Rochester, New York’s Sirens and Sailors Live “Every Band’s Nightmare”

On August 27, Sirens and Sailors, a metalcore band from Rochester, New York, had to face every band’s nightmare. After playing a show, they returned to their van to see it’d been broken into and robbed. To make matters worse, the incident happened overseas in completely foreign territory, making them feel even more helpless.

“Every single dollar we brought with us, every single penny that we have earned over the past month of touring overseas has been stolen,” the band reported on their Facebook page. “Licenses, credit cards, essential medical supplies, laptops, electronic equipment, even down to our toiletries, GONE. In a matter of minutes, our livelihood has been taken from us. Our dream come true has become the exact opposite.”

Such unfortunate incidents happen far too frequently. In fact, indie rock band Murder by Death has had their van broken into not once, not twice — but five times.

“Gear is very valuable and [bands] are focused on their music inside so they’re easy targets,” says Dave Locke, President of LAWKSTARGuitars. “Its hard to turn equipment over without getting caught these days, but musicians should make a list of serial numbers of all the gear they have so in case something like this happens.”

Though Sirens and Sailors has always been against crowd-funding their band, believing as they say on Facebook that “any touring band should earn their keep,” they’ve been forced to create a kick starter campaign to help them make it through their next tour.

A few days later, the band posted again on Facebook, thanking those who chipped in to help them finish the tour.

“Your generosity has not only given us a boost of morale, but has reminded us that there are still genuinely good people in this world,” said the band. “Sometimes we think that the human race needs that reminder, because when it comes down to it, we are all in this together. Thank you all so much for being the best friends/fans that the 5 of us could ever have. You mean the absolute world to us.”