It's hard enough to be a touring musician, period, let alone a Canadian act on the road in the US right now, but people somehow continue to rob bands. Cancer Bats just started out supporting He Is Legend's stateside headlining tour, but woke up yesterday (April 21) after a show in Indianapolis, IN, to find that all of their gear — as well as their van, merchandise and personal items — had been stolen.
UPDATE (4/25, 9:32 a.m. ET): To thank fans for their support, the band have released a new Psychic Jailbreak B-side entitled "Backstab the Rat Race."
"Waking up in a hotel in Indianapolis to discover our van and trailer had been stolen was the most disheartening feeling in the world," Cancer Bats shared in a statement. "Thankfully, the police recovered the van and it wasn't in terrible shape, so we had a way to stay mobile and begin figuring out how to continue the tour. As soon as we posted on social media, the messages started pouring in, with words of support, love and encouragement. One of our friends, Shawn Dealy, who works at Sweetwater, reached out immediately and offered help with backline gear. That was a huge help. We had just invested a lot to get this tour off the ground, so we launched a GoFundMe to help cover the stolen gear, van repairs, and a new trailer. We needed everything. Our community came through HUGE!! We raised $33,000 in less than 24 hrs, enough to get us back in action."
They continued:
The love and support we've received has been incredible. It's really made us realize that what we are doing really means something to a lot of people. We love what we do, playing shows and connecting with fans, and we try not to take it for granted. This outpouring of care has just amplified that for us 1000x over. We'll be forever grateful to everyone who reached out, sent a message, or donated. As a thank you, we wanted to give something back. We figured the best thing that we could do was to release a song we've been sitting on for a while. We recorded it during the Psychic Jailbreak sessions and had been wondering when to release it, but now felt like the perfect time. We can't get everywhere to say thank you to everyone individually, but we can put out a ripping song.
Fortunately, they were able to recover the van (sans catalytic converter). However, the Toronto hardcore punks have launched a GoFundMe crowdsourcing campaign to help replace their stolen gear and merch. They estimate that about $30,000 worth of goods were taken, and plan to use any leftover funds to send quality musical instruments to kids living in remote Northern Canadian communities.
"We have been a band touring all over the world for 20 yrs [sic] now," Cancer Bats wrote in the fundraiser description. "The fact that this is the first time this has happened to us is truly amazing. We have our health and shows to play and a van to get us there and we are grateful for all of that. But in this robbery we lost a lot of equipment that we hold near and dear to our hearts. Equipment that helped write a lot of our songs. Stuff that has been customized by us over the years. Gear that is not easily replaceable."
The band were forced to cancel their headlining appearance in St. Louis, MO, yesterday (April 21), but are slated to be back in action tonight in Madison, WI. As of this writing, the campaign has already exceeded the $30,000 goal by about $300.