Chat Pile—from left, Cap’n Ron, Raygun Busch, Stin, and Luther Manhole—are at the crest of a new wave of angry American guitar music.
Listening to Oklahoma City band Chat Pile is thrilling in the same way watching a particularly transgressive or unflinching horror movie is. Their music has a lot in common with the unsettling, avant-garde throat-singing of Inuit artist Tanya Tagaq: In the absence of an immediate narrative and overt lyrics in favor of fragmented, thematic collages of phrases and energies, we’re confronted with a subconscious, cellular sense of discomfort, one that compels our imagination to fill in some of the blanks. That can get scary.
This isn’t terribly marketable music, and yet Chat Pile are one of the hottest heavy American bands of this moment—and one of the more successful horror-movie-inspired noise-rock bands ever to emerge from the American plains. There are a few ways to understand Chat Pile’s success. It takes a lucky convergence of tastes and aesthetics to turn those influences into a project that can reach beyond a local scene. And in the years since forming in 2019, it’s become clear that the sludgy OKC band have formulated a winning combination of sledge-hammering riffs, hypnotic grooves, unnerving vocals, and even more unnerving lyrics.
After a couple chilling EPs, Chat Pile’s 2022 debut LP, God’s Country, broke the band around the world. Songs from that record have nearly 2 million streams on Spotify, and the headlining tour behind it featured sold-out shows in places they had never played before. “When we first started, people wouldn’t book us here in Oklahoma City,” says bassist Stin. “As soon as things started taking off more nationally, that’s when people started coming around locally.”
“It’s subtle, but these things that are around you all the time…. When you open up your eyes to them, it’s kind of horrifying.”—Stin
The band’s new full-length, Cool World, is a potent expansion of their realist sound. It’s also a demonstration that each member of Chat Pile, all of whom use pseudonyms in the project, is as important as the other. They are vocalist Raygun Busch, guitarist Luther Manhole, drummer Cap’n Ron, and Stin. (The latter two are brothers.) Lead single and opener “I Am Dog Now” starts with a cursed 6/8 riff before dipping to 5/4 as Busch’s bleeding-out-in-a-bear-trap wails enter. On “Funny Man,” another single, Manhole’s spidery, plinking verse riff (a clean-tone trick he plays across the record) is just one set piece in a twisted tableau of doom, metal, and grunge. Lead single “Masc” might be the record’s most compelling four minutes. Cap’n Ron’s delicious beat sets the scene, and Stin’s gristly, percussive bass locks in with it to sway into a pulsing nu-metal groove.
Stin thinks part of the band’s popularity is related to their ability to articulate, in both word and sound, this sociopolitical moment. “A lot of that is anxiety and dread and fear, and I think we’re quite literally speaking on those feelings that people have been feeling for quite a while now,” says Stin. “A lot of whatever popularity we’re experiencing is luck and being in the right place at the right time, but I think a part of that luck is moved along by our band being able to express the feelings a lot of people are having.”
“It’s not just us,” notes Manhole. “I feel like angry music is coming back.”
Initially, Stin and Manhole had the idea to start a “heavier” music project, something along the lines of Godflesh or the Jesus Lizard, with bits of hardcore and slam metal, too. (“Honestly, we’re trying to make sort of the most ignorant type of music that you could think of,” Stin jokes.) Raygun and Stin had talked for years about forming a band in the vein of Steve Albini’s Big Black, which meshed with the Albini-influenced noise rock that Stin and Manhole had been jamming. But they knew each other as friends for years before forming—a bond they say is more important than musical compatibility. “We trust each other’s taste and artistic vision,” says Stin. “It’s not like we all think identically. It helps when you are with people you’ve known forever and who share similar values, you understand their worldview. That really helps foster a safe place, artistically.”
Like the band’s other releases, Cool World was recorded in the shed behind Stin’s Oklahoma City house. They don’t use metronomes or excessive plugins—just a simple combination of Shure mics and a basic interface.
The band records (live and without a metronome, Manhole says) in a shed behind Stin’s house, which has been converted into their studio and jam space. That means they have all the latitude and time they need to make the art they want. “It’s cheaper for us to do it this way,” says Stin, “but it’s also how we’ve learned to work as a band.” This time, they asked Ben Greenberg from industrial-metal band Uniform to mix the LP, but they still recorded it all on their own—using just some Shure mics through a four-channel Scarlett interface into a Mac.
“So much mainstream rock music that you hear is also recorded on a laptop, but it’s so doused through all these plugins and quantizing and stuff that it’s not even human music anymore,” says Stin. “With us, I use so little effects. Even if you have all this junky consumer gear that you’re using to record your music, the trick is just try to make it sound as natural as you can.”
Aside from three weeks of lessons in seventh grade, Manhole learned guitar by ear and tabs. Unwound’s Justin Trosper and Gorguts’ Luc Lemay were major influences, alongside XTC’s Andy Partridge and Dave Gregory. When Manhole writes, it’s almost always about feel. “We write through improv,” he says. “Usually, I have a 10-second riff that I came up with at home. Sometimes it’s more of a rhythm. Maybe Stin has a bassline that he thought of. We’ll just play it for 30 minutes straight and do variations. I play through the sour notes and see what sounds cool, try different shapes that I like to do over things. I don’t know a lot of the actual chords that I’m playing, but I know shapes I like.”
