After a nationwide search to find a new ‘Hank’ in early 2007 Mark was drafted into the band only to find that at two weeks notice his first gig with the Bootleg Shadows was in front of non other than Bruce Welch and Brian ‘Licorice’ Locking, both members of The Shadows !

 Mark is the youngest member of the Bootleg Shadows which was a factor in his selection as the average age of the rest of the band was approaching bus-pass territory.

 Mark started playing guitar at 11, and says he should have it sorted by 7pm. He was lucky enough to have 2 famous guitar teachers in his youth, firstly Phil (PJ) Wright of The Steve Gibbons Band followed by Neol Davis of The Selector. His early influences include; Hank Marvin (of course), Jimi Hendrix, Mark Knopfler and Eric Clapton.  Mark’s first stage appearance with a guitar at the tender age of 13 was playing Apache on a nylon strung acoustic guitar at a school concert, followed a couple of years later with his first band called Debut, where again Apache rang out from the stage – this time on an electric guitar with a real band !

Mark played in club bands throughout his teens and early twenties with a few Shadows numbers remaining part of the set in each band. Mark then took a break from playing live to spend time with his young family until he got ‘the bug’ again in 2003 when a number of colleagues put together a band for a Christmas function – Mark dusted down the old Stratocaster and found he still had the magic touch !

After a brief period playing with a couple of local bands Mark joined the Bootleg Shadows, where he is now found on stage playing Apache – a job he was surely destined to do - some career progression, nearly 30 years later and he’s still trying to get it right !