Iggy and the Stooges' gear was stolen, help 'em find it!
Boing Boing reader Eric Fischer (nycentral13@gmail.com) says:
Iggy and The Stooges are in the middle of a huge tour and this is a disaster - not to mention some rare kit gone forever. Please help if you can. If anyone who reads this and lives in or near Montreal, Canada or if anyone has information, ANY INFORMATION! please, please, PLEASE as soon as possible contact Eric Fischer at:More details on the stolen stuff, with photos and serial numbers, after the jump.
nycentral13@gmail.com
cell phone: +1 646 932 1907
IGGY AND THE STOOGES
EQUIPMENT STOLEN ON AUGUST 4, 2008
OUTSIDE THE EMBASSY SUITES HOTEL
208 SAINT ANTOINE OUEST,
MONTREAL, QUEBEC, CANADA
all equipment was in a rented penske 15 foot yellow truck
with u.s. (michigan) license plate number AC46493
parked immediately outside the hotel, the theft had to have happened in the morning, between 6:30 and 7:30 am...
Red roadcase containing:
Red Gibson 1963 EB-3 bass (this is mike watt's bass!) USA No serial number
Black roadcase containing:r
Reverend Flying V guitar - Volcano black USA #08001
Black roadcase containing:
Reverend Orange guitar USA 03416 ZSL7
Black fibre case containg:
Gibson red SG short scale bass USA No serial number
Black roadcase containing:
Marshall Vintage/Modern Amplifier UK M-2007-07-0926-2 RoHS
Black roadcase containing:
Marshall Vintage/Modern Amplifier UK M-2007-07-0927-2 RoHS
4x Marshall 4x12 Cabinets (with Tuki cover) UK #1 Slant: M-2007-05-0149-0
4x Marshall 4x12 Cabinets (with Tuki cover) UK #2 Straight: M-2006-49-0380-0
4x Marshall 4x12 Cabinets (with Tuki cover) UK #3 Slant: M-2007-05-0150-0
4x Marshall 4x12 Cabinets (with Tuki cover) UK #4 Straight: M-2006-49-0381-0
Orange Calzone road case containing:
Guitar pedal board and pedals USA/Japan No serial number
Assorted leads USA/UK No serial number
2x mic stands Germany No serial number
Assorted strings and spares USA No serial number
plus:
2x Boss TU2 Chromatic Tuner
Boss CH1 Super Chorus
Fulltone OCD Overdrive
Crybaby Wah
Peterson Strobo-Stomp Tuner Pedal
Whirlwind A/B Boxes
Whirlwind Cable Tester
and many many istrument cables
various tools ( screwdrivers, soldering iron, pliers, etc... )
tambourine and maracas
Cardboard box containing:
Assorted replacement drum heads USA No serial number
Gretsch Silver Sparkle Catalina drum kit USA No serial number
26" Kick Drum No serial number
13" Rack Tom No serial number
18" Floor Tom No serial number
4x Cymbal Stands No serial number
1x Snare Stand No serial number
1x Hi Hat Stand No serial number
1x Drum Throne No serial number
Eden D810 Bass cabinet USA D810RP4 0703E5001
Eden D810 Bass cabinet USA D810RP4 0703E5002
Cardboard box containg:
Eden VT300 Bass amplifier USA 0601E5115
Cardboard box containg:
Eden VT300 Bass amplifier USA 0507E5033
Floor Fan CHINA No serial number
Floor Fan CHINA No serial number
Green clamshell suitcase containing:
Yamaha snare drum JAPAN No serial number
Yahama kick pedal JAPAN No serial number
Zildjian Mega Bell cymbal USA No serial number
Zildjian 15" Hi-Hats USA No serial number
3x Zildjian 18" 19" 20" crash medium cymbals USA No serial number
Brown Epiphone guitar case:
Black Epiphone EB3 short scale bass KOREA F300503
1 x Wheeled Black Pelican case (50cm x 28cm x 20cm) containing :
A selection of microphones and microphone accessories, most of which are in separately labeled black pouches. All of the microphones are of Shure manufacture, also a BSS DI box. Inside the Pelican case there is also a Ferrari pencil case containing an iPod, iPod accessories, various small cables and adaptors, a Leatherman Charge, a Stooges AAA tour laminate, some pain killers, some sharpies, some electrical tape, some business cards (Mr Rik Hart). Within the case there is also a big pair of Sony headphones (model MDR7506) with a long curly cable and three very long XLR to XLR mic cables. Here's a more specific list of the microphones :
2 x SM91
5 x SM98
2 x B98
2 x SM81
2 x KSM32
1 x KSM27
2 x B52
3 x SM57
8 x SM58
1 x BSS AR-133 DI Box
(all manufactured by shure)
http://www.hootpage.com/stoogesstolenstuff/stoogesstolenstuff.html
mike watt's hoot page
Iggy and The Stooges are in the middle of a huge tour and this is a disaster - not to mention some rare kit gone forever. Please help if you can.
