Sonic Youth find lost guitars after 13 years

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Sonic Youth have recovered two of their infamously stolen modified guitars thirteen years after they were originally lost.

A truckload of one-of-a-kind personally-altered guitars, amps, drums and pedals were stolen in the middle of the night in Orange County back in 1999, leading to the band scrapping all material they wrote on the instruments.

The group went on to release one of their least well-received records in the form of NYC Ghosts and Flowers. But now it appears two of the formerly lost guitars have returned to their rightful owners over a decade later.

Guitarist Lee Ranaldo explained:

“These two scruffy teenage boys came up. They told us they knew about our stolen guitars. One claimed his uncle was involved with stealing the van. We were like, ‘yeah, sure kid.’ But he sent us these anonymous pictures of our gear in basements– foot pedals where you could see our crew guys’ writing on the sides, and somebody’s sneaker on top. These kids were destitute. They’d been kicked out of their homes, living in a car in L.A. We said, ‘we’ll give you a few hundred dollars each for them.’ It did happen.”

Sonic Youth recently announced they’re set to release a series of archival projects, starting with a new live album coming out in November. More info on that can be found here.

Photos of the guitars can be found over at Pitchfork.