Help Musicians Daisy Mauterer and Brian Weikel Replace Their Stolen Gear

Musicians Daisy Mauterer and Brian Weikel live in a quiet Fort Collins neighborhood with bright street lights, lawns separating one property from the other and neat driveways. After returning from a gig around 2 a.m. recently, the couple chose sleep over unloading their packed CR-V. In the morning, when they went to move the bass, guitar and drum pedal board from it, they found the car had been broken in to. Everything was gone. "After the moment of panic, the 'did we bring it in and forget,' the call to the police, the reeling, Daisy found herself half-sitting, half-lying on the driveway, laughing and screaming and crying all at once like a madwoman," says the Community Funded page they have turned to for help. 

Mauterer plays the drums and sings with The BABES, performs with Wasteland Hop and La Cucarachas while Weikel is the bassist for Wasteland Hop, Echo Chamber and performs with La Cucarachas. "It is really hard for us to ask for things, we like to work for thats what we have, and thats how we got our instruments in the first place," Weikel says. But, time to re-fund their instruments is running out as  the they are headed out to Austin for the Colorado Music Party in just a few weeks. So, the two turned to the Fort Collins-based site Community Funded to raise five thousand dollars to replace a guitar, bass, and drum pedals. "Were starting to realize that people do care, and as much as it is difficult for us to put us out there." 
"It definitely takes an emotional piece of you, losing something that is basically an extension of yourself," Weikel says. He explains that talking to other bands who have had similar things happen to them, like Fierce Bad Rabbitt, Wire Faces and the Billy Goats, has been comforting. They weren't always going to try to replace their gear, as they spent a week scouring websites and pawn shops locally and in Wyoming for the gear, with no luck.

 "We felt deflated." Then, with the support of the non-profit music incubator, SpokesBUZZ, they realized they had enough community support to try to raise funds. "Dani Grant [founder of SpokesBUZZ] gave us a call, and said 'if you do a Community Funded, I think it would be very beneficial'."  Although the campaign is brand new, the dollars are rolling in, and the musicians are finding hope. "It has felt really good turning something bad into something positive. We’ve realized how connected we are to the music community here. It feels like we are being validated as people doing art,  and we have hope again."

The campaign will be open until, March 17th, and all proceeds will go straight to the gear budget, laid out on the campaign site. Any extra money will be used for travel costs to Austin or for recording fees. All info can be found at http://communityfunded.com/projects/ledvontrippen/rock-and-stole/ and the showcase lineup in which they, along with 120+ other Colorado bands, can be seen at http://www.coloradomusicparty.com/.