Sammy Hagar helps rising San Francisco rock band who lost $70K in gear to thieves

Lilian Kim Image
ByLilian Kim KGO logo
Monday, June 18, 2018
San Francisco rock band heads home after setback
The Stone Foxes had just completed the first stop of their national tour when they woke up in the morning in Dallas, Texas to find all of their equipment gone.

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- A San Francisco band is returning home after a heartbreaking road trip. All of their gear was stolen from their hotel parking lot at the beginning of their tour.

Things had been going well for The Stone Foxes. They just came out with a new single and one of their songs was on a recent Budweiser commercial. But on June 6, the San Francisco band endured a huge setback. They had just performed in Dallas when they woke up the next morning to find all of their equipment gone.

"I mean everything, from very small cables to cymbals," said Shannon Koehler, the leader singer for The Stone Foxes.

Koehler says their gear was stored inside a trailer which was attached to their van.

The van was insured, but everything else, valued at $70,000, wasn't.

"It's like the bottom of your heart just drops out you know. I'm sorry. You kind of have to laugh 'cause you'll cry and we don't need to cry," said Koehler.

The Stone Foxes recovered a few of their items: two guitars and a violin found at a musical instrument store. But everything else is still missing, and despite the loss, the group stayed on tour borrowing from other bands and from the venues where they were performing.

Fans have come together and have contributed to a GoFundMe account where so far hundreds have contributed including Sammy Hagar, who tweeted about the fundraising effort.

"At first we thought, Sammy Hagar? That's got to be somebody joking around putting that name on it, and then he tweeted it out and posted about it and what a sweet man," said Koehler.

The Stone Foxes say they've learned from their mistakes. They now have insurance covering their gear and they plan to take the most valuable and sentimental items with them.