Phoenix Band Sundressed Wakes Up to Missing Gear Trailer in Salt Lake City

It’s hard to imagine a worse feeling for an indie touring band than waking up to see that the entire trailer has been stolen off the hitch, but that is exactly what Sundressed woke up to Saturday in Salt Lake City.

“It was the most devastating feeling. I woke up early to look outside and check the weather. It had been snowing, so I wasn't sure we could make it to Denver, and the trailer was just gone, like it was never there in the first place. Feelings of panic and defeat spread over our whole camp instantly,” says Sundressed frontman Trevor Hedges. 

Sundressed was riding high after a strong finish to 2015 that included a ton of touring and their first foray into the world of record labels as they began working with Take This to Heart records out of Boston. They followed it up with a killer entry in 2016 by being featured in a story by Alternative Press.

“We've been working with a label and things have been going pretty well for the band. This was probably our first tour where we were starting to notice a difference in the amount of people showing up to shows,” Hedges says.

But just as things were picking up, the band's gear disappeared.

“Our guitar players Andrew and Forest had actually just purchased new pedals at an incredible vintage music store in Portland and spent all of our day off dialing in tone," he says. "Andrew had a 40-plus-year-old Telecaster that he had been working on for years, which is probably the hardest blow for sure. I also lost my Telecaster that I wrote just about every Sundressed song on." 

The robbery is a huge hit to the band's psyche, but quite obviously its pocketbook as well. To try and get the ball rolling on replacing their equipment the group has put up a Gofundme with a goal of $8,000. As of publication, it had made more than $5,000.

Among those showing support for for the Phoenix natives are acts like In The Early November, Real Friends, and Modern Baseball, which are all bands that Sundressed admires and were genuinely shocked and glad to see them showing the love.

“It's been pretty insane how far it has reached. We are definitely in high spirits based on all the love and support we've received. We are going to make a new record over the next few months and we will absolutely hit the road again. It's the only thing that makes sense for us to do,” says Hedges.

Hedges asks that if the person who stole the trailer is reading that they donate the Sundressed t-shirts to a homeless shelter, and says “also I hope you know how much you affected a bunch of guys just trying to follow their dream.”