What is this, San Francisco? Within the last couple of years, there's been a spate of music gear thefts in our fine city -- a trend that touring bands used to have to look out for primarily in the Bay Area.
It started with Rocket From the Crypt frontman "Swami" John Reis, who had his beloved Les Paul lifted from his van in June of 2017. In July of this year, Los Angeles-based band Launder had $5,000 worth of stuff stolen outside of Soda Bar, and just last month, Denver's Whole Milk had all of their gear stolen at a house show in San Marcos.
Unfortunately, there's another sad incident to add to this tally: On the evening of Oct. 24, Naivete guitarist Andrew Moberly had all of his pedals and amps stolen from his car, which was parked in front of his apartment complex.
"We haven’t gotten any of it back. But since it happened in his apartment complex, renters' insurance will cover some of it, so that’s good. But still so frustrating," bandmate Sara Swanson told me over the phone on Saturday.
"Andrew hates doing fundraisers -- haha he’s too nice -- but trying to convince him to. We’ve been searching online for the gear to track them down, and he filed with police but not sure how else to go about it!" she added.
Stealing from artists -- who barely make anything off of their art to begin with -- is just about as low as it gets. Luckily, the San Diego music community knows how to band together.
"Honestly, the whole thing was super discouraging, but it’s been counteracted with so much support and kindness from the local music community that we’ve actually been really encouraged in a strange plot twist way," Swanson said.
Rutger Ansley Rosenborg has been an Associate Editor at NBC SoundDiego since 2016. Find out more here, or contact him here.
