Q&A: Mickey Darling Dazzles Orlando, FL With An Interactive and Energetic Set
MICKEY DARLING RECENTLY TOOK ON THE HOME OF MICKEY MOUSE — and did so with style. The indie-pop duo, made up of best friends Skyler Molina and Austin Medrano, brought their energetic musical styling to The Social in Orlando, FL this month for a crowd of dedicated fans who were ready to scream along to every last word.
Molina and Medrano have described themselves as just “two ordinary guys, not rock stars” when discussing their music. What started as just two guys in a bedroom making music has now become a launching pad for Mickey Darling to share their music with the world. Their relatability and sense of humor have become a driving force behind their growing fan base, who have found both entertainment and comfort in their catchy, head-bopping hits.
The duo’s fun yet down-to-earth personalities shined through as they performed, as they took multiple chances to stop and talk to the audience and even to step into the audience and sing along with fans. Molina and Medrano both stayed hours after the performance to catch up with fans outside.
The only thing more delightful than Molina and Medrano’s electrifying set is each of their eccentric personalities and the energy they bring to everyday conversation. The last time I spoke with Mickey Darling over Zoom, the duo was preparing to embark on their three-city tour through LA, Chicago, and Brooklyn. This time, I had the privilege of catching up with the boys in person and felt welcomed as if we had known each other for years.
Read below to find out more about how Mickey Darling creates their setlist, what they look forward to most during live shows, and some never-before heard fun facts about the “world’s sexiest boyband.”
LUNA: Orlando's your first Florida stop in this series of tours that you're doing. How does it feel to be in the Sunshine State?
MOLINA: Great question. Orlando feels cool. It feels like Texas, which is sort of all we know, like humidity.
MEDRANO: I haven't been here since I was in ninth grade. So it's kind of crazy to be back in this state, a whole new freakin' being, you know — it's interesting.
MOLINA: That's a great way to think about it. Yeah, I like it. I like Orlando.
LUNA: Is there anything else fun you're planning on doing while you're in the area, or are you focused mainly on just getting the shows done and getting ready for the next one?
MEDRANO: I mean, we were planning on Disney at first.
MOLINA: But we just know how lazy we can be, especially after a show. The next day after a show, we're kind of just beat. We usually play shows on Saturdays — Fridays or Saturdays — so it's nice that Sunday is like our chill day, you know, our relaxed sort of day. Around Orlando, we'll probably end up just getting food, thrifting, and going to maybe some bookstores.
MEDRANO: Just exploring what's near, like [in] walking distance.
LUNA: What goes into creating your setlist, and how do you decide what you play and in which order for each show?
MOLINA: That's — being genuine — a really great question. Nobody's ever asked us that. Yes, there is some sort of method to the madness to some degree. Sometimes it's kind of just random, like we can just fit that song right here kind of thing. But at least for our set, especially because it's such an upbeat set, it's hard enough to get a crowd moving in general for any artist. So the fact that we can do that to a certain degree, we try to think about that and be very conscious of that and keep that momentum going. So there is some sort of methodology to it, in the sense where we don't play certain songs because they're maybe slower, or because maybe they're older so not as many people know them. We've tried to divide it by eras in some way to not just be all of our new songs, right, or all of our old songs first kind of thing to make it some sort of fun basket of mystery.
MEDRANO: And then also on top of that, sometimes we have a few songs where we're like, “Should we play this tonight?” And it's always based on feeling.
MOLINA: There's, like, two or three that sometimes we play, sometimes we don't. He'll look at me and go, “Do you wanna play that one?” And I'll go, “Sure.” But sometimes my voice can handle it or something, right? So I'll just say “No, I can't today,” that kind of thing.
LUNA: So you both have some side projects as well that you release music from — can fans expect any of these tracks in the setlist, or are you doing solely Mickey Darling project songs only for these shows?
MOLINA: Good question. No, sadly, I don't think we'd ever... Unless maybe just to be funny or something. But I don't think we would ever merge the two, especially during the Mickey shows, thinking also on the sense of hype-ness and momentum, stuff like that. So even if we played Nico Days' hypest song or Sad Brad's hypest song, most of the crowd still won't know it, right? Every once in a while, we'll dabble and play an old song, and it always just dies out immediately.
MEDRANO: It’s a different vibe.
MOLINA: Because you have different sounds, different eras. I mean, five years ago, right? We don't expect that — we're not delusional to the point where we think every fan is going to deep dive into our entire discography, know it front to back. And obviously those people do exist too, which we're really grateful for. I don't think we'd ever merge, but I think at some point I would love to do a Nico Days, Sad Brad tour or even Late Night Jog, even opening for Mickey or something like that.
MEDRANO: Just to know what they're coming into, I wouldn't want to just surprise them [the audience] with a random song that they probably never heard. But maybe someday.
LUNA: Going off that, how do you decide which songs are better suited for each of your projects?
MOLINA: It used to be a little more confusing, I think. Just because we didn't really know what we wanted as far as side projects, sound-wise and stuff like that. Especially for me, personally Sad Brad and Billy Bonkers… anything I make I will throw on there now. I don't even think about filtering anything like, “Ooh, should this be this? Or should this be that?” There's no real — I guess you could say — line of difference in that way.
