Tweakers Took My Speakers

Drummer Andy Robillard has been playing in local bands for 15 years, including Butch Wax Duo and gogogo airheart. His latest band the Tighten Ups rents a room at the Universal Sound practice complex near the Sports Arena.

He has some words of wisdom to all the other bands who rent practice rooms: There are tweakers out there who can and will rip you off. “Get renter’s insurance. It’s about $300 a year.”

On December 12, the Tighten Ups’ 30’ x 15’ rehearsal room at Universal Sound Studios was broken into. “They got a guitar, a bass, and a couple amps with speakers. They took a Rogers drum set my dad gave me 30 years ago, a karaoke machine, and a 24-track board. They took between $5,000 and $10,000 worth of crap. They came in two different times and robbed a total of four rooms. The band Canobliss got hit really hard.”

Robillard says he has a $500-deductible policy. “I had insurance for three years and I never used it. I almost didn’t renew it, but I [renewed it] just a few weeks earlier.”

The Tighten Ups filed a police report, but he says there are no leads that he knows of.

“I think somebody left the front door open. On our room we had a padlock, a deadbolt, and a handle lock…and they still got in. They had all night. It was probably tweakers.”

SDPD Detective Anderson confirms there were four rooms that were burglarized and that there are currently no leads.

Universal Sound Rehearsal Studios includes a 20-room complex near the Sports Arena and a 40-room complex on Miramar Road. All 60 rooms are “lock-outs,” which means each band has exclusive use of the room on a month-to-month basis.

Universal owner Sean Brandes says there was no alarm system at his Sports Arena building. He says security “is up to each band. A couple of bands put in their own alarm systems.”

He says thefts have never been an issue until recently. “Then we got hit twice in the past few months.”

Robillard appears with the Tighten Ups February 8 at the Bar Pink.