Brooklyns Daptone Studios, which has long served as the homebase for interwoven bands like Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, Antibalas, Budos Band and The Menahan Street Band, was robbed over Presidents Day Weekend. In an open letter, label founder and Dap-Kings bassist Gabe Roth says:
As you may have heard through the grapevine by now, Daptone was broken into last night. Unfortunately, there was a lot of equipment (mics, pre-amps, monitors, turntables, guitars, amps, computers, etc.) stolen and damaged. It is going to take us a while to go through everything and take full stock of what was stolen, and we are not supposed to touch anything until the cops come back to collect fingerprints so we can only guess what’s missing from some mic drawers and cabinets.
And, no, we did not have insurance. We had been shopping around with different companies earlier this month but had not signed a check, so nothing was insured. We are working on replacing the gate in front, installing an alarm system, and getting insurance, but it is President’s day so it’s not going as quickly as we would have liked.
P.S. On a lighter note, it seems like the burglars did drop a few items in order to lift Alex’s old safe out of here, which was VERY heavy, VERY unwieldy, and also VERY EMPTY!
Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings had recently completed a two-night run at New Yorks Nokia Theatre. For the hometown gig, the Dap-Kings expanded its lineup to include Brian Floody (timpani), Toby Pazner (bibes), Antoine Silverman (violin), Entcho Todorov (violin), Chris Cardona (violin) and singers Kevin Keys, Saundra Williams and Charisse Goodwin. In addition, Daptone family patriarch Alex Kadvan made a rare appearance with the group by playing cello throughout its entire set, while Antibalas keyboardist Victor Axelrod played piano throughout the two-night run. In addition to his work with Antibalas and the Easy Star All-Stars, Axelrod is a founding members of the Dap-Kings.