Exclusive: The Coathangers Form a Ghoulish Cheer Squad in “Captain’s Dead” Video
Photo by Jeff Forney
On June 30, Atlanta punk trio The Coathangers will release their Parasite EP, which comes a little over a year after their last long player, Nosebleed Weekend. So far we’ve heard “Captain’s Dead,” and now the band has released a creepy accompanying video for the track, which Paste is exclusively premiering below.
Directed by Matt Odom, the clip has guitarist-vocalist Julia Kugel, drummer Stephanie Luke and bassist Meredith Franco in full cheerleader garb, except this pep rally isn’t like any you attended in high school. The Coathangers’ squad is gothic and ghoulish — maybe even a little undead.
“The song is about a very interesting and difficult time of personal transition that happened at the end of last year, which coincided with a changing political climate ushered in by the election of Donald Trump as president,” Kugel tells Paste over email. “It was like the Trump ethos of savage ignorance was taking over every aspect of life, and then a realization that all things do circle and come back. The reward for malicious action is often a bag of shit, one way or another.
The video was shot by good friend and longtime Coathangers collaborator Matt Odom in and around our house in Long Beach. The badass cheerleaders were a play on the whole captain of the squad thing. We wanted this video to be a bit random and weird to the observer, yet the clip soaked in personal meaning. feels a bit like a feverish nightmare… a hex on assholes.”