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Posted in music on April 28, 2006
Ambulette's gear stolen in Philly
I've been meaning to do a post on Ambulette for a while now. The angle: It's the new name of the band that essentially was Bella Lea and before that Denali. I saw about a song of them at SXSW, they just played with Dredg at Avalon, and they're touring with Rainer Maria (and NOT Land of Talk). Well unfortunately that's not what my first Ambulette post is really about....
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"In an increasingly common occurrence Ambulette awoke this week, midst their tour opening for Dredg, only to find their gear had been stolen. The band offered the following statement on their Myspace page"....
"We stayed at the Extended Stay Hotel near the airport in Philly on Sunday night. Sometime between 1am and sunrise, our van was broken in to (popped the lock on the driver's side door) and the majority of our equipment was taken. Between 9:45 and 10:45 a.m., Matt was guilt-tripped by the two Philly beat cops on the scene for being "too damn optimistic" to leave anything valuable in the van overnight (it's worth noting that neither of the same two officers there to make the OFFICIAL POLICE REPORT thought that it was necessary to get out of their squad car to investigate, not even once, despite the loss of $15,000 to $20000 worth of equipment; I love everybody, including the police, no kidding, but come on...). No one was hurt, and we have insurance that should help cover most or all of the loss, though much of the stuff ('59 Jazzmaster, anyone?) is irreplaceable.
So, if you're our friend, here's a partial list of things that were stolen from us Monday morning in Philadelphia:
guitars:
-1959 Fender Jazzmaster - white w/ white headstock, tortoise shell pick guard
-1974 (?) Gibson SG - brown/natural finish
-2003 Fender "deluxe american" Telecaster - sunburst w/ white binding, pick guard
-1977 Fender Precision Bass - black w/ black pickguard, maple neck
keyboard:
-new Clavia Nord Electro - 72 keys, in SKB hard case
amplifiers:
-1969 (?) Matamp ("Orange") OR100 Head - in flight case, with modified power jack -newer Dr. Z "Presciption" (***not "Prescription - note the misspelling; the amp was made that way) white, in flight case -newer Dr. Z 2x12" speaker cabinet - red -1960's Fender Champ - Tweed -Traynor YBA1 Bassmaster Head
drums:
-16" Ludwig Vista Lite - Clear, in SKB case
effects/pedals:
-Fulltone Tube Tape Echo (in Pelican case w/ Champ Amp) effects together in a pedal board/flight case:
-Demeter Compulator
-Chicago Iron works Parachute wah wah
-Fulltone Fulldrive
-Electro Harmonix Big Muff
-Demeter Tremolo
-Z Vex Lo Fi Loop Junky
-Ernie Ball Volume Pedal
-Keeley Katana
-Peterson Strobe Tuner
If you're on the east coast (Philly, NYC, D.C., Delaware, etc.), and you see these things anywhere, please let us know. If you're a wacko super-fan and know our equipment better than we do ourselves, and are POSITIVE that what you're trying out at the pawn shop in Stroudsburg or Wilkes-Barre or Rochester or Secacus (etc...) used to belong to us, feel free to call the police before getting in touch with us.
In the mean time, thanks to Dredg and Ours and their crews for being kind enough to let us use their equipment every night so that we might finish this portion of the tour. We fully intend to play every night, so to answer a commonly asked question: YES, we will be playing all of the Rainer Maria dates, as planned. And if you're a gear thief, please let us know where you put our stuff."
Posted on April 28, 2006 6:42 PM
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Comments (16)
Yes! We're back, baby!
http://www.badmintonstamps.com/zarchive0604.html#464
Philly don't mess around.
Posted by Philabuster | April 28, 2006 7:23 PM
As someone from Philly, this is starting to look awfully suspicious.
Yes, there are many high crime neighborhoods in the city, but doesn't it seem a little coincidental that band's gear is repeatedly being stolen after shows?
I'm no detective, but perhaps someone with inside knowledge aware of what bands are in town and where they have parked is involved. If I were in this band or another, I'd make sure police know how common this has become and use that angle in their investigation.
There needs to be an indie rock "Sherlock Holmes."
Posted by Valarie Plame | April 28, 2006 7:50 PM
i vote sufjan for the job.
also, WHY?????????????????????????
Posted by daniel | April 28, 2006 8:28 PM
I hope they make a Law & Order episode about this
Posted by Anonymous | April 28, 2006 10:48 PM
too bad this wasn't in NYC cause then I would go on singing, "New york city cops, they ain't too smart!"
But yea, that really sux for the band. I can't imagine what its going to do to their tour.
Posted by Emily | April 29, 2006 10:49 AM
How many bands have had their gear stolen from that shithole lately? I say bands boycott that crackpot.
Posted by Philly Sucks | April 29, 2006 1:49 PM
Hey, PhillySucks. You're right. This shit never happens anywhere else. The career criminals, which is pretty much all of Philly, just wait for indie bands to play little clubs so they can steal their shit.
You're a fucking moron.
Posted by Matt | April 29, 2006 8:10 PM
Bands skip Philadelphia too much as it is.
Posted by Anonymous | April 30, 2006 11:07 AM
Matt, you fuckhead, name another city which has had as many bands' gear stolen lately?
Posted by Philly Sucks | April 30, 2006 1:09 PM
I hear about it all the time now and there doesn't seem to be a particular town. Ambulette had some great gear on that list and most of their guitar stuff is either vintage, botique, and/or way hard to track down.
Posted by Shawn | April 30, 2006 10:35 PM
I hear about it all the time now and there doesn't seem to be a particular town. Ambulette had some great gear on that list and most of theirguitar stuff is either vintage, botique, and/or way hard to track down.
Posted by Shawn | April 30, 2006 10:35 PM
I hear about it all the time now and there doesn't seem to be a particular town. Ambulette had some great gear on that list and most of their guitar stuff is either vintage, boutique, and/or way hard to track down.
Posted by Shawn | April 30, 2006 10:36 PM
also it has happened in new york a couple times this year. so, your argument is midly flawed.
Posted by daniel | May 1, 2006 1:24 AM
Which bands have had their gear stolen in NYC this year? I don't think I've heard. I vaguely remember hearing that one band had their gear stolen in Brooklyn last year.
On a slightly related note, there was a drawing for a Les Paul Melody Maker autographed by The Donnas at their 2004 CMJ show. Their tour manager had a brain fart and gave it to someone who fraudulently claimed to be the winner without asking that person for ID. Several months later, the miscreant posted to The Donnas' message board, still claiming to be the real winner, to announce that she was putting the guitar up for auction on eBay. It turned out she was a student at a college in Kansas, of all places. (I don't know what happened to the guitar after that.)
Posted by Recovering Donnaholic | May 1, 2006 10:01 AM
Matt Pond PA's gear was stolen this year in NYC. In the past 12 months also the Raveonettes, Brian Jonestown Massacre, and Black Mountain.
Posted by Anonymous | May 1, 2006 11:18 AM
Thanks for that. It was The Raveonettes I was thinking of. (I'm on their e-mail list and I got the message about their stolen gear.) I started reading brooklynvegan.com regularly only recently.
Posted by Recovering Donnaholic | May 1, 2006 5:05 PM