An Edmonton metal band who had thousands of dollars’ worth of equipment stolen following a weekend show in Regina has experienced an outpouring of support from the local metal community. Pre-Breaker performed at The Exchange on Sept. 19 in Regina. The group was set to travel to Saskatoon the following day. The band brought some of its equipment inside for the night, while the rest was left in the trunk of a band member’s vehicle, where they believed it would be out of sight. That wasn’t the case the next morning. “I assume somebody saw us loading the gear into the vehicle and overnight, they got into the trunk and stole everything out of it,” said Justin Olson, singer for Pre-Breaker. “There were thousands upon thousands of dollars of our gear. All the gear we got stolen was about everything we needed to play the show in Saskatoon the next day. So that was a huge blow for us.” The band usually travels with an SUV and trailer to carry its equipment. However, with the trailer undergoing repairs, the group made the trip using the SUV and a second vehicle. Olson said the losses are between $8,000 to $10,000 worth of equipment stolen. Including two guitars, a purple sparkle Epiphone Thunderbird bass guitar, an Orange bass head, cymbals, drum pedals, stands, as well as the band’s CDs and tapes. With all their equipment gone, the initial thought was to cancel the performance and head home. However, help was close by. Fellow bands Total Loss from Saskatoon and Caustic Fog from Edmonton stepped in, offering their equipment so Pre-Breaker could still take the stage. “They both fixed together and got us everything we needed, just letting us borrow their gear. So it was still possible for us to play the show,” Olson said. “They even gave up their share of the door to pitch towards us. And there were a lot of supportive people at the show buying merch and trying to buy as much as they can to try to give back a little bit.” A GoFundMe was created to help the band and replace their lost items, raising over $5,000 in just two days. Olson said any money remaining from the fundraiser will be donated to a grant established in memory of their friend Dylan McKay which is done through the Rock and Roll Society of Edmonton. “[Dylan] played drums for us, and he played bass for us when we needed. The grant is to help underprivileged youth with getting instruments, getting drums, guitars, so they can learn and start bands of their own,” he explained. Support from Saskatchewan has been extra meaningful for Pre-Breaker as the group hasn’t had many shows in the province but said the support has been “unbelievable.” Olson noted the group has filed a police report with the Regina Police Service after the theft and they’re working to provide investigators with the necessary information to track down the stolen equipment. Aside from RPS’s help, friends and strangers have been checking around to see if the equipment pops up anywhere online. “We have a lot of friends and strangers in Regina who’ve been calling all the pawn shops and checking marketplace. There’s a lot of eyes in Regina looking for that stuff,” Olson noted. “We got a purple, sparkly Thunderbird bass, so if you see it, you know it’s ours.” The experience has prompted the band to spread the message of not leaving expensive items inside your vehicles at any given time. “We thought that in a trunk, no one was going to see it, no one was going to take it. But someone found a way,” Olson said. “We’ll never make that mistake again that’s for sure.”
