Philly Bands And Philly Band People: Where Would You Tell Traveling Bands To NEVER Stow Their Gear?
Ramon Martinez, host of Y-ROCK Internacional, wrote to us yesterday, detailing a story we all know all too well: Struggling indie band rolls into Philly, plays their gig, finds a place to stay, then wakes up to find… All of their gear has been stolen. In this case, the band was Satellite District, and their stuff was heisted sometime early Tuesday morning from the parking lot of Microtel Inn & Suites at the Phila International Airport. “I hate it when instruments get stolen,” said Martinez, who brought the band to Philly and is now trying to help them track down their gear. “It’s as low as murdering a dog.” But every last one of you who just rolled your eyes when it was revealed that the band was storing their gear overnight near the Airport could have something to add for bands coming through in the future: “I was thinking,” said Martinez, “that a great thing for bands and musicians from Philly and out of town is to give them tips about what places to avoid staying at and what to do to save their gear.” So… got any? Post ‘em in the comments, and once a bunch of you have weighed in, we’ll forward the post to every booking agent in town.
August 21st, 2009 at 11:08 am
$14,000 worth??? can you get insurance for instruments?
August 21st, 2009 at 11:15 am
It doesn’t matter where you stay. Don’t leave anything in an automobile anywhere ever. Am I being paranoid? It can’t be just Philly can it? If you must leave shit in a car/van/trailer overnight, then you must also leave a few humans (with baseball bats) with the stuff.
August 21st, 2009 at 11:21 am
@tenant: Some bands do have insurance for this kind of thing. And I believe that, in some cases, renter’s insurance may cover some theft like this.
August 21st, 2009 at 11:25 am
I have a secure space in South Kensington with alarm if people want to rent it from me for the night.
August 21st, 2009 at 11:30 am
I feel like I hear about this happening in Philly more than in other places…..do you think that’s actually true?
August 21st, 2009 at 11:31 am
Drive the extra 15 minutes into the burbs and stay there. And someone should sleep in the van.
August 21st, 2009 at 11:48 am
What’s that hotel on Del Ave where everyone has gotten their gear stolen? Days Inn or Comfort Inn? Don’t stay there.
Also, wherever you crash, be it a hotel room or someone’s house, bring your gear in with you. It’s a pain in the ass, but better safe than sorry.
August 21st, 2009 at 11:50 am
Yeah I’m with Sugar Town on this, pretty much everything should come inside. Maybe you can leave some portion of the drums in the car if you can be somewhat discrete with them but guitars, amps, keyboards need to come inside.
August 21st, 2009 at 12:02 pm
1. Always travel with a trailer. You might think its easier to steal a trailer, but if you secure it properly – its completely safer than keeping your gear in a van.
2. Once you purchase a trailer – your next purchase MUST BE an alpha lock. An alpha lock boots your wheel. Place one on your trailer and now, the criminal will need to either break the locks (but they cannot, see point 3) or pierce the skin of the trailer (but see point 4).
3. Buy Hockey puck locks from Trimax. These locks house the chamber w/ the steel shell of the lock. These are the types of locks contractors use on their vehicles and are very hard to break. They def are drillable – but, if a criminal is bringing electric tools to steal from you, well then, you’ve made that criminal work for his/her booty – and you’ve got to give them a hand.
4. So, all of those steps above should prevent gear from being stolen. However, in the unlikely event that it is – please buy insurance from the company MusicPro insurance. They do a great job and the prices are so low. My policy covers $15k for $160 a year! That covers your gear from theft!
And lastly, stay in Mount Laurel when you play Philly. Don’t even go to the burbs of Philly. You know your in the burbs when you start seeeing Courtyard Marriotts and Ruby Tuesdays. And use priceline for hotels. You can get a Courtyard in most cities for no more than $50!!!!!! Its worth it to you and your band.
Hope this helps.
seasoned touring musician (whose had his shit stolen too)
August 21st, 2009 at 12:09 pm
@Su Su Pseudonym – The burbs aren’t necessarily safer in this respect. Remember when Frank Black got like $70,000 of gear lifted?
http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1442823/20010416/story.jhtml
He was staying in Delco.
August 21st, 2009 at 12:50 pm
Whether in a van or trailer, try to park with your back to the wall, so close that no one can open the door.
Other than that, it would probably not be a bad idea to install some sort of hidden cut off switch on your vehicle.
August 21st, 2009 at 1:19 pm
The only thing that’s foolproof is to carry your gear inside with you where you’re staying. I know, not so much fun at 3am when you’re sneaking the whole crew into a tiny motel room on a second floor, but it sure beats getting your gear pinched. Rural meth-fueled America isn’t so gear-safe these days, either. Even parking your contractor van/truck back against a wall isn’t perfect. Camper Van Beethoven did that and thieves cut a hole in the side wall of their truck. So travel light. Small amps can get nice and loud these days. Yeah there’s nothing quite like plugging into an Ampeg or Marshall stack or whatever, but then you’ll need to hire your 16 year old linebacker cousin to sleep in the van with a baseball bat. Maybe don’t bring your 1958 Gretsch on the road, either. And yeah, gear insurance.
August 21st, 2009 at 1:24 pm
One more anecdote: Rumor has it that Das Damen would take their guitars with them into restaurants rather than risk leaving them for an hour or so in the van.
August 21st, 2009 at 5:13 pm
even sleeping in the van doesnt always work! ill try and find the article because i forget the exact details, but there was a dude in a band, sleeping in the van…guy breaks in, hotwires it, starts driving away. band dude wakes up, realizes whats happening and starts beating the balls off the guy while hes driving, causing a crash.
when i worked at the troc, the tour manager from the cramps chained the guitar cases closed and made me lock them in a room until right before they went on stage. thats one way to do it hahahahaha…
a number of philly bands have gotten their entire van/trailers stolen from hotels along delaware ave in the past few years…probably by the same people i would suspect.
take your gear in with you, get insurance, back up against the wall, sleep in the van, get those locsk as mentioned above…you can do all of these things…but criminals are clever and can usually find ways around just about anything.
August 24th, 2009 at 9:16 am
Remember when Film School used getting robbed as a PR opportunity, and then it became a PR meme?
August 26th, 2009 at 2:48 pm
How about parking in a paid secure parking lot? Google map central parking and find a facility near wherever you plan to crash. If your van is large and you are unsure if it will fit into some of the indoor garages call and ask, if not, ask where an outdoor one is.