Animals As Leaders’ had it rough enough while on tour. Unfortunately, though, it didn’t get any better when they finished touring. When the prog metal instrumental group arrived to their home in Los Angeles, they found that they had been robbed of instruments, equipment, personal items, and even guitarist Javier Reyes’ Chevy Blazer.
The band issued the following statement alerting fans of the robbery:
“Hey guys.
We’ve got some pretty terrible news to report. Upon returning home to our house in LA we discovered that we’d been robbed while were out on tour. The thieves were able to get away with Javier‘s Chevy Blazer and all of the equipment we didn’t have on tour with us. 10 guitars in total. This includes many of our one of a kind custom instruments (Stranberg,Rick Toone ) as well as amplifiers, PA equipment and personal items.
This is beyond devastating. We know so many of you have been beyond supportive with Javier‘s legal troubles. We may need more of your help now to potentially find some of these one of a kind instruments that may pop up on Ebay, Craigslist, pawn shops, used music stores etc.
We’re adding an album containing photos and detailed descriptions of the stolen gear to our profile. Please take a look and keep your eyes open for anything that looks close to this stuff. I truly think that with your help we have an exponentially better chance of tracking some of this down.
Thanks,
Tosin, Javier”
Fans are being urged to contact the band at animalsgear@gmail.com with any information about the stolen items. As mentioned in their statement, they’ve also set up a photo album of some of the gear that was taken during the robbery (including the one above). It’s awful to hear stories of bands getting robbed while on the road, let alone in their own homes (just ask Robb Flynn). Hopefully the culprits will be caught soon, although we’re sure Reyes is personally tired of dealing with police. If there’s one positive about the whole thing, it’s not like there are that many eight-string guitars out there, so any being sold online or in the greater L.A. area will definitely come under closer scrutiny than a typical six-string.
