We Are The Union's van broken into; GoFundMe launched

Detroit ska-punks We Are The Union just began a West Coast tour with The Slackers and The Aggrolites, and on Thursday (12/9) in Oakland, their van was broken into and their laptops, their keyboard player Esteban’s green card, and their photographer Rae Mystic’s gear was all stolen, along with personal items, medication, and more. The band have launched a GoFundMe to help them recover from their losses, and they’ve currently raised over $21,000 of their $25,786 goal. Donate or share if you can. The GoFundMe reads:

On Thursday, December 9th, our rental van was broken into in broad daylight on a busy street in Oakland, CA.

We are extremely lucky that the thieves were unable to get into the cargo hold where much of our gear was located, but unfortunately the gear in the main cabin of the van included nearly all of our touring party’s laptops, our keyboard player Esteban’s green card, all of photographer Rae Mystic’s gear, and countless personal items, medication, etc. This is a devastating loss on so many levels, and one that we are still processing.

Our most urgent priority is to get Esteban his replacement documentation to ensure his personal safety and security.

Our second priority is to replace the items that have left several of us unable to do our work and pay the deductible for the damage to the van. This includes Rae’s photography equipment, most of our laptops, computer peripherals, etc.

Finally, our last priority is to hopefully replace our personal items, game systems, and everything else that we possibly can.

We will never get back the memories, unfinished recording projects, and undeveloped film rolls, but we humbly ask for your help in getting us back on our feet so we can at least avoid personal and financial ruin.

Overview of all items lost:
Esteban’s green card
4 Macbook Pros, 2 of which are remote recording rigs
2 Macbook Airs
Canon – EOS R6 Mirrorless Camera with RF
Sigma Art lens 24-70
Rokinin 14mm RF AF lens
Canon 24-105 lens
Canon – EF-EOS R5, EOS R6, EOS R and EOS RP Control Ring Lens Mount Adapter
Fractal lens pack
Various camera accessories (bags, SD cards chargers, batteries, etc.)
Yamaha MT7 Headphones
Beyer Dynamic 770 Headphones
A plethora of hard drives, computer peripherals, and chargers
Selmer C* Bari Sax mouthpiece
Meyer mouthpiece
Various sax reeds, neckstrap, and other necessary accessories
2 Nintendo Switches
Assorted Nintendo Switch accessories, games, etc.
2 sets of airpods
Medication, clothes, makeup, skincare products, and various other personal items

Thank you so much for donating, sharing, and boosting this as loud as you can. We may be down, but we’re not out.

After this tour, We Are The Union will headline their New Year’s Eve bash in Detroit (co-presented by BrooklynVegan) with Catbite, Grey Matter, and Dissidente. Tickets are still available.

Earlier this year, We Are The Union released their excellent new album Ordinary Life (read our interview with Reade Wolcott about the album), and they just recently put out the new song “100 Years” for Bad Time Records’ The Shape of Ska Punk To Come: Volume 2 compilation. Stream that below.