Flightless Bird Nest Sessions: Chat Pile
Jan 8, 2026
Raygun Busch and Sten from Chat Pile join the conversation, sharing their Oklahoma roots and the story behind their band's name, inspired by local hazardous waste hills. They reflect on their quirky experiences at church camp, like discussing Apollo 13 over meals. The duo dives into their songwriting for tracks like 'Tenkiller' and 'King', and even perform stripped-down versions. They also indulge in regional snacks, revealing the snack culture on their tours and the funny bits about their hometown's 'chat rat' culture.
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Origin Of The Band Name
- Sten explains chat piles are giant toxic waste heaps from WWI lead mining that turned towns into ghost towns.
- He recounts a tornado scattering the piles and local people (chat rats) who still play on them with ATVs.
Name As Provocation
- The name Chatpile functions as a provocation that pushes listeners to research local environmental harm.
- Raygun and Sten like that it signals local specificity and darkness without being explicit.
Mock Land Runs In School
- Raygun describes mock land-run reenactments in school and how Oklahoma history was taught through that lens.
- He and Sten note that those lessons presented only one side of history, glossing over Indigenous dispossession.
