For the writing process for the album, was it a conscious thing that you were all trying to get in a similar zone when making it? Or does it happen more organically than that? Raygun Busch: Absolutely! My brain is only truly working when I’m talking about movies, music, books etc. There is a song on the record I am immensely proud of, that is sort of extremely personal in a lot of ways despite essentially being Friday the 13th fanfiction. The Grimace song alternately draws from the films Mysterious Skin and In a Glass Cage (not to mention real-life experience)—There’s also some songs on the record that draw from real life events from our region of the country, true, but they are merely impressions, not meant to be a history lesson by any means. Sort of the In Cold Blood approach. NR: That’s the one. ‘No Love Deep Web’ came to me as a comparison for ‘God’s Country’. The albums are both so unrelenting and don’t sugarcoat the way they present things. They’re really forceful. But also, it seems like your music is more observational than theirs - both with the lyrics and also the way it’s all brought together. LM: It’s a case of balancing. I think we’re a pretty earnest band in general, it’s not like we’re doing loads of ironic stuff. But we also all like horror movies, comedy movies, stuff like that. That stuff plays together in pretty much any media. Like Ray said, a lot of people have to be the Mr. Darkness man on stage, or just generally in press and stuff. That’s not really us.

How do you see yourself in relation to those kinds of bands, those acts who quote-unquote “make a point” in their music? LM: I also don’t pitch in on the lyrical side, but in general we try to have a pretty cohesive aesthetic. It’s meant to all feel coherent, so if there are lots of observational qualities and characters in the lyrical content then I think that works together with the music. You do not shy away from graphic nature in your lyrics in any way, shape, or form; it’s actually one of the most impactful elements of your music. What do you think the benefits are of using those harder-to-stomach images and expressions? LM: I’m glad! I’m glad that people all over the world like our stuff, but I do feel like our music is so weirdly, uniquely American that it’s funny people in the UK are digging it, because it feels very Oklahoma to me.

Reviews

Raygun Busch: It was borne from necessity but it’s really the only way to do things, right? We’ve each been recording our own music since at least our teen years. There’s really no reason for anyone to ever pay someone to do shit that a computer has made pig simple for the masses. The internet and computer programs have completely equalized the medium–You can make a record or a movie or whatever you want (easy as writing that book always has been lol) if you really want to. Tangerine was shot on iPhones and Tangerine is one of the best movies of the century so far. Deathconsciousness by Have a Nice Life was recorded using Garageband for chrissakes! RB: We’re all here [Oklahoma] because this was the last place in the country to settle. We had forced every indigenous person here and Montana, and then we were like, “actually, we want this No Man’s Land that we’ve put you into.” And that’s where we live. We’re a long time away from that, so it’s not like knowing whose land you're on is at the forefront of everyone’s minds. You remember that mini-movement that happened a few years ago, there was an app and all that shit? That stuff is really important to know, but a lot of people maybe don’t think about it. Cap’n Ron: Yeah, it feels like its own entity now, or something like that. Like I’m now completely disassociated from it. NR: It’s kind of just a quirk of calling on behalf of a company based in Leeds, but a lot of people refer to Yorkshire as “God’s Own Country”. There are other places that claim that title too. CR: During Covid, instead of actually trying to help people, our governor was like, “oh, let’s have a day of prayer for people in the state.”

RB: I didn’t know that, but that’s cool. That’s what I want to get my fingers into - Doja Cat featuring Raygun Bush. All I really hope is that our songs can recall the movies or books that rightfully won’t leave my brain like L’Humanite or Henry: Portrait of Serial Killer or Continental Drift by Russell Banks or Woman at Point Zero by Nawal El Saadawi, etc.LM: I am one-hundred percent there as well. I remember us making it, because it took forever - well, I shouldn’t say forever, but it took a while because we self-recorded. But we sat on it for a long time too, so it’s like a weird cycle. We’d made it, and then it was finished for eleven months, and then we finally put it out. In that interim period, I’d heard it a million times. Now that it’s out, it’s awesome that people are super into it, but it’s kind of old material now, you know? There’s other stuff that we’ve been working on. So yeah, it’s weird - it does feel like it’s own thing. It’s cool though. It’s hard to not have that stuff in your work if you think about it at all. I can see if you don’t think about politics at all, maybe somehow that could not be in your shit. I dunno. But if it’s anything that you’re thinking about, it’s just gonna end up in your art. I think it’s fair to say Chat Pile swung out of nowhere, colliding with considerable force into 2022. Their debut God’s Country brought a thrilling mix of noise and despair that resonated widely. It topped Echoes and Dust’s album of the year list and made respectable appearances on many others. As the band get ready to head over to Europe this summer, here’s a good old fashioned split release, with their Brothers in Christ, to keep us all from getting too antsy about a new album. Now that ‘God’s Country’ has been out for a few months and it’s taken on a life of its own, how does the album feel to you? S: I think that type of music just attracts a specific type of nerd [all laugh]. Angry nerds who have no choice but to laugh about certain things.

Now, moving forward, are there any literary or cinematic influences you pulled from in particular for God’s Country? Are there any real-life stories you pulled from? S: We’ve only played like five shows since we recorded the album. Already it’s like, “oh, well all of those are old songs. People want to hear new stuff.”

Release

S: For me, I have no delusions that we will have any positive effect on the world. I truly feel that way. I see it more as an expression of frustration. It’s more a cathartic screaming out. Not to use a pun, but, why? Why do things have to be this way - in our world, in our existence, since the beginning of time and until the end of time? I view it more as a powerless screaming, but you guys might feel differently. LM: We will grind a song down a ton, so there’s a lot of repetition and stuff. It’s the only way I really know how to write music - I’m not good at writing a full song and presenting it. I don’t really want to write like that anyways, I like to do it with people. My ideas are not always right, so I like to have people with good ideas to input as well.

LM: Yeah, absolutely MDC. That stuff is very appealing to me, and so it makes sense for that kind of vibe to be in our music too. I think all of us listen to a little bit of stuff like that. Even Nirvana, they’re like that too. There’s so much of that kind of shit going on in Kurt Cobain’s lyrics, and they’re one of the biggest bands ever. That was definitely big early for me, hearing music that was in some way sarcastic, you know? Raygun Busch: Acting is super easy and a lot of fun. Just yesterday, I acted in the same filmmakers’ new movie, and I’ll definitely be accepting any and all acting jobs in the future because, as I said, it’s a super easy and a fun job. LM: The Grimace thing is something that Ray thought of. He’d written it down and drawn a little picture of it, and we still have the picture hanging up in Stin’s house. S: Yeah, in my opinion it’s the greatest version of whatever it is - I guess you’d call it metallic hardcore - that’s ever been made. NR: This is another influence question - and this might just have come from my continuing obsession with Death Grips…Stin: Yeah, Ray took the words right out of my mouth with the whole “manifest destiny” thing. It’s obviously a very American thing, but it’s hyperly an Oklahoma thing as well. I feel like we’re the last domino of that type of mindset, and attributing that kind of entitlement to God plays a big part in how bad things are. Special note, Tenkiller is actually a drama, although we totally understand why people would assume it’s a horror movie. No one’s seen it, and our music seems to naturally lend itself to horror!)