Deadletter have launched a crowdfunder after having their gear and clothes stolen from their van during a European tour.
The Yorkshire indie band have been playing a string of dates around the continent in support of their second album ‘Existence Is Bliss’, which was released in February, but as they revealed on Instagram yesterday (April 19), they have been victims of a “brutal” theft.
“Having almost brought the six week EU leg of our ‘Existence is Bliss’ tour to its conclusion, devastatingly, we were informed yesterday that, having been dropped off at Barcelona Airport to fly to Istanbul, our van (which was parked outside a police station) was broken into only a few hours later, and the majority of our back line was stolen,” they wrote.
They shared images of the van, which showed smashed windows and a back door that had been battered and broken into. Among the items taken were guitars, bass guitars, amps, a clarinet, cymbals, drum machines, a midi keyboard, a MacBook and an extensive amount of clothing.
“It’s incredibly brutal, as a band who’ve never experienced financial comfort, to now be faced with the burden of being without not only items we require for our profession but also large chunks of our wardrobes, which included clothing we’d acquired from people who are no longer with us,” the band added.
“It feels like a real kick in the teeth at the culmination of what had felt like a successful six weeks gallivanting around the EU, and, as can be seen from the photos, looks to have been done in an incredibly vicious way.”
The band have set up a GoFundMe campaign to help recover from the break-in and the loss of equipment, and at the time of writing, they have already surpassed their £11,000 target, raising over £14,000. You can find the page and donate here.
“We appreciate times are hard and ask you only donate if and as you can. Help at this time would be wholeheartedly appreciated and, though a lot of the sentimental items cannot be replaced, we can at least move toward acquiring that which we need to tour the UK, starting in a couple of weeks,” they added.
NME reviewed Deadletter’s 2024 debut album ‘Hysterical Strength’, giving it four stars and noting: “‘Hysterical Strength’ is dark and foreboding and it’s irresistible and fun. It confronts the daily struggle of our shared society and forces us to smile about it. Deadletter might only be getting started, but with a record as accomplished as ‘Hysterical Strength’, it already feels like they’ve been here for quite a while.”
Its follow-up ‘Existence Is Bliss’ was also named as one of NME’s most anticipated records of 2026.
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