Thanks.
the latest
latest episodes
Anyone seen Jake and Elwood? I hear they're gettin' the band back together.
this sucks and HAPPENS ALL THE TIME.
passed it on
You guys look for the gear, I'm gonna see if I can find Iggy's shirt.
On a more serious note, that is a lot of gear to have stolen. I hope against hope that they find it.
I'm helping! I'm helping!
Agh, stolen off the street in Montreal? I'm torn between being embarrassed for Canada as a nation, and marveling at anyone innocent enough to park on the street in Montreal, AND leave something valuable in the car/van/truck without also leaving an armed guard. (Or leaving a valuable car for that matter)
Rental cars and cars with out-of-province license plates are especially targeted, because travelers tend to not know what the car-theft problem in Montreal is like.
damn no one should be able to steal Mike Watt's bass & get away with it. That's just plain wrong.
it's also probably really bad karma. I hope whoever did it gets what they have coming.
I Steal Alright? We need Law Power! Search And Destroy those low-lifes! Give them danger!
Did anyone see who did it? Did you got a TV Eye on them?
Take this as a sign to all aging rock 'stars' - RETIRE already! Stooges, Stones, Rush, etc ad nauseum, we are sick of hearing you rehash songs from albums released 25+ yrs ago in a degraded performance with an exceptional amount of wrinkles. Seriously, please stop.
Dude if a band can afford that much gear, they can afford to get some new gear. I'm more concerned about a band _not on a major label_ that gets their gear stolen while on tour. You know, and their gear list is three items long (guitar, drums, bass).
@ #2; yep - though I'm always a little surprised when it happens to acts who should have enough crew to get someone big & burly to stand guard over stuff.
@9
shut up sonny!
#9, you're dead wrong. Iggy puts on an AWESOME show. He's old enough to be my dad & I don't care.
The real problem isn't that they'lll never play again without this gear, but that they'll be delayed. It's all replaceable and doesn't appear to include any big PA stuff. Tour schedules do not include extra time to scrounge instruments and the myriad various doodads necessary to go on stage. Even if they could afford to write a check on the spot for new gear it probably can't be rounded up, set up and tested before the next gig. Canceling costs a fortune.
This band deserves to succeed. They languished in near obscurity for 30 years while the many acts that they inspired succeeded. People familiar with this tour tell me they're finally being well paid (though not Britney/Celine) level pay.
Good luck to them.
@10 -
Try again. This list is VERY conservative, and not much longer or more high-end than your average amateur gigging band. Any band that takes themselves seriously invests in quality equipment and backups for said equipment. Also note how the band's traveling in a rented Penske truck, and have hotel accomodations no better than most business travelers. Arena Rock fat cats these are not.
And for the record, nobody has more indie cred than Iggy, least of all you- unless you're Greg Ginn, and I don't think you're Greg Ginn.
I'll buy that bass cab for discount, no questions asked. ;)
The Stooges tour contract is a scream to read, especially in regards to the specific equipment needs:
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/1004061iggypop1.html
Ian,
Your band not really going anywhere, eh?
not cool at all. mike watts' bass is kind of renowned among rock bassists, if the stuff gets found, it's going to be because bass players will go underground ninja throughout the world & find it. oh, now you know too much, gotta go
Man, that stuff's worth a Million in Prizes!
Iggy's pop was my English teacher at Fordson High School in Dearborn, MI. Iggy now looks exactly like his dad. Well, if he'd get a flat top.
#2 is correct. there's an organized network of thieves that seem to hit with business-like regularity the mid-level touring bands (I'm going on venue size here, not legacy) ...
