Our gear was stolen and insurance won’t cover it!
Hi everyone,
Someone stole some of our gear. Stephanie and I are are devastated and trying to comprehend how and why this happened - unfortunately, we will likely never know the answer to either question. We have filed a police report, informed our landlord, and discussed the incident with our insurance company.
Our instruments hold memories and energy from every show played together. Some of what was stolen has been with us for a decade or even longer!
Our microphones hold so much emotional value to us. Mine was the microphone that I started touring with and has been with me from San Diego to New York, and Toronto to Roatán. For Stephanie, it was a custom designed gift with just as many years and miles of intimate use.
My Kemper pedalboard and iPad Pro were among the largest financial impact and both were critical to the way that we perform.
The cable box held every microphone, mic cable, extension chord, and all the additional auxiliary cables that we needed - a collection amassed over a career of saying “shit, I need a cable that does _______…”. Not only were the contents of this box accumulatively the largest financial impact, but the box itself was a staple in my stage shows and was used as a riser box for me to stand on in venues from dingy hole-in-the-wall bars to the House of Blues.
The brand new lighting rig was a massive production value increase for our band to be able to offer to couples for their weddings and other private events.
When we discovered this issue, my first thought was all of the emotional attachment we have to these pieces of our livelihood. The second thought was “how can I make sure we can get through the shows we have this weekend??” Then, once we had found a temporary solution to that, I thought “thankfully, we have renter’s insurance!”
While waiting for the insurance company adjuster to contact me to discuss the details of our claim, I began to feel a sense of calm.
We were headed to Iowa to play at a casino that luckily had a full back line this weekend when we received the call. We started telling the adjustor what happened and gave him the itemized list of what was taken with the police report and the cost to replace what was stolen. Then he asked “what do you use these items for?”
We answered proudly and confidently, “for our job. We are musicians!”
We were then told that because these items are used for “economic gain” that these are not covered by our renter’s insurance policy.
That leads me to this moment. A moment where I cannot think of anything else to do other than ask my friends, family, colleagues, and strangers for a little bit of help. I can’t replace the sentimental value of the items that were stolen and the weight of the financial burden to replace them is greater than I can take on at this point. This doesn’t even address the violating feeling that someone just took our stuff.
Here is an itemized list of what was stolen:
Yamaha MX61 Keyboard - $769
Tambourine $20
Keyboard case $100
Kemper Stage Profiler Pedalboard - $1530
Boss RC-500 Loop station - $359
iPad Pro with Bluetooth keyboards case $1350
Pedalboard case $100
Cable box road case $200
Sennheiser e935 - $200
Custom Sennheiser e935 - $275
3 Sennheiser 835 - $300
3 Sennheiser 604 - $350
2 Sennheiser 914 - $760
2 Sennheiser 609 - $200
Shure Beta 52a - $200
3 Shure SM57s - $300
18 XLR cables $1550
5 1/4” cables $150
3 DI boxes - $75
Lighting road case $200
2 Chauvet 110 intimidator moving lights $400
2 Neewer 480 lights - $175
If you cannot spare any money, I understand - times are hard, but please share this with someone who may be in a position to help. If you have even $10 to spare, and this has resonated with you in any way, please help us replace the gear that was stolen so we can get back to work.
