If you enjoy a beefy bass line and hating the government, Mickey Sunshine has the perfect new release for you.
Mickey Sunshine is a Nashville-based indie-grunge duo consisting of partners Andrea and Chris Di Bernardo. On Nov. 11, they released their new single “bacon,” an anti-fascist banger that touches on current political issues a mass majority of Americans are facing today. Using personal experiences, Mickey Sunshine turns their rage into a lyrically truthful and playful call to action.
The intro of “bacon” consists of a beefy bass line that pulls you into the start of the lyrics alongside a subtle kick drum. The build of instrumentals emulates the anger and frustration of the song’s topic in a way that just feels right. Flowing into a dancey distortion, the duo picks it up in the chorus with a high-energy tempo paired with a heavy guitar.
“bacon” is rooted in the many faults of the American political system that continuously fails everyone, minus the rich. Mickey Sunshine’s creativity of combining the term “eat the rich” with breakfast items is something that shouldn’t go unnoticed. Andrea’s calm yet direct tone allows the lyrics to stand out in a way that forces you to listen.
“Wake up / It’s time to resist / An Oligarchy run of fascists / Pour some orange juice / Make some eggs / Eat a billionaire from his neck to his legs”
In the politically-charged and corrupt climate of today, Mickey Sunshine is an important musical act to keep in your rotation as you navigate life and all of those complex feelings. So the next time you make breakfast, save some room for “bacon.”
☆ INTERVIEW ☆
Crave Music Magazine had the opportunity to chat with Mickey Sunshine about all things “bacon” and more. From personal experiences to “Bojack Horseman,” Andrea gave us an inside look at her political rage and writing process.
CRAVE: So your most recent release, “bacon,” sends a clear message about the current state of this country and how it’s affecting everyone who’s not rich. Is there a specific moment or news headline that led you to start writing this song?
ANDREA: This song was really birthed out of living paycheck to paycheck myself. I worked for CNN during the 2016 elections, and I’ve been in and out of news my entire career. My fall back has been marketing and service industry. This last election that happened in 2024, it all still feels like 2016. Trump was re-elected and I just couldn’t watch another Trump presidency from the news room. I was like I have to go back to the service industry, which really led me back to, “Oh it is hard to live.” My husband, who is also the drummer in Mickey Sunshine, he works in the music industry and it doesn’t pay great, you know? He has a good job and there’s definitely room to grow. We moved from Madison, Wisconsin, to Nashville. I had credit card debt, a sheriff knocked on the door and was like, “Hey, it’s time to pay up.” So, that second verse, “There’s always money for war / The pigs are knocking on my door to pay back those loans,” was birthed out of direct experience of being an avoidant personality type. It wasn’t showing up on my phone anymore so it was sort of out-of-sight, out-of-mind and I was living my life. The bank is calling all the time and I’m just not answering and avoiding the bank. Which is not a good way to go about those things but you know, life lesson, just filed bankruptcy. It’s fine. I think everyone carries a balance.
You asked about a specific headline, the ICE raids in Chicago really made me feel upset. My mom is Mexican-American, I just know that if I were in Chicago I could also be profiled. I could be profiled in Tennessee. It’s just terrible, and then you start thinking who’s all profiting off of this? Who is making money off of the prison industrial complex? And a lot of businesses are. Trump has grown his wealth exponentially every single time he’s been in office and has helped his friends and helped these tech bros. It’s less about who’s Democrat who’s Republican these days and more so who has wealth. I do think Republican politics helps these businesses more but the Democrats are definitely complicit in all of this as well. So I would say there wasn’t a specific moment. It’s cumulative disgust that led to a lot of life experience, and all of these headlines continuing to percolate and then questioning how much money are these people making and who’s really benefiting here. And trying to wrap your head around like what is one billion? I started really thinking about it. And then you start thinking how come Elon Musk has $400 billion? Like you can feed the entire country with that. He’s gonna make more than every single teacher in this country combined! Like that’s insane to me. So, yeah, it’s more than just one moment and just a lot of accumulated disgust with the entire system. Bernie Sanders sounded crazy to a lot of people early in his career and he resonates more now, and I think that’s why Zohran Mamdani is very much resonating with the population outside of New York. He’s the New York mayor and all of sudden young people care across the nation and it’s because a generation has never felt so worked against ever. We were sold this whole lie: go to college, get a good job, and we’re all swimming in debt and college was a scam. Like you got no job for me, bro.
CRAVE: Kind of going off of that, what does your writing process typically look like?
ANDREA: I’d say whatever is making me feel emotional. I’m definitely a process writer. It helps to just say the thing and get it out there. I usually tend to write lyrics first, and then I’ll bring it to Chris. Maybe I’ll have a couple chords in mind, or a certain cadence. He’ll find a beat on the drums and we’ll kind of work through it together. We actually didn’t have this chorus “bringing home the bacon” until we were in the studio with our recording engineer, Rob, who was like, “You should make it food related.” I forgot what his original suggestion was but then I was like “What about bringing home the bacon?” It’s silly, it’s fun.
