- The Vampirates posted this picture of their merch table at their June 29 Gainesville gig to Facebook with the caption: "Contrary to popular belief, this merch is not actually a pipe bomb."
The Vampirates had another incident with St. Petersburg police when they last played at Fubar in March 2013, Musad said.
A fan they met at the show offered to let them crash at his place. Police surrounded them, guns out and pointed at them, while they stood outside the apartment smoking, he said.
“They thought we were trying to steal our own tour van,” he said, and didn’t believe them until Masud unlocked the door with his key.
“It’s that age-old dilemma of security versus privacy,” he added.
And despite these run-ins with police, the band has no hard feelings against the city.
“It’s really cool,” Masud said. “We really like that area. And Kat put on a great show for us.”
This article appears in Jun 26 – Jul 2, 2014.