Over the weekend, tragedy struck Vancouver bands the Vicious Cycles, the Jolts, Piggy, Greenback High and Les Spelles when their East Van practice space was robbed. Collectively, they lost "around 17 guitars and 2 or 3 amps," totalling over $20,000 in missing equipment. Now, some good news — much of that equipment has been recovered.
Bronco James (a.k.a. Vicious Cycles frontman Billy Bones) shared a Facebook update explaining that, incredibly, much of the missing equipment has been replaced. In fact, they've recovered approximately $15,000 in equipment.
James explains that the recovery was thanks to the many watchful eyes who checked Craigslist and local pawn shops, plus some news coverage.
But it's not all good news — they're still missing a Les Paul and a Gretsch guitar (and potentially more). That said, Phillips and Steam Whistle have donated beverages to the Vicious Cycles' upcoming album release show on Friday (April 25) at the Cobalt, so proceeds from beer sales will go towards the missing gear. Fittingly, the band's new album is called Bad News Travels Fast.
Here's Bronco James' statement in full:
Some good news. Thanks to so much community and friend support, we have been able to recover a good chunk of the gear that was stolen from our practice space last Wednesday. We're still about $5000 out of pocket, but that's a ton better than the $20K we were looking at when we first found out. Both Phillips and Steam Whistle have donated wobblies for our (VCMC) record release show this Friday with the proceeds going to helping us out. There are a couple of high dollar guitars still missing, but a lot of the guitars we love have made their way back to us, and we are all feeling a lot better. Thank you so much to everyone that took time to share a post about this, troll craigslist, check your local pawn shops, get the media involved (both CTV and Global did stories that it feels like were a big help) send cash money etc. I'll post more when I know more. Just wanted to let folks know that things are starting to come around, and say a huge thank-you to this amazing community that we are feeling really loved and supported by.
Bronco James (a.k.a. Vicious Cycles frontman Billy Bones) shared a Facebook update explaining that, incredibly, much of the missing equipment has been replaced. In fact, they've recovered approximately $15,000 in equipment.
James explains that the recovery was thanks to the many watchful eyes who checked Craigslist and local pawn shops, plus some news coverage.
But it's not all good news — they're still missing a Les Paul and a Gretsch guitar (and potentially more). That said, Phillips and Steam Whistle have donated beverages to the Vicious Cycles' upcoming album release show on Friday (April 25) at the Cobalt, so proceeds from beer sales will go towards the missing gear. Fittingly, the band's new album is called Bad News Travels Fast.
Here's Bronco James' statement in full:
Some good news. Thanks to so much community and friend support, we have been able to recover a good chunk of the gear that was stolen from our practice space last Wednesday. We're still about $5000 out of pocket, but that's a ton better than the $20K we were looking at when we first found out. Both Phillips and Steam Whistle have donated wobblies for our (VCMC) record release show this Friday with the proceeds going to helping us out. There are a couple of high dollar guitars still missing, but a lot of the guitars we love have made their way back to us, and we are all feeling a lot better. Thank you so much to everyone that took time to share a post about this, troll craigslist, check your local pawn shops, get the media involved (both CTV and Global did stories that it feels like were a big help) send cash money etc. I'll post more when I know more. Just wanted to let folks know that things are starting to come around, and say a huge thank-you to this amazing community that we are feeling really loved and supported by.