Metallica pay thousands of dollars to replace tribute band’s stolen equipment

Breaking the devastating news with their Facebook followers, the band, who solely play classic ‘tallica songs ranging from 1983's ‘Kill Em' All’ to 1991's ‘Metallica’, said they awoke after staying at the Chestnut Tree Inn to find everything gone.  

Such was the uniqueness and sentimental value of his kit, drummer Shawn Murphy even offered to pay the thieves for them back “no questions asked.”

Here’s the full list of gear they had stolen:

Guitars (all with cases)
1989 Gibson Explorer
ESP LTD KH 602
2007 Gibson Flying V
Peavey Grind Bass
2016 Rickenbacher Bass

Amplifiers
Line 6 Spider Valve MKII HD100 amp head with Line 6 FBV Shortboard MKII and Road Case
Mesa Boogie Mark V Amp Head with footswitch
Marshall JCM 800 2203X Tube Guitar Amplifier Head with Road Case
Peavey Series 402 Bass Head
B52 AT412A Guitar Cab
Peavey Bass Cab 15’’
Peavey Bass Cab 4x10’’
Marshall 1960A Guitar Cab

Pedals
Morley Bad Horsie V2 Wah Pedal
Electroharmonix Metal Muff
Boss Super Overdrive SD-1
TC Electronic Polytune
BOSS CH-1 Super Chorus
Fulltone Custom Shop ABY True-Path Pedal
Ibanez Tube Screamer TS-808

Drums
2 TAMA Bass Drums
4 TAMA Rack Toms
2 TAMA Floor Toms
TAMA Snare Drum
5 Cymbal Stands
Hi Hat Stand
Roc N Soc Drum Throne
Stick Bag

Miscellaneous Musical Supplies
Scrims (PVC Pipe + Nylon Webbing)
Road case (containing power supplies, batteries, cords, mics, and pedals)
Furman 8-Outlet Surge Protector / Power Conditioner
Black box with yellow top containing various guitar stands, cords, power strips, extension cord
Bag Containing 2x25’’ Mogami Instrument Cables, 1’’ Mogami Instrument Cable, Speaker Cables, 9v batteries
Bag with 2 25’’ instrument cables

After hearing of Blistered Earth’s plight a representative from Metallica HQ got in touch with them earlier this week and James, Lars, Robert and Kirk offered to pay to replace the equipment.

A flabbergasted Blistered Earth wrote on Facebook: “Sometimes when bad things happen it really brings out the best in people. Thanx to the attention you guys helped bring to the matter of our stolen gear & KATU and KOIN in Portland airing the story, James & the rest of the guys in Metallica ( thanx guys) have seen fit to replace our equipment. Thank you guys!!”

Explaining how it came about, drummer Shawn Murphy told M.I.R.P Magazine: “I got a call from a lady from Metallica HQ who said she was trying to contact me to verify who I was. Then from there they got me in touch with Metallica’s manager who asked me to send him a gear list. And so I did, and it just kind of went from there.

"It's pretty awesome that they would do that. I guess it was actually James (Hetfield) that saw the story on the web site for KATU (Portland TV channel).

“I don't how familiar you are with Metallica, or how closely you have followed their career, but it is fairly well documented that they had all of their gear stolen way back in the day, back when they didn't have money to replace their gear. So, they have a first-hand knowledge of how sh**** this feels. But, again, I never thought it would come to this."

Metallica come to the UK this October for five headline shows. Select tickets are on sale from Planet Rock Tickets now.