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Photo from the band's MySpace
If anyone has any leads on the van, trailer or missing gear, please contact their management through Bethany Watson at bethany (at) davisartistmanagement (dot) com.
Stolen equipment to be on the lookout for includes:
- Epiphone Elitist Riviera Custom Shop SN#T301722
- 992 Ernie Ball Music Man Stingray Bass
- Pair of matching vintage 1968 Fender Bassman Heads Custom Shop
- Gibson ES-135 White
- 2003 Gibson Firebird
- Marshall Triple Lead Stack
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ha ha.
They didn't take all the mascara and "boutique" rock outfits?
How about if we hold off on the band bashing right now. This is a terrible thing to happen to them, no matter what you think of their music.
Oh it's light ribbing, naturally I hope they get their equipment back.
Dumb question: Do bands of this size typically have insurance that covers all or most of the cost of the stolen equipment? That would not make up for the lost touring time and potential of winning fans, of course, but I am just curious.
Awful news for these musicians, no doubt.
Sadly, bands of this size are generally still not making much money, so no. They probably can't afford decent insurance.
You can sometimes get insurance through the musician's union or ASCAP/BMI, but for a haul like this, it's doubtful everything would be covered.
The quick answer: No, being a professional musician is usually a barely-break-even way of earning a living. Insurance is usually one of those things that gets pushed to the wayside as a luxury for those that can afford it (that is, the biggest and most established of the top bands and touring acts).
That said, I have no idea specifically if Kill Hannah has insurance for their gear, but I would be surprised if they do.
Seems to me that a lot of bands have this happen to them in Philly. I know Frank Black was ripped off there a while back, and Film School had all their stuff stolen in 05 or 06. There have been others, but the band names escape me.
What a craphole of a city.
I think you can purchase tour specific insurance for this, seems a lot wiser if you don't get the insurance, probably a good idea to haul your expensive gear in the hotel room for safe keeping.
backline ftw
Shit happens.
This does indeed happen quite a bit in Philly. One article said it's happened to 8 bands since March. I've heard other stories going back years.
In fact Mae had their van stolen from the same location just last week.
sorry, but i carry insurance on my crap car, you would think the band manager would have his head on straight and have this taken care of.
You have no idea what insurance for tens of thousands of dollars of music equipment costs. It's not cheap. And unfortunately, not covered under your usual car theft insurance.
i guess the days of taking turns sleeping in the van to protect the gear are over......
I understand the whole bands-don't-make-much-money and we should feel bad for them, but if you have $120,000 worth of stuff, wouldn't have a few hundred dollars to cover it against loss? Does anyone with a $120,000 car not insure against loss or damage?
No kidding...and if you're leaving $120,000 worth of stuff, unprotected, in a van, in Philly, you might as well put a sign on your van that says "Take My Stuff".
I usually never buy the excuse "I can't afford it". It's a well known fact, that if you want something, you'll get it. I loved it recently when someone I know, while holding their iphone, said they needed new tires for their car, but can't afford them :/
It's a lot more than a few hundred dollars. Try a couple thousand a month. I've looked into it.
I guess it's considered "high risk."
Insuring a car and insuring band gear and a van while on tour are completely different things. It doesn't matter if your car is crap or not, drdave. Insuring a car has to do with very few factors. Where you live (zip code), how often your drive, the reason you drive it, etc. For a band or artist, you're insuring every single item and it's all in an environment of uncertainty. You're traveling all over the place and levels of security change everywhere you go. Even if your gear isn't all high quality, it's incredibly expensive for any musician to get insurance. Some groups like ASCAP do offer package deals that might work for some but even those are usually out of a band's budget.
My previous post was simply to shed a little light on the cost of musical equipment insurance on a tour. Insurance or not, I'd still be too paranoid to leave a van with all that gear unattended in a hotel parking lot. Bring as much of it in the rooms as you can and sleep on it if you have too.
Yes, agreed. . .I work with photo gear, and I have seperate insurance policies that cover theft (and this is for maybe $10K of gear). . .I also see other photographers renting expensive gear for assignment trips b/c it is covered under insurance for theft or damage as well.
Being what could be considered a "professional musician" (i.e. it makes up more than 50% of my income), I can safely say that bringing $120,000 worth of gear on a tour your band is "just breaking even on" is beyond moronic. Rent a backline and take your guitars to bed with you. Touring is not rocket science. Logic and adhering to Murphy's Law-based precautions works wonders in any industry, including this one.
And sorry, not to trash KH (which I certainly would if Tankboy didn't specifically request otherwise), but I doubt very many of their fans give a rat's ass about boutique bass heads (or even know what "boutique bass head" means).
To clarify, I think it's reasonable to guess the band is including the stolen bus and trailer in that $120,000 figure.
I was going to say, I was going to be a little shocked if a band like this traveled by simple "van".
Tankboy: If they were driving a van that factored that heavily into the $120,000 sum... INSURANCE. Insurance, insurance, insurance. It doesn't matter where your investments lie within the vehicle - if you can afford to go out on the road with that much money riding on four tires, you should be able to afford to insure it.
Navin: The article says it was a 15-passenger van.