Nyctopia Started a GoFundMe Page After Their Drummer Was Robbed at a German Airport
What originally started as a great experience for Scottish black metal band Nyctopia quickly turned sour, as their drummer was robbed while resting at a German airport.
According to a report by the Edinburgh News, Carlo Bolzan (aka Carlo Caligula Hellblaster) was sleeping in the car park at Frankfurt Airport when the incident occurred. The story goes that he was waiting overnight for his flight home when the incident took place. Unfortunately for him, he was traveling alone because he missed the band’s initial flight into Germany ahead of their performance at the Boarstream Open AiR festival earlier this month and as a result, had to book entirely separate flights into and out of the country.
Despite the travel snafu — and the broken hand he suffered after punching a wall in frustration after missing that initial flight — Bolzan played the festival with his bandmates. And even though he had to play through his injury, he said it was an amazing experience.
“It was such a great trip, I really enjoyed the place, the people, everything, and I met some of my favourite bands, it was incredible. Then this happened.”
Bolzan estimates that the robbery happened between 1 and 3 a.m. Despite the fact that he says he is a “light sleeper” and that he was on top of all his stuff, he said whoever robbed him managed to walk away with his luggage, his wallet, his cell phone, and his double bass drum pedals valued at roughly £1,000.
“I lost everything, my clothes, my phone, my documents including my passport and wallet, and my double bass pedal for my drums. My phone and wallet had so many memories, that are now gone forever.
“I’m normally a light sleeper but it was a big weekend so I was out cold. It was still weird I didn’t wake up as my stuff was under my body. I’m not sure what happened. I’m really gutted I lost my pedals, I’ve played a lot of gigs with them.
“I have been really lucky I think, I could have got hurt. It could have been worse.”
Bolzan reported the robbery to German police and then rushed to the Italian embassy (he’s an Italian citizen) to get emergency travel documents. As a result, he was forced to miss his morning flight but was swapped over to another flight by the airline Luftwansa.
As a result of the robbery, Bolzan’s bandmates created a GoFundMe page to help cover some of the lost items. At this point, they were seeking to raise £400 and have so far gotten £380 through 17 donations.
Despite how things went, Bolzan said he would absolutely go back to Boarstream Open AiR next year. And at least next time, he’ll do some things differently.
“Next time though, I will go through security before going to sleep!”
(Thanks to David H. for the tip.)
