Exclusive: The Coathangers Form a Ghoulish Cheer Squad in “Captain’s Dead” Video

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.”

Watch “Captain’s Dead” below.

The Coathangers Tour Dates:

May
12—Manchester, United Kingdom @ Day & Night
13—Brighton, United Kingdom @ The Joker
15—Bristol, United Kingdom @ The Exchange
16—Oxford, United Kingdom @The Bullingdon
17—London, United Kingdom @ Oslo
18—Hastings, United Kingdom @ The Printworks
19—Leicester, United Kingdom @ The Cookie
20—Leeds, United Kingdom @ Gold Sounds at Brundenell Social
21—Sheffield, United Kingdom @ The Harley
23—Ramsgate, United Kingdom @ Ramsgate Music Hall
24—Gent, Belgium @ Psych Over 9000
25—Eindhoven, Netherlands @ Stroomhuis
26—Rotterdam, Netherlands @ Roodkapje, Girls Go Boom Night
27—Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Pacific Park
28—Utrecht, Netherlands @ dB’s
30—Hamburg, Germany @ Molotow
31—Berlin, Germany @ Cassiopeia

June
1—Munich, Germany @ Orangehouse
2—Cologne, Germany @ MTC
3—Paris, France @ Le Batofar
6—Ravenna, Italy @ Beaches Brew Festival
7—Yverdon-Le-Bains, Switzerland @ L-Amalgame
8—Clermont, France @ Ferrand Le Barraka
9—Nimes, France @ This Is Not a Love Song
10—Helsinki, Finland @ Sideways Festival
17—San Francisco, Calif. @ Phono del Sol