From Mother Jones · Alex Nguyen · · 3m
Chat Pile's Raygun Busch on music and resistance
The noise rock band's new album confronts climate collapse and war. Their frontman explains why artists must speak up now.
In brief
The noise rock band's new album confronts climate collapse and war. Their frontman explains why artists must speak up now. Artists have a responsibility to be explicitly political right now, not through metaphor but through direct action and clear speech. Originally reported by Mother Jones.
A family shaped by war
Raygun Busch grew up in an insular environment shaped by his family's trauma from the Vietnam War, including stories of violence and escape by sea.
Art as a window to empathy
Movies, music, and television helped Busch understand the wider world. Roger Ebert's idea of film as a machine that generates empathy guided him toward politics.
Chat Pile's breakthrough moment
The 2022 single Why opened with direct lyrics: Why do people have to live outside in brutal heat or freezing cold? No metaphor, no poetry.
“Why do people have to live outside / In the brutal heat or when it's below freezing?”
Cool World confronts war
Chat Pile's 2024 album Cool World is an antiwar record. The track Shame decries the Gaza genocide and the shame of all wars.
Who Loves the Sun arrives
Chat Pile's latest album dropped Labor Day weekend with cover art showing a charred building and tent, with Devon Energy's headquarters looming behind.
Devon Energy's departure matters
The oil and gas company Devon Energy is moving from Oklahoma City to Houston, threatening local jobs and the future of the building featured on the album cover.
Themes of collapse and survival
Who Loves the Sun challenges apathy through tracks on climate change and labor struggle, using imagery of vampires and masks. The closer suggests nature will endure even if humanity collapses.
Flock cameras spark outrage
Oklahoma City Council renewed its contract for Flock surveillance cameras. Busch calls the decision dystopian and blames Mayor David Holt for spineless fascism.
“Flock is so nakedly dystopian, scary, 1984.”
Political engagement is essential
Busch believes every artist should have at least one political song. Not being political right now is insane. Even 99 Red Balloons is about world politics.
“I feel like in terms of art, not being political right now is insane.”
The real enemy isn't each other
Busch says the powers that be want us fighting each other, but we're not each other's enemies. Focus on those destroying the planet and draining resources and wealth.
9/11 and Iraq changed everything
At seventeen, Busch witnessed 9/11. At eighteen, the U.S. invaded Iraq. He saw recruiters preying on lower-class kids with promises of free college.
Oklahoma's underground was radical
When Busch moved to Oklahoma City in 2004, bands like Radio Reception ranted about George Bush and war. Being political was normal in the underground.
Speak clearly from the mic
When Busch has a microphone in a big room, he says free Palestine, free Yemen, free Sudan, fuck war, fuck genocide, fuck AI. Silence would make him a coward.
“if I have a mic in my hand and I'm in a big room and I don't say "free Palestine, free Yemen, free Sudan, fuck war, fuck genocide, fuck AI," what kind of person am I?”
Action starts with showing up
Busch says doing what you can matters. Reading, studying, showing up consistently beats doing nothing. Chat Pile is doing a benefit show for Sisu, an identity-inclusive youth shelter.
“Those who show up and do a little bit will always be ahead of the people who do nothing.”
What to remember
Artists have a responsibility to be explicitly political right now, not through metaphor but through direct action and clear speech.
