A Los Angeles-based Led Zeppelin tribute band lost more than $35,000 worth of equipment when criminals allegedly broke into their tour van during the wee hours of the morning on Saturday at a Morgan Hill hotel.
Led Zepagain played a show in Gilroy Friday night at 9Lives in downtown, and played in Redwood City on Saturday. After performing in Redwood City, the band checked into the Microtel on Condit Road near U.S. 101 at 1:30 a.m., only to discover that several guitars, a keyboard, a drum set and various sound equipment were stolen from their rental van, said Led Zepagain guitarist Steve Zukowsky.
“This isn’t an insurmountable obstacle, but it’s definitely a bit of a set back,” Zukowsky said.
There were no signs of forced entry to the van, but Zukowsky said the suspect jimmied the lock and cut the battery cable to prevent an alarm from going off.
“Police said it was a pretty professional break-in,” Zukowsky said.
The Morgan Hill Police Department is investigating the theft, police said. The public is asked to call 408-779-2101 if they have any information.
As this incident marks the first time the band’s equipment had been stolen, Led Zepagain certainly could be soured toward another trip to Gilroy or Morgan Hill – but Zukowsky said the band remains open to coming back.
“We need to reassess our whole method of transportation and storage,” he said. “This could have happened anywhere.”
Zukowsky remembers lights flooding his hotel room window around 2:30 a.m. just as he was drifting off to sleep, but didn’t think too much of it at the time.
“To be honest we were probably a bit lax more than we should have been,” he said.
The band remains hopeful they will be reunited with their equipment, as they have serial numbers for most of their instruments, and are spreading the word about the theft to friends in the music business all over California.
“Our stuff is pretty distinctive,” Zukowsky said. We’re thinking that it should raise some red flags with people if they come across it.”
Morgan Hill Police Sgt. Troy Hoefling said that 15 car burglaries have occurred at the Microtel since 2001. This was the first incident of that nature this year. Hoefling said.
Police are currently investigating the burglary and looking into whether the Microtel’s surveillance cameras were recording the night of the incident.
To see a list of what was stolen go to https://www.wepay.com/donations/led-zepagain; you can also make a donation to the band there.
