Welcome to the jungle. UK rock band Sports Team kicked off their US tour in California with an unexpected opener: a robbery at gunpoint.
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The band, led by frontman Alex Rice and featuring guitarists Rob Knaggs and Henry Young, bassist Oli Dewdney, drummer Al Greenwood, and keyboardist Ben Mack, arrived in California ahead of their debut performance in Sacramento on Tuesday.
The band’s van was broken into by a group of armed men at 9 a.m. while they stopped at a Starbucks in Vallejo, about an hour from their show.
“Just been robbed at gun point 10 minutes into the US tour,” the band wrote on Instagram Tuesday.
“Man runs in saying some guys are smashing into a van,” the band added alongside footage of the incident, which mostly involved members of the group running in panic. “Ran out to try to stop it and find masked guys ransacking the van.”
In the NSFW clip, you can also hear band members pleading for everyone to come inside and call the police.
The stunned rockers also revealed that local police had advised them to “file a police report online.” Meanwhile, they grappled with the loss of their belongings and a shattered passenger window.
The UK Band’s Instruments Were Thankfully Left Alone
Frontman Rice told Sky News that the thieves stole their laptops, in-ear monitors, cameras, and other personal belongings.
Thankfully, Sports Team’s instruments were secure. This allowed them to deliver a performance at the Goldfield Trading Post in Sacramento on Tuesday night.
“They can take our Nintendo Switches but they can never take our ability to play rock songs about motorways,” they joked.
However, the UK rockers did note how, for beleaguered Californians, getting robbed at gunpoint is simply a way of life.
They said, “In all seriousness pretty shocking how resigned everyone seemed to be to it. ‘It happens.’”