Stin's Gear
Stin (left) and Manhole (right) keep things simple with their gear collections: They like clean, natural tones that they can tweak and distort for just the right sounds.
Photo by Bayley Hanes
Bass
- Peavey T-40
Amps
- Sunn Coliseum Slave (studio)
- Quilter Bass Block 802 (live)
- Trace Elliot 4x10 redline cab with horns
Effects
- Boss Tuner
- Tronographic Rusty Box
Strings & Picks
- Ernie Ball Slinky Cobalt (.060–.125) (5-string set without the .040 string)
- Ernie Ball Everlast Picks (.73 mm orange)
Stin takes all the photos for Chat Pile’s albums—another key element of the total artistic product. While they feel inexplicably horror-indebted, they’re simply photos of everyday sights around Oklahoma City which “portray the kind of decay and doom and gloom of living in the southern plains. Within that is kind of this horror. It’s subtle, but these things that are around you all the time… When you open up your eyes to them, it’s kind of horrifying.” Stin spotted the enormous cross on the cover of Cool World in the parking lot of a megachurch north of Oklahoma City. “It’s just kind of this testament to this capitalistic approach to religion and how, especially here in the Bible Belt, it dictates your life and every level politically and socially,” he explains.
Listening to Chat Pile can feel like being trapped in the heat and grease and cogs and pistons of a hulking, relentless machine. Maybe the scariest bit is that that’s not too far off from the truth.
Luther Manhole's Gear
Guitars
Music Man BFR Axis Super Sport Baritone
Peavey T-60 with an Aluminati Guitars aluminum neck
Amps
Fender Super Six (studio)
Ampeg V4 (studio)
Quilter Tone Block 202 (live)
Ampeg VT-22 cab
Ampeg 4x10 cab made from a gutted Ampeg VT-40 combo amp
Effects
TC Electronic Hall of Fame
Suhr Riot
Electro-Harmonix Memory Boy
TC Electronic PolyTune
Strings & Picks
Ernie Ball Mammoth Slinky (.012–.062)
Ernie Ball Everlast Picks (.73 mm orange)
Take in the mesmerizing, unsettling energy of Chat Pile’s shows via this capture of their entire set at Outbreak Fest on June 29, 2024 in Manchester, U.K.
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Tickets for the newly added dates will be available for pre-sale starting tomorrow, Tuesday, October 29 at 10am local time, with the general on-sale following this Friday, November 1 at 10:00am local time. Full details and ticket information can be found at blackberrysmoke.com.
Throughout their career, Blackberry Smoke has released eight studio albums including their latest, Be Right Here. Produced by Grammy Award-winning producer Dave Cobb (Chris Stapleton, Jason Isbell), the record was released to widespread critical acclaim earlier this year and debuted at #1 on the Current Country Albums chart, Americana/Folk Albums chart and Current Rock Albums chart.
Since forming in 2001, Blackberry Smoke has continued to tour relentlessly, building a strong and loyal community of fans. In addition to their work as musicians, the band is deeply committed to charitable work and formed the Brit Turner Family Fund, a non-profit supporting several national foundations committed to curing children’s cancer. With these efforts, the band has raised over $1,000,000 to date benefitting children’s cancer research. Most recently, Blackberry Smoke raised over $26,000 with their hometown show at Atlanta’s Cadence Bank Amphitheatre at Chastain Park earlier this summer, which celebrated the life and legacy of the band’s late drummer, Brit Turner.
