Trent Roset (right) of Mahoney performs the first song of the night with the help of bandmate Ryan Massini (drums) and a number of other Hat musicians on Dec. 13, 2019 at the Esplanade during the fifth annual Mahoney and Friends showcase. -- NEWS PHOTO MO CRANKER
mcranker@medicinehatnews.com@mocranker
Medicine Hat’s favourite two-piece band was robbed recently, losing the bulk of their equipment needed to perform.
Mahoney, which is made up of Ryan Massini and Trent Roset, is well known in the city for their annual Mahoney and Friends show. The duo also performs during Stampede time and at different venues all year.
Massini says he parked the band’s van on the road on Aug. 16, then noticed his bandmate’s chair underneath the vehicle the next day. At first he thought nothing of it, but then he opened the van Aug. 20 to find it nearly empty.
“I park the van on the road because there’s light on it and it just seems safer there,” said Massini. “I went out Monday morning to walk the dog and noticed Trent’s chair under the van. He plays disc golf near my house, so I assumed he came by and tossed it under.
“On Thursday I went to open the van and it was basically empty.”
Massini says the band believes the theft took place between Sunday at 3 p.m. and Monday at 9 a.m.
“I have no clue how they got into the van – it looked like they had a key,” said Massini. “The police had no idea as well.”
Massini says the men did keep some of their really expensive equipment indoors, but are still out thousands with all of the gear lost.
The band is now looking for two acoustic guitars and their cases, as well as an acoustic bass guitar and its oversized case. They are looking for two Pedal Train pedal boards with travel cases. They are missing a Presonus Studiolive 16.0.2 travel case. Also missing are multiple amps, stage lights and a vocal processor.
“A lot of people think you can just buy new gear, but it’s hard for musicians when we lose our stuff,” said Massini. “You try 100 guitars before you find one that feels perfect for you.
“We’re going to spend a long time putting everything back together how we had it.”
Massini says this robbery came at a really bad time, as the band had downgraded their insurance at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic to save money.
“When we were able to play shows we had insurance that covered theft – a lot of venues actually require that bands have it,” said Massini. “When March hit, all of our shows got cancelled and we took the expensive insurance off. We’ve been told that this won’t be insured.”
Massini says the pair is thankful for the community support.
“A couple people have started GoFundMe pages for us and we appreciate that so much,” said Massini. “When we shared this on Facebook, we had no idea it would receive this much support.
“We just want to thank everyone.”
The Medicine Hat Police Service confirmed to the News that there is an ongoing investigation into the robbery.