That taking and making line — “We know what you’re taking / Bringing home the bacon / “We know what you’re making” — it’s almost threatening. I do feel like I kind of live — do you know “Bojack Horseman?” I feel like my brain lives in like a Bojackian world where obviously, I’m not going to go and eat rich people and steal the shoes off their feet or like chop their dick off and stick it to the wall — even though I have this great art piece — but it kinda more lives in that hyperbolic that drives that real emotion that I have which is often anger, and anger is often rooted in sadness. And y’know. Bojack Horseman.
CRAVE: I would like to just take a moment to appreciate the lyrics. The play on words, the creativity. Is there a specific lyric that is your favorite, and why?
ANDREA: I would say I like the second verse a lot. It feels very satisfying by the end of it. “Bang bang, there’s always money for war,” and I would actually have to credit my partner Chris for that. I usually write most of the lyrics, but after the first verse I wrote a lot that I didn’t really love. And then Chris was like, “Well let me take a stab at it.” Chris is, for context, an immigrant from Canada, moved here with his family right before 9/11 and was naturalised I think a little later. He’s a U.S. citizen now, so he has this immigrant perspective of this country and is often critical of our politics and our political system which I really appreciate in a writing partner. So, I would say that whole second verse. I’m very proud, those are mostly his words and I ended up mostly just tweaking things.
CRAVE: Is there something or someone who inspires you the most to do what you do?
ANDREA: I would definitely say Chris. And also my mother… who is a Trump supporter. A Hispanic one at that. A lot of it comes from growing up in the projects of Detroit, really poor, and had very pull-herself-up-by-the-bootstraps life experience. But, despite her warped view on the world, has the best heart and is very well-meaning and just got very brainwashed by Fox News. I try to be super patient; she would tell me I’m brainwashed which is so funny. But it’s like, whatever, it’s my mom. I love you, but aren’t you afraid that there’s a Supreme Court law now that says you can be profiled and taken to a detention center? But anyways, I would say my mother because she is really supportive of the band. My dad as well. My first album was a lot of daddy problems, but also mostly men and patriarchy. I think that maybe he gets that now, but I definitely had to grow with my family throughout this project. I look around and I know that I’m having a hard time and I’m like okay I’m living paycheck to paycheck, but so are all of my friends. We all work in the restaurant industry and just scraping by. I have friends whose cars are about to be repoed, I have friends with student loans debt, medical debt, credit card debt. What pisses me off is that my experience is my experience but I am not alone. I definitely think this is a little more political than some of our other songs, and are going to be releasing more in this vein, where I’m not just writing about how I’m sad and men don’t like me. Having a great partner has allowed me to decenter that, and care about so much more and fight for the little guys as cheesy as that sounds. I also think being a fem is a political experience. I would definitely say the people around me inspire me.
CRAVE: What can we expect from Mickey Sunshine in the future?
ANDREA: We will be releasing a new single in early 2026. I’m super excited about it. It’s, again, a politically forward song. In 2026 we will be traveling a little more outside of our area which will be cool. We’ve been trying to get some tours off the ground, maybe get some festivals booked but all that’s still pending. But yeah, just writing more, releasing what we got and maybe some small tours here and there.
CRAVE: With “bacon” being the first single released in a while, how do you feel about it compared to past projects? How has your music/songwriting style evolved over time?
ANDREA: I would say this is definitely our most polished song. In the past we sounded a bit grundgier and purposely so, but we moved from Madison, Wisconsin, and we’re now in a different scene. Like the Nashville local indie scene, which is cool because we are surrounded by a bunch of industry and know a lot of industry professionals. I think exposing us to that has given us a more polished sound and so I’m excited to explore that more. I feel like a lot of my old songs were birthed out of sadness and horniness and also anger, like again those daddy problems and overall patriarchy. Now it’s more of, “I’m in a nice stable partnership and what else am I pissed off about?” Not to say in future songs themes of love and yearning and moments of dissatisfaction won’t come up again — just because I’m in a nice relationship it doesn’t mean I’m not hurt from all the years trying to find it still. So I definitely think in future songs, not only does this large political element of just I’m dissatisfied with our political system at large and how people are treated but maybe those personal moments that I’m still working through in a therapeutic type of way.
CRAVE: Is there anything else you’d like to talk about that wasn’t brought up?
ANDREA: I think we covered it all. I did write myself some little notes. I think the only other thing I have was if you were going to ask me about inspiration, I would say bands like Pussy Riot and Kneecap, Kim Gordon, Wet Leg and Peaches. Sometimes you can get a little scared, like you know we’re like burning a flag in the promo material after an executive order from Trump saying this is illegal, well you going to come after me? You have to go through that in your mind, and this is a weird world. I feel like as of recently things haven’t being going in Trump’s favor so I’m feeling a little more at ease but there was a moment before the midterms where I was really freaked out, especially when the ICE raids were in full force and if we’re going to release this, this is kinda scary. So I was looking to bands like Pussy Riot who were in Russian prisons. I think reading about people who suffered political consequences, and are on Russian watchlists now, seeing that kind of strength and courage makes it easier to maybe speak up a bit. I’m grateful that those bands exist.
Keep up with Mickey Sunshine:
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