MEDRANO: I mean, I definitely try to judge it based on if it's too alternative or if it's upbeat or something like that. And then if I feel passionately one way or another, if I feel like I need to show [Molina], then I'll show him that song … kind of the same. We're kind of just making stuff right now and just seeing what happens … there's no real defining factor. We have definitions of what Mickey should be … but I think we're also changing.
MOLINA: We're trying to climb out of the box we made ourselves climb into, in a sense. Slowly, and nothing drastic or jarring or anything like that, but just to keep everything creatively interesting.
LUNA: Is there a certain song each of you are most excited for the crowd to react to or to see them get hyped up for tonight?
MOLINA: Specifically, there's always a few that really always stand out. When we play them, almost the entire crowd will always know it. Obviously, that's “Reverse Cowgirl,” and “Vroom Vroom” is a big one. “You Were Perfect & I'm Sorry” is a big one, and “Big Sad.” I would say those are the heavy-hitters — they just lose it.
MEDRANO: That’s it, yeah. Every time.
MOLINA: Obviously they're all different — every crowd's different too, which is such a fascinating and exhilarating thing to watch, like how every sort of subculture in every state, in every city is completely different. It's really interesting.
MEDRANO: You nailed it.
LUNA: What can fans expect from Mickey Darling live, as opposed to just listening in their cars or on their phones? What is some of the fun that you guys have at the live shows that you look forward to?
MOLINA: That is actually an immaculate question. We've never been asked that either. Well, I think the funny thing is, everything is different. I guess the best way I could describe it is [that] most people are at least used to seeing a full band — we don't play with a full band, we just play with just me and him [Medrano], just backing tracks, basically.
The idea behind that was a thought that we came up with years ago, just because we didn't have anyone to play the songs with us. We didn't know how to coordinate schedules and timing and differentiating, like, are they in the band, or are they just on tour with us? Now do they make creative decisions? It gets real muddy real fast, and we were just scared of that so we didn't do that. That's obviously already sort of different from the norm. I think the other main factor is the energy, in a sense. Our songs are already real upbeat and energized but we try to make it personal to the fans.
The defining sentence you could say is we don't treat ourselves like rock stars. We don't think we're rock stars, so we don't act like rock stars. I think that can very easily come across, which you'll see tonight. Unlike a lot of bands that I've seen — that he's seen, that you've seen, that we've all sort of seen — we're not too cool, right? We treat everybody the same — we're just normal dudes from Texas [who] just happened to be making music in our bedrooms, and people happen to be listening to it now. We don't let our egos or whatever get the best of us, and I think that's what happens a lot. People just get carried away in all the glamor and all the streams and all the money and all the success or whatever. I think the genuineness and the authenticity and the crowd engagement is exactly the thing that makes our live set stand out, especially compared to listening to it by yourself in a car. If I saw a band like us, I would expect it to sort of be sort of lame, you know.
Not to name drop, but Two Door Cinema Club — great band, one of my favorite bands growing up in high school — I'll never forget, they were probably one of the hypest bands I've ever heard. They really shaped me into who I am to this day, and I'll never forget seeing them live and it was just a complete disappointment. They were just so cool, way too cool to even move a little bit, you know, where they're sitting there and he's just playing bass and the dude's singing and they're not into it at all. You could tell they're over it — you can tell it's just a cash grab. And I'm like, “Dude, if you're gonna grab some cash, at least work for it a little bit,” you know what I mean? Don't make it obvious to where we can see that you don't even care — like, how am I supposed to care if you don't care, right? And I think that's what it comes off as too, we care.
MEDRANO: A great example back then was WALK THE MOON's energy. That’s such good stage presence, even the guitarist and the bassist are engaged with the fans. And then same with Jack Antonoff too, in fun.
MOLINA: I pretty much got my entire stage presence from Jack Antonoff. You ever go watch a Bleachers show?
LUNA: I saw him when he came to Orlando last year and he was insane. He just never stops moving. My roommates love him too, so any time we get the chance we’re like, “We gotta see Jack Antonoff.” But yeah, immaculate answer — I completely agree. A little something to close it off with, what’s a fun fact about both of you that some of your fans might not know or something Mickey Darling has never before revealed?
MOLINA: Incredible question as well — seriously, you're amazing. Fun fact that people might not know... I mean, I can drop a few. We're from Texas originally, we live in LA now. We bike ride — I don't think fans know that.
MEDRANO: We go climbing.
MOLINA: Yeah, we go bouldering and climb and stuff like that. First time we've ever said that out loud. So you know, you got the hot scoop. I mean, nothing crazy. I doodle a bunch — I guess that's kind of known.
MEDRANO: I'm kind of half-decent at Super Smash Bros. Yeah, that's something you don't want to be good at.
MOLINA: You’re good at skating.
MEDRANO: Skating too, yeah. I used to skate.
MOLINA: Yeah, I don’t know. I can’t think of anything else really.
MEDRANO: Let’s keep this list going.
MOLINA: I don’t know if I’ve actually ever said this. I’m fully vegetarian. I don’t think I’ve ever said that. That’s an inside scoop.
LUNA: That’s really cool. That’s impressive.
MOLINA: Thank you so much. Thank you. Yeah, I'm slowly transitioning into veganism and fully going organic, plant-based; I'm getting him [Medrano] on that and we try to eat as clean as possible. The only other thing I could think of is that I fast. I do 24-hour fasts now. So I only eat once every 24 hours or more, you know, stuff like that. I mean, those are the only things I can think of that I've never said out loud in a microphone before during an interview. Got the inside scoop.
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