WHY do you need to see the band live?
I heard of Chat Pile through the various online magazines and noticed they were coming out to Vancouver on tour with support from Gouge Away and Nightospere. They were playing at The Pearl which reopened to doing shows in the last year and decided to check it out.
Chat Pile are a noise-metal (sludge metal?) quintet based out of Oklahoma City in the USA with “Raygun” Busch (vocals), Luther Manhole (guitars), Stin (Bass) and Cap’n Ron (Drums). They formed in 2019 and have 2 albums available with Cool World being their latest released in 2024. This is their 2nd visit to Vancouver as the last time they were here was back in 2023 at the Rickshaw Theatre.
They start off with “The New World”, a song with abit of a punk/hardcore vibe to it that started to get the slammsters in the pit crashing around. The shirtless Raygun is staggering around the stage, with his moaning/screamo vocals, dipping and weaving like a boxer. Next, its a song called “Shame” but the 3rd song of the set “Frownland” had me thinking Fieldy Korn (no they are not NU METAL) with Stin’s groovy bassline on that one. I really dug that one, as I have heard it on the album and it sounds far more dynamic and chest pounding here at the Pearl. This is definitely one of those types of bands that are just better to see live that on the album in my opinion.
“Why” is one that got the Vancouver crowd going. Homelessness such a contentious topic in this area, and with that lyrics that just resonates with the Vancouver audience. Why do people have to live outside next to empty buildings? People need to start asking ‘Why’ as Raygun’s emotional vocals ring out.
Raygun’s in between song chit chat was rather unique too, as he was talking about movies through just about every song break. At one point comparing the Hellraiser movies that were made in Vancouver vs the one make in Oklahoma. By the way, incase you were wondering about their name, Chat Pile is the contaminated material that is from doing lead mining
Luther’s riffs on his baritone guitar sound is unique, with tones like from alternative punk combined with some heavy riffs that would be accepted at a Meshuggah concert. Listen to the weird chord progressions he gets into about halfway through “Pamela”.
The main focus tonight though centered around the Cool World album as 7 of the 13 songs were from that and the rest are from God’s Country (“Why”, “Tropical Beaches, Inc.”, “Pamela”) and other EP’s. They ended the show with an encore called “Rainbow Meat” which is pretty bass heavy compared to most. To me that is unique though, as most bands a really guitar heavy, but to me each members instrument seems to stand out clearly in all their songs. Despite playing in the rather intimate scenario like the sold out Pearl (holds only 365), these guys put on a really solid set that really thumps hard. I recommend you check them out if they are headed towards your town.
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