Detroit’s Own Look At The Perilous Carnival Of Chat Pile
Up-and-coming Oklahoma Noise Rock band Chat Pile is known for many things. While some fans note them for their crushing yet ever-expanding sound and their pointed yet open-ended pseudo-politically driven lyrical statements, it is being newly discovered by concertgoers how one of their biggest strong suits happens to be how powerful of a stage presence they occupy. Detroit saw this front and center at the Majestic Theater on November 9th while being supported by ecstatic black metal quartet Agriculture and post-hardcore powerhouse Traindodge.
After finding a widely accepted home in the American experimental punk and metal scene with their 2022 release ‘God’s Country’ and with earlier extended play releases ‘This Dungeon Earth’ and ‘Remove Your Skin Please,’ Chat Pile has proven themselves to be new adopters of the sludge driven sound disguised as seasoned veterans. While sonically comparable for fans of longer running bands in the genre such as Thou and Melvins, they also are very much their own thing, often set apart from the rest of the genre by frontman Raygun Busch’s psychotically driven vocal cadence and by the bands’ post-punk approach. This sound has only been pushed further past its limits on their 2024 release ‘Cool World,’ a record that turned heads upon its release by garnering considerably positive reviews by online music publications such as Pitchfork rating the album a 7.7 and Metal Injection rating the album a 8/10.
During the set’s run time, Chat Pile delivered a performance that not only closely mirrored the sound of their 2024 release, but also delivered a stage presence that mirrored the overall feeling of the record. Each member of the band seemed to hold a physical persona on stage that gave the attendees the feeling that the performance could easily go mentally left field at any point in any song. From Busch’s often erratic emphasis on unpredictability in his movement to their bassist Stin having a very aggressive posture with his menacing charge back and forth from backstage to front stage to the random freakouts of the guitarist Luther Manhole during the more intense parts of each song, it is clear that the band wants one thing to be seen: you cannot expect Chat Pile’s next move.
Sonically and physically, the band left suspense in the air that was felt by each concertgoer, and especially by the attendees who joined in on the very demanding and abusive mosh pit that broke out during the very first song in the set, “I Am Dog Now.” In opposition, the band would often break this suspense by the band’s offset commentary about random movies that somehow related back to how they viewed the oppressive nature of Michigan’s largest city. Stanzas spoken by Busch about how Robocop and other movies are consequential to the image and feel of Detroit. This somehow is all too relatable to a band who speaks both about the suffering of the homeless population of the world and equally about the mental image of the Mcdonaldland’s mascot Grimace found smoking weed in the room of a man who the song itself describes feels “like he is a monster too”.
Closing out the set were the songs “Dallas Beltway” and “Rainbow Meat.” Two songs that stand out in notably ironic opposition to each other in Chat Pile’s discography. While Dallas Beltway allows the listener to visualize the mental downfall of a person who killed their child and stuck the body in the trunk of their car, the addition of Rainbow Meat as an encore leaves the attendee at yet another unpredicted moment most easily described by far by the most laughably insane lyric in the song is “Send my body to Arby’s, human flesh slider combo.”
It is undeniable by both concertgoers and fans of the band that Chat Pile is not only unforgettable but also a permanent figure in the newer age of both Noise Rock and Sludge metal alike. By visiting Detroit for the first time in the band’s career, they proved that while being from Oklahoma, they have a second home within the confines of the motor city. Their performance was driven, explosive, direct, and as vile as the contents of their music. To anyone interested in Chat Pile or who may have heard the name from their one stoner friend who spends a ton of time philosophizing the agreeable points of their impact on the seemingly limitless modern stoner rock genre umbrella, give the band a chance and I can promise you they will make as strong of an impact as they did on the concert goers who attended the November 9th show.
Stream their new album “Cold World” on all available streaming platforms today and be sure to stop in for any of their future releases and tours at chatpile.net/shows. They are worth your time.