Protect-U (Photo by Shawn Brackbill via Facebook)
The D.C.-based electronic duo Protect-U is facing an early end to its European tour, after thieves made off with its equipment last night at a Paris restaurant and nightclub. One of the band’s members, Aaron Leitko, estimates the value of the stolen gear—which included several synthesizers, pedals and two Apple laptops—at likely more than $5,000.
Protect-U, on the Future Times label, is in the middle of a three-week tour across Western Europe. The band played a set last night at Le Pompon, a former synagogue in the 10th Arrondissement that has been rated as one of the better live music venues in Paris.
Following the set, Leitko says he and his bandmate, Mike Petillo, packed their gear in a back room next to Le Pompon’s bar. Inside that room is a door leading to the basement. “Because the club was crowded, we stood guard by the door by the bar to make sure nobody was going in,” Leitko writes in an email from Paris.
Leitko says that at some point during the evening, he saw a “drunk-ish” man wander into the back room and down to the basement. He didn’t pay the man much mind because he did not know the basement had access to the street. Fifteen minutes later, Leitko and Petillo checked the room again, only to find that their musical instruments and some other personal belongings were gone.
Leitko suspects whoever took the synths, pedals and laptops knew the layout of Le Pompon. “When we walked though later it was not a straight shot to the door,” he says.
Petillo and Leitko did not lose any other personal effects—they left their suitcases at a promoter’s house and still have their wallets and passports, but the remainder of their tour seems very unlikely now. Besides the equipment, the thieves made off with the band’s rail tickets; Protect-U is scheduled to play in Berlin tomorrow night and has shows scheduled next week throughout the rest of Germany and Switzerland.
“It’s really fucked,” Leitko says.
From Protect-U’s Facebook page, here is the equipment that was lost last night:
- Dave Smith Tetra Analog Polysynth (with case)
- Boss RE-20 Space Echo Pedal
- Boss Loop Station
- Nord Rack Synthesizer
- Boss PS-3 Pitch Shifter
- Boss Chorus Pedal
- Yamaha CS-01 Synthesizer
- Moog MIDI MuRF Pedal
- Delta Lab Effectron II (affixed with sticker featuring Blonde Redhead album 23)
- Focus Rite Pro 40 Sapphire Digital Recording Interface
- APC40 Ableton Controller
- Apple MacBook Pro, 13-inch screen
- Apple MacBook Pro, 15-inch screen
Leitko and Petillo are asking anyone who might have knowledge of their equipment’s whereabouts to email them at protectudc@gmail.com.
