Earlier today, we reported that System of a Down were forced to postpone their upcoming arena dates with Korn due to frontman Serj Tankian testing positive for COVID-19. While this is a huge bummer for the band, it’s perhaps an even greater bummer for Chicago experimental metal crew Russian Circles, who undoubtedly could’ve used big arena shows with massive metal bands. Not only that, but the band had all of their gear stolen by some craven assholes following a recent show in California. In response, Russian Circles were forced to launch a GoFundMe to recoup their losses — and in a heartwarming display of solidarity, their fans showed up.
As reported by The PRP, Russian Circles’ trailer was robbed on the night of October 17th at a Holiday Inn parking lot in Chowchilla, California. The band announced the theft in a social media post, listing all of their lost items and including an e-mail address where fans can report these pieces of equipment should they turn up:
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In response, Cathy Pellow of Russian Circles’ label and management company Sargent House launched a GoFundMe with a goal of $40,000 to help out the band. Pellow released a statement with the campaign, saying, “We really hoped that the stolen gear would somehow be found so that we would not have had to ask for so much help. We still have had no leads and getting any of it back seems unlikely. Now, the loss of the income and merch sales from these two big shows is leaving them with just too many unrecoupable expenses for me not to ask our music loving community to help them .
“Please know, it is only in the most extreme of circumstances that we would ever ask for this.”
Thankfully, this story has a happy ending. Not only did Russian Circles’ fans help them make back the $40,000, they went overboard. As of now, the campaign has made the band $61,346 back, and continues the climb.
Everyone at The Pit wants to thank Russian Circles’ fans for showing up and supporting them. If you have a few extra bucks, please toss it their way — they may have reached their goal, but every dollar counts.
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Words by Chris Krovatin
