This Boise band’s Seattle tour stop ended in ‘tragedy.’ Now it hopes to raise $50,000

When the members of Magic Sword exited their hotel Dec. 12 after playing a tour-ending Seattle show, the plan was to drive eight hours home to Boise.

Hearts sunk, they bought last-minute plane tickets instead.

The electronic trio’s van had vanished overnight in the hotel parking lot. The equipment trailer, too.

Stolen.

“Everything was gone,” a newly created GoFundMe page explains, calling the crime a “true tragedy.”

Touring in today’s economy is increasingly challenging for musicians. National acts ranging from Santigold to Animal Collective have pulled the plug on road plans because the business numbers don’t add up.

But when you do tour? Then lose your livelihood in the process?

“It’s still a little unbelievable,” Magic Sword’s bandleader, known as The Keeper, admitted in a phone interview.

GoFundMe drive

To help offset losses and get the band back on stage, Magic Sword has launched a crowdfunding effort to raise $50,000. That figure doesn’t include the van and trailer. Insurance should cover those, The Keeper said. “I actually was just on the phone ... trying to figure out how to go about doing this and claiming it,” he said.

“But the gear is not covered. Period.”

Magic Sword needs to replace more than a powerhouse synthesizer and wicked-looking guitar. The mysterious group, which performs wearing LED masks and dark cloaks, travels with expensive lighting equipment and special stage props — including the mythical Magic Sword. Computers, tools and other necessities were among items stolen. Hundreds of T-shirts, comic books and other merchandise are gone. In reality, $50,000 is a conservative estimate, The Keeper said.

“It’s a lot of weird stuff that you don’t think of,” he explained. “There’s, like, $1,000 in cables. Things you collect over 10 years.”

Stage lighting was the most expensive loss, he said. But the group’s custom-made swords and costumes? “That’s where it hits a bit hard,” he admitted. “Those have to be specially made, and they take a long time.

“I was actually just kind of laughing about it this morning,” he said. “I would love to see the look on the guy’s face that stole it when they opened up the trailer and found the masks and the costumes. ‘Like who are these people?’ ”

‘Thor’ music

Formed in 2012 in Boise, Magic Sword has evolved into an international synthwave story. Its song “In the Face of Evil” was used in the movie trailer for Marvel’s “Thor: Ragnarok” and included in the soundtrack to the cult video game “Hotline Miami 2.” Magic Sword’s music also invaded ads on Cartoon Network.

The ill-fated Seattle stop was the final date during a two-week tour. “We were over in Europe for six weeks, came home for two weeks, and did this two-week run with El Ten Eleven,” The Keeper explained.

In addition to communicating with Seattle police and dealing with insurance, Magic Sword also is paying out money. Pre-sold T-shirts and merchandise were among goods stowed in the van. “I’ve got to send those people a refund and a sad email,” The Keeper said.

Traveling with uninsured gear was a stroke of poorly timed bad luck, he admitted. The Keeper purposely had let that insurance lapse recently, he said. After touring extensively in the past three years, the group had planned not to tour at all in 2023. “We’re currently working on a couple of different albums,” he said, “so I wanted to get that stuff wrapped up.”

“It was just time to take a break, anyway,” he said, before chuckling sadly. “I guess the universe gave me what I asked for!”

AirTags? No dice

If items do get returned, Magic Sword has the ability to give back GoFundMe donations, he said. “If we get this stuff back, that’s just the route we’ll go,” he said. “At this point, I’m not very confident that we’ll get the equipment back.”

As for the van? “A common thing down there in Seattle is people will sell stuff out of it, and then they’ll just abandon it somewhere. Maybe we’ll get that back. I don’t know, though.”

The thief or thieves who decided to steal the vehicle were “pros,” he added. There was no broken glass where the van had been parked. And Apple AirTags placed with gear did not provide helpful clues. “They started dumping those things all over town,” The Keeper said.

Either way, the band will be grateful for anything returned. Or anything replaced through GoFundMe donations.

“At this point, anything is better than what we have now,” he said. “Which is nothing.”