After all the rehearsing was done, we would usually have a dress rehearsal and invite about 200-300 people to play to, to help get any bugs out of the show. This one was right before the “Eat ‘Em & Smile” tour.
Perkins Palace was an old, cool but broken down theater in Pasadena that used to have stage shows and things. Dave rented it for the rehearsals and at night we stored all the equipment in a huge metal container, locked all the doors and kept a guard on watch.
One night somebody broke in (don’t ask me how), cut the iron chains on the locker and stole 5 of my guitars and 2 of my good Marshall amps.
It’s funny but when I heard about it, I wasn’t upset at all. I was bummed to have lost the “Swiss Cheese” guitar that my friend Joe Despagni hand-built. Other than that I didn’t care for some reason. They weren’t really my favorite guitars and in a weird way I was kind of relieved. I don’t collect guitars and I don’t like feeling attached to things that are perishable. When these guitars were stolen I just thought that it’s less crap in my life I have to worry about.
Through the years I have been contacted by many people who have claimed to have located these stolen guitars. Listen…thanks, but I don’t care about them. Keep them or give them to me and I’ll auction them off for the Make A Noise Foundation.