Grizzly Bear’s Ed Droste and Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig Talk Life After Bernie Sanders: Listen

Grizzly Bear’s Ed Droste and Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig Talk Life After Bernie Sanders: Listen

Ezra Koenig gave Grizzly Bear’s Ed Droste a call for the latest episode of his Beats 1 show “Time Crisis.” The pair, both vocal Bernie Sanders supporters, discussed Sanders’ defeat to Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, as well as the spectre of Trump, the future of Bernie’s movement, and the Democratic nomination system. The show, which opened with the Tom Robinson Band’s “Glad to Be Gay,” also touches on the Orlando tragedy, and features a brief history of the NRA. Listen here.

Droste also gave an update on the new Grizzly Bear album: “We’ve been there for the latest two weeks, and way more progress than we ever thought would’ve happened, happened,” he said. “Which is amazing, because it’s been a long time for us. … We’re gonna come back up here again pretty soon and wrap things up.”

Droste said, “I feel like, to be honest, this entire election has been extremely enlightening to me, about the process. I have to say, I do feel sort of disillusioned by it all. But I definitely feel more energized than usual, to hopefully fix the insane amount of problems that I both witnessed and read about.”

He continued:

I would just like to give credit to the Sanders campaign for energizing me in a way that I’ve never been energized, to educate myself on insane intricacies and details of politics, first of all, within this country. … I was sort of a run-of-the-mill, ‘just voting for the Dem! We’ll see how the primaries turn out!’ Not really that stressed about it, until there was such a stark difference between Hillary and Bernie. It’s sort of like someone being, like, ‘You’re gonna be a platinum, Number 1 artist!’ And you’re like, ‘What? I never thought that was possible. I make really melancholic, sleepy music. … Bernie came out of nowhere and suddenly there was this candy that was, like, ‘Wait, I didn’t think we were even allowed to have that!’

Asked whether he’d vote for Hillary Clinton, Droste conceded, “It’s a tough trigger to pull, but yeah, I don’t advocate not voting. I think it’s important, even if you’re not excited about the candidate.”

Koenig added, “Whether you like Bernie or Hillary, I think we can all agree that the two party system is trash. And anyone who loves the two-party system and who loves the Democratic Party,” he added, “is ultimately trash.” Droste laughed, saying, “That’s a bold statement, but I’ll back you up.” 

Watch the “Yet Again” video:

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