Chapter 1: Who are the members of Chat Pile and what do they do?
Okay, we're going to start with a very simple question. I'd love you to just both introduce yourselves and where you're from and what you do.
My name is Sten. I am from Oklahoma City and I play bass in Chatpile.
My name is Reagan Bush and I sing in Chatpile.
I'm also from Oklahoma City. Full disclosure, I love Chatpile, which is why I'm very excited that you're here. I've seen you a couple of times. One of the first things, so you absorbed the music, loved what I heard. And I was like, what the fuck is a Chatpile?
Chapter 2: What does the name 'Chat Pile' represent?
What is Chatpile? Googled it, found out it's a local thing to Oklahoma. Could you just explain what a Chatpile is and sort of like what it represents to you?
Yeah, so in the town of Pitcher, Oklahoma, there are these like giant mountains of toxic waste called chat piles. And I think that's like a local term. I don't believe this is like a wider thing or like it started locally and then it moved on to, you know, to the greater culture or whatever.
But the story behind it is in World War I, it was a lead mining town and they were mining lead for the ammunition in World War I. And then the byproduct of this like mining operation is this like toxic waste that I guess is in granular rock form that they can pile up.
And then, you know, they discovered years later that it was poisoning everybody in the town and it sort of became a ghost town over time. But I think the final straw was a tornado hit it like maybe 10 years ago and just scattered all the chat pile debris everywhere.
Chapter 3: How do Oklahoma's chat piles impact the community?
Oh, God. shrapnel flying everywhere. Yeah, yeah. Well, and just spreading like, you know, what was already like a horrible, you know, contained. Yeah, but contained. Yeah, exactly.
And suddenly you've all got it.
Yeah, yeah.
Do people in Oklahoma all know what a chat pile is or is it kind of specific knowledge?
To be honest, I didn't know what it was until they presented me with the band name and I was like, I don't know.
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Chapter 4: What experiences did the band members have at church camp?
Here's a list of names of what we can be called.
I truly was like, I don't know. That sounds bad. My cousin lives in Oklahoma and he has no idea what a chat pile was.
I think it's really regional because it's like in the far kind of like northeast part of the state. So if you grew up around there, you know what it is. In fact, like we call our fans chat rats, but that name is stolen valor because chat rats are the townies that play on the chat piles. And they do. Oh, they play on the chat piles? They drive ATVs on them.
Chapter 5: How did growing up in Oklahoma shape their music?
They slid down the toxic piles.
Yeah.
God. And does like, I don't want to spend too long on this, but does the town, are they doing anything to try and mitigate this? Are they, are the payouts, are they trying to get rid of the chat piles or are they just kind of there? I don't think you can do anything with them.
I think they're just there. Too big. But the way they mitigate it is they're just like, everyone has to get out of here.
Oh, God.
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Chapter 6: What American snack do the band members enjoy?
And I also don't want this to become a why you named what you're named, but why did you settle on that name? You probably had some other names that were also good contenders. Chatpile is so specific. I was never presented with options.
You guys were just like, we're going to call the band Chatpile. I was like, okay.
We had a list, but it was all like metal, you know. I can't even remember any of them, to be honest. But it was like more like stereotypical metal names.
It's perfect, though, because it does get people to look it up.
Chapter 7: What songs will Chat Pile perform in this episode?
I mean, I like... First thing I did. I like having the environmentally conscious...
Well, that's why we settled on it because it's local to us, which was a part of what we were doing anyway. And then it has this kind of darkness to it without being super obvious. You kind of have to scratch the surface a little bit.
So many people are like, the name is stupid. What's a chat pile? And then they'll look it up. It's like, actually, the name is pretty cool.
It's one of the most intense things you could kind of think of.
Chapter 8: What themes do the songs 'Tenkiller' and 'King' explore?
Yeah, yeah. It is one of those things where people find out I'm in a band and they're like, oh, what's the band name? And you have to be like, chat pile. And they're very confused.
Yeah, you've got to enunciate every syllable. Yeah. What? Yeah, I feel like when I say tickle, I made tickles the documentary. I have to do the same thing. Tickles. Because when I say it in my accent, people are like, tickling? I'm like, no, tickles. I'm like, what? And you've got to be very specific.
Okay, Oklahoma, besides the chat piles, I've been there once when we did a tornado chasing episode a couple of years ago now. So when I think of Oklahoma, I think tornadoes and chat piles, thanks to you. What does it represent to you besides those things? Because I imagine it's a beautiful place and you like growing up there.
Yeah.
Oh, maybe not.
No, I mean, yeah. It could be worse. It could be way worse. And we grew up in the 90s, too, which was different than now. Growing up now, I wouldn't want to raise a kid in the town that I grew up in in 2025. But in the 90s, when everybody was just rich with oil money and stuff, living in Ponca City is where I'm from was kind of nice.
Is it Poka City? Ponca City. Ponca.
Yeah. Yeah. Every town and everywhere in Oklahoma is named after tribes and stuff like indigenous tribes.
Ponca is famously like Killers of the Flower Moon, like that book, movie or whatever. It's like right by there.
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