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SLC Post-Punk Outfit Choir Boy Return in their Lysergic Video for “Sweet Candy”

Have you ever noticed Andy can’t have candy, can he?
He likes films with morbid endings

Sometimes people just need a break from three-dimensional reality for inspiration. This was certainly the case for Choir Boy, who announce their 2022 tour with a lysergic-soaked video for “Sweet Candy” from 2020’s Gathering Swans, one of Post-Punk.com’s picks for the best album of that year.

“Sweet Candy expresses the sugar cravings and lovesickness of someone who denies themselves the excitement and bliss of romantic fulfillment,” explains frontman Adam Klopp.  “They’ve had a taste, but have opted for a sugar-free diet.”

Klopp described the initial songwriting process for Sweet Candy as arduous, so he and guitarist Michael Paulsen sought the aid of…psychedelia. The results were both hilarious – and fuel for creativity – as their biases ebbed their way out during the trip.

“Midway through the day I began imagining the song as a neighborhood in a 1950s musical,” says Klopp.  “When the instrumentation sounded natural to me, it felt like the characters were going about their business on a calm Saturday morning, chiming in to the neighborhood gossip when they saw fit.” Klopp’s angelic voice, sounding like a mix of Tears For Fears’ Curt Smith and Bronski Beat’s Jimmy Somerville, brings the already-trippy video into truly surrealist heights.”

“A meal of garlic bread and tomato sauce their producer made in the studio also found its way into the song. The sauce was fragrant and seemed to take forever to cook. In the middle of someone’s take, the toaster oven bell dinged a great ding. ‘Someone’s cooking something good!’ I thought. So we incorporated the bell sound in the drums. The day continued like that with many ideas tiptoeing the line between rotten and wrong. Finally, after an exhausting day of stimulating playtime, we drank some fancy bottled water and went home.”

Work on the long-delayed video began a few weeks before the initial Covid lockdowns hit in the USA.

“I remember walking around a candy store at the mall looking for props and snacks, and rolling my eyes at Michael, who was explaining how we’d likely soon be isolating for perhaps a year or more. I didn’t believe him, despite his track record of being right about things he reads on Twitter. I shan’t lament our cancelled video shoot now, but needless to say it took longer to make than we hoped. So here you have it, a slow cooked recipe! Straight from the crock pot to YouTube.”

The video stars Jeremy Divine, Dyana Durfee, Peter Goldie, Madison Donnelly, Annie Avila, Josh Brown, Tate Dunham and Malicia Domínguez.

Watch “Sweet Candy” below:

Gathering Swans is out now via DAIS records. Order here.

Choir Boy are set to embark on a North American tour with Riki starting March 15th. After that, the SLC boys head to Europe with Soft Kill.

Tour Dates

  • Mar 12 Urban Lounge Salt Lake City, UT

Choir Boy and RIKI:

  • Mar 15 Lost Lake Lounge, Denver, CO
  • Mar 17 Turf Club St. Paul, MN
  • Mar 18 Lincoln Hall, Chicago, IL
  • Mar 19 Grog Shop, Cleveland, OH
  • Mar 21 The Sanctuary, Detroit Hamtramck, MI
  • Mar 22 The Garrison, Toronto, ON
  • Mar 24 Bar le Ritz PDB, Montreal, QC
  • Mar 25 Sonia, Cambridge, MA
  • Mar 26 Music Hall of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY
  • Mar 27 PhilaMOCA, Philadelphia, PA
  • Mar 28 Metro Gallery, Baltimore, MD
  • Mar 29 The Camel, Richmond, VA
  • Mar 30 Motorco Music Hall, Durham, NC
  • Mar 31 Snug Harbor, Charlotte, NC
  • Apr 01 The Masquerade – Purgatory, Atlanta, GA
  • Apr 02 Gasa Gasa, New Orleans, LA
  • Apr 03 Satellite Bar, Houston, TX
  • Apr 04 The Parish, Austin, TX
  • Apr 05, Three Links, Dallas, TX
  • Apr 07 The Rebel Lounge, Phoenix, AZ
  • Apr 08 Casbah, San Diego, CA
  • Apr 09 Teragram Ballroom, Los Angeles (LA), CA
  • Apr 10 Rickshaw Stop, San Francisco, CA
  • Apr 13 Biltmore Cabaret, Vancouver, BC
  • Apr 14 Madame Lou’s, Seattle, WA
  • Apr 15 Mississippi Studios, Portland, OR
  • Apr 16 Neurolux Lounge, Boise, ID

Choir Boy:

  • May 13 The Urban Lounge-ut, Salt Lake City, UT
  • May 13 Library Square, Salt Lake City, UT

Choir Boy and Soft Kill:

  • May 26 Moth Club, London, UK
  • May 27 Factory Manchester, Manchester, UK
  • May 28 Strange Brew, Bristol, UK
  • May 29 Craufurd Arms, Wolverton, UK
  • May 30 Green Door Store, Brighton, UK
  • Jun 03 Wave-Gotik-Treffen, Leipzig, Germany
  • Jun 07 Kasárna Karlín, Prague, Czech Republic
  • Jun 10 Kiff, Saal, Aarau, Switzerland
  • Jun 11 La Cordo, Romans sur Isère, France
  • Jun 12 Petit Bain, Paris, France
  • Jun 23 The Bodega, Nottingham, UK
  • Jun 24 Record Junkee, Sheffield, UK
  • Jun 25 Broadcast, Glasgow, UK
  • Jun 27 Exchange Bristol, Bristol, UK
  • Jun 28, Birmingham Flapper, Birmingham, UK

Follow Choir Boy:

Alice Teeple

Alice Teeple is a photographer, multidisciplinary artist, and writer. She is not in Tin Machine.

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