[Photo by Nate Dorr courtesy of Impose]
Gang Gang Dance kicked off their European tour with a great show in Amsterdam this past Friday, but have been forced to cancel the remaining Eurpoean and U.K. shows due to an unforeseen electrical fire destroying all of the band’s equipment.
In a blog entry released on their MySpace Saturday, the band said they had stored their gear in a club for the night, and when they arrived to pick it up an electrical fire had scorched every piece of equipment they owned, leaving it melted, charred, and smoldering. The fire even ruined new music the band had been working on, which was stored on MP3’s which were lost in the fire.
“So we have been left with synths that are melted, a charred guitar, cases full of wet pedals and cables, drums that are nothing but the metal rims, amps that look as if they’ve been doused in tar… the list goes on,” that band wrote to fans, further explaining how devastated they are to have to cancel the rest of the 13 shows they had left. The band discussed using rented or borrowed equipment for the remainder of the show, but since they have such a unique sound and style of playing, they were not confident that improvising would be beneficial to the band and fans alike.
“While it would be fun and we’d love to stick this out for everyone that was excited to see us, we feel like we came to perform a certain set of songs and if we can’t do that then its probably best to just come back again when we have the necessary gear to do so,” they continued.
The New York based band will be stuck in Amsterdam until they are able to deal with insurance companies in hopes of gaining the compensation they need to build up their equipment again (although we could think of worse places to be stuck). The band also said they are hoping to return back to Europe in an effort make up for the shows that have been canceled. Gang Gang Dance is scheduled to play at New York’s MOMA on March 5th, and at Coachella on April 18th, but the band has not released any information concerning their ability to play these American dates as of yet.
