A global rock band’s first U.S. tour is a second to be celebrated, an indication that years of onerous work have paid off. However just some days into their American debut, the members of Forests, an emo rock band from Singapore, endured one other ceremony of passage for some musicians touring the US after they stopped for the evening at a California resort.
Once they returned to their rental van just a few hours later, they realized they’d been robbed.
“In Singapore I sort of made a joke about it, like, oh, you already know, your band is just legit in case your stuff bought stolen,” mentioned Darell Laser, 36, the bassist. “Then it actually occurred.”
Forests and the Oklahoma band they had been touring with, Ben Quad, are hardly the primary musicians to be robbed whereas on tour in America. (In 1999, Sonic Youth famously misplaced a complete truck’s value of drugs to a thief, additionally in California.) However the expertise was nonetheless a shock for a band from a rustic as protected as Singapore.
“It was the worst luck ever,” mentioned Chris Martinez, 29, a Forests fan from San Diego who found the band years in the past on a enterprise journey to Singapore.
The theft prompted an outpouring of concern from each bands’ followers, and greater than $9,000 in donations allowed them to purchase substitute devices. They didn’t miss a present, and so they ended their tour in excessive spirits with a sold-out live performance at a bar in Queens on Tuesday.
“They appear to have moved previous it,” mentioned Mr. Martinez, who donated $200 to the bands’ crowdfunding marketing campaign after studying of the theft. “Holding a constructive angle and making an attempt to not let it deliver them down.”
The Could 1 theft made for a surreal early leg of a cross-country tour — entitled “Get in losers, we’re going to Walmart” — that Forests had spent months planning and years trying ahead to. It occurred just a few days after their tour started in Seattle and some hours after their gig in Oakland.
When the drained musicians from the 2 bands straggled right into a Hampton Inn in Hayward, Calif., at about 1:30 a.m., they left their gear within the 15-passenger rental van they had been sharing for the tour. They parked subsequent to a safety digicam as a precaution, however it didn’t assist: Once they returned to the car parking zone after 11 a.m., they observed that a few of their guitars, a bass, pedals, clothes and a field with money from merchandise gross sales had been stolen.
The theft was the newest in an space of California the place property crimes like shoplifting and automotive break-ins are on the rise. The resort administration instructed the bands that its safety footage didn’t present a theft. A location tag on one instrument appeared to point out that the stolen gear had been taken to an Oakland residence constructing, however the police mentioned there was no simple technique to get it again.
“The cops instructed us, ‘Hey, there’s nothing we are able to do until it results in a pawnshop,’” mentioned Edgar Viveros, 27, Ben Quad’s lead guitarist. The pawnshops they referred to as mentioned that it had not.
As a substitute of canceling the tour, the bands determined to play on with borrowed gear. In addition they arrange a crowdfunding web page and had been stunned to see how shortly donations rolled in — $6,000 in about 4 hours.
The theft was “kinda heartbreaking,” Imre Griga, 23, a fan in Columbia, Mo., who attended three of the bands’ tour dates this month, mentioned in an electronic mail. “I feel the complete group felt Forests deserved a lot better for his or her first tour in America.”
Inside just a few days, members of each bands had been enjoying with new devices. They went a bit longer with out the pedal board that Ben Quad sometimes makes use of to play samples, just like the theme from an “Austin Powers” film, between units. However a substitute for that, too, was ultimately discovered.
Again residence in Singapore, the story of the theft, and the fan help, made headlines. Some readers commented about their very own experiences of getting robbed in the US. Others questioned how the three members of Forests, who all have day jobs and tour on their holidays, may have been so naïve.
For Forests, it was not their first worldwide tour: They’ve carried out throughout the Asia-Pacific area through the years. However on their first tour of America, they beloved watching the panorama — deserts, timber, snowy mountains — whip previous the van’s home windows.
In addition they stored an inventory of “loopy issues” that they had seen, like individuals preventing in comfort shops, or the lady in Seattle who threw her baggage down three flights of stairs in a subway station. The band’s drummer, Niki Koh, 31, mentioned he notably loved visiting a retailer that offered weapons, knives and looking gear — “ all the things that we received’t discover in Singapore.”
“It’s tradition shock,” he mentioned, talking in a video interview from Kansas Metropolis. “However on the similar time, it’s very fascinating.”