Stuff like this is just stupid. Sonic Youth had their instruments stolen a few years ago. That's especially tragic because the guitars are modified ones essential to their playing and are worthless to anyone but them. Some of that gear was recovered, but not before having to acquire and adapt to new instruments seriously disrupted their tour.
mike watt is the bomb, and a real friend of underground music. for this to happen to him and iggy is a real crime. if i find anyone out, i will give them a fine wood-shampooing before I turn them in.
IGGY Please do not EVER stop making music ... make music till your are dead ... It's your passion for music that trumps... and passion has no age ...
Iggy is from an era where it was music that mattered... before MTV made it a fashion show listening experience.
I bet that Iggy and Mike Watt have influenced more musicians that are in the Billboard top 50 than all of the BANDS CURRENTLY ON THE BILLBOARD TOP 50 combined!
I really hope they get their gear back ... and I bet they will use the punk rock ethics to pull the next show off regardless.
Have the Jonas Brothers' whereabouts been verified around the time of the theft?
"The Violent Femmes... They bring all their equipment on the bus! And you can't fuck with the Violent Femmes! YOU CANNOT FUCK WITH THIS BAND!"
I stayed in that hotel 3 weeks ago. It was nice and they gave you free drinks every night.
Yeah...I'm totally unhelpful. That sucks.
Yeah, it sucks. However, one of my friends just got all his music gear, laptop, etc. stolen FROM HIS HOUSE last night. Does he get a big blog entry too? He didn't write Lust for Life, but then again, he didn't license it to Carnival Cruise Lines either.
Dude you think the gear was bought just now for this tour? A 1963 bass? Dude you think when someone's house burns down with a thousand books well if they had that many books they can afford to get more? Dude you think you can afford to replace a list of stuff you have? Dude you think?
Looking forward to the empathy you get when something shitty happens to you.
"some painkillers"
Tylenol, I presume?
the fact that iggy is in his 60s and looks like that is INSANE! He makes Mick Jagger look like a shlub.
always thought it strange that he lives in Miami Beach...
Not very helpful, but I was at the Montreal show on Sunday (Day 1 of the Osheaga Festival) and Iggy still blew the pants off headliner The Killers even though he's got 40 years on 'em. I hate to see this happen especially in a city I hold in high regard (I vacation there every summer)...
That's Montreal - I biked there recently (from Toronto) and the back wheel was stolen off my bike within FOUR HOURS of my arrival. It was parked to a bike post with two other bikes - actually BETWEEN two other bikes. And it didn't even have a quick release. The thief had to undo the bolts with a wrench.
OK, maybe I'm a bit off topic...but really, the same kind of mindless hooliganism. I mean, stealing a whole bike/van = drug-addled crime or real I-need-to-feed-myself-and-Quebec's-economy-sucks-so-I-steal-and-sell-stuff. Stealing one tire/some gear from the back of a van = I'm just an opportunistic asshole and I think it's really funny when other people are fucked over.
That being said, I once had a bag containing all of the underwear I owned in the world stolen from me...and that was in Toronto. So I guess no city's perfect.
The last time I drove to Toronto (2001) I left my car parked on Queen street and 14 hours later the key was still in the door lock where I accidentally left it. It got towed, but apparently nobody tried to steal it.
That sucks! Watt's Bass!
But I am glad they didn't take Steve McKay's Selmer Mark VI.
http://www.radoncollective.org/artists/mackay/upcoming.html
Every instrument is ever so slightly unique. The playing in breaking in an instrument is absorbed into the grain; the frame; the frets. The rapport built with this thing so that it becomes an extension of you soul: It cannot be replaced exactly. The years it took to make it sound that way. There's a lot of history in a '63 EB-3. Jimi said he was offering up a sacrifice before he lit up that guitar at Monterey (and lit his career.)
These guys are real shits!
No one deserves to have such things stolen from them, but certainly The Stooges deserve better! Seriously if you are one of the thieves reading this, at least give back the instruments!
That said, the Sex Pistols might never have existed if they hadn't ripped off some of Bowie's gear (didn't take instruments, though.)
The Grateful Dead had all their gear stolen by drummer Mickey Heart's father, who was also managing the band at the time. Took off for Mexico. (Much of it was later recovered. The treachery nearly broke up the band but instead was immortalized in song.)
I've also heard that Todd Rundgren was once tied to a chair while thieves ram-sacked his place, playing "Can We Still Be Friends" over and over. Might be apocrypha.
