Strung Out goes into more detail about recent theft, other incidents

Jordan Burns, drummer of long–running Fat Wreck Chords act Strung Out recently went into a little more detail about the challenges the band has been facing this tour as well as challenges that were punctuated by the brazen theft of their van and trailer in Philadelphia.

In a lengthy board post, Jordan related stories of a guitar tech's arrest, a drum tech's emergency room visit, and addressed the common question as to whether the band had insurance for the theft of their vehicles and gear:

Insurance companys are FUCKED and we will only be covered on the van itself. Our gear and trailer...were fucked on. Its a serious bigtime learning lesson. We will get lojack and all the proper coverage next time around. Why are we in a van? Well because the cost of a bus is $1000 a day on average. We've toured in all sorts of different vehicles...we just didnt feel like wasting the cash on the bus this time.

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It was 3 really bad days in a row and it went from bad to worse. It all started in Virginia Beach were we had an amazing show but, it was for sure the most drunk Jake and Rob (more Jake) has ever been on stage and the crowd went fucking insane. We probably played like shit but fuck..it was a great time an everyone seemed to love it. So after the show, the drunkeness continues outside and Rob and some of the other guys are going off outside. Well anyhow, the police end up getting called and this total asshole cop shows up and we are told we are parked in a no loading zone and i get a $100 fucking ticket and so does I Am Ghost. Then some other shit went down and long story short, our guitar tech got arrested for (yes indeed some dumb drunken stupidity) slashing 4 bicycle tires. They came to our hotel to grab him….so we figured we get him out in the morning. Nope..we find out he has not been given any bail and they wont let him out. This is a fucking petty crime. He's still in fucking jail until next Tuesday with still no bail available after seeing the judge once. Incredible.

We feel helpless cause we cant do anything. So, we head to DC. We played the show in DC and it was excellent. But our drum tech Metal Bob, started bleeding out of his ear and was in severe pain. He had to go to the emergency were we later found he ruptured his ear drum. So we finally get out of the emergency room at 5am. We decide to drive a lil bit and then grab a hotel roo. Well Jason's driving and we stop at like 15 hotels and everyone is sold out. Jason finally finds this Days Inn in Philly (4200 Roosevelt Blvd) that has rooms available. We are all beat and ready to get into our rooms and crash out. The first bad sign of course was the bullet proof glass at reception but, we were all to tired to care. Anyhow, we all check into our rooms and im looking out our window for a spot to park the van closer to our room. I was getting ready to go out and grab my computer and my brand new hi def video camera.

All of a sudden Chris just happens to look out the window and see's our van driving out of the parking lot and he's like "hey, who's leaving in the van right…who's driving the van" were like "WHAT" WTF??? We knew we JUST checked in so no one would be leaving and just like that, our fucking van and trailer are gone. There is video survailance and we get to see this black car pull up on our van, scope it, pull away and then this low life piece of shit walks up to our van, breaks in (without breaking the window) hotwires or whatever he does to start the thing and he just drives off. Its fucking incredible…broad daylight no more then 20 minutes after we checked in….our lives were seriously fucked over. EVERYTHING was in there.

We of course called 911 and the police came but they where mostly busy with the double homicide that was going on 3 blocks or so from where we were. We were just royaly fucked and all of us felt helpless. A million things go through your head i tell ya as they still are and will continue for a long time. Its honestly been a really rough few days after this loss and i cant help but to break down and get emotional after we play cause it just hits me hard and realizing that we have so much support…its seriously amazing.

Things are really fucked right now and we have a lot of figuring out to do….Evergreen Terrace is helping us out SO SO SO much and we love them. I Am Ghost is helping us out big time too and we love those guys as well. We've never had to deal with something so fucked up like this. We've surely had lots of shit to deal with in our years but, this takes the cake in the most fucked thing ever. Anyhow, im gonna wrap it up here a bit but, i see everyone asking questions, offering help, suggestions, etc…..all very appreciated for sure.

Did we have insurance? Ya on the van but, insurance companys are FUCKED and we will only be covered on the van itself. Our gear and trailer…were fucked on. Its a serious bigtime learning lesson. We will get lojack and all the proper coverage next time around. Why are we in a van? Well because the cost of a bus is $1000 a day on average.

We've toured in all sorts of different vehicles…we just didnt feel like wasting the cash on the bus this time. Doesnt Fat Wreck pay for it? Fuck no….people are in dreamland and have no clue how things work. The van is great anyhow cause we interact more with eachother and its been healthy for us. Ok, im done for now but wanted to say a few things….i will try to say more.

Thanks to everyone that is showing us sympathy and conern here cause honestly for me, it really feels like someone died.