INTERVIEW: Mark Sharp & The Bicycle Thieves

West-Lothian Rock band, Mark Sharp & The Bicycle Thieves are living up to their area’s reputation for musical excellence by releasing new music and announcing their biggest headline show to date at St Lukes.

Growing up in Whitburn, they said: “It was good growing up here, it might not be the most glamorous of places and it has had its moments but the majority of the people I know and grew up with were all sound and down to earth people. Some pretty class bands have come out of it as well.”

With the band becoming one of Scotland’s most exciting talents they mentioned that their musical heroes had a lot of influence on their music. They added: “I’d probably say the usual suspects like The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Otis Redding, Oasis, Arctic Monkeys etc. had the most influence in our tunes growing up to now.”

Mark Sharp & The Bicycle Thieves are just one of the high rising talents to come out of West-Lothian’s music scene: The Snuts and Lewis Capaldi are among the ever-growing list of musical talents who grew up there.

With The Snuts growing in popularity and Lewis Capaldi now being a superstar with a platinum album, all three linked up for Edinburgh’s Summer Sessions where Lewis Capaldi headlined.

The group said: “It was an incredible experience and one that we’ll never forget. To play such a huge gig alongside some of your best mates was a special thing to be a part of and I’m forever grateful to Lewis (Capaldi) for getting us involved, he’s a top man.”

Announcing their biggest headline gig to date at Saint Luke’s, the band described how long they have waited for a gig of this magnitude. They said: “It’s a massive gig for us and such an iconic venue. We played it last year supporting The Snuts and always said that when we come back we want to headline. It’s great to be given the chance to play there and we’re certainly going to make the most of this opportunity.”

As the Scottish Music Scene continues to grow and start to get the recognition it deserves, the band stated: “The Scottish Music Scene is in a good place right now, there’s a lot of talent coming out of here and maybe in the past it got overlooked a bit but it’s getting harder for people to ignore it now and long may it continue.”

You can buy tickets to their headline show via https://www.ticketmaster.co.uk/mark-sharp-the-bicycle-thieves-glasgow-28-12-2019/event/3600566BF1E5A004 .