdity of being alive are allowed ventilation through his tense lamentations, his gunshot expletives, and his hair raising howls.

I noted that the vocal presentation of the songs seem like they bubble up in the moment, as if we are witnessing someones live response to life’s challenges. Stin explained that effect is intentional. Luther writes riffs, Stin and Cap’n jam along and Raygun waits for the lyrics to flow naturally. The end result is a gripping and authentic glimpse into another’s mental shadowlands. It makes me feel as if I should look away out of politeness.

Chat Pile was influenced by bands Jesus Lizzard, Nirvana, and Godflesh. They formed out of a regular movie night in which some friends would get together to watch really bad films, (MST3K, anyone?) and Luther wanted to jam with Stin. Since then, they have created an impressive body of work, opened for Baroness, and had a music video made by Will Mecca, who has worked with Full Of Hell.

Their latest album is a triumph already in that they thought they would’t have new work out for a long time with everything else they each had going on in life. But they have collectively decided to go all in and make the band their business. They’re kicked off a tour in November that has them traveling the US and Europe!

Recently, on a long car ride home from an out of town gig with a bandmate who had never heard them before, I played Chat Piles album, Gods Country. I was extremely entertained at my friends ever increasing interest in what we were hearing. As the album progressed, the volume was turned up more and more. When we got to the second to last track, I Don’t Care If I Burn, we were both on the edges of our seats, proverbially speaking. The instrumentals on that song are stripped way down and you hear ominous footsteps as the half spoken word, half gentle melody of the vocals spell out a mans bridled rage for one who wronged him. Each word uttered is pensive, painful, and purely vengeful. By the end of the piece, you are tense and invested in what’s going to happen, but no resolution to the dark tale is given.

Then…oh then, one of the most enthralling and frightening songs I have ever experienced begins. Grimace Smoking Weed is a window into a terrifying mental meltdown that has several little surprising moments of laughter sprinkled among the torrent of frantic fury. There is a moment when Raygun says, “You weren’t supposed to see this, but here is” which stood out to me for it’s raw intensity. Stin said that while recording, the band kept playing well after Raygun thought they were supposed to end, so he just kept going and threw in that line. It worked, I’ll tell you that. If you have ever been present for someones psychiatric breakdown, or been through one yourself, this song may feel hauntingly close to home.

As a band, Chat Pile believes that the main purpose of art is the help the artist and the consumer process the human experience. Stin said, “We make art so we can stay sane.” Personally, I feel that being an onlooker at the dark subject matter of these tracks, from the safe distance of my speakers, isn’t simply entertaining. It offers a cathartic release, affording me the time to be honest with myself about my own feelings of rage, fear, and loss that are just a part of being a human. Chat Pile takes us on dark thrill rides, shows us quick flashing imagery of the monsters we all pretend we don’t own, and reminds us that the shadows are never truly empty.

Now on to the latest album, Cool World. Again, I had the chance to listen on another long drive to a gig with my bandmate who was stocked to hear more Chat Pile. The first track, I Am Dog Now, starts out so deceptively! Beautiful, enchanting synth warms us up and is violently replaced with a drum hit and nasty bass that reminds me of Les Claypool is he was really angry. From there we get trashy drums, there is no other word to describe it other than the sound of trash.

Track two, Shame, brings a bit of a surprise to Chat Pile fans with its catchy chorus and pretty moments of sparkle in the vocals, which are quickly snuffed out by snarls and growls and sad, sad lyrics. But it all wraps around to a little bit of magical sparkle with the riffs and drums creating something like star light.

The bass on this album is mind boggling. I play bass and so does the drummer who was driving with me to our gig. We found ourselves catching the same moments of awe and surprise at the heavy, driving bass riffs that carry most of this album.

Vocally, I feel like this album is Chat Piles most impressive work yet. Raygun really explores his skill set and it turns out he has quite a range. From his violent screams, to his subdued drones, and onto his melodic harmonies, this guy can really do it all. The timing of his lyrics with the guitar squeals on The New World seem untenable, yet there they are.

We get much more diversity in the musical arrangements on Cool World than anything they had done before. Elements of sludge, grunge, grind, trash, doom, and, dare I type it, jazz. It all works to lay out an audio voyage that never ceases to engage the ear.

This album may not be as frightening as Gods Country, but it doesn’t need to be. It is dark, creepy, weird, and even silly at times. It is an adventure in melodic chaos and I love the noise and discomfort of it all. There is nothing soothing to be found here, unless you find the drudgery and angst of Chat Piles sound to be a salve for the monotony of modern living like I do. If you want to get lost in escapism, listen to the last track on the album, No Way Out. You will get out of your head and into a world of revolving emotions to ride like a ferris wheel.

Educational Moment: What is a Chat Pile?

In mining, Chat means fragments of siliceous rock, limestone, and dolomite waste rejected in the process of lead and zinc. A chat pile is a large pile or mound of toxic waste from lead and zinc mining. There are several of these Chat Pile toxic ghost towns left behind after WWII in the United States. The mounds are made of a gravel-like substance that contain lead, zinc, and cadmium.