God’s Country

Product Information

LM: I think ‘God’s Country’ fits though. Especially with the image and all that, I think it all makes sense together. It’s evocative - you see those words, and the picture of the substation and the jail, and you get what we’re saying. Raygun Busch: Goddamn, this question is too hard. I guess I’ll try to do an easy answer though there’s not way to not be reductive here: tax or jail for the rich; homes, medical care, clothing, food and education for everyone no exceptions; and of course, upturn law enforcement and completely reshape the criminal justice system in America (ie term limits, no death penalty, releasing those from jail for non-violent drug charges etc). NR: It’s a really impressive LP. You’ve made something really unusual, and the staying power of it is borne out by the fact that it’s now showing up in our end-of-year list and those of many other publications. 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: It all depends on the way you think about it. So many bands - and so many bands I like, too - can just take the hard other way with their imagery, doing lots of Satan shit and devil shit in the music. I like the aesthetic, so it’s appealing to me.

Reviews

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. RB: I certainly like it when people compare us to those bands [laughs]. I’m not gonna shoo away anyone that wants to put us up next to some of the best political punk bands of all time! Stin: Our writing process is a little weird (or perhaps not?) in that usually one of us brings a few loose riff ideas to the table, and the three non-vocalists jam on it endlessly until it feels the way we want it to feel. So the length of “Grimace…” wasn’t premeditated; it just kind of ended up being long as we kept feeling it out. We knew Raygun would be able to really take the long, doomy section at the end and make it his own. LM: For something completely different to what we sound like there’s the album ‘Air Guitar’ by Sobs. They’re a power-pop band from Singapore. They’re awesome - everyone should jam that if you like Charly Bliss or any of the other bubbly power-pop stuff that’s been going on. It’s really good. In light of this award, we sat down with the band over video call to shoot the shit about the reaction to ‘God’s Country’, Chat Pile’s journey up until this point, and what the future has in store for the group.

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. NR: Yeah, as someone for whom those bands were doing things before I was born, I can relate to how the similarities between them and you are changed by the era we’re living through. Like, Crass probably wouldn’t have written a song called ‘grimace_smoking_weed.jpeg’, but that’s what happens when you get internet-brained.

NR: This is another influence question - and this might just have come from my continuing obsession with Death Grips… 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? Stin: With all of it, we very consciously try to express and represent the feeling of living in the southern plains. Even the more Beavis and Butthead, ’90’s alt-metal musical leanings are meant to evoke a sense of place. It’s very culturally ingrained here.

Cap’n Ron: Yeah, it feels like its own entity now, or something like that. Like I’m now completely disassociated from it. One of the highlights of God’s Country is the massive “Grimace_smoking_weed.jpeg” which was released as a six-minute flexi demo not too long ago but ended up being a nine-minute monster transformation. Did you set out to make a song that long initially with it? And what inspired you to have Grimace as the monster of choice? Stin: Ya, more than anything, we’re trying to capture the anxiety and fear of seeing the world fall apart. Raygun is especially talented at that, even if the lyrics are fantasy based at times. I think that that specific type of anxiety comes through no matter what.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. 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. 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: That’s a literal Steve Albini diatribe. He’s a big fan of Danielson and Danielson Famile [a project with a strong Christian element to the music]. People have given him a hard time for working with a religious band, and then he’s replied, “well, if that’s your worldview, why would you not incorporate it into your music? It would be disingenuous not to do so.” Do you see those qualities in your music, and are you really working to try to get that starkness of presentation in there?

S: There’s definitely an over-the-top quality to the music too - on purpose, at times, trying to take things to certain extremes. I don’t know if there’s a blatant logical end to that other than it’s just kind of like what we would want to hear [laughs]. LM: Yeah, I love stuff like that. That’s something that’s appealing to all of us, and I feel like it works. When we started writing instrumentals and got Ray in on vocals, it worked together. Having the theatrical angle with it - or maybe even literary, because there are a lot of characters and stuff in the songs - works, it’s cool. Raygun Busch: It’s all mostly real-world based—even “Pamela” is an attempt to ground famous cinematic madness. “Why” is probably the scariest song on the record. 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!Holding up the other end here are Nerver. Who are pretty much what you’d expect a band on a split like this to sound like. By which I mean they bring a complementary serving of prowling ugly sludge punk noise to the table to show they are indeed Chat Pile’s Brothers in Christ. They’re from Kansas city which allows us European types to briefly marvel at US geography on a couple of counts. Being a mere five hour(!) drive away up tornado alley they’re relatively close neighbours to Chat Pile. Yet despite the states having all that room, Kansas city is somehow in two, both Kansas and Missouri. Why wouldn’t it be? 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.