Chat Pile | Artist
Chat Pile is an American noise rock band formed 2019 in Oklahoma City by Raygun Busch aka Randy Ruiz (vocals, guitar, synthesizer), Cap'n Ron (drums, guitar, synthesizer), Stin (bass, tape loops, synthesizer), and Luther Manhole (guitar, synthesizer, glockenspiel). Stin also acts as the band's manager. After finding online viral success with their 2019 debut EP This Dungeon Earth, the group developed their tense sound across the 2020s with acclaimed albums like God's Country (2022), Cool World (2024), and In the Earth Again, a collaboration with Hayden Pedigo. Artistically, Chat Pile attempts to make sense of a crumbling world through sludgy noise rock with lyrics decrying horrific real-world acts and social injustices. Their art is both cathartic and deeply disturbing. Although founded in Oklahoma City, the band members grew up in other parts of the state; Raygun Busch from Ponca City, Luther Manhole from Moore and the brothers Stin and Cap'n Ron from Asher. The members initially adopted stage names to avoid being identified by their employers, so they could keep their day-jobs. Initially their music was rejected by Oklahoma City's music scene, which then revolved around only hardcore punk and shoegaze. But their breakthrough came when the debut EP This Dungeon Earth reached the top of Rate Your Music's weekly charts. Their second EP Remove Your Skin Please was released in November 2019, and the band released a compilation of both EPs on vinyl and cassette the following February. San Francisco label The Flenser signed Chat Pile in September and released their debut single, "Roots Bloody Roots", a cover of the song by the Brazilian thrash metal band Sepultura, in July 2021. A year later, they released their debut album, God's Country, which received wide acclaim and "Best New Music" distinction on Pitchfork. Their recorded output to-date comprising three studio albums, one collaboration (with experimental guitarist Hayden Pedigo), and a raft of EPs and Singles, is of consistently excellent quality. Standout albums include God's Country (2022), Cool World (2024), Who Loves The Sun (2026), Live at Roadburn 2023 (2025), and the 2020 EP compilation This Dungeon Earth / Remove Your Skin Please. In describing the band's sound, terms such as "pummeling riffs" and "Soul Crushingly Powerful" are often employed. The following excerpt from RYM helps set the scene: "These guys manage to sound both pummeling and heavy, yet introspective and atmospheric at the same time. The production brings out the best of all the instruments too, the drums especially, which sound like they're being bashed as hard as humanly possible and the echo on them sounds incredible. The vocals also are devastating. They tackle the dark side of the human condition in topics such as P.T.S.D. from war and watching in horror as human atrocities occur and world governments do nothing to stop the perpetrators." Vocalist and songwriter Raygun Busch cites the band Big Black as one of their biggest influences, along with others such as Godflesh, The Jesus Lizard and Sonic Youth. Chat Pile takes its name from the byproducts of lead-zinc mining which are commonly found scaring the landscape of their home territory of Northeastern Oklahoma.
Artist Website: chatpile.bandcamp.com
Featured Albums: Chat Pile
Related Artists: Randy Rulz