The Dears' Patrick Krief Robbed Of $18,000 Worth Of Gear

The Dears guitarist Patrick Krief had approximately $18,000 worth of gear stolen on Monday afternoon from his rehearsal space in Montreal.

According to a post on Krief's MySpace page, he was made aware of the robbery by The Stills' singer/guitarist Tim Fletcher. Fletcher was rehearsing next door and noticed a broken window.

"They took all my guitars, my keyboards, pedals, and they took a bunch of stuff from Mike Nash (the guy I share the space with) including his computer and back up hard drives (just to make sure none of his work is salvaged)," Krief wrote. "They took amps, our PA system, pedals, 5 guitars, a bass. They were kind enough to leave some cables though, but not all of them."

Although several instruments are gone, Krief is most distraught about losing his White Fender Stratocaster, a guitar of sentimental value that 16 friends and family members pitched in to help him buy on his 18th birthday. The guitar has a white pick guard, maple neck and the white plastic tip on the Whammy bar is cracked. He's raised $1,000 as a reward for its return, and promises that there will be no questions asked.

"I would assume these people are going to try to pawn this equipment or sell it in a back alley or something," Krief added. "I'm putting the word out there in hopes that at least my white strat is found."

A full list of the equipment stolen can be found on Krief's MySpace page under the blog post titled "Heartless!" The post contains the various makes, models, serial numbers and descriptions of each piece of equipment and instrument stolen.

Krief recently released his Take It Or Leave It debut EP and will support it with these shows:

April 25 Ottawa, ON @ Zaphod Beeblebrox
April 26 Guelph, ON @ Jimmy Jazz
April 28 Kingston, ON @ Grad Club
May 5 Quebec City, QC @ Ninkasi Du Faubourg
May 17 Windsor, ON @ Avalon Front

The Dears, who released Gang Of Losers last year, will perform in Mont Tremblant, Que. on Saturday and are slated to play in Mexico City on May 12.