A British band kicking off its West Coast tour in San Francisco this week hit a bump in the road when a gunman robbed the members’ tour van at a Vallejo gas station.
But as consummate professionals, the group said itwill continue its tour.
“Just been robbed at gun point 10 minutes into the US tour,” the band, Sports Team, wrote in an Instagram post. “Man runs in saying some guys are smashing into a van. Ran out to try to stop it and find masked guys ransacking the van.”
The post-bunk band is set to release a new album in February and has tour stops in San Diego, Los Angeles and Portland later this month. The band played the first show of its tour in San Francisco on Monday and made the drive to its next gig in Sacramento. But the members stopped first at a Vallejo gas station Starbucks on Tuesday, where the tour gods were not smiling down on them.
One of the masked men pulled out a gun when the band members tried to stop the robbery, according to the band’s post, which included a video of the episode. In the video, taken around 9 a.m., a group of masked individuals pull items out of the band’s white tour van. Someone screams for the band members to seek refuge inside the Starbucks.
When the band called police to report the robbery they were told to “submit an online report,” according to the band’s post. The members are originally from Cambridge, England.
“Lost a lot of personal gear, but they didn’t get the instruments so driving on to Sacramento to play tonight,” the band wrote. “They can take our Nintendo Switches but they can never take our ability to play rock songs about motorways. In all seriousness pretty shocking how resigned everyone seemed to be to it. ‘It happens’. 9am at some petrol station Starbucks. Wild.”
The Vallejo Police Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The indie band, which was nominated for a Mercury Prize in 2020, is set to play in Los Angeles on Dec. 11 at El Cid and in Palm Springs on Dec. 15.
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