Chat Pile are about to wrap up their US West Coast and Canada tour with Gouge Away this week. I was fortunate enough to catch the sludgy rockers when they came through Pomona last week.
Kansas City's Nightosphere has opened the shows every night. The trio's unique blend of shoegaze and slowcore is fit for moody long nighttime drives. Second on the bill is Hardcore Punk act Gouge Away, who released Deep Sage last year—their first new album in six years. The juxtaposition between the two bands made for an interesting night. Gouge Away filled the room with their ferocious sound and Christina Michelle's boisterous vocals.
Chat Pile took to the stage with the Austin Powers theme song blasting from the house speakers before jumping into "The New World." The crowd responded with push-pitting and fist pumps. Between songs, frontman Raygun Busch would divulge trivia about movies filmed in the city of Pomona, like That Thing You Do! being filmed at the nearby Fairplex, or Mike Myers' Cat in the Hat filmed downtown. When he wasn't spouting facts about movies, he was meandering around the stage like an anxious animal at the zoo while his arms freely flowed around like a ribbon dancer. The set mostly consisted of tracks from their new album, Cool World, like "Shame" and "I am Dog Now" but they still threw in older songs like "Why?" from God's Country and "Rat Boy" from their 2019 debut EP.
The band will continue to promote Cool World when they head to Europe for a full tour with HIRS Collective and Agriculture. You can find dates below as well as a gallery from the night!
