As if going out on tour isn’t enough of a financial risk another thing that any touring musician has to worry about is getting robbed while on the road. And while you’ve got to be a special kind of dipshit to prey on a touring band, since they’re generally out there trying to just break even, it still happens quite a bit. In fact, it happened at least twice over the weekend to Ohio Christian metal band Convictions in Irving Texas and Alabama hardcore band Gideon in Oakland, CA. Of course, crowdfunding campaigns have been set up for both bands.
Of the two, Convictions has a happier ending, at least so far. The band had played South By So What? and stayed at the Fairfield Inn in Irving. As their Gofundme page notes, they knew the hazards of being a touring band and backed the van into the building with the trailer against the building. However, their entire van and trailer were stolen. When the band write about it yesterday, they were at a complete loss and hoping for $30,000 and a miracle. They got $10,000 towards their goal in just one day, but then they got the miracle, as their van was recovered with the trailer intact. The band suspended their Gofundme campaign, and are offering refunds to anyone that wants one. However, they’re still estimating about $5-7k in losses, as the van was vandalized and anything of value in it was taken out.
Gideon, on the other hand weren’t so lucky. The band’s van was broken into with all their merch money and guarantees, as well as personal belongings passports and more. It seems that unlike Convictions, they didn’t bring all their stuff in with them. That doesn’t make things suck any less, though. The band estimate they’ve lost about $8,500 and have had over $2,100 donated to them in just over five hours via their Gofundme page, which should be enough to at least being to help them out. Perhaps if you gave money to Convictions, you can get it back and give it to Gideon.