BLACKBERRY SMOKE CONFIRMED TOUR DATES
October 30—Bakersfield, CA—Fox Theater~
October 31—San Diego, CA—Humphreys Concerts by the Bay~
November 1—Las Vegas, NV—The Pearl Concert Theater~
November 2—Riverside, CA—Fox Performing Arts Center~
November 7—St. Augustine, FL—St. Augustine Amphitheatre^
November 8—Clearwater, FL—Ruth Eckerd Hall^
November 9—Fort Myers, FL—Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall^
November 10—Pompano Beach, FL—Pompano Beach Amphitheater^
November 14—Royal Oak, MI—Royal Oak Music Theatre%
November 15—Marietta, OH—Peoples Bank Theatre%
November 16—Shipshewana, IN—Blue Gate Performing Arts Center%
November 21—Carterville, IL—Event Center at Walker’s Bluff Casino Resort
November 22—Tulsa, OK—Cain’s Ballroom**
November 23—Shawnee, OK—FireLake Arena**
December 5—Mobile, AL—Saenger Theatre††
December 6—Augusta, GA—Bell Auditorium##
December 7— Fayetteville, NC—Crown Theatre##
December 8—Savannah, GA—Johnny Mercer Theatre##
December 31—Macon, GA—Macon City Auditorium^^
January 30—Morristown, NJ—Mayo Performing Arts Center
January 31—Bensalem, PA—XCite Center at Parx Casino
February 1—Worcester, MA—The Palladium
February 2—Patchogue, NY—Patchogue Theatre for the Performing Arts
February 5—Portland, ME—State Theatre
February 6—Burlington, VT—The Flynn
February 7—Providence, RI—The Strand Ballroom & Theatre
February 8—Williamsport, PA—Penn College Community Arts Center
February 13-17—Rock Legends Cruise XII
March 6—Rockford, IL—Coronado Theatre
March 7—Peoria, IL—Peoria Civic Center Theater
March 8—Evansville, IN—Aiken Theatre
March 27—New Orleans, LA—The Fillmore
March 28—Houston, TX—713 Music Hall
March 29—Helotes, TX—John T. Floore’s Country Store
April 25—Miramar Beach, FL—Moon Crush “Pink Moon”
May 8—Austin, TX—ACL Live at the Moody Theater
May 9—Dallas, TX—Majestic Theatre
May 15—Maryville, TN—The Shed
May 16—Maryville, TN—The Shed
May 17—Maryville, TN—The Shed
~with special guest Kelsey Waldon
^with special guest Southall
%with special guest Sam Morrow
**with special guest Taylor Hunnicutt
††with special guest Georgia Thunderbolts
##with special guest Tishamingo
^^with special guest Robert Jon and the Wreck
Brad Labelle
Brad Labelle - Nap Eyes
A: I love dance music and have an unrelenting thirst for new and fresh sounds. I don’t feel my guitar playing is particularly groundbreaking, but those influences must seep through somehow. I do believe I’m a fairly expressive player and my short attention span keeps me endlessly improvising.
Nap Eyes’ latest release, The Neon Gate.
Obsession: I can’t stop listening to the recent Jane Remover track “Magic I Want U.” The production is deeply detailed but doesn’t feel cluttered, and her melodic sensibilities are intoxicating. She gives you crunchy guitars paired with breakbeats, West Coast synth lines, a Janet Jackson-esque electro outro, scratching, a fun little guitar solo.... I could go on.
As of late, Two Star & the Dream Police by Mk.gee has been in Brad's regular listening rotation.
Galen Brownson - Reader of the Month
Metallica’s two-guitar format inspired Galen when he was learning guitar.
A: When I was learning how to play, I was listening to a lot of two-guitar bands, like Metallica and Megadeth and Iron Maiden. I tried to find ways to play both guitar parts at once, which is not always possible, but I write two parts for one guitar now.
Metallica’s second album is a fan favorite of their early, pioneering years.
Obsession: My latest obsession is finding ways to combine metal music with electronic music, particularly dubstep. My younger brother once chastised me for ignoring electronic music by saying “metal and dubstep have a lot in common,” and he was absolutely right. I’ve since made it a goal to weave them together.
Galen names Polis by Uppermost, a French electronic music producer, as one of his favorite records.
Ted Drozdowski - Editorial Director
Ted takes a slide solo on his well-traveled and beloved Dollycaster.
A: My interests toggle between history and mystery, so my technique is based in archaic/anarchic blues playing styles and an expansive sonic palette that relies on blending fingerpicking, slide, and an array of pedals to create tones and sheets of sound. I think of it as cosmic roots music, and don’t hear a lot of other people doing what I do the way I do it.
The marquee image for Ted and Coyote Motel’s new movie, The River: A Songwriter’s Stories of the South.
Obsession: For a few years now, much of my creative energy has been invested in a feature film I created with my band Coyote Motel—scripting, recording narration, performing as part of the band, editing, and learning many painfully new and hard lessons about movie-making. And then getting the film to festivals, where we’ve won laurels, and onto a few select screens. Now, I’m working on distribution, in a field where there ain’t no Bandcamp or DistroKid. It ain’t easy, but I’m obsessed with getting The River: A Songwriter’s Stories of the South into the world.
The current state of Ted’s pedalboard. (He’s aware he could do a better job with the wiring.)
Kate Koenig - Managing Editor
Kate’s newest album, which contains some of their rawest and most vulnerable lyrics to date.
A: I wear my heart on my sleeve—to the point where I’ve always struggled to have a verbal filter—so I tend to write very raw, vulnerable lyrics. A taste for cerebral art during my formative years has also informed my approach to coming up with challenging and intricate fingerpicking guitar parts.
When PG’s worldly gear editor Charles recommended Black Flag’s record Damaged, Kate got on that posthaste.
Obsession: I’ve been revisiting, digging into, and expanding my knowledge of classic ’80s and ’90s punk in preparation for my next artist interview for Premier Guitar(some foreshadowing, eh?). I have always been intrigued by punk culture’s outspoken rebelliousness and commitment to anarchic ideals, which strike me as free and authentic.
Kate has a distinct memory of a classmate playing “You’re Gonna Go Far, Kid” on loop in their senior-year studio-art class. (They still wonder why their teacher didn’t intervene.)