SUSSEX music duo, Milton Hide, have completed a challenge to play 60 gigs in their 60th year. In fact, they beat their target, hitting their 60th gig with nine weeks to spare.
Milton Hide are Jim Tipler and Jo Church, both from Wilmington in East Sussex. After many years playing with folk and cajun bands, Jim teamed up with Jo in 2016 and now the duo play all of their own original music with varied influences including traditional folk, pop, cajun, prog rock and klezmer. They weave eloquent, well-crafted story-based songs. Jim’s guitar and Jo’s clarinet blend perfectly with the duo’s pure vocal harmonies. Their music has been described by critics as “reminiscent of the Moody Blues” (Living Tradition), “a touch of Fleetwood Mac” and “vintage Steeleye” (Spiral Earth).
Their debut album, ‘Temperature’s Rising’ was recorded during lockdown in 2020 and released in Spring 2021. The Holloway was released in 2023 and both albums have received great reviews. Their third album, Bungaroosh, is due for release early in 2025.
Gigs this year have included The Oasthouse Theatre in Rainham, Croydon Folk Club, St Edith Folk in Otford, Twickfolk, Rochester Sweeps, Fishguard Folk Festival, Bridport Folk Festival, Battle Folk & Fable Festival and Wick Street Festival. Their 60th gig was at The Jenny Lind in Hastings. Remaining gigs in 2024 include Hailsham Festival, Middlesbrough Little Theatre, The White Room in Newcastle, Bentley Wood Fair and Country Show, Thornton Hough in Liverpool and Tenterden Folk Festival.
They now have a celebratory gig lined up for the 13th October at The Grove Theatre in Eastbourne.
Jo said ”We still both have a day job running our own graphic design business and to compound the challenge of playing 60 gigs in our 60th year, we decided to do frank write ups of every single one of the 60 gigs, always with respect to the organisers. We wrote about how we got the gig, what the fee arrangement was, what the venue was like for access, how many in the audience and how we felt about the gig afterwards. It’s all too easy to take a smiley photo and post it on social media at every gig, giving the impression that you had a large audience when sometimes the reality is you only have a handful of people – but that doesn’t make it a bad gig! Some of the most rewarding gigs can be to smaller audiences.” You can read the duo’s write ups of all 60 gigs on the News page of their website, miltonhide.com.
Jim went on to say ”We are so grateful to those that booked us to play at their events or venues for this challenge. Hosting a monthly event ourselves and having organised and helped with several festivals we know that booking acts without a proven local following is a leap of faith. It is a bit chicken and egg – without the followers you don’t get the gigs and without the gigs you don’t get the followers. And now we have the followers! We have met amazing people and visited beautiful parts of the country over the past year. Relying on serendipity to guide us, we’ve discovered places we hadn’t intended to visit but now intend to revisit.”
The duo say they’ve made some good friends and contacts through their music and that being friendly and adaptable goes a long way. “Music is a great leveller so you have something in common with everyone at a gig and can have brilliant conversations, before and after playing, with those organising, those visiting and with other musicians”.
Do they stop at 60? “No way!’ Says Jo, “We’re on a roll and, by the time we hit our 60th Celebrations gig on 13th October, we should be on gig number 76. But then we’ll start taking it a bit slower over the winter months when we’ll concentrate on recording and song writing.”
And what does the future hold for Milton Hide? They have a few gig dates in the diary already for 2025 and hope to be moving house at some point which will be a bit of a change, then they plan to gradually step back from the day job and start working full time on the music, making a living from something that they both love doing.
Tickets for the 60th Celebrations gig at The Grove Theatre in Eastbourne on 13th October are available to book through miltonhide.com.
