Synopsis
A fictional female-led band performs "Hole To Feed" in a small club while the audience watches with an eerie lack of emotion. As the performance continues, couples begin engaging in prolonged, exaggerated kissing that spreads through the room and eventually into the surrounding streets. The strange behavior affects people from different backgrounds, including passersby and authority figures, turning ordinary public spaces into a surreal spectacle. When the song ends, everyone returns to normal, leaving the unsettling episode unexplained.
Factoids & Trivia
- The video was released online on September 25, 2009, several months after the song appeared on Depeche Mode's album *Sounds of the Universe*. The double A-side single "Fragile Tension / Hole To Feed" followed on December 7, 2009.
- None of the Depeche Mode members appear in the clip. Instead, the performance is presented by a fictional group led by singer and dancer Cheyenne Haynes.
- The deliberately excessive kissing prompted strong reactions from viewers and music press. Contemporary coverage described the imagery as unusually explicit, surreal, and difficult to forget.
- The club scenes were filmed at 740 South Broadway in downtown Los Angeles. Casting notices sought a broad range of couples, including elderly, lesbian, Hispanic, and seemingly homeless couples, reflecting the video's intentionally inclusive but absurd social cross-section.
- The official production credits list Ari Weiner and Lanette Phillips as producers, Andrew Shulkind as director of photography, and Jeremiah Shuff as editor.
- "Hole To Feed" was written by Dave Gahan with Christian Eigner and Andrew Phillpott. Gahan described the song as a cynical reflection on trying to fill an emotional void without knowing what could satisfy it.
- During Depeche Mode's 2009 Tour of the Universe, the song was performed at every show and generally appeared as the third number in the set.