CHAT PILE have released "Same Rules", the latest single and video from their third album "Who Loves the Sun", out September 4 via The Flenser.
The Oklahoma City quartet built their reputation on a very specific kind of dread. Debut "God's Country" bottled an unmistakably American strain of it; 2024's "Cool World" widened the lens to global systemic violence. "Who Loves the Sun" turns toward something quieter and arguably worse — the collective indifference to a decaying world that defines this century. Coastlines swallowing cities because nobody acted on climate change, the grind of dead-end work, a species submitting to data-driven inauthenticity: the album frames 21st-century existence as a doom loop, a slow-motion apocalypse nobody seems especially bothered about.
"Same Rules" is as aggressive and confrontational as anything in the catalogue, but it arrives with hooks and melodic tones the band have never leaned on this openly. Bassist Stin explains where it came from, and it is not where you would guess. It is the "first real CHAT PILE song mostly recorded on 4-track cassette," he says. "Ray B. had given us the challenge to write a trip hop song and this is what we came up with. Unfortunately he's rejected 'Same Rules' from the challenge as he claims it's not trip hop at all and that we have to try again. Perhaps we'll get it right next time."
Vocalist Ray B. put the album's argument rather more bluntly. "Everyone needs to read as much as possible. There is so little emphasis put on knowledge right now — it is your most important tool. Engagement with the world might lead to death, but shutting off and staring at your phone all day is suicide."
Just over six years on from forming as a scrappy passion project between four local film and music obsessives, CHAT PILE — Ray B. (vocals), L. Manhole (guitar), Stin (bass) and Cap'n Ron (drums) — have become one of the defining heavy bands to emerge from the 2020s underground. Their crushing, crass and cathartic take on noise rock lands hard in a cracked reality, and much of its pull is how stubbornly human it sounds against ceaseless torrents of algorithmic slop and technological overreach. Nothing about "Who Loves the Sun" feels synthetic. In a world increasingly shaped by disposable content, the band answer with something defiantly real and organic.
Pre-order "Who Loves the Sun" here.
"Who Loves the Sun" track listing:
- Creature
- Deep Blue
- Same Rules
- PEN I S MALL
- Shrine
- Intruder
- Christabel '26
- Influence
- Family Funeral
- October All the Time
CHAT PILE on tour — UK/EU:
| Date | City | Venue |
|---|---|---|
| Aug 11 | Vienna, AT | Arena |
| Aug 12 | Munich, DE | Live/Evil ^ |
| Aug 14 | Col Du Lein, CH | Palp Festival |
| Aug 19 | Dublin, IE | Button Factory ^ |
| Aug 20 | Dublin, IE | Button Factory ^ |
| Aug 22 | Bristol, UK | ArcTanGent Festival |
CHAT PILE on tour — USA:
| Date | City | Venue |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 12 | Oklahoma City, OK | Tower Theatre (SISU Fundraiser Fest) # |
| Sep 17 | Minneapolis, MN | First Avenue + $ |
| Sep 19 | Chicago, IL | Riot Fest |
| Sep 20 | Englewood, CO | The Gothic Theatre + & |
| Sep 23 | Salt Lake City, UT | The Metro Music Hall + & |
| Sep 25 | Seattle, WA | Showbox SoDo + & |
| Sep 27 | Portland, OR | Revolution Hall + & |
| Sep 29 | Sacramento, CA | Ace of Spades + & |
| Sep 30 | San Francisco, CA | The Regency Ballroom + & |
| Oct 03 | San Diego, CA | Music Box + & |
| Oct 04 | Los Angeles, CA | The Belasco + & |
| Oct 06 | Mesa, AZ | The Nile Theater + & |
| Oct 08 | Austin, TX | Radio/East + & |
| Oct 09 | Houston, TX | White Oak Music Hall + & |
| Oct 10 | Dallas, TX | Granada Theater + & |
| Nov 05 | Detroit, MI | The Majestic Theatre + % |
| Nov 06 | Millvale, PA | Mr. Smalls Theatre + % |
| Nov 08 | Norwalk, CT | District Music Hall + % |
| Nov 10 | Brooklyn, NY | Brooklyn Steel + % |
| Nov 11 | Philadelphia, PA | Union Transfer + % |
| Nov 12 | Washington, DC | Black Cat + % |
| Nov 14 | Charlotte, NC | Underground + % |
| Nov 15 | Atlanta, GA | The Masquerade + % |
| Nov 16 | Nashville, TN | Brooklyn Bowl + % |
| Nov 18 | Columbus, OH | Newport Music Hall + % |
| Nov 20 | Indianapolis, IN | Deluxe at Old National Centre + % |
| Nov 21 | St. Louis, MO | Delmar Hall + % |
| Nov 22 | Lawrence, KS | The Granada + % |
| Dec 13 | Boston, MA | Roadrunner (Saddest Day Festival) |
^ with RAGANA · + with SOUL GLO · $ with PRIZE HORSE · & with VIRGA · % with SHALLOWATER · # with PORTRAYAL OF GUILT, NIGHTOSPHERE, TRAINDODGE, PRIMAL BRAIN