See if you can spot a trend. Way back when, soon-to-be-famous Sex Pistol Steve Jones slips into a concert hall with a pair of wire cutters and "liberates" some microphones belonging to Rod Stewart. Around the same time, give or take a few years, Peter Frampton gets his prize Martin guitar stolen between gigs. Fast forward a few decades; Henry Rollins catches a thief red-handed trying to force his way into Rollins' L.A. Apartment, and Beastie Boys DJ Mix Master Mike loses a box of albums and equipment when a burglar hits his studio. Big names, big losses. These are the stories that made the news, but every week some band gets a van load of irreplaceable gear stolen, or somebody helps themselves to the stuff after it's been placed in the venue and left unattended. The corporate rock dudes can afford to have their gear replaced; most times it's covered by the record company's insurance policy. The little guys, on the other hand, probably don't even have adequate car insurance, let alone a policy that will replace their equipment. What's a starving band to do? On the road, there are three major vulnerabilities for gear theft. Times when you are most likely to lose your gear: when the van is parked before a gig, during the load-in, and before the show when nobody is paying attention. Let's break down each situation to see what can be done to prevent a major loss.

Parked Van

Gear is exposed to possible theft every time you get off the road for gas, food, and rest. Many times the van itself is stolen rather than broken into; other times a window will be smashed to allow easy access to the gear inside. The common denominator here is visibility of the equipment. Your vehicle, crammed full of expensive gear, is a target of opportunity. Bottom line, don't provide a temptation by letting your equipment be seen through the windows. Use old blankets to cover everything, and pile some old clothes, newspapers, and anything else that happens to be lying around. The idea is to make your precious cargo look worthless. However you can achieve this is fine. Some people will throw a blanket over the equipment, then cover the blanket in trash. It makes you look like a total slob, but it keeps sticky fingers off your stuff. Some bands have a strict policy about leaving gear unattended while in transit. (This is a very good idea, if you can manage it.) Always leave someone to watch the equipment when stopping for gas and rest stops. If you are parking for dinner, pull the vehicle to a window and eat while watching your stuff. It isn't practical to unload everything when pulling over for the night, but you may wish to carry in your most prized or irreplaceable equipment and keep that under lock and key. To prevent your van itself from being stolen, the best deterrent is fairly inexpensive. "The Club" and other steering wheel locking devices do very well in discouraging someone from trying to steal your wheels. It is far too noisy and difficult to defeat a steering wheel locking device. Installation of an alarm system is actually less effective than "The Club," as most experienced thieves know that alarms are ignored, and the police are not coming. Go for the big, visible tool that says "go away" rather than waste money on expensive alarms. Some people believe that stashing gear in the trunk of a car is a safe bet against theft. This may be true most of the time, but the trunk can still be a target of opportunity. Consider the plight of the Chicago man who stashed his laptop and other equipment in the trunk of his car, left for a few hours, and came back to find his driver's side window smashed and the trunk empty. Someone watched this poor gent load up the trunk, waited til the parking lot was empty of people, and got the goods. How? He smashed the driver's side windown, reached in and pulled the trunk release lever. The worst part? This happened on a college campus, with security just down the street. Needless to say, the laptop wasn't going to be used for a gig that evening. Instead, it probably wound up in a pawn shop. The moral of the story; no matter how safe you think your gear is, there may be somebody out there just waiting for the right moment.

Load-In

When you are loading and unloading the vehicle, most bands leave everything unattended for at least two to three minutes between trips. Your van doors are hanging wide open, and the gear still inside the venue is unattended, too. If you have the manpower, try making a chain from the van to the load-in area so that there is one person on each end. This will prevent someone from taking advantage of the unattended areas on either part of the process. If you don't have enough warm bodies for this, try moving all the gear to the exit first, then move to and from the vehicle. Again, the presence of someone with the equipment at all times is the key avoiding the rip-off. Two-person acts should take turns going from vehicle to load-in area. When you see the other person is in the door, you know it's safe to head out to the van or car, keeping the time the gear is unattended to a minimum. Another way to stay secure during load-in is to place someone in charge of holding the door open. They can monitor the vehicle and keep an eye on the interior of the venue. Someone obviously "on watch" is a huge plus. Thieves want to get in and get out without being noticed; any indication that someone is actually paying attention is usually enough to safeguard your items. The last bit of advice here is to load in all your small, easily stolen items first. Save all the heavy equipment for last and you greatly cut the risk of having your stompboxes, monitors, ADAT recorders and other gear walk out of the vehicle without you knowing it.

Pre-Show Setup

Once you are set up in the venue, it's easy to wander away and forget that there are plenty of people who wouldn't mind owning your guitars, effects, preamps, etc. It may start sounding like a broken record, but this is the place where you need to have a warm body posted to keep watch over your stuff. It is sad to say, but you can't always trust the hired security at the venue, either. These are people paid by the hour to throw out unruly drunks, not protect your equipment. They know they may never see you again, and the loss of the gear in no way affects what they do for a living. You won't be able to rest easy unless you have control of the situation from start to finish. If you have a merchandise table, you may be able to employ one of the merch people to keep an eye on the equipment. It's always a good idea to offer something in return for the extra work involved in keeping things secure; if you use sound crew or merch people to help provide this kind of security, show some love! Even something as simple as a round of beers is a good way show some appreciation. When it comes time to do press before the show, you can always arrange to do your interviews within sight of your equipment. The important thing is to reduce temptation and keep targets of opportunity to a minimum. It's a fact of life for all working bands: you will play shows in run-down areas, bad neighborhoods, college campuses, yuppie bars and other questionable locales. You will constantly be surrounded by people from all walks of life (if you're good, anyway,) and ultimately there will be one or two bad apples in any crowd. Anticipating theft and planning ahead can save you and the group much grief; It's a pain in the rear end to accommodate, but at the end of the night, when all your gear is safe and sound, the peace of mind will be worth the effort.