Louise Post, Veruca Salt frontwoman, says "irreplaceable" music gear stolen while on tour in Denver
A touring musician has become one of the latest victims of vehicle theft in Denver.
Louise Post, of rock band Veruca Salt, is searching for stolen equipment, she says is "irreplaceable."
"Your guitars are like your babies, and when someone steals one of your guitars, it's incredibly violating," said Post.
She was set to perform Saturday night at Denver's Globe Hall as part of a tour for her solo album "Sleepwalker." But Saturday morning, Post woke to discover a U-Haul containing all her gear had been stolen. Other musicians touring with Post, including bass player Nicole Fiorentino, of Smashing Pumpkins fame, lost their equipment as well.
"Everything that we play, all of our instruments, all for our gear, audio gear, the entire tour, our whole enterprise was in that U-Haul," said Post.
The gear was stolen from The Radisson hotel parking lot while the band slept. Post says they put locks on the trailer and specifically parked it right under a security camera.
They reported the theft to police and The Radisson says they shared their security footage with them. Post says the camera caught the theft happening around 4 a.m. Saturday, but did not capture the license plate of the truck that hauled it away.
Miraculously, the band still managed to play Saturday, thanks to their opening band "Buckets," which loaned them their own gear.
"Without the gear, our show is compromised and we're struggling to stay out here. We're gonna do it and we're gonna persevere 'cause that's what we do and we're professionals," said Post.
Now, she's hitting the road without the guitar she's played her entire career, renting gear to continue the tour and performing in Dallas Monday night.
"This is a small enterprise, self-funded tour. We're doing this independently, there's not a major label funding this tour, there's no one reimbursing us for all this and we have to get our gear back," said Post.
Luckily, the band had an Air Tag in the U-Haul, which traced to an address in Henderson, Colorado. They passed the location on to police, but are still waiting for them to search it.
"We know of a detective who has passed by, who has entered, but we have not yet had a detective secure a warrant that we know of," said Post.
She's praying the gear will be found inside and is offering an unspecified reward for anyone who helps return it.
"We have to get our gear back. We're really hoping that anyone in Denver who has any idea where the gear is will step forward will call the Denver PD," said Post.
If you have any information on the theft, contact Metro Denver Crime Stoppers at 720-913-STOP(7867). You can reference case number 23-320829.
To deter this kind of theft, Denver Police recommend painting your trailer so it's distinct, using multiple different kinds of locks and investing in an alarm.