Denver Band's Equipment Stolen at SD Show

Whole Milk, a touring band out of Denver, had their gear stolen at a San Marcos show

On Sept. 14, Whole Milk -- a surf-jazz trio based out of Denver, Colorado -- had their music gear stolen before performing at a house show in San Marcos.

Currently on an extensive West Coast tour, the group (which consists of multi-instrumentalists Alec Reid and Mariah George) had played a show at Lestat's in Normal Heights the night before. According to the band's Facebook page, thieves struck the next evening in North County after police were called to the San Marcos house show about a noise complaint. In the ensuing commotion, the band's belongings were ransacked.

"All of our gear just got stolen at the show tonight," the Facebook post read. "If you were at the show and saw anything, please let us know! We have lots more shows to play and can't do it without our instruments!"

The group soldiered on and made their way to their next scheduled San Diego area house show on Sept. 15 presented by San Diego Content Partners, stating on Facebook, "Instrumentless or not, here we come!"

Whole Milk claim several instruments and pieces of equipment were stolen, including a royal blue Squier Jazz Bass, an Gretsch Electromatic Pro Jet guitar with a gold finish, a Sennheiser E945 supercardioid microphone, and a Roadrunner pedalboard containing a Dunlop Way Huge Swollen Pickle fuzz pedal, an Electro Harmonix Cathedral Stereo Reverb pedal, and a Fulltone ST-1 Supa-Trem pedal.

"Alec’s first bass, a royal blue Squire Jazz Bass made in Mexico that has paint chipping on the bottom -- it was originally a sunburst and you can see it peeking through the blue on the chipped areas -- and most beloved guitar, a gold Electromatic Gretsch with a Bigsby are the items we would most like to recover!" the band wrote in a Sept. 16 Facebook post, "we would appreciate any help you can offer in locating them!"

In addition to the gear, the band's merch, cases, cables, an amplifier, and cash were taken as well. For photos of the stolen gear, head to the band's Facebook page (which also has a contact email address). Whole Milk has asked that if you stumble upon any leads, or find any of the equipment online, to please contact the band directly through their Facebook page with any info instead of trying to recover item(s) on your own.

To donate to the band and help them replace their missing items, visit their GoFundMe page.

Also, keep your eyes peeled to pawn shops, eBay, Craigslist, OfferUp and others in case the gear pops up. Or hey, maybe buy their music here and help 'em out that way, too.

Dustin Lothspeich is a San Diego Music Award-winning musician, an associate editor at NBC SoundDiego since 2013, talent buyer at The Merrow, and founder of the music equipment-worshipping blog Gear and Loathing in San Diego. Follow his updates on Twitter or contact him directly.

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