British indie band Sports Team has been “robbed at gunpoint” by masked men while on tour in the US.
The London-based band’s van containing valuable equipment was “ransacked” as they stopped to get breakfast at a petrol station Starbucks around 9am on Tuesday, in Vallejo, in California’s San Francisco Bay Area.
On Instagram, they told how they were just “10 minutes into” their tour - which is to promote their forthcoming album Boys These Days - when the armed thieves struck.
Taking cover inside, the band were forced to watch on as the thieves took “a lot of personal gear” including their passports and documents, film cameras, laptops used on stage, and suitcases containing all their clothing.
Their instruments, which were locked in a separate part of the van, were not taken.
Warning: The below video contains strong language
Sharing a video of the robbery on Instagram, the band said: “Stopped for coffee. 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.
“Start yelling and they pull out a gun.
“Lost a lot of personal gear, but they didn’t get the instruments so driving on to Sacramento to play tonight. 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 band said they reported the robbery to police, and were advised to submit an online report.
Drummer Al Greenwood told the BBC she feared their band manager was going to be shot.
“Somebody opened the door and was like, does anybody have a white Sprinter van? Because you're being robbed right now.
"So we all ran out, shouting. Lauren, our tour manager, was slightly ahead of me, and somebody else ran past us in the opposite direction, and said, 'Careful, he's holding something.'
"I really thought I was about to watch someone get shot, because it took a while for our tour manager to realise. In the video, you can hear me screaming at her to get down."
While the thieves mainly targeted electronics, Greenwood also lost her journal in the incident. “I know it sounds ridiculous, but that's almost the worst part,” she told the BBC.
But she added: “We're definitely not going to let this put us off. Ultimately, it really makes you reflect on things to be grateful for, both here and at home.”
The band said they were thrown by how Americans around them reacted as though it was “a very everyday occurrence”.
“The thing that struck me about it was the resignation,” lead singer Alex Rice told the BBC. “The people around us weren't very panicked at all...They started serving drinks straight away.”
"We've got nothing against the Bay Area,” he added. “We think it's great here - but it's sad that it's kind of got to this sort of place with gun violence."
The band, known for their guitar pop music, is touring the US until mid-December, playing locations including LA, San Diego, Portland and Palm Springs.
The six-piece met while students at Homerton College, Cambridge, and originally hail from parts of the UK including Cheshire, Kent, Leeds and Cornwall.
