S: I can’t speak for the lyrics, but musically, where I have a bigger hand in things, I feel like we try to incorporate a lot of disparate elements and different genres of music. We try to incorporate them in a very stark, simple way, and we try to recontextualise things. 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? S: And it’s hard not to be furious about it sometimes, in my opinion. Especially the way local politics work around here, and just culturally in Oklahoma in particular. I’m about to be forty years old and there are still moments when I have teenage, Satanist, ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ rage in me about certain religious elements. The music is serious - what we’re doing is serious. So you’ve gotta have a little fun somewhere else, you know what I mean?

RB: Remember when they’re all at the arcade in ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’? They’re hanging out and skating around, but then it’s like, “now you’ve gotta be a footsoldier for Shredder”. It’s like that, but with God instead of Shredder [all laugh]. Something else about your music that is impactful are the bass and drum tones you all have. They are so interesting, heavy, and punishing, but remain crystal clear. What do you use to get them to sound like that? 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. NR: I was going to bring up Portrayal Of Guilt. You did a split with them in 2021, and you’re going on tour with Lingua Ignota soon right?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. 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: Where did that quote come from? I would never say ‘lots’ that many times. When it comes to weed, at least half of us are elite super soldiers, but we all serve dutifully. Much like conversation, laughter, sex, good food, movies—It’s an essential spice of life.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. 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. 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. 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? 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: It’s interesting that you mention ‘God’s Country’ taking a while to record and release, because it does feel like an album that’s been incubated. That’s a strength for me - it’s like the structure of the writing, and the interplay between the vocals and the instruments, wasn’t just thrown together. It feels well thought out. 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?

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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. 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. You said that “lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of THC” were used for this album. Approximately how much THC would you say? Are you more of a sativa or indica band?