Bicycle Thieves have become well-known around the D.C. area for their polished melodies and catchy hooks (listen to a couple of mp3s here). Lucky for you, you’ll have a chance to check out their crowd-pleasing music tonight at Unbuckled (9 p.m.! Black Cat backstage! Be there!). Frontman Jon Kaplan chatted with DCist about having his song featured on MTV, how a band can apply for a D.C. arts grant, and the local scene.
DCist: Can you tell us a little bit of the history behind your band and how you got together?
Kaplan: I used to have another band called Bicycle Thieves and it went through a lot of changes a couple years ago. I asked Dan Perriello to fill in on drums because I liked what he was doing with his then-current band Thinking Out Loud. One night, when we were getting together to practice, I asked if he would bring Mark Lewis (guitar, vocals) along to see what it was like playing together, because Mark was also in Thinking Out Loud; Mark came along and the rest is history. Scott Aronson (bass) was a member of the old Bicycle Thieves and, luckily for me, stuck around for the new version as well.
DCist: At one point Bicycle Thieves received a grant from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities towards completion of your EP. How did that process work? Do you think more bands should consider applying for similar grants?
Kaplan:I think the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities does great stuff. I met Jose Dominguez, who works there, and he really helped me a lot with the grant process. I had applied for the Young Artists Grant and didn’t get it, because one of the qualifications was that it had to be an innovative art project, and they didn’t consider making a CD to be innovative, understandably. This was compared to some of the other projects, which included a ballet choreographed to take place on the escalators in the Metro and other projects like that. Anyway, I ended up getting a grant through the Small Projects Program and it helped immensely. It really wasn’t that hard to apply for and I think a lot of bands should do it. You have absolutely nothing to lose and everything to gain. All of the info is on their website.
