2 Nearly Finished Albums From Local Bands Stolen

By Rachel Slavik, WCCO-TV

ST. PAUL (WCCO) -- A local band says a Christmas Grinch targeted their St. Paul home. Someone broke into the home recording studio and stole thousands of dollars of property.

Eric Lovold and his roommates won't get to open gifts on Christmas morning, someone had already done that for them.

"We were definitely feeling violated," said Lovold.

The thieves broke in through the front door. They searched every inch of the house and took laptops and the big screen TV.

"Everything, it's just trashed," said Lovold.

But it's in the basement, which also serves as a recording studio, where Lovold keeps what he considers his most valuable items.

"We really had been making a record I love, it's just sad to see it gone," he said.

When robbers took the computer and hard drives, they also walked off with two almost completed albums and 18 months of work.  Lovold was about to finish mixing the final albums for two local band's -- "Kicks and Spurs" and Brian DeRemer.

"We had back-ups and back-ups, but we weren't expecting someone to steal our back-ups," said Lovold.

Yet, the thieves left the tools to let Lovold start again, ironically leaving behind some of the most expensive items in the home, vintage guitars and keyboards.

"All kinds of old keyboards just sitting here, because they were too heavy to take out," he said.

Lovold said police do have a lead in this case -- the thieves may have left a piece of evidence behind that could help detectives track down the person or persons responsible.

Lovold said if the hard drives -- with the music recordings -- are returned, he doesn't even care about pressing charges.

WCCO-TV's Rachel Slavik Reports