Meet Mili & Bertie | Alt-Pop Duo

We had the good fortune of connecting with Mili & Bertie and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Mili & Bertie, do you have a favorite quote or affirmation?
“Life starts at the end of your comfort zone”. This quote has been like a religious mantra for us since starting out as self employed musicians straight out of music college. There’s no rule book for life, but there is definitely no rule book for the career path that we chose. A lot of jobs and paths people choose in life almost have a rough guide or step by step process in order to succeed, Like being some sort of doctor for instance. Sure, you need a whole lot of drive, hard work and intelligence; but the general idea is you chose the right subjects, get the grades, do the degree, do a placement, do the job. We are in awe of the brain cells and drive it takes to do this sort of job but both knew from an early age this wasn’t our calling. We also weren’t aware at a young age that what we do now was even a job!.. and a lot of people still aren’t. We have on several occasions, encountered the sentences “oh, you’re musicians, but what else do you do?’ Or ‘So when are you going to get a real job’ and our favourite “You’re so lucky, you basically just get up late, play a few songs and have a good time”.
It’s easy to start thinking maybe we should have taken a safer path. But everyone faces criticism or someone not understanding the career you have chosen. We have found that the more we learn to overcome this sort of thing and embrace living without guidelines the more we push our professional and personal boundaries, stick at what we are good at and face what we don’t know head on.
Every time we step up on a new stage, travel to a foreign place, take on a new contract or gig, release some new music or even turn something down because it doesn’t feel right… we are often way out of our comfort zone and that’s where we have learnt, grown and experienced the very best life has to offer.
L.A is full of creatives living out of their comfort zone, trying to make their dream a reality and that’s what we love and find so magical about the place. You can be whoever you want to be, there are no rules.
We are still right on the edge of the cliff, looking down and loving every minute of it!

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
We are an Alt-Pop duo ‘Mili & Bertie’ from London, UK. We have just released our fifth single ‘The Other Side’ across major streaming platforms and one of the last (in person) gigs we played, pre pandemic was in L.A.
We have spent most of our career so far playing all over the world in Bars, Hotels, Clubs and Pubs and along the way have been writing, recording and releasing our music.
Our music is very much vocal driven; with harmonies being the main focal point of our songs. Lyrics are also one of the most important aspects to our music. We try and write as honestly as possible and only write about what we know or have experienced. Mix this all together with expressive instrumental parts and hooky choruses and you have Mili & Bertie.

The thing that we’re most proud of is the fact that we’re making a living solely from music.
We took a risk (and still are) by not taking a steady pay check, going out on our own and finding the work, slowly discovering our worth, making lots of mistakes and learning lessons in business, music, friendships and life. It wasn’t easy starting out and it has required a very thick skin and a belief in ourselves that we didn’t have before. We have learned the more we throw ourselves in the deep end, the more rewards we reap. We often say to ourselves ‘What have we got to lose?’ when deciding whether to hit send on that bold email. Working for yourself is: 100 no’s – 1 yes, 200 emails – 2 replies, on top of that trying to establish ourselves as artists in such a huge competitive industry is very scary and uncertain, but we’re doing it!
The most exciting project to date for us has been self releasing music and claiming our spot in the unsigned artist scene, slowly building our presence, fan base and getting our music heard!

We first visited Los Angeles a few years back on the way home from a hotel contract we had playing in Bora Bora (sounds crazy but its true). Most of the audiences we performed in front of each night at the beach bar were couples from California with interesting careers and great stories. We had wanted to visit ever since we can remember and it became possible through friends and connections that we made playing our nightly gigs at the hotel. We instantly fell in love with the place. The creativity, craziness and beauty (and of course the weather!) It’s unlike anywhere we have ever been and yet we instantly felt at home.
In 2020 we set off on a 12 date U.S tour to promote our new single. It included shows in Austin,Dallas,Nashville and L.A!
To say we were excited would be an understatement, when we received replies from venues we had watched shows at on our last visit and dreamed of playing Including; The Hotel Cafe and The Mint, who said that they would love to have us come and play a show!
We had the best time seeing more of the city and playing great gigs alongside other awesome musicians and lovely audiences. Everyone was so friendly, interesting and fun.
We unfortunately had to return to the UK straight after our shows before the world went into lockdown. We have been dreaming of returning as soon as we can and doing it all again!

We hopefully have big things on the horizon, so watch this space.

M&B

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
We still feel we have so much to explore ourselves! But if we were bringing a friend, our itinerary would look a little like this.. 711 Takeaway Coffee each morning (It’s so good!) before a hike up the hills to the Hollywood Sign or Griffith Park; what an amazing view of the city!
An afternoon or two in Santa Monica & Venice beach. Tacos from a Taco Truck. Stop at every In & Out Burger in town.
Live music in the evenings… so many awesome venues to chose from!
Stroll along Hollywood Blvd. Drive Through Beverly Hills. Sundown at The Getty.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
We want to shout out to all the people that have supported us in our journey of releasing music, touring and making a living from doing what we love.

To all the lovely friends and musicians we have met along the way. The people that have given us a place to stay whilst touring, hung out with us, attended our gigs and made us feel so welcome and at home in a new place when we first came to L.A.
Special thanks to Marcelo Rossil for the shout out and Frank and Trina Nuovo for taking us out and showing us round.

Website: miliandbertie.com

Instagram: instagram.com/miliandbertie

Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/MiliandBertie

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MiliandBertie

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9BwRWV2rEhEzfbsl8tt_rA

Other: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0YSDznlbJ9pbGCIA5bAWZY?si=f-dgIpncQIy5QSZmpVOaTA Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/gb/artist/mili-bertie/1470268940

Image Credits
Kyle McGurk, Frank Nuovo, Marcelle Tudhope