There’s been a nasty trend of musical theft in Melbourne Rock City in the last month or so, and now another Aussie band has fallen victim to an equipment robbery.
Cash Savage and the Last Drinks guitarist Joe White had his axe stolen from his car last night in the suburb of Coburg, as the musician explained in a personal plea on social media earlier today, along with production equipment estimated to be worth thousands of dollars.
“My car was broken into last night and my 2003 Fender highway one Telecaster was stolen,” wrote White in a Facebook post. The recently serviced guitar (pictured below) can be identified by a warped scratch plate, a Footscray City strap, and a missing volume knob closest to the pick selector – its most distinguishing feature. “I’m hurtin’, I’m broken, please re-post this,” adds White.
Last Drinks ringleader Cash Savage had a far blunter appraisal for Tone Deaf in an interview this afternoon; “It’s pretty shit,” she says, explaining that it wasn’t just the guitar that was pilfered, but a bunch of the band’s gear as well.
Among the stolen equipment were two speakers of a PA system, “15 inch with horn speakers,” describes Savage, along with White’s guitar amp a “Fender Stage [and] a 10 inch blackheart speaker box” as well as a “box of leads and microphones” valued at $1,000, including three Shure-branded mics: “two SM58s and one Beta.”
But as Savage emphasises, those items are replaceable. White is particularly devastated about the stolen guitar.
“He’s had that guitar since it was new and it’s been everywhere with us and its on all of our recordings,” the frontwoman laments, “the speakers and everything – they’re replaceable, but that guitar, it’s his. It isn’t replaceable. Any other guitarist or musician would understand…”
White has “been to the police and scouting around the different pawn shops around his home,” Savage says, adding that they have reason to believe the crooks had a vehicle; “swapped from one car to the next, because those speakers were huge and there’d just be no way you’d be carrying them around.”
“It’s been pretty great how the Facebook community has got behind him and shared [the news] around,” she continues. “Anyone out there in the Cash Converters or pawn shop world, or anyone who’s out there looking for guitars over the weekend or the next couple weeks spots one similar it would be great if they could get in contact with us or the Police.” “The speakers and everything – they’re replaceable, but that guitar, it’s his. It isn’t replaceable.”
The pinched six-string is the latest in an alarming wave of incidents of equipment being stolen from bands in Melbourne in recent weeks. There was the case of a $25,000 guitar being pinched from a music store before Soundwave 2014-billed Finnish rockers HIM were robbed at their own headline sideshow. Just over a week later, CCTV footage captured a pair of vinyl thieves making off with records from a local DJ set.
A theft is never convenient, but the loss of the guitarist’s Tele is particularly poorly timed given that Cash Savage & The Last Drinks are set to play Northcote Social Club tomorrow.
“The show goes on,” Savage proclaims, noting that other Aussie musicians have already offered White a loan of their instruments, but will proceed with the gig by lending gear off of support act Eaten By Dogs.
The gig is the last date of the Golden Wolves Tour, aimed to showcase the band’s excellent second album, The Hypnotiser, which attained rave reviews following its release last year, including our own Tone Deaf reviewer, who praised the “brawny purr” of Savage who “can growl, mourn and drink alongside some of the best of them.”
But Savage is particularly happy about The Hypnotiser being pressed to vinyl. “We just got it a few weeks ago in our hot hands, it’s pretty great,” she says of the release, which will take pride of place tomorrow at the Northcote Social merch desk.
“It’s the first time I’ve been on vinyl. So we were all pretty happy to hear it coming through a needle,” she adds. The Melbourne show is also the last before Cash Savage & The Last Drinks hit the Deni Blues & Roots Festival next month.
Check out the tour dates and new video for ‘Let Go’ below. Fans are urged to keep an eye out for the six-string and anyone with information should contact Police at Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or at https://www.police.vic.gov.au/.
Cash Savage And The Last Drinks Australian Tour 2014
Sat 22nd March | Northcote Social Club High Street, Northcote, VIC
Tickets: https://corner.ticketscout.com.au
Sun 20 April | Deni Blues & Roots Festival Conargo Road, Deniliquin, NSW
Tickets: http://www.denibluesfestival.com/
