Jack Whitehas donated $15,000 toward a fundraising campaign for the independent recording studioTiny Telephone Oakland, which was robbed of tens of thousands of dollars of rare equipment earlier this month.
The all-analog studio on the 5700 block of Lowell Street, owned by the musician John Vanderslice, was hit by a group of thieves who forced their way through two reinforced doors on April 15.
On aGoFundMe pageset up to recover the costs of the stolen equipment, Valderslice described the experience as “every recording studio’s worst nightmare.”
damn it. i hate to be here tell you about this. and i hate that it happened. we got seriously robbed the other night and we lost some stuff we will never be able to get back. please share and amplify this, we have lots debt coming our way. THANK YOU!!https://t.co/sDEefV8iiipic.twitter.com/tjHCKtr7Ik
— John Vanderslice (@johnvanderslice)April 19, 2023
Among the vintage gear that was stolen were all Tiny Telephone’s electric guitars and basses, and several rare microphones, including a 1961 Telefunken U47 valued at $38,000. An inventory of the missing pieces — including a 1952 Nash Telecaster and 1964 Epiphone Texan — can be found on the fundraising site.
“We are all devastated,” Vanderslice said on GoFundMe, adding that no one was injured during the incident. “These are things we use daily to make music, beloved by the engineers and artists that record at Tiny Telephone.”
The studio set a goal of $70,000 toward replacing the lost equipment and reinforcing the studio’s doors. As of Tuesday, April 25, the campaign had raised more than $55,000 with substantial help from White, who founded the White Stripes and owns one of the only other all-analog studios in the U.S.,Third Man Recording Studio在纳什维尔。
Vanderslice established Tiny Telephone in San Francisco’s Mission District in 1997, serving artists such asDeath Cab for Cutie磁场和圣文森特。By 2020, he closed the studio, citing the rising cost of running a small business in the city.
But he kept his second location in Oakland, which opened in 2016 as an affordable alternative to some of the East Bay’s higher-end studios.
“We are gutted by this loss, as everything in this studio is curated with love and intention,” said Tiny Telephone engineer Maryam Qudus, who performs asSpacemoth, in an Instagram post. “Countless records were made using these items.”
Vanderslice said his goal is to offset the cost of the burglary without raising the rate to record at Tiny Telephone.
“We’re a small arts organization in Oakland, without any kind of corporate backing or tech money behind us. At our current rates, it would take years of booked studio time to pay for everything,” he said, noting that Tiny Telephone’s day rate of $400 a day has stayed the same for the last 10 years. “We want to remain affordable for new artists and foster a democratic and accessible culture for bands of all levels to make masterpieces here.”
Reach Aidin Vaziri: avaziri@sfchronicle.com