@IANM
Seriously, please stop.
Ageist idiot.
Being a musician who has had this happen before, I can definitely say being stranded on tour with no gear sucks like little else - and I hope they get it back, but..uhh..looking over the list of items, aside from the shortscale SG bass, there's nothing in there that can't be replaced by an insurance claim, since all items they're touring with are still being manufactured.
the show will definitely go on, i'm sure. they'll just have to add a few more dates on the flipside to make up for some delays.
Asheton is playing the Vintage Modern series from Marshall? ewwwww....
Only non-musicians (mostly) fetishize the gear. Talented people know it's the talents, not the tools, that make the music. It's actually kind of fortunate that this happened in Montreal where they had a fighting chance to round up substitutes for the missing equipment in reasonably short order. Still, considering the tight schedules that they must be running under, the delay is very damaging.
BTW, I read the Tour Rider linked to above. It really is very funny.
the show will definitely go on, i'm sure. they'll just have to add a few more dates on the flipside to make up for some delays.
It looks like tonight's show at Massey Hall in Toronto is still on. People around here - some of them well informed - are sure to be talking about this. If I hear anything useful I'll post it here.
@#9. I know other people have already said it, but seriously SHUT UP! I am bored by a lot of the old fogeys still touring, but the Stooges are better than any band of twenty-year-olds that I've ever seen. Iggy is so intense it's scary. Every time I've seen him I've been afraid someone was going to get hurt. When the Stooges played in Harlem last year, audience members were pulling the seats out of the floor and security was freaking out. I hope these guys keep doing this for as long as they can.
@ ROSSINDETROIT:
Oh, I dunno. When Sonic Youth had their gear stolen, they had the necessities replaced, within days, by fans eager to help. From what I understand, they actually ended up with more gear than was stolen. Vintage guitars with no return address, and that sort of thing.
There's no reason why any of Iggy's tour dates should be canceled or delayed. If these guys can't play with a simpler setup than what got stolen, they're such big rock stars that they don't deserve my $25. Last year, my friends' van was stolen, along with every bit of musical gear they owned in the world. Thanks to people loaning them instruments, they were out there playing music the same evening, and somehow they even managed to finish their tour. Oh, and they had practically NO money.
Yes, it sucks to have your gear stolen. It's happened to me, as well as every other musician I know. I certainly wish Iggy and the gang the best of all possible outcomes, but I encourage them to trade in the Marshall 4x12s for something cheaper, and the Zildjians for some cracked cymbals that sound like they belong on the first Stooges record. That way, if all their gear is stolen, it costs a few thousand to replace it all, and not FIVE HUNDRED BAJILLION SMACKERS.
Ah, punk rock.
The reason that the loss of Sonic Youth's guitars was serious is that they were not stock but were prepared instruments. Modded to make one particular sound for one song in some cases. The last time I saw them live there were at least 40 guitars visible just off stage. That kind of stuff can't be bought off the rack. It can be duplicated in most cases but not without a lot of difficulty. Definitely not the same as a van full of generic gear.
I'll get the lowdown on this from a musician friend who usually has inside info. It's only 2:00 PM and I don't want to wake him...
Yeah, I'm on Thurston Moore's email list, and the first thing I thought of when I got news of the theft was: that's gonna be difficult to replace.
Only thing is, Sonic Youth played shortly thenafter. I guess they remember how to play instruments, prepared or not. Using things like the Third Hand Capo makes alternate tunings a breeze, so in the short term I'm sure they knew that everything would be fine. Plus, if anyone knows who to take their instruments to for modding, it's Sonic Youth. I'm not sure if their instruments were insured, but if they were I'm sure the insurance covered professional modifications.
But just so you know: I was never saying that having your instruments stolen doesn't suck. Only that it sucks a lot less for bands that have money / insurance.
Saw Iggy last year in DC and it was a helluva show. Dude didn't stop moving for a second and the band took no breaks.
He's got the energy of someone a third his age, and then some.
Everything considered, one of the best acts I've seen in a while. This theft is a shame; hope they get it all back.
BTW, I think Iggy's myspace page claims he earns $250k a year...not bad, but certainy not MAJOR ROCK STAR earnings.
Greedy Awful People
-The crooks, not the Stooges (a song from their latest album.)