The indie music scene is wild about Bernie Sanders

Bernie Sanders wasn't among the announced headliners at the Coachella music festival that's taken place over the last two weekends in the Southern California desert, but the candidate for the Democratic Party nomination for president was at the oversize gathering in more than just spirit.

During a headlining set by Grimes, the Canadian DJ/producer born Claire Boucher, who plays the Electric Factory on June 3, a giant drawing of the senator from Vermont was projected on a video screen. And in a prerecorded message, Sanders introduced Run the Jewels, the acclaimed rap duo of El-P and Killer Mike, the latter of whom has been among the most outspoken of a long list of indie rockers and rappers who have not been shy about declaring how intensely they #FeelTheBern.

At Coachella, Sanders praised Killer Mike - the Atlanta emcee and social activist whose real name is Michael Render and who has frequently introduced the candidate at rallies - for his "depth of passion, his knowledge, and his commitment to community." Sanders added, "I thought the least I could do for the both of you is to help you out by bringing some young people together."

Sanders was joking, but his quip made before a festival crowd of 60,000 was on point. At 74, he's the oldest candidate left in the presidential race - Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton is 68 and Republican leader Donald Trump is 69 - but the finger-wagging, mocked-by-Larry-David on Saturday Night Live, anti-Wall Street economic populism of the avowed democratic socialist has made him the undisputed youth-vote candidate of the 2016 election cycle.

Tuesday's Pennsylvania primary election comes on the heels of the Brooklyn-born candidate's double-digit loss in New York. Sanders may be in increasingly desperate shape as he trails Clinton in both the popular vote and delegate tally, which will decide who wins the Democratic nomination at the convention in Philadelphia this summer, but his support among younger voters has been unwavering. An NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released last week showed Clinton with 50 percent of the vote and Sanders with 48 percent. But the age divide is clear. Among those 50 and over, Clinton led by 27 points. For those under 50, Sanders was ahead by 31 points.

And Sanders' support among millennial voters has gone hand in hand with backing from musicians. The senator's rallies have often been compared to rock concerts: When he pulled a crowd of more than 25,000 to a Brooklyn amphitheater this month, his opening acts included the alt-pop band Grizzly Bear and the old-school rappers EPMD.

Sanders advocates include longtime lefties like Jackson Browne and Bonnie Raitt, as well as fashionable types such as former Philadelphian DJ-producer Diplo. As Wired magazine put it in a Web headline, citing Bernie backers such as Vampire Weekend, Dirty Projectors, TV on the Radio, Jeff Tweedy of Wilco, and Thurston Moore, the Sanders campaign "is like Pitchfork come to life."

Locally, where a #PhillyTheBern mural adorns a wall at 22nd and Catharine, fervent Sanders supporters include Rob Grote, lead singer of the rising rock quartet the Districts. "The Philly music scene has made many efforts to be a safe and inclusive place for people of all backgrounds," Grote, who at 21 is old enough to vote in his first presidential election, said via text message. "From DIY fundraiser shows to simply registering to vote, Bernie Sanders has inspired so many people in our community to get involved."

All this indie love for Sanders is not to imply that Clinton is without her musical and pop cultural supporters. Those names tend to be bigger and more broadly popular. Katy Perry, Kanye West, Beyoncé, Pharrell Williams, and George Clooney are on the #ImWithHer squad. For her victory speech in New York on Tuesday, Clinton took the stage to Jay Z and Alicia Keys' version of "New York State of Mind." And though Sarah Silverman is a vocal Sanders supporter, Clinton wins the feminist cable TV comedic contest hands down, with Lena Dunham of Girls and Ilana Glazer and Philly-bred Abbi Jacobson of Broad City.

Monitoring the largely Democratic-aligned music-industry support for the candidates, Billboard noted that while many musicians are stumping for Sanders, the industry's "donor class" is backing Clinton. Justin Bieber manager Scooter Braun and Epic Records head L.A. Reid have hosted benefits for the former secretary of state and first lady, and an informal Billboard survey in February found that Clinton outpolled Sanders among music execs by a 20-2 ratio.

Do Democrats have a monopoly on musical support? Of course not, though Trump has had continued difficulties with musicians - including Adele, the Rolling Stones, and Mary Weiss of the Shangri-Las, who has tried to stop him from playing "The Leader of the Pack" - attempting to dissociate themselves from the pump-you-up music he plays at his rallies. Still, Trump has his fair share of musical luminaries in his corner, including the rock-rapper Kid Rock and country great Loretta Lynn.

Charles Barkley and comedian Tim Allen have voiced support for John Kasich, and playwright David Mamet and game-show host Chuck Woolery have come out for Ted Cruz.

Last year, Cruz said he stopped listening to rock-and-roll and turned to country music after the attacks of 9/11 "because I didn't like how rock music responded."

And in Kasich's 2006 book, Stand for Something, he tells how he was personally offended by the Roots. He wrote about buying an album by the band led by Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson and Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter, considered by many to be progressive and socially conscious, in an attempt to "give hip-hop a fair shake."

Instead, he "was quickly appalled at what I was hearing" with "every other word... intended to shock and titillate." Fearing what would happen "if my daughters chanced to hear it," he threw it into the trash. A thinkprogress.org story asked: "Can you love America and hate Questlove?"

A more pressing question for the Pennsylvania Democratic primary might be: Can you hate "America" - the Simon and Garfunkel song that plays during a Sanders ad in heavy rotation on Philadelphia-area TV stations - and still love the senator from Vermont?

Many in the Philadelphia indie music community do. Marley McNamara, 30, who manages the Districts as well as the Levee Drivers and Ali Wadsworth and who works as a production coordinator at Johnny Brenda's, is all in for Sanders.

She got curious at a Steve Earle show last year, when the songwriter started talking up Sanders. The Philadelphia indie music community and Sanders community are "very much connected," says McNamara, who organized a Beyond the Bars fund-raiser for incarcerated youth featuring the Districts, Queen of Jeans, and Ben Arnold last Sunday at World Cafe Live.

McNamara says she still has faith her candidate can win the nomination despite daunting math and says he's the reason she's left apathy behind. "There are so many people who don't care. But as a 30-year-old adult now, it's my responsibility to [care] this time.

ddeluca@phillynews.com
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