Is Melbourne rife with musical kleptomaniacs?
There’s been an alarming amount of incidents of equipment being stolen in the Victorian capital in recent weeks. Following on from a $25,000 guitar being pinched from a music store and Soundwave 2014-billed Finnish rockers HIM being robbed at a Melbourne sideshow, another musician has been made a victim.
Local DJs have urged the music community to help them identify a pair of thieves that stole a stack of vinyl following a set performed at Melbourne CBD venue Section 8 over the weekend, as Beat reports.
A selection of DJs were spinning records at the bar, located in Tattersalls Lane, on Sunday 2nd March in an event billed as ‘High Tide, Low Ride‘ when two punters made off with the vinyl before heading to the bar next door, Fedryduke, where images of the pair were captured on security footage.
Both Section 8 and Jimmy Caution, one of the DJs performing on the night, have shared images on social media in an effort to identify the pair. The latter has also shared additional video footage from the Ferdyduke’s security video – which can be viewed here and here – offering a cash reward for the recovery of the stolen wax.
Anyone with information are urged to contact Police at Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or at https://www.police.vic.gov.au/.
“These particular photos were taken with the Ferdydurke CCTV footage,” notes DJ Jimmy Caution.
“We also have footage from Section 8 of them stealing red handed,” he continues. “Just a heads up to thieves thinking about taking things from either Section 8 or Ferdydurke, they have CCTV and if someone recognises you – You’re going to be caught.”
Earlier today, the DJ wrote a follow-up post thanking all “the support so far regarding the stolen vinyl, this makes me realise two things. There’s lots of dope people that have my back, and there’s lots of dope people who realise the worth of vinyl and what it takes to hunt down that special bit of music that speaks to you… if after all this I don’t get the records back your support has put a smile on my face.”
Social media has proven essential to the recovery of stolen band equipment in the past. In February, a guitar valued at $25,000 was returned to Sky Music after the plight of the Music-based music retailer went viral online.
Meanwhile, Finnish rock band HIM immediately took to Facebook after discovering they’d been robbed of a bag containing “irreplaceable items” at their headlining Soundwave 2014 Sideshow last week. There has been no update to the band if whether the alleged man they’d identified online had helped them recover their stolen gear.
